HMS Researchers Gain Millions from Gates Foundation to Develop HIV Vaccine

HMS investigators are prominently represented among the 165 scientists from 19 countries who will be part of the new Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery, funded by 16 grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Announced on July 19, the $287 million in awards creates an international network of collaborative research consortia to accelerate the pace of HIV vaccine development.

Norman Letvin, HMS professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, will serve as principal investigator of a five-year, $18 million grant for work on vaccines utilizing adenovirus and mycobacteria vectors. BID scientists Dan Barouch, HMS associate professor of medicine, and Michael Seaman, HMS instructor in medicine, along with Raphael Dolin, the Medical School’s dean for academic and clinical programs and professor of medicine at both BID and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, will also receive significant Gates Foundation funding as members of this and other teams.

Barouch will receive $5 million as part of the Letvin consortium and $500,000 as part of a group led by Barton Haynes of Duke University. Dolin and Seaman have subcontracts with the Comprehensive Antibody Vaccine Immune Monitoring Consortium grant whose principal investigator is David Montefiori, also of Duke. Seaman will oversee a preclinical neutralizing antibody core laboratory budgeted for $2.5 million over five years. Dolin will oversee an acute infection specimen acquisition laboratory budgeted for $1.5 million over five years.

“It’s been only 25 years since the first cases of AIDS were identified,” said Letvin. “Yet in this brief period of time, HIV has taken an unthinkable toll on the human population. Five million new HIV infections occur each year, more than 40 million individuals are currently HIV positive, and more than 20 million people worldwide have already died from AIDS.”

Last year, Letvin and Dolin were named scientific leaders of the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology (CHAVI), a consortium established by the National Institutes of Health to design, develop, and test HIV vaccine candidates. Both the newly developed network of Gates Foundation grants and CHAVI were created as part of a coordinated global plan—the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise—proposed in 2003 by an international group of 140 scientists gathered at a summit to determine the best way to collectively deal with the AIDS crisis.

“It’s clear that the need for cooperation and shared scientific resources among the world’s AIDS researchers has never been more urgent,” Letvin said. “We are privileged to be members of the Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery and look forward to working with our colleagues around the world to speed the development of an effective vaccine to bring the AIDS epidemic under control.”

Two at HMS Receive Freedom to Discover Awards

Two faculty members at HMS, David Clapham and Joseph Avruch, have received Freedom to Discover Awards from Bristol–Myers Squibb. Clapham, a Howard Hughes investigator and the Aldo R. Castañeda professor of cardiovascular research at HMS and Children’s Hospital Boston, was given the 16th annual prize for distinguished achievement in cardiovascular research, and Avruch, an HMS professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, received the seventh annual award for distinguished achievement in metabolic research. Each award includes a $50,000 cash prize and a silver commemorative medallion.

Clapham was recognized for seminal contributions to understanding the control of heart rate at the molecular and cellular levels and for discoveries about the regulation of the cardiac G protein–gated potassium channel. Often countering convention, Clapham’s work has deepened the appreciation of ion channels and cellular signal transduction pathways in the heart and other tissues, potentially leading to better control of superventricular tachycardias and the underlying arrhythmias that can lead to sudden cardiac death.

Similarly, Avruch’s prize recognizes his seminal studies demonstrating the central role of protein (serine/threonine) kinase pathways in mediating the actions of insulin, related growth factors, nutrients, and inflammatory cytokines. These multiple kinase pathways control the enzymes and genes that define the metabolic state and growth potential of the cell. Avruch’s groundbreaking series of discoveries has defined important components of the apparatus used by nutritional and environmental signals to control cell function.

Martin Wins International Prize for Innovation in Health Care

The Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and Friends of Canadian Institutes of Health Research have jointly announced that Joseph Martin, dean of the Faculty of Medicine, has won the first Henry G. Friesen International Prize in Health Research. The award recognizes exceptional innovation and vision by health care leaders from around the world.

Born in Canada, Martin was selected from among the world’s most accomplished health research and policy leaders for creativity in his career and contributions that include fostering new models to improve research and access to care. As part of the prize, which carries a cash award, Martin will deliver a public lecture, “Brain Disease: Health Research Policy for the Public Good,” on Sept. 26 in Ottawa at the National Gallery of Canada.

“I am deeply honored by this recognition from my colleagues in Canada,” said Martin. “The universal Canadian health care system, and the many visionary pioneers who helped build it, including Dr. Henry Friesen, have been an ongoing source of inspiration, direction, and motivation for me.”

Friesen is a renowned Canadian endocrinologist, medical scientist, and visionary in health research planning.

New Appointments to Full Professor

Below are faculty appointed to full professor in April and May.

