The Association of American Medical Colleges has honored Richard Schwartzstein, HMS professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, with the Alpha Omega Alpha Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award. The award is given for significant contributions to medical education.
Schwartzstein has devoted much of his professional time to medical education. A perennial favorite as an instructor, Schwartzstein has won 13 student-voted teaching awards at HMS. He serves as course director of the first-year human physiology course and teaches the respiratory component. In addition, he is the faculty associate dean for medical education at HMS, the vice president for education at BID, and the executive director of the hospital’s Carl J. Shapiro Institute of Education and Research. He is also the clinical director of Beth Israel’s Division of Pulmonary Medicine.
At both the Medical School and BID, Schwartzstein has been engaged in medical education reform; in addition to playing an important role in revisiting the first-year curriculum at HMS, he led a review of graduate and undergraduate education at BID. Currently, he is overseeing the implementation of a pilot clinical clerkship program that he developed.
Schwartzstein received a $10,000 grant with the award, and, as the nominating institution, HMS will receive an additional $2,500 for teaching activities.
The opening of the Jeffrey Modell Immunology Center at HMS was commemorated with a daylong series of events on Nov. 17, including a symposium, ribbon-cutting ceremony, and private dinner. The center was established by the Jeffrey Modell Foundation and is named after the son of Fred and Vicki Modell, who died at age 15 from a primary immunodeficiency. Located on the Quad, the new center has space for teaching, seminars, and offices, and is designed to foster collaboration among faculty and students from HMS, Harvard science programs, and the affiliated hospitals who are conducting immunology research. It is also home to the Robert A. Good Library and the Fred S. Rosen Lecture Hall.
Bibring Celebrated by Women’s Archives PanelLongtime faculty member Eleanor Shore introduced the Nov. 15 celebration of Grete Bibring, which marked the opening of Bibring’s papers by the Archives for Women in Medicine at Countway Library. The program honored the woman as well as the archives, Shore said, since it was also the first celebration of the archives’ work. Bibring was the first woman to head an HMS clinical department, becoming chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Beth Israel Hospital in 1946, and the first female full professor at HMS, a position she reached in 1961. A protégé of Sigmund Freud, Bibring encouraged the integration of psychiatric care and mainstream medical care.
In his personal recollections of Bibring during the program, panelist Sanford Gifford, director of archives at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, emphasized Bibring’s natural skill as a teacher. Panelist Mitchell Rabkin, CEO emeritus of Beth Israel and CareGroup, elaborated on this attribute, describing Bibring’s dedication to staying abreast of medicine and her emphasis on psychological understanding in medical education and patient care.
Focusing more generally on archives of women in science, Margaret Rossiter, the Marie Underhill Noll professor of the history of science and technology studies at Cornell, recounted her professional journey to locate and mine the papers of women scientists. It was slim pickings at first, but she succeeded in finding collections from the 1920s and ’30s. “It was like Alice in Wonderland,” she said. “I just fell into this other universe.” About more recent work, she was more optimistic. “There’s more all the time.”
Evelynn Hammonds, professor of the history of science and of African and African American studies at Harvard, looked to the future of women in science, citing data from the University’s Task Force on Women in Science and Engineering. She presented some of the more sobering contemporary challenges that face women and minorities in medical fields.
The Archives for Women in Medicine, which continues to prepare the papers of other women scientists, is a project of Countway Library and the Joint Committee on the Status of Women at the Medical School.
HMS and Massachusetts General Hospital celebrated the Jenot W. and William U. Shipley Professorship in Radiation Oncology on Oct. 18 under the Bulfinch tent at MGH. The tent was fitting, since in his talk, first incumbent Anthony Zietman (left) juggled gravitas and humor with the aplomb of a ringmaster. Introduced by Nancy Tarbell, the C.C. Wang professor of radiation oncology, who singled out his work “in transforming our residency program,” Zietman recounted the events that brought him from England to the United States. He said it was a mentor who had originally routed him to Boston. He thought at first that the destination was fine, Boston being a town north of London. He had never seriously considered going to the States, since he didn’t like hotdogs, and Americans didn’t play soccer. Referring to the title character of a popular British TV series, Zietman said he became the “Mr. Bean of academic medicine … here by a random accident.”
