Proceedings of the HMS Faculty Council
To begin the Nov. 12 Faculty Council meeting, HMS dean Jeffrey Flier introduced guest speaker Mortimer Litt, the associate dean for educational programs in the Faculty of Medicine. Litt gave an overview of the history and structure of the Faculty Council and explained his involvement with the council in the past. A council member asked what actions have been executed by past Faculty Councils. Bruce Donoff, dean of HSDM, gave two examples from his tenure on the council: the decision not to align with a Saudi Arabian medical center and the change of the Dental School curriculum from a four-year to a five-year program. Litt suggested bringing topics to the Faculty Council earlier and giving members the opportunity to have a more active role at the planning stages. Shelly Greenfield, HMS associate professor of psychiatry at McLean Hospital, suggested that most members would be open to forming sub-committees that could work on issues and report back to the larger group.
Jeffrey Saffitz, the Mallinckrodt professor of pathology at HMS and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, brought up the topic of the current financial situation, and Flier gave a brief update. He noted that best estimates suggest the endowment is down by 20 to 30 percent and that it will be a difficult recovery. He said that the strategic plan was very well received by the Harvard Corporation, which remains committed to supporting the Medical School, and that the Allston project would continue but at a slower pace than initially discussed.
Flier then introduced Alexa McCray, HMS associate professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and associate director of Countway Library, who presented on open-access publishing. McCray covered the NIH’s public access policy on grant-funded research; reviewed FAS’s open-access policy, which was approved in February 2008; and proposed that HMS adopt a similar policy. There was discussion about the potential response from publishers and the effect of such a policy on junior faculty. The council agreed that the policy should cover researchers on the Quad and in the hospitals, with the understanding that they should prepare to formally vote on the policy in the spring.
Flier then introduced Ellice Lieberman, dean for faculty affairs, and Ellen Berkman from the Office of General Counsel (OGC) to present the new discrimination and harassment policy. Lieberman highlighted the differences between the old policy, which was last revised in 2004, and the new policy. She specified that the policy applies to anyone who uses the Ombuds Office, including part-time faculty, and that Faculty Affairs and the OGC try to work jointly with the hospitals. Berkman said that the new policy includes language to encourage people to come forward and that any complaints brought to HMS will be looked into even if the incident happened in a hospital. Saffitz suggested that additional sensitivity training, with information about what constitutes discrimination and harassment, should be taking place. Dean Flier said that the council should have further discussion on the phenomenon of discrimination and harassment and that representatives from the hospitals and the Omsbuds Office should be invited as well.
Extending the Culture of CareWhen the chairman of a New York City psychiatric hospital laughed at J. Emilio Carrillo’s plan to add more Spanish-speaking physicians to the staff, Carrillo fired him.
“That’s leadership,” he said, likening the situation to having a staff of “surgeons who don’t have fingers.” Of 73 psychiatrists, only one spoke Spanish, another spoke Portuguese. Carrillo, who is now vice president of community health development at New York–Presbyterian Hospital, brought in new management and built a department in which “cultural competence is hardwired.” The hospital has since become a national model for cultural competence and now has 18 bilingual psychiatrists.
This kind of determined action is necessary, HMS and HSPH alumnus Carrillo said in his Dec. 10 Alvin F. Poussaint, MD, visiting lecture, “Defining and Targeting Health Care Access Barriers.” Racial and ethnic minorities, despite years of effort to lower the barriers to healthcare, still die younger, have higher infant mortality rates, and have higher rates of disease.
In addition to providing strong leadership and integrating cultural competence, communication is key to lowering healthcare hurdles. Multilingual signage, publications, and interpretation services are crucial. But healthcare workers must also be able to treat each patient “not as Korean or Latino, but as an individual,” said Carrillo, as a “culture of one.”
