Federal Grant Supports Disease Outbreak Detection

A team led by researchers at HMS and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care was awarded one of four new national Models of Infectious Disease Agent Study (MIDAS) grants from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, one of the National Institutes of Health, on Feb. 1. The $3 million, five-year grant will be used to develop mathematical and statistical modeling techniques to quickly detect and monitor infectious disease outbreaks, whether they occur naturally or intentionally through a bioterrorist attack.

The MIDAS research team, headed by co-principal investigators Richard Platt, HMS professor of ambulatory care and prevention and chair of that department, and Martin Kulldorff, HMS associate professor of ambulatory care and prevention, will determine optimal ways to use and combine different kinds of health care information to identify hospital-based outbreaks of antimicrobial-resistant infections that may be difficult to detect, and to identify the spread of pathogens within and between communities.

Glaser Scientist Award Honors Primate Center Researcher

Photo by Kristen Toohey

David Evans, HMS assistant professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at the New England Primate Research Center, has been given one of this year’s three Elizabeth Glaser Scientist Awards. The five-year, $682,500 prize recognizes promising HIV/AIDS researchers and is the Pediatric AIDS Foundation’s highest scientific honor. Evans’s research involves developing vaccines for simian immunodeficiency virus, including using attenuated strains of Salmonella that are engineered to deliver polypeptide antigens and SIV recombinants that are limited to a single cycle of infection as non-replicating vaccine strains.

Invitational Award List Available Online

Each year a range of postdoctoral and faculty fellowships and grants are available to the HMS community by invitation only. Potential candidates must first apply to HMS since they cannot apply directly for these awards. Those who are selected may submit proposals to the specific grant programs.

Updated information on the next cycle of invitational fellowships and grants is available online, beginning Monday, Feb. 13, at http://medapps.med.harvard.edu/fellowships.

The deadline for applications is April 10. Applications should be submitted to the Office of the Dean for Academic and Clinical Programs in Gordon Hall, Rm. 101.

DACP Presents Program to Prevent Obesity

The HMS Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention has developed the Obesity Prevention Program, which will conduct epidemiologic, health services, and intervention research studies within defined populations of children and adults. The program will focus on the developmental origins of obesity and its consequences, behavior change interventions in children and adults, and observational health services research. The department is planning to hire one or two new faculty members for the program. For more information, contact Matthew Gillman at matthew_gillman@hms.harvard.edu.

Pritzker Gift Funds Obesity Research at HSPH

Harvard College alumna Penny Pritzker and her husband Bryan Traubert will donate $5 million to fund an initiative in obesity research at HSPH. The Donald and Sue Pritzker Nutrition and Fitness Initiative, named after Ms. Pritzker’s parents, will comprise three efforts: a nationwide application of a childhood exercise and nutrition program being piloted by HSPH and the YMCA, a scholarship fund for HSPH students researching obesity, and an endowment for a new permanent junior professorship at HSPH in obesity-related research. The initiative will be directed by Steven Gortmaker, HSPH professor of the practice of health sociology, and Frank Hu, HSPH associate professor in the Department of Nutrition and Epidemiology and HMS assistant professor of medicine.

Jewish Medical Texts Discussed at Countway

On March 1 the Countway Library will host a symposium on the role of Jews in the history of medicine. The symposium will highlight the Hyams collection, a rare library of Jewish medical texts that includes printings of the works of Maimonides, some of the earliest known medical texts. For information or to register for any of the day’s five lectures, visit www.countway.med.harvard.edu/news/. Lecture topics include medical errors in the Middle Ages, race and medicine in the 21st century, and the social context of the early Hebrew translations of medical works.

HMS Insurer Awards Patient-safety Grants

CRICO/RMF, the medical malpractice insurer for Harvard’s teaching hospitals, awarded $50,000 grants to ten HMS-affiliated researchers. The grants will be used to conduct patient-safety research projects. Recipients were chosen for proposing studies that are broadly applicable, have a defined path to implementation, or contain an innovative approach to education and training. Winning research proposals included topics such as standardizing reporting of test results, communication-skills training, and re-designing patient-safety measures.

Proteomics Center Established at DFCI

John F. and Shelley Blais donated $16.5 million to the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute to establish a new protein research facility, the Blais Proteomics Center. Dana–Farber will use the money to purchase new-generation mass spectrometers, which identify proteins within cells, and to recruit research scientists and technicians. It will also fund a research and development program to design new experimental methods, improve mass spectrometry technology, and support efforts to design efficient mathematical models for high-volume data analysis. “Proteomics is a uniquely powerful tool that will enable us to understand better how normal and cancer cells function,” said Barrett Rollins, DFCI chief scientific officer. “In time, this can lead to more sensitive tests for detecting cancer at its earliest stages, identifying new targets for cancer therapies, and speeding the development of novel cancer treatments.”

News Brief

A patient education audiovisual program produced by the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute won an International Health and Medical Media “FREDDIE” Award in the area of Issues and Ethics. “Entering a Clinical Trial: Is It Right for You?” is a tool to simply and clearly explain cancer clinical trials to patients and their families using talks from cancer clinical trial participants and cancer survivors, family members, and health care providers. The program can be viewed at www.dana-farber.org/res/clinical/trials-info/.

