Computational Biology
Microarrays Prove Reliable in Cross-platform Tests
Immunology
T Cell Misfits May Spell Autoimmunity
Pathology
Prostate Tumor Chemistry
Reveals Early Disease
Medical Education
Dienstag Named Medical Education Dean
Student Research Takes Stage at Soma Weiss Day
Minorities Appear to Use CAM Less Than Whites
Blueprint Drawn for Ebola Infection
Director Appointed for Research Compliance at HMS
Abelardo Morell Photograph Donated
Stem Cell Institute Awards 12 Seed Grants
Connors Gift Renames MGH Building After Thiers
Zelen Award and Talk Announced
Rabkin Fellows Chosen for ’05–’06
Honors and Advances
In Memoriam
Surgery Center Joins Push for Quality Improvement
Director Appointed for Research Compliance at HMS
Peter Harrington, formerly the senior associate counsel at the University of Vermont, has been appointed the new director of the HMS Office of Research Compliance. As director, Harrington will be responsible for the coordination, management, monitoring, and communication of HMS’s research compliance program, involving grants running through the Medical School. Areas of responsibility include grants management, intellectual property, export controls, post-9/11 regulations, human and animal subjects research, biological safety, conflict of interest, scientific misconduct, and human embryonic stem cell research. “Peter brings a strong background in a range of research compliance areas, gained while working in legal and administrative capacities in different university, academic medical center, and state health agency settings,” said Margaret Dale, dean for faculty and research integrity.
 Photo by Liza Green, HMS Media Services |
Spectators admire Abelardo Morell’s photograph, “Laboratory Glass Construction,” after Morell gave a talk on April 12 to commemorate the donation of the photograph to the new research building. He is considered by many critics to be one of the foremost modern photographers in the United States. Some of his work is among the permanent collection at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art.
Stem Cell Institute Awards 12 Seed Grants
The Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) has selected 12 young scientists
to receive its two-year, $150,000 seed grants. The Seed Grant Program
provides early funding for innovative projects in any field of
stem cell research. The awards put particular emphasis on projects
that might be difficult to fund from other sources. The recipients
are
• Nabeel Bardeesy, HMS instructor in medicine at Massachusetts
General Hospital
• Dong Fong Chen, HMS assistant professor of ophthalmology
at Schepens Eye Research Institute;
• Alan Davidson, HMS instructor
in medicine at MGH
• Kevin Eggan, junior fellow at the Harvard Society
of Fellows in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences
• Niels Geijsen,
HMS instructor in medicine at MGH
• Rohit Kulkarni, HMS assistant
professor of medicine at BWH
• Jeannie Lee, HMS professor of genetics
(pathology) at MGH
• M. William Lensch, research fellow in biological
chemistry and molecular pharmacology at Children’s
• Craig
Micchelli, research fellow in genetics at HMS
• Hanna Mikkola, HMS
instructor in pediatrics at Children’s
• Rosario Sanchez Pernaute,
HMS assistant professor of neurology at MGH
• Amy Wagers, HMS
assistant professor of pathology at Joslin Diabetes Center.
Connors Gift Renames MGH
Building After Thiers
Massachusetts General Hospital’s Wellman Building will be renamed the Samuel and Paula Thier building, after the former president of MGH and Partners HealthCare and his wife. The renaming is in honor of a $5 million donation to the hospital by Jack Connors, chairman of the Partners Board of Trustees, and his wife Eileen. They asked that the building be renamed after the former president. “Sam Thier is one of the single most influential health care leaders of our time,” said Jack Connors. “It is truly gratifying to be able to help salute Sam’s far-reaching contributions to health care in this meaningful way.”
Zelen Award and Talk Announced
The HSPH Department of Biostatistics presented the 2005 Marvin Zelen Leadership Award in Statistical Science to Ross Prentice of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Public Health Sciences. The award is given annually to an individual who has greatly affected the theory and practice of statistical science. He will present a lecture on June 3. Nominations for next year’s award are being accepted until November 1.
Rabkin Fellows Chosen for ’05–’06
The Rabkin Fellowship in Medical Education, which provides faculty with an opportunity to develop skills in medical education or academic administration, was given to six HMS faculty members this year. The 2005–2006 Rabkin fellows are May Pian-Smith, HMS assistant professor of anesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital; Tamara Vesel, HMS instructor in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Boston; and from Beth–Israel Deaconess, Charles Day, HMS instructor in orthopedic surgery; Sherry Scovell, HMS instructor in surgery; Michael Parker, HMS instructor in medicine; and Sigall Kassutto, HMS clinical fellow in medicine. As fellows, they will undertake an analytic study, research, or educational project focusing on an important issue in medical education, with the results presented at a culminating symposium.
Honors and Advances
• Joseph Mougous, Research Fellow in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at HMS, was one of 18 scientists selected to receive a Damon Runyan postdoctoral fellowship at the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation’s February Scientific Advisory Committee Review. The three-year fellowship is presented to outstanding young scientists conducting theoretical and experimental research around cancer and its causes. Mougous was given the fellowship for his project, “A novel metagenomic screen for the discovery of antibiotics from environmental DNA.”
