Rakesh Jain, the HMS A. Werk Cook Professor of Radiation Oncology (Tumor Biology) and director of the Edwin L. Steele Laboratory for Tumor Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital, received an honorary doctorate on Feb. 2, 2015, from KU Leuven, Belgium’s largest university. Jain and four others were recognized with honorary doctorates for exceptional scientific, societal or cultural achievements as part of KU Leuven’s annual Patron Saint’s Day celebration.
A chemical engineer who has applied his training to the service of cancer research, Jain is only one of 20 people to be elected to the National Academy of Science, the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine.
Jain’s 580 published papers have been widely cited. His work has demonstrated the crucial role engineering techniques can play in the detection and treatment of cancer and has fundamentally changed our understanding of how cancer drugs work. Using complex mathematical models, animal models and advanced imaging techniques, he has successfully mapped blood vessel growth in tumors and has pointed colleagues to new therapies for cancer.
In 2001, Jain proposed a groundbreaking hypothesis on the normalization of blood vessels in tumors. He found that re-engineering—rather than repressing—blood vessel growth in tumors actually deterred tumor metastasis. Jain’s insight has since been confirmed in mouse models, and clinical trials in humans are currently underway.
Emery Brown, the HMS Warren M. Zapol Professor of Anaesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital, was one of 67 new members elected to the National Academy of Engineering on Feb. 5, 2015. Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer.
Brown is one of fewer than 20 people who are members of the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, the three member institutions of the National Academies. He is the first African American elected to all three branches.
Brown was recognized for the development of neural signal processing algorithms for understanding memory encoding and modeling of brain states of anesthesia.
