Proceedings of the HMS Faculty Council

At the Faculty Council meeting on May 17, Joseph Martin, dean of the Faculty of Medicine, reported on the department heads’ retreat, held on April 29 and 30. Topics included financing medical education, Harvard’s response to the NIH clinical and translational science award RFA, the faculty promotions process and new initiatives, and Harvard science planning.

Cynthia Walker, HMS executive dean for administration, discussed the work of the Medical Education Financing Committee. The committee’s goals are to increase the total funding for teaching, develop an equitable method to compensate faculty, make the funding process fully transparent, develop governance mechanisms to rationalize the distribution of funds, and maximize the benefit of restricted funds.

Walker explained that with the advent of the New Pathway curriculum and more small-group tutorials, HMS began a process of modest payments for key teaching. Funds were directed to the departments, but the Medical School did not monitor how these were then distributed to the faculty.

She reminded members that in 1999, Martin and then University president Rudenstine secured a new source of support for teaching medical students, designated “the special teaching allocation,” which represented an additional 1 percent payout on the hospital-based endowed professorships. While fairly evenly distributed among institutions, the payout is not necessarily correlated to where the teaching occurs.

Walker briefly described the committee’s proposal, which would reinforce the departmental role in overseeing undergraduate medical teaching and in coordinating faculty teaching efforts.

Funding this proposal will mean applying restricted Harvard endowments first, seeking Harvard approval for an additional special teaching allocation of .5 percent, and obtaining additional support from hospitals, faculty practice plans, and HMS.

Walker acknowledged the support of the hospitals in directing their own resources—either from a combination of hospitals or physicians’ organizations—toward the educational mission. She said that the committee visualizes a pool of funds, managed by each hospital, in which the hospital and Medical School funds will be brought together to support the faculty teaching efforts within each institution. Overall, these new resources will bring approximately $10 million into the system, in addition to the $8 million now in the system from the current resources.

Joan Reede, HMS dean for diversity and community partnership, discussed the status of diversity in the School. HMS has more underrepresented minority faculty than any other U.S. medical school. The School has the second highest number of Hispanic faculty in the country, exceeded only by the University of Puerto Rico, and the third highest concentration of African-American faculty members.

Reede indicated that over the past 20 years, there has been an increase in the number of underrepresented minority faculty at all academic levels, although HMS remains low in terms of representation of minority women among senior faculty. She identified the recruitment and search processes and visiting professorships as areas needing attention.

Ellice Lieberman, HMS dean for faculty affairs, noted that in the fall, Harvard will launch the New England Higher Education Recruitment Consortium, an employment website on which all academic and nonacademic jobs will be posted. All 243 institutions of higher learning in the New England area will be invited to participate, as well as all of the hospitals and major affiliates of HMS. One of the site’s features will be the ability for dual-career couples to conduct linked searches.

In Memoriam

David Joseph Magoon, a third-year HMS student, died in a tragic accident on July 7. He was 24.

Magoon was born in 1981, son of Drs. Elbert and Martha Magoon, both alumni of HMS. He was a graduate of Hoover High School in North Canton, Ohio, and the University of Virginia, where he earned a full scholarship as a Jefferson Scholar. At HMS, he was a member of the Castle Society.

Orah Platt, professor of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Boston and master of the Castle Society, noted, “David was one of those guys everybody … wanted to sit next to, be like, teach, learn from, dance with, talk to, cry with, play ball with, work with, travel with, trade stories with, and hug. Among the very sad aspects of his early death is that he would have been one of those doctors everybody wanted ... to advocate for them, to keep them healthy, and to hug. We miss him tremendously. ”

He is survived by his parents, Elbert and Martha, of North Canton, Ohio; his sisters, Anne and Katie; and his brother, Christopher.

A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. on July 21 at HMS in Gordon Hall’s third-floor atrium.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to the following:
• Christ Presbyterian Church, 530 Tuscarawas St. W., Canton, Ohio 44702;
• Pediatric Services at Aultman Hospital, 2600 Sixth Street, S.W., Canton, Ohio 44710.
Or to scholarship funds being established in Magoon’s name:
• North Canton City Schools, c/o Treasurer, 525 Seventh Street N.E., Canton, Ohio 44720;
• University of Virginia, Jefferson Scholar Foundation, P.O. Box 3446, Charlottesville, VA 22903;
• Harvard Medical School, Office of Resource Development, 401 Park Dr., Suite 22 West, Boston, MA 02215.