• Frederick Alt, the Charles A. Janeway professor of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Boston, will receive the 2005 Pasarow Medical Research Award in the field of cancer at a ceremony and dinner on June 5. The $35,000 prize is given for extraordinary accomplishment, and the likelihood of continuing outstanding achievement, in biomedical science.
• Sarah Weiler was appointed deputy associate director for program coordination for the Dana–Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, effective June 1. Weiler will be responsible for central support and coordination of DF/HCC programs as well as program planning and evaluation. She will support Ed Harlow, the associate director of planning and evaluation, and work with Karen Emmons, the associate director of the Initiative to Eliminate Cancer Disparities (IECD).
• C. Stephen Foster, HMS professor of ophthalmology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and founder and president of Massachusetts Eye Research and Surgery Institute, was given the 2005 Mildred Weisenfeld Award for Excellence in Ophthalmology by the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO). Foster was honored for his work on ocular inflammatory diseases. He was presented the award on May 2 at ARVO’s annual meeting in Fort Lauderdale, where he gave a lecture titled “Immunopathogenesis and Therapeutic Implications for Ocular Cicatrical Pemphigold.”
• Jean A. McNamara, a staff assistant in the Program in Medical Education—Curriculum Support, received the Dolores J. Brown Staff Award. The award pays tribute to an exceptional staff member at HMS or HSDM who has a record of outstanding service and has helped to create a welcoming, friendly, and inclusive work environment. McNamara was honored for “going above and beyond the award criteria on a daily basis.”
• Mininder Kocher, HMS assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at Children’s Hospital Boston, won the 2005 Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation Clinical Research Award. Kocher was given the $20,000 prize for developing an evidence-based approach to improving the clinical effectiveness of diagnosis and management of septic arthritis in children’s hips.
• The Association of American Physicians will honor David G. Nathan, president emeritus of the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute and the Robert A. Stranahan distinguished professor of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Boston, with the George M. Kober medal in April 2006. The medal is academic internal medicine’s most distinguished award. Nathan will become the third physician to receive both the Kober medal and the John Howland Award of the American Pediatric Society, which he was presented in 2003.
• Donald Ingber, the Judah Folkman professor of vascular biology in the Department of Pathology at Children’s Hospital Boston, has been given a $75,000 grant from the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative. Ingber received the award for work in nanotechnology.
• Amy Wagers, HMS assistant professor of pathology at Joslin Diabetes Center, received the five-year $500,000 Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award in Biomedical Sciences—given annually to 20 young scientists nationwide to help them make the transition from postdoctoral studies to a faculty position. Wagers also received the Smith Family New Investigator award from the Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation, a $200,000 two-year grant. The grants will help fund her studies of blood-based stem cells.
• Nawal Nour, HMS assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, has received the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ community service award. The community service award recognizes those actively involved in a community program designed to help underserved or poorly served patient populations. Nour was honored for her directorship of BWH’s African Women’s Health Center, which works to improve the physical and mental health of refugee women who have undergone female genital cutting or circumcision.
• C. Ronald Kahn, the Mary K. Iacocca professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and president of Joslin Diabetes Center, was awarded the 2005 Dale Medal from the British Society of Endocrinology in early April. He also gave a lecture to the society titled “A Genetic Analysis of Insulin and Diabetes Regulated Gene Expression.” The Dale Medal, the society’s highest honor, recognizes work that has fundamentally changed the understanding of endocrinology.
• Carola Eisenberg, an HMS lecturer in social medicine, and her husband, Leon Eisenberg, the Maude and Lillian Presley professor emeritus of social medicine at HMS, will receive the American Psychiatric Association’s 2005 Human Rights Award “in recognition of the work they have done over the span of their careers.” Carola Eisenberg is a founding member of Physicians for Human Rights and has done human rights work in Chile, El Salvador, and Paraguay; Leon Eisenberg participated in a human rights mission in Greece. The award will be presented at the APA Convocation in Atlanta on May 23.
• Lewis Cantley, HMS professor of systems biology and of
medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess, received the eighth annual Pezcoller
Foundation–
American Association of Cancer Re-search International Award for
Cancer Research. Cantley was honored for his discovery of the key
phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) cancer cell pathway. He delivered
a lecture on the role of PI3K in cancer at the organization’s
meeting in late April and will be honored by the Pezcoller Foundation
at an award ceremony in Trento, Italy.
In Memoriam
Austin Lorenzo Vickery, professor emeritus of pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital, died on March 2.
Vickery joined MGH in 1949 and remained there for over 50 years. He was recognized worldwide for his work in thyroid, prostate, and GI pathology. His colleagues, friends, and students remember him as a wise teacher with a wry sense of humor. His late wife and he provided funds for an endowed chair of pathology at MGH and HMS.
Yvedt Matory, HMS assistant professor of surgery at Brigham
and Women’s Hospital, died April 15. She was 48.
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Matory worked in the Division of Surgical Oncology and specialized in breast cancer treatment. She served as the director of the breast cancer core team at the American Cancer Society. Her major research was focused on re-mote monitoring, and she developed a system for taking care of patients at home with the aid of computers.