Association of American Medical Colleges Recognizes Three HMS Faculty Members

Three HMS faculty members were honored by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) in November. Joan Reede (top), HMS dean for diversity and community partnership, received the Herbert W. Nickens, MD, Award, which honors an individual “who has made outstanding contributions to promoting justice in medical education and health care.” Reede is director of the Center of Excellence in Minority Health and Health Disparities and has, among other accomplishments, developed programs to support the academic career growth of underrepresented minorities and women. David Golan (bottom), HMS professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology, won the AAMC’s Robert J. Glaser AOA Distinguished Teacher Award. He was recognized for his creation 20 years ago of the School’s “Principles of Pharmacology” course; his current work as the course’s director, major lecturer, and head tutor; and his commitment to student–faculty collaboration. Stuart Orkin (middle), a Howard Hughes investigator and the David G. Nathan professor of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Boston and HMS, received the association’s Award for Distinguished Research in the Biomedical Sciences. The award recognizes Orkin’s research in hematology, which has advanced the diagnosis and treatment of leukemia and other blood disorders. Among Orkin’s groundbreaking work has been providing the first comprehensive molecular understanding of an inherited blood disorder and his use of reverse genetics to study chronic granulomatous disease. His current studies include identification of certain genes that control the differentiation of stem cells.

HMS and HSPH Faculty Elected to the Institute
Of Medicine

David Bates
Professor of Medicine,
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Professor of Health Policy
and Management,
Harvard School of Public Health
Bates’s research has focused on the use of information technology to improve the safety, quality, and efficiency of health care. He has in particular evaluated medication safety, finding there is room for improvement in many areas. Specifically, his group has shown that computerization of prescribing reduces error rates.

Troyen Brennan
Professor of Medicine,
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management,
Harvard School of Public Health
Brennan holds degrees in public health and law and helped develop Harvard’s joint degree program in the two fields. He is the chair of HSPH’s institutional review board, the Human Subjects Committee. Currently, he is working on a project involving Sweden, New Zealand, and Denmark to design a reliable system of medical justice.

Barbara Kahn
Professor of Medicine,
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Kahn studies the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes and the ways in which obesity increases the risk of developing the disease. One important focus is the molecular physiology of insulin resistance. In mouse studies, Kahn has demonstrated that intertissue communication is critical in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes and that the adipocyte plays a major role in the disease process. Using DNA array technology her lab recently discovered a novel adipocyte-secreted protein that is elevated in the serum of insulin-resistant rodents and of humans with obesity and type 2 diabetes; the protein appears to play a causative role in the development of insulin resistance and diabetes. Research in Kahn’s lab also focuses on novel signaling pathways for the regulation of food intake and energy balance.

Dennis Selkoe
Vincent and Stella Coates
Professor of Neurologic Diseases,
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Selkoe applies molecular and cell biological approaches to studying human neurodegeneration, particularly in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. His laboratory’s discoveries of the cellular production of amyloid-beta protein (A-beta) throughout life and its enhancement by Alzheimer’s--causing genetic mutations underpin the hypothesis that A-beta build-up in brain regions serving cognition drives Alzheimer’s. These findings have led to screens for identifying A-beta–-lowering compounds. Through this work, he and his colleagues have uncovered unexpected features of protein biology, including the discovery that presenilin is a unique intramembrane protease that cleaves APP, Notch, and many other proteins within lipid bilayers. Selkoe serves as co-chair of the Harvard Center for Neurodegeneration and Repair.

Leonard Zon
Grousbeck Professor of Pediatrics,
Children’s Hospital Boston
Zon is a Howard Hughes investigator and the director of the Stem Cell Program at Children’s Hospital Boston. He recently completed a term as president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research and president of the American Society for Clinical Investigation. He has found that the zebrafish is a powerful model system that contributes to our basic understanding of blood stem cells and cancer biology.

Environmental Award Presented to Gore

HMS’s Center for Health and the Global Environment presented its 2005 Global Environmental Citizen Award to former Vice President Al Gore (middle) at a ceremony on Oct. 21. The award was presented by actress and center member Meryl Streep (left). “Al Gore’s dedication to the environment has never wavered,” said Eric Chivian (right), HMS assistant clinical professor of psychiatry (social medicine) at Massachusetts Mental Health Center and director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment. “He is one of our nation’s most knowledgeable and passionate communicators about the urgent need to address global climate change.”

Reid Selected One of Scientific 50

Forsyth Celebrates Moorrees

On Oct. 21 the Forsyth Institute hosted an event celebrating the life and work of Coenraad Moorrees, who was chairman of the Harvard/Forsyth Institute Orthodontic Department from 1948 to 1989 and a former HSDM professor of orthodontics. Paul Solomon, chairman of Forsyth’s Board of Trustees, named Moorrees the first recipient of the annual Dr. Coenraad F.A. Moorrees Award for Clinical Research Excellence. The award was given posthumously. The event also served as the launch of a fund-raising campaign for the creation of the Dr. Coenraad F.A. Moorrees Clinical Research Center at Forsyth. This center of excellence will serve as a resource for senior scientists, postdoctoral fellows, and trainees to carry out critical research programs and advance the understanding of orthodontics.

Honors and Advances

• JoAnn Manson, the Elizabeth F. Brigham professor of women’s health at HMS and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, received the National Institutes of Health’s Robert S. Gordon, Jr. Lectureship Award in May. She was honored for her research on women’s health, including her work on the Women’s Health Initiative.

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