Folkman Takes 2006 Alpert Prize

The Warren Alpert Foundation awarded its 18th annual foundation prize, worth $150,000, to Judah Folkman, the Julia Dyckman Andrus professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital Boston, for discovering that tumors require angiogenesis and for championing the concept of anti-angiogenic therapies for cancer and other diseases. “Judah Folkman absolutely pioneered this field,” said Bruce Zetter, chief scientific officer at Children’s, and one of those who nominated Folkman for the award. “I am extremely grateful for receiving the Alpert prize,” said Folkman. “Such support is tremendously beneficial to the research community and, ultimately, the development of new therapies.”

The Warren Alpert Foundation Prize rewards researchers who make far-reaching breakthroughs with clinical applications. Prize recipients are selected by the foundation’s scientific advisory board, made up of internationally recognized biomedical scientists and now chaired by Joseph Martin, dean of HMS.

Sleep Medicine Awards Farrell Prize

The HMS Department of Sleep Medicine awarded its Peter C. Farrell prize to two recipients this year, one of them posthumously.

Mircea Steriade, professor of neuroscience at the Laval Université in Canada, was awarded for his “daring and indefatigable exploration of brain oscillations during sleep.” Steriade, who died on April 14, studied brain oscillations in sleep and translated his findings into an understanding of seizure generation. He also discovered a new sleep oscillation, which includes other sleep rhythms, such as spindles, delta activity, and fast oscillations.

J. Woodland Hastings, the Paul C. Mangelsdorf professor of natural sciences at Harvard, was honored for creating the field of circadian biology and for his work in photobiology, specifically his creation of the first action spectrum for photic resetting of circadian oscillators.

New Medical Simulation Center Dedicated

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center dedicated the new Carl J. Shapiro Simulation and Skills Center (SASC) on June 13. The SASC, made possible by a donation from Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro, is a simulation facility that allows students and professionals to practice their medical and surgical skills in a realistic setting. The center includes a mock operating room, which contains sophisticated audiovisual equipment and polarized viewing windows. Another room is set up to replicate various clinical areas, such as an emergency room, an intensive care unit, or a medical/surgery floor.

Members of the health care team will practice on interactive mannequins that change blood pressure, pulse, and other physiological measures on cue, and diagnose and treat “virtual patients” that appear via video. Advanced sensors and computer equipment in the center allow faculty members to provide detailed feedback on students’ performances.

“In 2006 the surgical adage is no longer acceptable to ‘see one, do one, teach one’,” said center co-director Daniel Jones, HMS associate professor of surgery at BID. “Today the expectation is practice, practice, practice, and demonstrate proficiency.” The center’s other co-director, David Feinstein, HMS assistant professor of anesthesia at BID, agreed, saying, “students and professionals can only benefit from practicing scenarios in simulation.”

Honors and Advances

• The American Academy of Neurology presented its Baker Award for Lifetime Achievement in Neurologic Education to Martin Samuels, HMS professor of neurology and head of the Department of Neurology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The award is the academy’s highest honor.

• Carla Shatz, the Nathan Marsh Pusey professor of neurobiology at HMS and head of that department, was awarded the Indiana University Gill Center’s 2006 Gill prize. The $25,000 award, accompanied by a commemorative vase, honors a scientist whose research has had a profound impact on shaping neuroscience and enhancing the public understanding of the field.

• Lawrence Tsen, HMS associate professor of anesthesia at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, was elected vice president of the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology during the organization’s April meeting. After serving as vice president for two years, he will become the president-elect for a year, and then president for a year. The 38-year-old international society consists of anesthesiologists, obstetricians, pediatricians, and basic scientists who share an interest in the care of pregnant patients and newborns.

• Ashish Jha, HSPH assistant professor of health policy and management and HMS assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, was selected as one of the inaugural Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Physician Faculty Scholars. The $100,000, three-year award is designed to strengthen the leadership and productivity of junior medical school faculty members who are seeking to improve health care.

• Joel Hirschhorn, HMS assistant professor of genetics (pediatrics) at Children’s Hospital Boston, was one of 60 new members elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation. Members are elected to the 98-year-old society in recognition of their records of scholarly achievement in biomedical research.

• Christos Mantzoros, HMS associate professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, was presented with the Frontiers in Science Award at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists’ 15th annual meeting on April 27. The award, given by the American College of Endocrinology, recognizes an individual who has made exemplary contributions to the profession.

• On April 2, the American Society of Nutrition presented W. Allan Walker, the Conrad Taff professor of pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital, with the 2006 Roland L. Weinsier Award for Excellence in Medical Education for his work in nutrition education. Along with the award, Walker received a plaque and a $1,500 stipend.

