Ranch Kimball, who served as secretary of economic development for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts under former governor Mitt Romney, has been appointed the chief executive officer and seventh president of Joslin Diabetes Center. Kimball will assume the post on Feb. 1.
Kimball will succeed C. Ronald Kahn, who in September announced his intention to step down as president to pursue his passion for research and new projects.
As Romney’s chief economic leader and adviser, Kimball oversaw 22 agencies, four cabinet secretaries, and more than 2,500 employees.
“Diabetes is the growing health care epidemic of our time, and its consequences extract a terrible human cost,” said Kimball. “I am here to help the wonderful staff of the world’s leading diabetes center make an even more significant impact on this terrible epidemic that touches so many people in such personal ways.”
Kahn will remain very active at Joslin. In addition to focusing on his research, he will serve as vice chairman of the board of trustees and continue to pursue academic affairs at HMS, where he is the Mary K. Iacocca professor of medicine.
“It has been a special privilege to work with Ron Kahn over the last 10 years,” said Joseph Martin, dean of the Harvard Faculty of Medicine. “He has been a superb leader while maintaining an extraordinary career in research.”
HSPH has jointly appointed two associate deans for educational programs. In their newly created positions, Nancy Kane (top), HSPH professor of management, and Nancy Turnbull, HSPH senior lecturer on health policy, will have broad oversight over the School’s educational programs and will be responsible for planning, educational innovation, and leadership during the upcoming accreditation review. Richard Monson has stepped down as associate dean for professional education.
“I could not be more pleased that Nancy Kane and Nancy Turnbull have agreed to lead this next era in the School’s educational programming,” said James Ware, HSPH dean of academic affairs. “They are proven innovators and leaders in public health education with stellar records in teaching and mentoring.”
Kane and Turnbull are assuming the deanships at a time when the focus of public health education is changing. In 2002, the Institute of Medicine released a report identifying emerging fields in the study of public health, which is spurring conversations at HSPH and at schools across the nation about credentialing, competencies, and public health education. The new positions were effective Jan. 1.
Anthony Rosenzweig, HMS associate professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, was named the American coordinator of a Transatlantic Network of Excellence Grant from the Paris-based Leducq Foundation. The five-year, $6 million award will allow Rosenzweig and his European counterpart, Timothy Aitman, a researcher in London, to oversee 10 U.S. and European labs conducting research on metabolic heart disease. Four other HMS researchers are on the U.S. research team. They are Jonathan Seidman, the Henrietta B. and Frederick H. Bugher Foundation professor of genetics; Christine Seidman, Howard Hughes investigator and HMS professor of genetics and medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Bruce Spiegelman, HMS professor of cell biology at Dana–Farber Cancer Institute; and Robert Gerszten, HMS assistant professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Quad Professorship Energizes Medical CommunicationsAs a Quad-based endowed chair, the Steven P. Simcox, Patrick A. Clifford and James H. Higby Professorship will support the mission of the Medical School through patient and consumer education, said HMS dean Joseph Martin, opening the chair celebration on Nov. 29. The first incumbent is Anthony Komaroff, editor in chief of Harvard Health Publications (shown with his wife, Lydia Villa-Komaroff). Martin lauded him for his “extraordinary editorial leadership.” Taking a broader view of Komaroff’s impact on the medical community and the public, donor Steven Simcox described him as a master communicator, educator, clinician, and businessman. Longtime Komaroff colleague Phyllis Jen, editor in chief of the online version of the Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide, recognized the incumbent as one who in the 1980s divined the importance of the computer to patient care. “He was always two steps ahead of the pack,” she said. Equally significant, “He understands the growing role of the informed consumer.” Extending these portraits in his remarks, Howard LeWine, chief medical editor of internet publishing at Harvard Health Publications, painted the following image of the honoree: “Tony Komaroff, both hands reaching for the sky with both feet planted firmly on the ground.” When he had stepped up to the microphone, Komaroff explained, with evident enthusiasm, that he is by nature a generalist; fields of interest stretch as far as the eye can see. He is convinced, he said, considering the breathtaking sweep of recent advances in communication and biomedical technologies, “This is really the most exciting time in the history of medicine.
Honors and Advances
Daniel Shapiro, HMS assistant professor of psychiatry in the Department of Psychology at McLean Hospital, was recently awarded the Southern California Mediation Association’s Cloke–Millen award, given each year to an outstanding professional working in mediation, negotiation, or dispute resolution. Shapiro delivered the keynote speech at the association’s annual meeting in November.
Charles Weitz, the Robert Henry Pfeiffer professor of neurobiology at HMS, was one of six scientists to receive the 2007 Neuroscience of Brain Disorders Award from the McNight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience, which honors the development of novel therapies for brain diseases. Weitz’s $300,000, three-year award will support his study of the circadian clock and whether clock cells in the brain play a role in energy balance and glucose regulation, which could have significance for obesity and diabetes treatments.
Shelley Hurwitz, HMS assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, was recently appointed to the Committee on Professional Ethics of the American Statistical Association. Hurwitz, who is also the director of the Center for Biostatistics at the hospital’s Center for Clinical Investigation, was selected for her dedication to the promotion of ethical statistical practice and responsibility among statisticians working in the biomedical sciences.
