Jeffrey S. Flier, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard University; S. Jean Emans, the first Mary Ellen Avery Professor of Pediatrics; and Sandra Fenwick, president and chief executive officer of Boston Children’s Hospital. Image: Gretchen Ertl
Jeffrey S. Flier, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard University; S. Jean Emans, the first Mary Ellen Avery Professor of Pediatrics; and Sandra Fenwick, president and chief executive officer of Boston Children’s Hospital. Image: Gretchen Ertl
S. Jean Emans (MD ’70, AB ’66) was recognized as the inaugural Mary Ellen Avery Professor of Pediatrics in a Feb. 20, 2015 ceremony in the Gordon Hall of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Speakers at the ceremony celebrated Emans’ leadership in pediatric and adolescent gynecology and adolescent medicine, her founding of the Center for Young Women’s Health at Boston Children’s Hospital, her devotion to mentorship and her efforts to increase leadership opportunities for women and minorities.
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Emans has published and lectured widely on medical education, reproductive endocrinology, sexual abuse, contraception, gynecology and faculty development. She wrote what is considered “the” textbook on pediatric and adolescent gynecology.
Emans’ work has earned her numerous awards, including the William Silen Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award from HMS and the Outstanding Achievement in Adolescent Medicine Award from the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, the highest honor in adolescent medicine.
In addition to her new title at HMS, Emans holds several leadership positions at Boston Children’s, including chief of the Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine, co-director of the Center for Young Women’s Health and director of the Office of Faculty Development. She directs two Harvard CME courses and co-directs two HMS joint-hospital courses on mentorship and leadership. She was also recently elected to the HMS Alumni Council.
The professorship, which was made possible by Children’s Hospital Pediatric Associates, is named in honor of the late Mary Ellen “Mel” Avery, who served as chair of the HMS Department of Pediatrics from 1974–1985.
“Already a well-respected member of the professoriate, Dr. Emans now holds […] a title that carries with it the prestige of Dr. Avery’s groundbreaking career as a researcher, leader and pioneering figure in the field of pediatrics,” said Jeffrey S. Flier, dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard University, at the event.
“It is particularly meaningful that this professorship, which honors the memory of a brilliant physician, researcher, leader and mentor, will be held by someone who also embodies excellence in each of these areas,” said Sandra Fenwick, president and chief executive officer of Boston Children’s.
Gary Fleisher, the Egan Family Foundation Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and physician-in-chief, pediatrician-in-chief and chairman of the Department of Medicine at Boston Children’s, also spoke at the event.
A separate professorship in Avery’s name at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the Mary Ellen Avery Professorship in Pediatrics in the Field of Newborn Medicine, was established and awarded to Terrie Inder in 2014.