Zelen Awardee Approaches Absolute Risk

The winner of the 2006 Marvin Zelen Leadership Award in Statistical Science, selected by the HSPH Department of Biostatistics, was Mitchell Gail (right) from the National Cancer Institute, whose award lecture was titled “Absolute Risk: Clinical Applications and Controversies.”

Gail began his talk by demonstrating that absolute risk for a given patient can be estimated by multiplying relative risk estimates from observational studies by total risk estimates from health surveillance data. He then discussed ways in which absolute risk elements are often evaluated in terms of calibration and discrimination. The former is the accuracy of the estimate for various subpopulations and the latter is the difference in risk between those who do and do not develop the disease.

He showed that absolute risk models such as the Gail model are well calibrated but have modest discrimination. He explained a method of evaluating a risk estimator in terms of the ratio of the loss for the estimator over the loss for a perfect estimator, showing that while high discriminatory power may be necessary for screening, it might not be necessary for counseling patients about whether or not to use treatments that modify risk.

The speaker graduated from both Harvard College (1962) and HMS (1968). After spending three years as a cell biologist, he shifted to biostatistics, receiving a PhD in mathematical statistics from George Washington University in 1977. Since 1985 he has been chief of the NCI’s Biometrics Branch of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics.

The Zelen Award, named for Marvin Zelen (left), recognizes an individual in government, industry, or academia, who by virtue of his or her outstanding leadership has greatly affected the theory and practice of statistical science.

—Adapted from David Schoenfeld

HMS, MGH Celebrate the Scully Chair in Pathology

Academic and medical leaders from HMS and Massachusetts General Hospital came together on April 18 to celebrate the Robert E. Scully Professorship in Pathology. HMS dean Joseph Martin (left) opened the ceremony saying that there may be no higher tribute for faculty members than to have colleagues gather the resources for an endowed chair in their name. The professorship honors Robert Scully (right), a gynecologic pathologist, who joined HMS in 1950 and went on to have a remarkably productive career, extending even beyond his 2005 retirement.

Calling Scully “a warm, caring, and delightful human being,” MGH president Peter Slavin said that Scully had “indelibly changed the field of pathology.” Robert Colvin, the Benjamin Castleman professor of pathology at HMS and chief of the MGH Department of Pathology, pointed out that Scully has continued to do research, having just published a paper the month before. “He is legendary for his diagnostic acumen,” Colvin said, adding that Scully’s ability to home in on the cause of illness had earned him the nickname “The Bullet.” Despite his awesome acuity, Scully was eminently approachable, becoming a mentor and friend to many residents.

HMS pathology professor Robert Young, associate chief of pathology, said, “We have never worked with anyone like Dr. Scully before and certainly never will again.”

Scully culminated the speaking program with his own brief remarks. In explaining his orientation to pathology, which spanned the bench and bedside, he said that he always followed Sir William Osler’s advice by keeping “one eye on the microscopic stage and the other on the patient.” No incumbent has yet been named to the chair.

Harvard Hospitals Place High on U.S. News List

The magazine U.S. News & World Report has ranked eight HMS-affiliated hospitals among the best in the nation in its July 10 issue, listing the 50 best hospitals in 16 specialties.

Both Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital were on the honor roll for being among the highest ranked in at least six specialties. MGH was fourth on the honor roll, ranking first in psychiatry, second in endocrinology; third in neurology and neurosurgery and in orthopedics; fourth in cardiology and cardiac surgery, kidney disease, digestive disorders, and respiratory disorders; sixth in gynecology; eighth in rheumatology; ninth in urology; 15th in cancer; and 21st in pediatrics.

BWH was listed 11th on the honor roll, ranking second in gynecology; fifth in rheumatology and in cardiology and cardiac surgery; sixth in kidney disease; ninth in endocrinology; 10th in digestive disorders; 13th in neurology and neuro-surgery; 14th in respiratory disorders; 17th in orthopedics; 19th in urology; 27th in cancer, and 47th in ear, nose, and throat.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center was listed as having the 12th best endocrinology program; the 19th best in digestive disorders; the 30th best program for respiratory disorders; the 42nd best in cancer and in cardiology and cardiac surgery; and the 47th best program in kidney disease.

The Dana–Farber Cancer Institute was ranked as fifth best in cancer; Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary was listed as having the third best ear, nose, and throat program and the fourth best ophthalmology program; Children’s Hospital Boston was ranked second in pediatrics; McLean Hospital was listed as fourth in psychiatry; and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital was listed seventh in rehabilitation.

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