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the National Institutes of Health, has named Walter Koroshetz, HMS professor of neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, as deputy director. Koroshetz’s research focuses on finding new treatments for Huntington’s disease and stroke. Koroshetz previously served as vice chair of the neurology service and director of stroke and neurointensive care services at MGH.
Basel Ramlawi, a postdoctoral fellow at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, was recently given the American Heart Association’s Vivien Thomas Young Investigator Award. The honor recognizes young investigators in fundamental and applied surgical research, and the recipient selection is based on a written and oral abstract.
The Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program has awarded one of three Era of Hope Scholar Awards to Shiladitya Sengupta, HMS assistant professor of medicine at the Harvard–MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The five-year, $4.1 million grant was awarded for Sengupta’s role in creating the nanocell, an anticancer drug delivery system.
Stanford University’s Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE) has recently appointed Augustus White, the Ellen and Melvin Gordon professor of medical education at HMS and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, to the center’s advisory board. The CCSRE promotes “interdisciplinary teaching and research on topics related to race and ethnicity.” Augustus White is chair of the HMS Culturally Competent Care Education Committee.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital has named John Reilly, HMS associate professor of medicine, vice chair for integrated clinical services in the Department of Medicine. In his new role, Reilly will coordinate inpatient services and oversee medical quality assurance. Reilly will remain in his position as acting chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine.
CRICO/RMF, a patient safety and medical malpractice insurer for HMS-affiliated hospitals, has recently awarded 10 $50,000 grants to fund safety research by HMS faculty members. Those to receive the award include Arvind Agnihotri, HMS assistant professor of surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital; Edward Bailey, HMS professor of pediatrics at MGH; Sandra Cremers, HMS instructor in ophthalmology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary; Meghan Dierks, HMS assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; William Kettyle, member of the faculty of the Harvard–MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology; Jonathan Kruskal, HMS associate professor of radiology at BID; Josephine Lok, HMS instructor in Pediatrics at MGH; Eric Poon, HMS assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Christopher Roy, HMS instructor in medicine at BWH; and Thomas Sequist, HMS assistant professor of medicine at BWH.
Three HMS faculty members have received Distinguished Clinical Scientist Awards from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The $1.5 million grants are paid out over five to seven years. Winners from HMS include David Altshuler, HMS professor of genetics at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Broad Institute, who will use the award in his study of type 2 diabetes genes, and William Kaelin, Howard Hughes investigator and HMS professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, who performs translational studies based on tumor suppressor proteins. In addition, Bruce Walker, a Howard Hughes investigator and an HMS professor of medicine at MGH, received a continuation grant for the training of PhD students and postdocs at the Doris Duke Medical Research Institute in South Africa, where they focus on the AIDS and tuberculosis epidemics.
Elkan Blout, the Edward S. Harkness professor emeritus of biological chemistry at HMS and the former dean of academic affairs at HSPH, died Dec. 20 at the age of 86.
Blout received a doctorate in chemistry from Columbia University. After a year as a research fellow in chemistry at Harvard, he was recruited by the Polaroid Corporation, where he played an important role in the development of instant color photography. He then returned to Harvard in 1950 as an HMS research associate in pathology while continuing to work at Polaroid, where he remained until 1962. That same year, he was promoted to professor of biological chemistry at HMS. Blout chaired the Department of Biological Chemistry from 1965 to 1969.
Blout was the dean of academic affairs at HSPH from 1978 to 1989, establishing the Office for Continuing Education and helping create the Division of Biological Sciences, which he also directed. He retired from the University in 1991.
In addition to his work at Polaroid, Blout is known for his major contributions to the study of the synthesis and conformation of polypeptides and cyclic peptides. He received many honors throughout his career, including a National Medal of Science in 1990. Two professorships, one at HMS and one at HSPH, were established in his honor shortly before his retirement.
Blout is survived by his wife, Gail; children, James Blout of Concord, Susan Merry Lausch of Chicago, William Blout of Lexington, and Darya Blout of Cambridge; and 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, gifts can be made to the Cuttyhunk Public Library, Cuttyhunk, MA 02713, or to the Gosnold Community Fund, c/o Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts, 227 Union St., New Bedford MA 02740.
Andrew Spielman, an expert in vector-borne diseases and HSPH professor of tropical health in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases died Dec. 20 of a sudden illness. He was 76 years old.
Spielman received his BS from Colorado College and his ScD from the School of Hygiene and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. He first came to HSPH in 1959 as an instructor in the Department of Tropical Public Health, later the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases. He was one of the world’s foremost experts on vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue. He was also a faculty associate at the Kennedy School of Government.
Recently, he garnered popular recognition for his book, Mosquito: A Natural History of Our Most Persistent and Deadly Foe. In his work, he described the connection between genetics, physiology, microbiology, immunology, and human behavior, and the profound effects of ecological disturbances caused by human activity.
Spielman’s work in Massachusetts included investigations into the transmission and impact of eastern equine encephalitis virus, West Nile virus, and Lyme disease.
He received numerous honors, including the Hoogstraal Medal of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the Medal of Honor of the American Mosquito Control Association, and many student awards for excellence in teaching at Harvard.
He is survived by his wife, Judy; their children, David, Deborah, and Sue Spielman; seven grandchildren; and a brother, Herbert Spielman.
