Michael Carroll, Steven McCarroll and Beth Stevens have been honored with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) 2016 Scientific Research Award for their collaborative work on the biology underlying schizophrenia. The award was presented on Nov. 17 at the National Geographic in Washington, D.C.
Michael Carroll, HMS professor of pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital, is an expert on the biochemistry of the complement system. Earlier in his career he was the first person to characterize the C4 genes, and his lab created the C4 knockout mouse. Carroll is also head of the Master of Medical Sciences in Immunology program at HMS and senior investigator for the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at Boston Children’s.
Steven McCarroll, the Dorothy and Milton Flier Associate Professor of Biomedical Science and Genetics at HMS, uses genetics, molecular biology and novel approaches for single-cell analysis to reveal the ways in which genomes vary from person to person and the mechanism by which each variation contributes to human disease. McCarroll is also director of genetics for the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
Beth Stevens, HMS assistant professor of neurology at Boston Children’s Hospital, focuses on understanding how glial cells interact with neurons to communicate with one another through synapses. They are a crucial component in protecting against diseases such as schizophrenia.
Elizabeth Armstrong, HMS professor of pediatrics, part-time, at Boston Children’s Hospital, was awarded the Abraham Flexner Award for Distinguished Service to Medical Education.
An expert in curricular design and instruction, Armstrong has been instrumental in shaping medical education curricula across the nation and throughout the world for more than three decades. As founder and director of the Harvard Macy Institute, she has influenced, inspired and mentored thousands of medical educators, deans and department chairs and has fostered a global community of thousands of educators and leaders to advance how health care is provided and taught.
Armstrong received a $10,000 prize and the Flexner Medal at the AAMC annual meeting in November. She donated the prize money to the Harvard Macy Institute to establish a scholarship fund for those who wish to attend courses and do not have the financial resources to pay for them.
Fidencio Saldaña, HMS dean for students, received the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) 2016 Careers in Medicine Excellence in Medical Student Career Advising Individual Advisor Award and a crystal award at the AAMC annual meeting in November.
Saldaña, who is also HMS assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, was recognized for his accomplishments and commitment as a dedicated career advisor who helps students succeed in fulfilling their career goals.
Welcome Bender, Timothy Hla and David Scadden of Harvard Medical School are among 391 members elected as fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Election as a AAAS Fellow is an honor presented to AAAS members by their peers. This year 391 members have been so honored because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.
New Fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue rosette pin, representing science and engineering, respectively, on Feb. 18 at the AAAS Fellows Forum during the 2017 AAAS annual meeting in Boston.
Welcome Bender, the HMS Harold T. White Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, was elected to the section on biological sciences for distinguished contributions to the field of genetics, particularly in elucidating the regulation of the Drosophila bithorax complex, the foremost model for eukaryotic epigenetic regulation.
Timothy Hla, the HMS Patricia K. Donahoe Professor of Surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital, was elected to the section on biological sciences for foundational discoveries in vascular biology, especially those related to signaling pathways required for endothelial cell migration and vascular inflammatory responses.
David Scadden, HMS professor of stem cell and regenerative biology, was elected to the section on medical sciences for distinguished contributions to the field of hematology and stem cell biology, particularly the molecular regulation of hematopoiesis and the biology of the stem cell niche.
Steven Hyman, HMS professor of stem cell and regenerative biology, was recognized with the National Academy of Medicine’s 2016 Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health for his leadership in furthering the understanding and treatment of psychiatric disorders as biological diseases. He shared the honor with Robin Murray, professor of psychiatric research at King’s College London, at the organization’s annual meeting on Oct. 17.
Hyman has been a physician and scientist at the forefront of understanding the biological bases of mental disorders and a leader in the world of mental illness research and treatment for over three decades. He led the National Institute of Mental Health from 1996 to 2001 and subsequently played an instrumental role in the revisions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) and the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases.
In his current position as director of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Hyman has created worldwide research collaborations devoted to unbiased, large-scale genetic studies of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and autism, and he has recruited outstanding stem cell scientists and neurobiologists to develop models with which to analyze genetics results.
Four researchers at Massachusetts Eye and Ear have been named to the Ocular Surgery News Retina 150 list as leading innovators in the field of medical and surgical retina.
