R. Rox Anderson, HMS professor of dermatology at Mass General, was one of six physicians inducted into the 2020 Giants of Dermatology class at a virtual gala on Dec. 8.
The Giants of Dermatology award recognizes leading physicians and researchers in the field of dermatology whose landmark successes, ongoing inspiration and career-long dedication redefine what is possible for this specialty. The honorees were selected by Dermatology Times for their significant contributions to the advancement of dermatology based on criteria of excellence in education and training, technology and product innovation, research and discovery, dermatologic surgery, humanitarianism and leadership.
The following HMS scientists have been named by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) for induction into the 2020 Class of Fellows, a program highlighting academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society:
Gordon Freeman, HMS professor of medicine at Dana-Farber
Arlene Sharpe, the George Fabyan Professor of Comparative Pathology and head of the Department of Immunology in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS
William Harris, the Allen Gerry Clinical Professor of Orthopedic Surgery, Emeritus, at HMS and Mass General
They will be inducted as NAI Fellows in June 2021 at the organization’s annual meeting.
Paul Farmer, the Kolokotrones University Professor and chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS, was selected as the winner of the 2020 Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture, which honors thinkers whose ideas have profoundly shaped human self-understanding and advancement in a rapidly changing world.
Farmer was chosen for his impactful work at the intersection of public health and human rights. He is being recognized for transforming our understanding of infectious diseases and social inequality and providing systemic approaches for creating a healthier and more equitable world. Over the course of his career, Farmer has worked to build lifesaving medical care systems in resource-poor communities, most notably in Haiti and West Africa. His work and ideas will be celebrated in a virtual talk in late spring 2021. Event details are to be announced.
Three HMS faculty members are among 25 young physicians recognized by Medscape for pushing medicine forward in new ways, demonstrating leadership and innovating patient care, particularly for underserved patient populations. The Medscape at 25 Rising Stars from HMS are:
Esther Freeman, HMS assistant professor of dermatology and director of Global Health Dermatology at Mass General, conducts research in epidemiologic dermatology with an emphasis on HIV/AIDS and global health. She is a member of the COVID-19 Dermatology Task Force and has published key research on COVID toes, a common dermatologic symptom of coronavirus, which has given physicians an additional way to identify infection.
Arianne Shadi Kourosh is HMS assistant professor of dermatology, director of community health for the Department of Dermatology, and founding director of the Pigmentary Disorder and Multi-Ethnic Skin Clinic at Mass General. She founded and directs Project Phoenix, Mass General's pro bono tattoo removal program for people seeking to escape gangs and human trafficking. Previously, she designed a free app to connect doctors and their patients with resources which is now operated by the Society for Investigative Dermatology.
Mary Rice, HMS assistant professor of medicine and a pulmonary and critical care physician at Beth Israel Deaconess, sees patients with chronic lung diseases in the clinic and focuses her research on air pollution and how it affects overall health. She is the chair of the Environmental Health Policy Committee of the American Thoracic Society and has testified before Congress several times on the connection between human health and climate change. Currently, she is studying the effect of HEPA air purifiers in the houses of COPD patients and how cleaner air may affect their lung function.