Zietman’s point then unfolded: “Life doesn’t go as planned,” he said, and it is therefore essential to take advantage of opportunity. He lauded William Shipley (right), the Andres Soriano professor of radiation oncology, as a mentor who had taken him under his wing and enabled him to grow professionally. “If I do nothing else in my career, I’d like to give the residents what Bill has given me, the Big G, generosity,” Zietman said. At the event, remarks were also given by MGH president Peter Slavin; HMS dean for academic and clinical programs Raphael Dolin; Jay Loeffler, the Herman and Joan Suit professor of radiation oncology and head of that department at MGH; and William Shipley. Of his longtime relationship with Zietman, Shipley said, “I was smart enough to step aside and let him flourish.” A portrait of William and Jenot Shipley was unveiled to complete the program.
Students Named Concertmasters of Longwood SymphonyThe Longwood Symphony Orchestra (LSO), composed mostly of physicians, scientists, and other health care professionals, has appointed two HMS students as co-concertmasters for the 2007–2008 season. Fourth-year Sandy Mong and first-year Sherman Jia, both violinists, will share this leadership position at the LSO’s upcoming concerts, each of which includes a symposium on a public health topic in addition to music. The next performance of the season, “AIDS: Connecting the Local and the Global,” takes place on Dec. 1 at 8 p.m. at the New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall and features the music of Leos Janaek. Boston University will host the symposium earlier in the day. For more information and a complete schedule, visit www.longwoodsymphony.org.
Professors Honored with Diversity AwardsFive HMS faculty members were honored for their efforts in making HMS and HSDM a more diverse community at the Nov. 14 Harold Amos Diversity Award ceremony. The winners are Edwin Furshpan, the Robert Henry Pfieffer professor emeritus of neurobiology; Edward Kravitz, the George Packer Berry professor of neurobiology; Leon Eisenberg, the Maude and Lillian Presley professor emeritus of social medicine; David Potter, the Robert Winthrop professor emeritus of neurobiology; and Marshall Wolf, HMS professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
The Dialogues in Diversity and Health Disparity lecture followed the award presentation. W. Michael Byrd and Lynda Clayton, authors of An American Health Dilemma, spoke on “Dialogues in Disparities: Root Causes and Solutions.”
News BriefsBeth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has received a 2007 Premier|CareScience Select Practice National Quality Award for superior patient outcomes in quality and efficiency of care. BID was one of 49 acute inpatient facilities, the top one percent of more than 4,700 facilities nationwide, to receive the award. Hospitals do not apply to be considered for the honor; instead, Premier|CareScience identifies the top performers using 16 clinically relevant indicators of risk. The quality index is calculated by combining the outcome deviations for mortality, morbidity, and complications into a single quality measure which, when combined with efficiency ratings, is used to determine award recipients.
The MIT–Harvard Division of Health Sciences and Technology has formed a partnership with the government of India’s Department of Biotechnology to create a multidisciplinary research and education institute in India. The Translational Health Science and Technology Institute will be modeled after HST and offer degrees in multidisciplinary programs that integrate science, engineering, and medicine, and will also increase India’s capacity for translational research. HST will assist with the training and recruitment of faculty. Each year, starting in September 2008 and continuing until 2011, four faculty fellows of the new institute will join the HST faculty for two years to train and to develop translational research programs, design institute courses and curricula, and build relationships with HST faculty and students. The Indian government will fund the new collaboration.
Honors and AdvancesClaes Dohlman, HMS professor emeritus of ophthalmology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, was honored with the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Laureate Award for developing techniques in keratoplasty and keratoprosthesis. The award was presented at the academy’s annual meeting, where an HMS professorship in Dohlman’s honor was also announced. An incumbent has not yet been named.