Susan Block
Professor of Psychiatry
Dana–Farber Cancer Institute
Block has a strong interest in enhancing the humanistic competencies of physicians and improving the care of patients with life-threatening illnesses. She has been responsible for the development and evaluation of educational programs in these areas for medical students, residents, fellows, and faculty. Block has been one of the national leaders of the emerging field of palliative medicine and has trained more than 800 faculty members in palliative care from medical schools throughout the country.

Mack Cheney
Professor of Otology and Laryngology
Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
Major areas of focus for Cheney are head and neck reconstruction, reanimation of the paralyzed face, and ear reconstruction. He has served as director of MEEI’s Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Service since 1988. Cheney is a founder and current board member of the Medical Missions for Children Foundation.

Kenneth Chien
Professor of Medicine and Cell Biology
Massachusetts General Hospital
Chien’s work focuses on molecular pathways for cardiac development and disease utilizing genetically based systems in engineered mice and embryonic stem cells as model systems. Most recently, he reported the discovery of a new cardiovascular stem cell in the hearts of mice, rats, and humans that plays a critical role in the formation of myocardial cell lineages and the right side of the heart itself.

Elaine Elion
Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Harvard Medical School
Elion’s research has focused on elucidating molecular mechanisms that underlie how cells respond to external signals and control growth and differentiation. Her lab’s recent research has centered on signal transduction through mitogen-activated protein kinase cascades and associated factors that ensure fidelity of signaling for appropriate morphological, cell cycle, and survival responses.

James Hudson
Professor of Psychiatry
McLean Hospital
Hudson’s research focuses primarily on the psychiatric epidemiology of mood and related disorders. Other areas of research include eating disorders, fibromyalgia, and psychopharmacology. At McLean, he directs the Biological Psychiatry Laboratory, the Psychiatric Epidemiology Research Program, and the McLean Clinical Trials Center.

Lester Kobzik
Professor of Pathology
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Kobzik studies the way the lungs interact with inhaled particles, including environmental particulates, pathogens, and allergens. One focus is the role of the macrophage scavenger receptors in lung defense mechanisms and pulmonary inflammation, especially in relation to environmental lung disease. Other areas of interest include effects of gender and air pollutant exposures on resistance to pneumonia. He also has clinical responsibilities as a senior surgical pathologist.

Tracy Lieu
Professor of Ambulatory Care and Prevention and Pediatrics
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Children’s Hospital Boston
Lieu’s research evaluates the effectiveness and economic impact of primary care and preventive services. She is internationally recognized for her work in vaccine economics and studies ways to reduce disparities and improve health care for families with chronic conditions. Lieu’s research emphasizes incorporating patient-centered outcomes and values in policy decisions. She is also an HSPH associate professor of health policy and management.

John Maunsell
Professor of Neurobiology
Harvard Medical School
Maunsell’s research is directed at understanding the cellular mechanisms that the brain uses to represent and process sensory information. His laboratory records and analyzes the electrical signals of individual brain cells. Current research focuses on visual signals in the cerebral cortex and the way signals representing different objects change depending on whether the subject engages or ignores those objects.

James Sabin
Clinical Professor of Ambulatory Care and Prevention
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
Sabin’s major research interests are in the clinical and theoretical aspects of fair resource allocation, the role of consumers in overseeing health policy and practice, organizational ethics, and the social and ethical dimensions of bringing antiretroviral treatment for AIDS to India. Along with this appointment, Sabin is an HMS clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry, director of the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Ethics Program, co-founder of the Center for Ethics and Population Health, and director of teaching for the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention.

Peter Sorger
Professor of Systems Biology
Harvard Medical School
Sorger’s laboratory applies experimental and computational approaches to the analysis of chromosome segregation, genomic stability, and programmed cell death in yeast, mice, and human cells. Their overall approach is to link systems-wide models of cellular processes with detailed mechanistic information on the activities of individual proteins. The lab is particularly interested in the microtubule-based machines that power chromosome movement during cell division, the mitotic checkpoints that ensure the accuracy of chromosome segregation, and the signal transduction systems that control programmed cell death.

Ron Walls
Professor of Medicine
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Walls focuses on emergency airway management and is the principal investigator of the National Emergency Airway Registry (NEAR), a multicenter, 10-year study of emergency department intubation, now in its fifth phase. With a multicenter team of emergency physicians and anesthesiologists, Walls has developed a series of airway simulation training courses and has trained thousands of physicians in airway management in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

Honors and Advances

• C. Okey Agba has been appointed the new HMS associate dean for finance. In this capacity, he will work closely with Cynthia Walker, HMS executive dean for administration, and with School leadership to manage HMS’s finances, including strategic financial planning, sponsored programs administration, cost recovery, and financial operations. Agba has been the director of budget and financial analysis for both Brigham and Women’s and Faulkner hospitals. Previously, he was a finance manager at Partners HealthCare System, Inc.