Seven HMS postdoctoral researchers have received Charles A. King Trust Postdoctoral Research Fellowships, which supports postdoctoral fellows and physician-scientists in nonprofit academic, medical or research institutions in Massachusetts. The 2020 recipients at HMS, their mentors and projects, are:
Thomas Clarke, HMS research fellow in medicine at Mass General
Mentor: Raul Mostoslavsky, the Laurel Schwartz Professor of Medicine in the Field of Oncology at HMS and Mass General
Project: “Identifying Chromatin Factors Required for DNA Repair Using a Novel, High-Throughput Screening Methodology”
Sheng He, HMS research fellow in pediatrics at Boston Children's
Mentor: P. Ellen Grant, HMS professor of radiology at Boston Children's
Project: “Big-Data AI to Quantify Normal and Abnormal Brain Aging in Children”
Diane Dayoung Park, HMS research fellow in surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess
Mentor: Elliot Chaikof, the Johnson and Johnson Professor of Surgery at HMS and Beth Israel Deaconess
Project: “Inhibition of P-selectin Binding for Suppression of Colorectal Cancer Metastasis”
Hannah Uckelmann, HSM research fellow in pediatrics at Boston Children’s/Dana-Farber
Mentor: Scott Armstrong, the David G. Nathan Professor of Pediatrics at HMS and Dana-Farber
Project: “Determining the Role of Menin in Leukemic Self-Renewal”
Yuan Wang, HMS research fellow in pediatrics at Boston Children's
Mentor: Eric Greer, HMS assistant professor of pediatrics at Boston Children’s
Project: “The Role of Epigenetics in the Evolution of Multicellularity in Dictyostelium”
Dania Zhivaki, HMS research fellow in pediatrics at Boston Children's
Mentor: Jonathan Kagan, the Marian R. Neutra, PhD Professor of Pediatrics at HMS and Boston Children's
Project: “The Effect of Inflammasome Activation in Hyperactive Dendritic Cells on Anti-Tumor T Cell Immunity.”
Wen Zhou, HMS research fellow in microbiology at Dana-Farber
Mentor: Philip Kranzusch, HMS associate professor of microbiology at Dana-Farber
Project: “Regulation of Cytosolic DNA Sensing Though cGAS Phase Separation”
Gaurab Basu, HMS instructor in medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance, has been named one of five 2020 Science Defenders by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Basu was recognized for caring for patients in and out of the clinic. He has always worked to make sure that everyone is cared for equally, regardless of their identity or circumstances, but his patients are predominantly people of color, many of whom are essential workers, living in high-density housing. These factors put them at a higher risk of coronavirus infection. As he watched the pandemic disproportionately affect those who were struggling the most, he decided it was not enough just to care for his patients in the clinic—he also needed to fight the systemic issues that affected their health. Basu put his medical expertise to work writing op-eds addressing these systemic problems and ensuring that conversations about COVID-19 also included the related issues of air pollution, racism, poverty and climate change.
Marinka Zitnik, assistant professor of biomedical informatics in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS, was named the winner of the Bayer Early Excellence in Science Awards in the Data Sciences in Life Sciences category.
Zitnik is being presented with the award for her innovative use of machine learning approaches to analyze multidimensional biomedical data. Innovative solutions such as those developed by Zitnik are essential for dealing with the massive amounts of data and their complexity in medicine and life sciences.
A team led by John Bachman, research associate in therapeutic science at the HMS Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology, won one of three top prizes in the Children’s Tumor Foundation's 2020 Hackathon for Neurofibromatosis (NF), a genetic disorder affecting children that causes tumors to grow on nerves throughout the body.
The winning submission "Self-Updating Causal Models to Accelerate Siscovery in NF," was based on ongoing research by an HMS team Bachman co-leads with LSP colleague Benjamin Gyori, with key contributions by software developer Diana Kolusheva. The project uses text mining and natural language processing to build, update and validate causal models of NF to help researchers discover and interpret relevant new findings. They will receive $7,500 to continue to develop the project.
Two HMS physicians are among eight individuals selected to participate in the American Board of Medical Specialties 2020-2021 Visiting Scholars Program, which supports early-career physicians and researchers in scholarship and leadership development in the fields of physician assessment, continuing professional development, and practice improvement; initial and continuing board certification; and related health policy issues.
The 2020-2021 ABMS Visiting Scholars from HMS and their projects are:
Robert Hayden, HMS clinical fellow in medicine at Brigham and Women's
Racial Bias in Educational Simulations of Virtual Patients with COVID-19 (co-sponsored by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation)
Melvin Makhni, HMS instructor in orthopedic surgery at Brigham and Women's
Perspectives and Economic Impact of Transition to Virtual-Based Orthopaedic Board Examinations (co-sponsored by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery)
Richard Ebright, MD-PhD candidate, was named to the 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science list. Ebright’s research on circulating tumor cells showed that direct ribosome inhibition via a drug called omacetaxine selectively targets and kills highly metastatic circulating tumor cells in breast cancer, suggesting an already FDA-approved drug could be incorporated to drug regimens for some patients.