Mouse Embryonic Stem Cell Services Available

The Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) and HMS–Partners HealthCare Center for Genetics and Genomics have made mouse embryonic stem cell services available to HSCI faculty. The services include the production of modified DNA constructs by recombination-mediated genetic engineering (“recombineering”) and ES transfection; the creation of GFP reporter transgenes using BAC transgenic constructs with GFP under the control of endogenous promoters; and consultation for the design of ES cell experiments. For more information, please contact either Erica Zornick at erica_zornick@harvard.edu or David Conner at conner@receptor.med.harvard.edu.

Honors and Advances

• At December’s annual meeting of the American Public Health Association (APHA), Rebecca Betensky, HSPH associate professor of biostatistics, was honored with the Mortimer Spiegelman Award of the APHA Statistics Section. The award is given each year to an outstanding public health statistician under the age of 40.

• Brian Bilchik, HMS instructor in medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, was appointed the vice chair of the Communications Group in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Forum for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention. The forum is a collaboration of national and international organizations working to curb the global epidemic of heart disease and stroke.

• The American Association of Immunologists will present its AAI–Huang Foundation Meritorious Career Award to Laurie Glimcher, the Irene Heinz Given professor of immunology at HSPH and an HMS professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Glimcher is being recognized for her outstanding research contributions to the field of immunology. The award will be conferred at the Immunology 2006 conference in May.

• Barry Levy, HSPH visiting scientist in occupational medicine, was presented with the 2005 Sedgewick Memorial Medal in December at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association (APHA). The Sedgewick medal is awarded annually to an individual who has furthered the practice and knowledge of public health; it is the APHA’s oldest and most prestigious honor.

• John Parrish, the Edward Wigglesworth professor of dermatology and head of the Department of Dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital, joined the National Space Biomedical Research Institute’s board of directors. In this role, he will help guide research initiatives to advance human efforts in space flight.

• David Pellman, HMS associate professor of pediatrics at the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute, has received one of this year’s two E. Mead Johnson awards. The $15,000 prize, presented by the Society for Pediatric Research, is the highest research honor given in the field of pediatrics. Pellman will present a review of his research at the society’s annual meeting in April.

• Bruce Rosen, HMS professor of radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, has been appointed the national science director of the Mental Illness and Neuroscience Discovery (MIND) Institute. As director, Rosen will oversee the institute’s science board. The MIND Institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to research into mental illness and neuroscience.

• The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation selected Meredith Rosenthal, HSPH assistant professor of health economics and policy, for one of its four Sloan Industry Fellowships. The $45,0000, two-year fellowship funds research on the influences that shape
industrial enterprises.

• Charles Vacanti, the Vandam/Covino professor of anesthesia and head of the Department of Anesthesia at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, was elected president of the Society of Academic Anesthesiology Chairs (SAAC) at its annual meeting in November. SAAC aims to provide members with a collegial and supportive forum for the exchange of ideas and to help members ensure that their departments achieve excellence in education, research, care,
and administration.

• Deborah Klein Walker, HSPH adjunct lecturer of society, human development, and health, was named president of the American Public Health Association (APHA) at the group’s annual meeting in December. APHA is the oldest organization of public health professionals in the United States.

In Memoriam

Photo courtesy of McLean Hospital

Paul Malleville Howard, formerly an HMS assistant professor in psychiatry at McLean Hospital, died on Friday, Jan. 20 at the age of 100.

Howard received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania and conducted his internship at the Methodist Episcopal Hospital in Philadelphia. He came to Boston to perform his residency training at the Boston Psychopathic Hospital, Boston City Hospital, and Massachusetts General Hospital. He became a resident at McLean in 1938 and stayed on the hospital’s staff for the next 61 years.

During his tenure at McLean, Howard held many positions, including senior physician, chief of men’s services, chief of women’s services, acting chief psychiatrist, associate psychiatrist in chief, associate director of clinical psychiatry, and acting clinical director. From 1975 until his retirement in 1999, Howard served as chair of McLean’s Institutional Review Board, which oversaw policies that helped protect the rights of volunteers participating in the hospital’s research studies.

“Paul Howard had one of the most agile minds and kindest hearts of anyone I have ever known,” said McLean president Bruce Cohen. “For more than 60 years, he gave McLean Hospital and its patients a gift of incomparable value: his work and his wisdom.”

Howard is survived by a son, three daughters, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Edward W. “Ted” Webster, HMS professor emeritus of radiology (physics) at Massachusetts General Hospital, died on Saturday, Dec. 17, at the age of 83.

Webster completed his bachelor’s and doctorate degrees at the University of London, in 1943 and 1946, respectively. He joined the HMS community in 1954 as an assistant in radiology at MGH. He was promoted to full professor of radiology (physics) in 1975. From 1979 through 1986, he held that position while also being a faculty member of the Harvard–MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. He became professor emeritus of radiology (physics) in 1992 and retired in 2001.

Webster’s areas of expertise included the use of radiation in breast cancer and leukemia research and the impact of low-level radiation on people. As part of his research, he invented a lightweight dental apron that offered protection from X-rays. Over the course of his 47 years with MGH, he authored more than 120 research papers and presented more than 200 lectures. During his tenure, he served as radiation safety officer and chairman of the Radiation Safety and Radioactive Drug Research Committee. He was a member of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine and, in 1983, received their highest accolade, the Coolidge Award. In 1991, he was given the American College of Radiology Gold Medal for his outstanding contributions to the radiological sciences over four decades.

Webster is survived by his wife, Dorothea Wood; his children, John, Peter, Anne Wolfe, Edward, Mark, and Susan MacPhee; his sister Margaret Bates; and six grandchildren.

top