Recruitment Begins For Hurricane Advisory Group

On Jan. 10, a team led by HMS researcher Ronald Kessler started a national telephone campaign to begin recruiting 2,000 survivors of Hurricane Katrina to serve in the Hurricane Katrina Community Advisory Group. The phone campaign involves a recorded message sent to a random sample of tens of thousands of phones across the country in an attempt to catch those who spread out to different states after fleeing the hurricane. The message encourages their participation in the group.

Interviews with members of the advisory group will provide ongoing information on the pace of recovery of Katrina survivors. The recorded interviews will be compiled into a permanent archive of oral histories, which will be posted online at www.HurricaneKatrina.med.harvard.edu to be used as a resource by historians, policymakers, the press, and the public.

The information-gathering tool used to track the experiences of advisory group members is being implemented for the first time and is based on lessons learned from past disasters, including the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

The initiative is directed by Kessler, HMS professor of health care policy, and funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.

Gimbrone Wins Faisal Prize

Michael Gimbrone Jr., the Elsie T. Friedman professor of pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, has been honored with the King Faisal International Prize for Medicine. Gimbrone was selected for his work in vascular biology, particularly for accomplishments including culturing human endothelial and smooth muscle cells, discovering endothelial leukocyte adhesion molecules, and identifying three genes with potential arthroprotective function. A total of 48 researchers from 11 countries have won the $200,000 prize in medicine over the last 28 years.

Appointments to Full Professor

The following full professorships were announced in October.

Richard Hodin, Professor of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital
Hodin’s research is on the processes of intestinal epithelial growth and differentiation. His laboratory has identified a molecular switch that occurs within the gut under a variety of disease states, including starvation, sepsis, and inflammation. The work has focused on elucidating the molecular mechanisms responsible for the gut mucosal dysfunction that is seen in the context of these diseases.

Sean Colgan, Professor of Anesthesia, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Colgan’s research has focused on defining novel aspects of mucosal inflammation. His studies have elucidated molecular pathways relevant to the resolution of inflammatory disease, with a particular emphasis on the contribution of mucosal epithelial cells. His work has also made significant contributions to the current understanding of metabolic changes associated with inflammatory disease, particularly oxygen metabolism and the role of hypoxia in inflammatory signaling.

Gilbert Daniels, Professor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital
Daniels has been the clinical director of the MGH Endocrine Fellowship program for 23 years. A clinician teacher, he has developed and directed the MGH postgraduate courses in thyroid disease and endocrinology. He has received many honors, among them the Distinguished Physician Award of the Endocrine Society and the Distinguished Clinician Award of the American College of Endocrinology.

Jen Sheen, Professor of Genetics, Massachusetts General Hospital
Sheen’s laboratory investigates the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying plant responses to central regulators, such as sugars, hormones, stresses, and pathogen elicitors. The researchers are especially interested in developing simple and powerful assays to efficiently explore plant genome resources. They have used an integrated approach—by combining genomic, cellular, biochemical, genetic, proteomic, and bioinformatic tools—to discover key regulatory genes and molecules that control diverse plant signal transduction pathways.

Plasmid Information Database Launched

The Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center DNA Resource Core at the Harvard Institute of Proteomics is launching its online Plasmid Information Database (PlasmID). PlasmID allows users to search and request clones from a plasmid repository collection, which includes human, yeast, Y. pestis, V. cholerae, F. tularensis, and Pseudomonas ORF clones, ‘empty vectors’ for molecular genetic techniques, including mammalian expression and shRNA; cancer-related cDNA expression clones; viral genes and genomes; and more. PlasmID is available to any researcher in an academic or nonprofit lab. To reach PlasmID, visit www.hip.harvard.edu and click “Search and Request Clones” at the bottom of the page. Contact Stephanie Mohr at stephanie_mohr@hms.harvard.edu to schedule a brief demo of PlasmID or if you have questions about sharing or requesting clones.

Fellowship in Medical Ethics Accepting Applications

The Division of Medical Ethics is accepting applications for its 2006–2007 fellowship in medical ethics. Fellows will attend weekly and monthly seminars and conduct original research on ethical issues in medicine, health, and health care policy and practice. The fellowship is open to physicians, nurses, lawyers, and those in academic fields related to health or medicine. The fee for the program is $3,500; scholarships are available. For more information, e-mail dme@hms.harvard.edu.

Honors and Advances

• On Nov. 18, Walter Willett, HMS professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Fredrick John Stare professor of epidemiology and nutrition at HSPH, was given the American Cancer Society’s Medal of Honor. The award, the society’s highest honor, was presented to Willett for his work in clinical research.

• Research to Prevent Blindess, a voluntary organization that supports eye research, presented its Lew R. Wasserman Merit Award to Lois Smith, HMS associate professor of ophthalmology at Children’s Hospital Boston. The award, which provides unrestricted research support, was presented to Smith for her research on the basic mechanisms of diabetic retinopathy and retinopathy of prematurity.

• Robert Mayer, HMS professor of medicine at the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute, was named chair of the scientific advisory board for the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research. As chair, Mayer will oversee the foundation’s medical and research efforts. The foundation aims to advance pancreatic cancer research through grants, lobbying, and public education.

• David G. Hunter, HMS associate professor of ophthalmology at Children’s Hospital Boston, was given the Walt and Lilly Disney Award for Amblyopia Research from Research to Prevent Blindness. The $50,000 grant is given to scientists whose work contributes to the improved diagnosis and treatment of amblyopia, a childhood condition that may lead to permanent vision loss.

• Richard Gelber, HMS professor of pediatrics (biostatistics) at the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute, has been awarded the Jacqueline Seroussi Memorial Foundation 2005 prize for outstanding work in breast cancer research. The honor, which included a $125,000 award, was presented to Gelber and six other researchers at a ceremony at Tel Aviv University.

• Atul Gawande, HMS assistant professor of surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, received the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s 2005 Science Journalism award for his New Yorker article “The Bell Curve.” It explained why technical skills alone are insufficient to ensure good outcomes in cystic fibrosis treatment.

• Philip Oberdoerffer, HMS researcher in pathology, has been named one of three National Space Biomedical Research Institute postdoctoral fellows. The two-year program offers fellows the opportunity to manage their own space-related biomedical research project while continuing to learn from an experienced faculty mentor.

• The Irvington Institute for Immunological Research created an award in honor of Frederick Alt, the Charles A. Janeway professor of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Boston and chairman of Irvington’s Scientific Advisory Board. The Frederick W. Alt Award for New Discoveries in Immunology recognizes former Irvington Institute fellows who have had outstanding success in academia or industry and will be awarded to those whose research may have a potentially major impact on immunology.

Giddon Feted at School of Dental Medicine

Photo by Steve Gilbert

On Dec. 6, HSDM held a celebration for Donald Giddon (left), HSDM clinical professor of oral and developmental biology, for his significant gift to the new Research and Education building. The gift was given in recognition of the role of HSDM and Harvard University in furthering Giddon’s international contributions to the health and behavioral sciences. At the ceremony, the School named a conference room and adjoining office space in the School’s new building the Professor Donald B. Giddon, DMD, PhD, Behavioral Science Research Area and Conference Room. Pictured above with Giddon at the ceremony are R. Bruce Donoff (center), dean of the School of Dental Medicine, and Joseph Martin, HMS dean of the Faculty of Medicine.

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