The following from HMS were named to the 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 in Health Care list:
Pooja Chandrashekar, MD candidate, uses data analytics in her research to improve the quality of care. A commentary she wrote arguing for states to mutually recognize medical licenses was used to advance legislation on telemedicine licensing reform. During the pandemic, Chandrashekar started a health literacy project to translate COVID-19 information into 40+ languages.
Eriene-Heidi Sidhom, MD-PhD candidate, has helped demonstrate the ability to copy kidney organoids, which she describes as miniature kidneys in a dish grown from a patient's own cells, which could help expedite therapeutic development for people with kidney disease.
Prakriti Gaba, HMS clinical fellow in medicine at Brigham and Women’s, is a physician and researcher who was on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Because of this experience, Gaba began to advocate for change to increase the speed and efficiency of clinical trials that could lead to new treatments. Gaba was the first author of an article in Nature Reviews Cardiology detailing ways to transform the clinical trial process and incorporate remote consent and monitoring programs, as well as more diverse patient recruitment.
Sean Wang, HMS clinical fellow in medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance, researches degenerative retinal diseases, as part of a team that discovered the role immune cells play in these diseases. These findings revealed new treatment avenues, and a gene therapy that he co-developed has been licensed by a major pharma company and is currently in preclinical testing in primates.
Four HMS trainees have been named 2020 STAT Wunderkinds, which recognizes doctors and researchers in the early stages of their careers who are working to answer some of the biggest questions in science and medicine. They are:
Walter Chen, HMC clinical fellow in pediatrics at Boston Children’s, is making it easier to study mitochondria by further developing a technology he helped develop to isolate mitochondria and other organelles. He is a resident in pediatrics and plans to specialize in neonatology.
Deepshika Ramanan, research fellow in immunology in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS, is tracing how traits passed on from a mother to a child can influence a person’s immune system or microbiome. She recently studied levels of immunoglobulin A and their effect on regulatory T cells.
Altaf Saadi, HMS instructor in neurology at Mass General, has devoted herself to improving patient care, particularly for immigrants and refugees and from detention centers to the halls of a hospital. She is also working to collect data on how clinics can make immigrants and refugees feel welcome and safe when seeking care.
Sean Wang, HMS clinical fellow in medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance, is working to find new therapies for inherited forms of blindness. Recently, he helped discover a common disease pathway, downstream from genetic mutations, that has therapeutic potential for all patients with Leber’s congenital amaurosis.
Robert Yeh, the Katz Silver Family Associate Professor of Medicine in the Field of Outcomes Research in Cardiology at HMS and Beth Israel Deaconess, received the American Heart Association’s 2020 Joseph A. Vita Award with Hooman Kamel of Weill Cornell Medicine at the organization’s Scientific Sessions 2020. The award recognizes research that has had a major impact on the field of cardiovascular biology or cardiovascular health during the last five years.
Yeh, who is director of the Smith Center for Outcomes Research at Beth Israel Deaconess, is being recognized for his work in clinical interventional cardiology, risk modeling and cardiovascular health care policy that has influenced clinical care and governmental initiatives to improve patient care. He and his team developed the DAPT Score, which clinicians have widely adopted to help determine how long to treat patients with dual antiplatelet therapy after coronary stent procedures. His work evaluating public reporting of procedural outcomes as well as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Hospital Readmission Reduction Program has highlighted the unintended consequences of such policies, leading to reexamination of the merits of these programs. Recently, he published research validating the use of administrative claims data as a tool to support long-term follow-up in cardiovascular clinical trials as part of the NIH-funded EXTEND study.