• Cambridge Health Alliance announced that Anne Fabiny, HMS assistant professor of medicine, is the new chief of geriatrics in the Department of Medicine. Fabiny, a clinician and educator, was the director of the fellowship in geriatric medicine at HMS and Beth Israel Deaconess from 2000 through 2005 and director of geriatrics education at BID.

• The American Association of University Women Educational Foundation presented Laurie Glimcher, the Irene Heinz Given professor of immunology at HSPH and an HMS professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, with its 2006 Distinguished Senior Scholar Award during its 2006 conference of state leaders in June. The award recognizes women with long-term achievement in research, teaching, publications, and leadership. Glimcher also received from HMS the 2006 Dean’s Award for Leadership in the Advancement of Women Faculty. Sponsored by HMS dean Joseph Martin, the annual presentation is organized by the Joint Committee on the Status of Women at HMS and HSDM.

News Briefs

• A new endowed chair at the Morehouse School of Medicine was named, in part, after HMS professor of psychiatry and faculty associate dean for student affairs Alvin Poussaint. The Poussaint–Satcher–Cosby Chair in Mental Health, funded by comedian Bill Cosby, is part of the newly established Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse. The institute focuses on mental health, sexual health, the health of the black family, and related issues affecting the African-American community.

• On May 31, HMS held a ceremony to honor its nominee for the Association of American Medical College’s Humanism in Medicine Award, which annually recognizes a medical school faculty physician who is a caring and compassionate mentor to students. Each medical school in the country puts forward a candidate for the award, which comes with a $5,000 grant and a $1,000 donation to the Organization of Student Representatives at the winner’s school. Out of more than 30 faculty members nominated by members of the HMS community, Elizabeth Miller, HMS instructor in pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital, was chosen by a committee of students to be the School’s official nominee.

• The Schweitzer Fellowship Program chose five students from HMS and HSPH to be among its 2006–07 fellows. Fellows pledge to devote at least 200 hours to serving local communities that lack access to adequate health care. Fourth-year HMS student Manasa Basavapatna will help conduct an assessment of the health services available to female sex workers aged 12 to 24. Dustin Duncan, an HSPH student, will create a program to help increase physical activities among low-income residents of Roxbury and north Dorchester. Shennen Floy, a fourth-year HMS student, is the program and volunteer coordinator at an asthma swim program for youth in Chinatown. Guibenson Hyppolite, a fifth-year student at HMS, will create and coordinate an educational program for Haitian diabetics. Fourth-year HMS student Vaishali Patel is working with Citizen Schools of Boston to design and develop an antitobacco curriculum for teen after-school programs.

In Memoriam

Joseph Schildkraut, HMS professor emeritus of psychiatry and founding director of the Neuropsycho-pharmacology/Psychiatric Chemistry Laboratory at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center, died on June 26.

Schildkraut received his AB from Harvard College in 1955, followed by his MD from HMS in 1959. He completed his residency at MMHC and spent four years at the National Institute of Mental Health. He rejoined the HMS community in 1967 and began a career at MMHC that would span nearly four decades, first as an assistant professor of psychiatry, becoming full professor in 1974, and retiring as emeritus in 2004.

Former editor in chief of the Journal of Psychiatric Research, Schildkraut was the author of more than 200 scientific publications. His seminal paper, “The Catecholamine Hypothesis of Affective Disorders,” published in 1965, set the agenda for biological research on depression for the next 25 years. This paper was recognized in 1997 as the most cited of all articles ever published in the American Journal of Psychiatry and one of the most cited papers in the history of psychiatry.

In addition, Schildkraut was involved in the development and progress of Harvard’s Commonwealth Research Center (CRC) based at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center. In its initial phase of development, Schildkraut served as the chair of the CRC scientific advisory board, and he subsequently served as a senior mentor and collaborator in the CRC research program on schizophrenia.

More recently, Schildkraut had been exploring the interrelatedness of depression, spirituality, and artistic creativity. He was editor of the book Depression and the Spiritual in Modern Art: Homage to Miró, which was published in 1996.

He is survived by his wife of 40 years, Betsy Beilenson Schildkraut; his two sons, Peter and Michael; his sister, Shelley Schildkraut Gornish; and his mother, Shirley Schildkraut.

A memorial service for Joseph Schildkraut will be held on Sunday, Sept. 17, at 2 p.m. in Memorial Church in Harvard Yard.

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