Soma Weiss Day Will Feature Panel on Interactions with IndustryHMS will host the 69th Annual Soma Weiss Student Research Day on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009, in the amphitheater and atrium of the Tosteson Medical Education Center. Beginning at 1 pm in the amphitheater, the keynote panel discussion on “Industry Interactions as a Component of an Academic Career” will include Elliott Antman, HMS professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Lewis Cantley, the William Bosworth Castle professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and professor of systems biology at HMS; George Church, HMS professor of genetics; Jerry Avorn, HMS professor of medicine at BWH; and Laurie Glimcher, HMS professor of medicine at BWH and the Irene Heinz Given professor of immunology at HSPH. Following the panel, four students will present their research. Student poster presentations will begin at 2:45 p.m. and end at 4:30 p.m., with refreshments available. For more information, contact Kari Hannibal in the HMS Office of Enrichment Programs at kari_hannibal@hms.harvard.edu or 617-432-1573.
New Full Professorships AnnouncedThe following faculty members were appointed to full professorships in October.
Roland Baron
Professor and Chair, Oral Medicine, Infection and Immunity
Harvard School of Dental Medicine
Baron’s research focuses on the cellular and molecular biology of bone cells in the context of skeletal development and bone homeostasis and diseases. His interests include translational medicine and preclinical and clinical development, particularly in the field of osteoporosis and joint diseases such as osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Baron will also have a joint appointment in internal medicine at HMS and in the Endocrine Section of Massachusetts General Hospital.
Monica Bertagnolli
Professor of Surgery
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Bertagnolli’s research focuses on mechanisms of colon cancer prevention and treatment as well as the development of prognostic and predictive biomarkers for GI malignancies. Her research encompasses the study of inflammation and tumorigenesis, the evaluation of COX-2 inhibition and polyp prevention in high-risk individuals, and development of biomarkers to improve upon traditional staging methods for colorectal cancer. She has been an active member of the Cancer and Leukemia Group B for more than 15 years and was recently elected to succeed the current group chair in 2010. In addition, she has collaborated with scientists and clinicians throughout Harvard as well as other nationally recognized cancer centers.
Marie Demay
Professor of Medicine
Massachusetts General Hospital
Demay’s laboratory uses genetically manipulated mice, as well as cells and tissues isolated from these mice, to study osteoblast differentiation and the role of vitamin D and its receptor (VDR) in vivo and in vitro. These studies led to the identification of the VDR as a key factor in maintenance of keratinocyte stem cell homeostasis and revealed that the mechanism by which VDR inactivation leads to rickets is due to the development of hypophosphatemia. These latter studies have led to investigations demonstrating that phosphate is critical for growth plate maturation, hypertrophic chondroctye apoptosis, and endochondral bone repair.
Holcombe Grier
Professor of Pediatrics
Children’s Hospital Boston
Grier’s research concerns the development of new combination therapies for children with sarcoma and other solid tumors. His research also relates to communication and supportive care. He spends much of his time treating children with cancer and teaching fellows, residents, and medical students.
Deborah Levine
Professor of Radiology
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Levine’s research focuses on how magnetic resonance imaging can aid in obstetric diagnosis, in particular in assessment of the fetal central nervous system. Her clinical area of expertise is obstetric and gynecologic imaging with ultrasound and MRI. She is associate radiologist-in-chief of academic affairs, director of OB–GYN ultrasound, and director of the Women’s Imaging Fellowship in the Department of Radiology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She is also chair of the Ultrasound Commission of the American College of Radiology and senior deputy editor of the journal Radiology.
Dennis Orgill
Professor of Surgery
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Orgill is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon specializing in plastic and reconstructive surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He specializes in reconstructive surgery of cancer defects, invasive infections, and complex wounds. He is the assistant program director for the combined Harvard Plastic Surgery Residency Program. His laboratory research focuses on better methods to improve wound healing, including the use of biological scaffolds, platelets, and micromechanical forces.