Dean Eliott, the HMS Stelios Evangelos Gragoudas Associate Professor of Ophthalmology; Evangelos Gragoudas, the HMS Charles Edward Whitten Professor of Ophthalmology; Lucia Sobrin, HMS associate professor of ophthalmology; and Jeffrey Heier, HMS instructor in ophthalmology, have been selected for their work to educate their colleagues or innovate novel technologies and techniques to advance the specialty.
P. Reed Larsen, HMS professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, was awarded the 2016 Lewis E. Braverman Lectureship Award from the American Thyroid Association. This award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated excellence and passion for mentoring fellows, students and junior faculty, has a long history of productive thyroid research, and is dedicated to the association.
Larsen’s research has had profound implications for understanding the role of thyroid hormone action in normal development, physiology and disease. His discovery of the type 2 deiodinase enzyme—responsible for localized production of triiodothyronine (T3) in critical areas such as the brain, pituitary gland and brown fat—revolutionized the field of thyroidology.
Lynne Reid, former chair of the Joint Committee on the Status of Women at HMS, was honored by the Massachusetts Medical Society as the 2016 recipient of the Woman Physician Leadership Award. The award recognizes outstanding leadership and contributions to patient care and to the medical profession by a woman physician.
From 1975 to 1989, Reid served as the S. Burt Wolbach Professor of Pathology at HMS and pathologist-in-chief at Boston Children’s Hospital. In nominating her for the honor, her colleagues noted that Reid “will go down in history as a women pioneer whose courage and determination opened the door for women to be appointed to leadership positions and advance women leadership not only in the United States but around the world.”
Three HMS researchers were honored at the American Medical Informatics Association annual symposium in November in Chicago.
David W. Bates, HMS professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, was awarded the Morris F. Collen Award of Excellence for his contributions to the field, focusing on patient safety research.
Patricia Dykes, HMS assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women received the Virginia K. Saba Informatics Award.
Isaac Kohane, chair of the HMS Department of Biomedical Informatics and the Marion V. Nelson Professor of Biomedical Informatics, received the William W. Stead Award for Thought Leadership in Informatics.
Douglas Melton, the Xander University Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University and co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, was awarded the Ogawa-Yamanaka Stem Cell Prize from the Gladstone Institutes.
Melton has made significant inroads using stem cells as a platform for developing cell therapies. As a pioneer in the programming of insulin-producing beta cells from stem cells, Melton’s lab can now generate therapeutic quantities of functional stem cell-derived beta cells, which Melton hopes will soon replace the lifesaving yet painful daily insulin injections for people with diabetes.
The prize recognizes individuals whose translational research has advanced cellular reprogramming technology for regenerative medicine and comes with a $150,000 award.
Gordon Weir, HMS professor of medicine at Joslin Diabetes Center, and Susan Bonner-Weir, HMS professor of medicine at Joslin, received the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award at Joslin’s annual High Hopes Gala on Nov. 19 for their innovative research on beta cell function, transplantation and protection that is critical in their work toward finding a cure for diabetes.
Weir is co-head of Joslin’s Section on Islet Cell and Regenerative Biology and Bonner-Weir is a senior investigator in the Section on Islet Transplantation and Cell Biology at Joslin. Brought together while Bonner-Weir was doing her postdoctoral research at Joslin in 1974, the pair have collaborated on numerous projects, co-authoring more than 150 papers together and sharing a lab at Joslin. They have been married for 48 years.
Weir, who served as medical director of the Joslin Clinic for nine years, has recently found a way to prevent the immune system from destroying insulin-producing beta cells developed from stem cells in mice, which could mean a brighter future for Type 1 diabetics if successful in human trials.
Bonner-Weir is considered to be one of the world’s leading experts in beta cell morphology and growth. Her research aims to clarify the process by which the pancreas and its constituent islets grow and develop in order to find new sources of beta cells.
Four HMS researchers have been honored by the ASCB (American Society for Cell Biology) by being named the first ASCB fellows and were selected for their lifetime achievements in advancing cell biology.
Marc Kirschner, the John Franklin Enders University Professor of Systems Biology and head of the department, was named one of 10 inaugural fellows, individuals who have a demonstrated career of exceptional contributions to science and service to the ASCB
The Inaugural Fellows then nominated additional ASCB Fellows, and the council approved their final list. The three HMS faculty who were appointed as new fellows are:
Joan Brugge, the Louise Foote Pfeiffer Professor of Cell Biology
Timothy Mitchison, the Hasib Sabbagh Professor of Systems Biology
Tom Rapoport, professor of cell biology
