Pathology
Fish Model for Melanoma Fingers Culprit Mutations
Genetics
Spotlight Shines on Tag-team Gene Regulation
Oncology
Body’s Own Angiogenesis Inhibitors Check Tumor Growth
Development
Mechanical Forces Speed Up Growth of the Lung
Honors
Fund and Lectureship Honor Poussaint
Routine Screening for HIV Would Be Cost Effective
Dopamine Receptor Dances to Tune of Parkinson’s Protein
COX-2 Inhibitors May Prevent Common Surgical Complication
Carroll to Head Immunology Graduate Program
Nominations Sought for Leadership in Women’s Advancement
Nominations Invited for Biostatistics Award
Grants Available for Collaborative Research in Women’s Health
Honors and Advances
Baldwin Named New President of CBR
Lines Drawn Over Recommended Cuts in Medicare Hospital Reimbursement
Carroll to Head Immunology Graduate Program
Michael Carroll, HMS professor of pediatrics (pathology) at Children’s Hospital Boston, has been named interim director of the HMS Immunology Graduate Program, beginning March 1. The multidisciplinary program offers a broad course of study in modern immunology.
(Photo by Graham Ramsay)
A faculty member for 20 years, Carroll studies the complement system and innate immunity. “He is devoted to science and education, and is well poised to take this thriving program forward,” said Joseph Martin, dean of the Faculty of Medicine.
Carroll will succeed Hidde
Ploegh, the Edward Mallinckrodt Jr. professor of immunopathology in the
Department of Pathology, who has served as director
of the graduate program in immunology for eight years. “I am grateful
to Hidde for the extraordinary commitment he has shown,” said Martin, “both
to the immunology program and to graduate education in general.”
Nominations Sought for Leadership in Women’s Advancement
The Joint Committee on the Status of Women is currently accepting nominations for the Dean’s Award for Leadership in the Advancement of Women Faculty and Staff. The award was founded by Dean Joseph Martin to recognize individuals who have made exceptional contributions to enhancing the professional lives of women at HMS and the HSDM.The awards honor one faculty member and one staff member each year. Nominations are due by March 11 for the faculty award and by April 15 for the staff award. Further information and nomination forms may be obtained at www.hms.harvard.edu/jcsw/index.htm.
Nominations Invited For Biostatistics Award
The Department of Biostatistics at HSPH is currently accepting nominations
for the Myrto Lefkopoulou distinguished lectureship. The lectureship is awarded
to a promising biostatistical scientist who has made contributions to collaborative
or methodological research in the application of statistical methods to biology
or medicine or to excellence in the teaching of biostatistics. The lectureship
includes travel to Boston, a reception, and an honorarium of $1,000. The program
was established in honor of the late Myrto Lefkopoulou, a faculty member and
student in the Department of Biostatistics. Nominations should be sent no later
than March 31 to the Myrto Lefkopoulou Lecture Committee, Dept. of Biostatistics,
HSPH, 655 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115.
Grants Available for Collaborative Research in Women’s Health
The HMS Center of Excellence in Women’s Health is accepting letters of intent for the fifth Annual HMS Fund for Women’s Health Research Award grants. Up to seven one-year grants worth $30,000 each will be awarded to Harvard faculty. The HMS Fund for Women’s Health supports basic research, clinical research, health services research, population sciences research, and educational program development in any area of women’s health or the advancement of women in academic medicine. Research projects must include collaborations between investigators at two different Center of Excellence in Women’s Health institutions or systems. The deadline for the letter of intent is 3 p.m. on April 11. The deadline for the application is 3 p.m. on May 2.
News Brief
The PASTEUR/Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship, a program that allows
selected medical students to take a year off for hands-on clinical research
training at HMS and nine other academic medical centers, has been extended
for the next three years. Through the fellowship, students work with a physician-scientist
for 12 months. Students at any U.S. medical school are eligible to apply, and
at least 50 will be offered the fellowship next year. Fellows receive a $20,000
stipend. The program has been extended following a $5 million grant renewal
from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. For more information on the fellowship,
please visit the PASTEUR website and
select “one
year fellowships.”
Honors and Advances
Frederick Alt was awarded the 2005 Rabbi Shai Shacknai Memorial Prize in Immunology and Cancer Research on Feb. 14 for his outstanding contributions to the field of molecular immunology and genetics. The prize is given by the Lautenberg Center for General and Tumor Immunology at the Hebrew University’s Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem, where Alt will present three lectures.
Elizabeth Engle, assistant professor of neurology at Children’s Hospital Boston, will be given the E. Mead Johnson Award, the Society for Pediatric Research’s most important award. Engle won the award for “outstanding scientific achievement in pediatrics.” She will be presented with the award on May 16, during the American Pediatric Society/Society for Pediatric Research’s annual meeting.
Mary Ellen Avery, the Thomas Morgan Rotch professor of pediatrics at HMS and Children’s Hospital Boston, will receive the John Howland Award from the American Pediatric Society on May 15, during the American Pediatric Society/Society for Pediatric Research’s annual meeting. The award is the American Pediatric Society’s highest award. She was honored for her contributions to the advancement of pediatric science.
The American College of Cardiology will present Eugene Braunwald, the Hersey distinguished professor of theory and practice of physic, with the title, “Master of the American College of Cardiology” at its 54th Annual Scientific Session on March 7. Braunwald, who is also chairman of the Thrombosis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) study group at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is being honored for his “half century of groundbreaking research” in heart failure, coronary artery disease, and heart attacks. Braunwald has previously received numerous national and international awards, including the Distinguished Scientist Award from the American College of Cardiology, honors from the American Heart Association, and the Gold Medal of the European Society of Cardiology. He has 13 honorary degrees from universities around the world.
William Aird, associate professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, was given the Established Investigator Award by the American Heart Association. He will use the five-year, $500,000 grant in his continued investigations of the mechanisms that underlie differential gene expression within the endothelium and the ways in which the endothelial cells lining the body’s blood vessels are differentially regulated in space and time.
The Boston Red Sox have named Thomas Gill IV, HMS assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, the club’s medical director. Gill will coordinate all aspects of the club’s medical operation, including the selection of assistant team physicians and a group of medical consultants. He will supervise the Red Sox training staff as well as the club’s strength and conditioning and injury-prevention programs.
Baldwin Named New President of CBR
John Baldwin, former dean of Dartmouth Medical School, has been appointed the new president and CEO of the CBR Institute for Biomedical Research. As Dartmouth’s medical dean, he led the school through its greatest period of growth. At CBR, he plans to raise millions in new endowment funds, hire six investigators to establish laboratories, and increase translational research, particularly in human cell-based therapies.
“John Baldwin is the right man for the job at the right time,” said Alan Strassman, chairman of the board of the CBR Institute. “His leadership will propel our ambitious scientific and organizational objectives, and his proven ability to garner institutional and philanthropic support comes at a crucial time of growth for the institute.”