Robert Soiffer
Professor of Medicine
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Early in his career, Soiffer began studying immunomodulatory strategies in patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation. He later rose to prominence in the field of allogeneic transplantation and last year served as president of the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation. Soiffer is co-director of the hematopoietic stem cell transplant effort at Dana–Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital and is chief of the Division of Hematologic Malignancies at DFCI. He continues his translational research activities as principal investigator of a multi-institutional NIH program project grant and in his role on the steering committee of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network.
On March 16, 2009, the Harvard Longwood Campus will be 100 percent smoke-free both indoors and out. The campus is offering two smoking cessation programs, a single-session hypnosis class and a five-session class, to assist in this transition, at no cost to employees. Classes are also open to family members, household members, and significant others of employees of the Harvard Longwood community. The hypnosis class, which is a one-hour workshop, will be offered on Jan. 22, from 2–3 p.m. and 6–7 p.m. Weekly sessions, which will take place every Tuesday for five weeks beginning Jan. 20, will be offered from 6–7 a.m., 2–3 p.m., and 5–6 p.m. Registration is required, and the location of the classes will be given upon registration. To register, please call 617-432-5704.
Rosen Chair Primes Immunology ResearchLeaders of HMS and Children’s Hospital Boston, Jeffrey Flier and James Mandell, respectively, introduced the Nov. 17 celebration of the Fred S. Rosen Professorship in Pediatrics at HMS, the Immune Disease Institute, and Children’s. Both commented on the foundational support that the chair provides, strengthening collaboration between the institutions.
Mandell pointed to Rosen’s investigation of primary immune deficiencies in children and his major discoveries, particularly the pioneering development of intravenous gamma globulin therapy. Rosen, who died in 2005, was a longtime faculty member at Children’s, who later assumed the presidency of the Center for Blood Research, which was renamed the Immune Disease Institute.
Fred Alt, scientific director of IDI, described Rosen as “the quintessential translational researcher” and said Rosen’s devotion to excellence was reflected in the selection of Klaus Rajewsky as the chair’s first incumbent. Tim Springer, the Latham Family professor of pathology at HMS, elaborated on Rosen’s dogged pursuit of excellence, crediting him as the one who “wrote the dictionary of immunology.”
Present at the program, which took place in the Jeffrey Modell Immunology Center at HMS, were Fred and Vicki Modell, parents of Jeffrey, who died of a primary immune deficiency at age 15. In remarks at the event, Vicki Modell lauded Fred Rosen as a teacher and healer; an adviser, mentor, and friend; and devoted physician to their son. She also addressed Rajewsky and, quoting The Little Prince, sketched a landscape of stars as beacons, connecting and guiding a community dedicated to exploring the frontiers of molecular immunology.
Preceding Rajewsky at the microphone, Raif Geha, the James L. Gamble professor of pediatrics at HMS and Children’s, said, “Whatever you say about Fred, you can never do him justice,” and he added that “Fred would be so happy to know that this day has come.”
The celebration concluded with Rajewsky’s expression of profound thanks at being the first Rosen professor. Referring to Rosen, he said “his loss still weighs heavily on me.” But he said the colleagues he has are an enormous inspiration to him. “The new lab here at the IDI has become a little universe in itself,” he said. He is shown above (left) with Dean Flier.
Honors and Advances- The Society for Neuroscience has awarded its Young Investigator Award to Bernardo Sabatini, HMS associate professor of neurobiology. Sabatini, who shares the award with Hongjun Song of Johns Hopkins University, received the award for the novel insights he has provided into synaptic signaling. The award includes $15,000 to be split between the recipients.
- Ralph Weissleder, HMS professor of radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, has received the Outstanding Researcher Award from the Radiological Society of North America. The award honors original and significant contributions to the field of radiology or radiologic sciences throughout a career of research. Weissleder, also an HMS professor of systems biology and director of the Center for Systems Biology at MGH, was recognized for his work in the field of in vivo molecular imaging, specifically, development of novel molecular imaging tools.
