Lynn DeLisi
Professor of Psychiatry
VA Boston Healthcare System
DeLisi’s research focuses on the genetics and brain imaging of schizophrenia and has included studies and early detection of people at high genetic risk for the illness. She has many collaborators internationally and serves on the boards of two major professional societies, as a fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and as editor of the journal Schizophrenia Research. DeLisi currently treats inpatients at the Brockton VA and teaches in the Harvard South Shore Psychiatry residency program.
John Frangioni
Professor of Medicine
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Frangioni and his laboratory have spent the last decade developing new imaging systems and contrast agents for molecular imaging. His Fluorescence-Assisted Resection and Exploration (FLARE™) image-guided surgery system is in active clinical trials in four countries, and his new zwitterionic near-infrared fluorophores are being translated to human use by the National Cancer Institute’s NExT Program. Frangioni is constructing a translational cancer imaging facility at BIDMC that will develop the next generation of cancer-specific radiotracers for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging.
Keith Lillemoe
Professor of Surgery
Massachusetts General Hospital
Lillemoe’s clinical and research interests focus on benign and malignant diseases of the pancreas and biliary tree. In collaboration with other investigators at Johns Hopkins and Indiana University, Lillemoe’s work has lead to improvements in the short and long term outcomes of pancreatobiliary surgery and helped define the management of many of these conditions.
Glenn Dranoff
Professor of Medicine
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Dranoff has developed a basic and translational research program to elucidate the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the generation of anti-tumor immunity. Work in his laboratory has given rise to multiple clinical protocols at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute that have defined the biologic activity of several cancer immunotherapies in patients with solid or hematologic malignancies; these investigations have helped provide the foundation for the recent FDA approvals of the first therapeutic cancer vaccine and the first monoclonal antibody that blocks negative immune regulation.
Gerard Berry
Professor of Pediatrics
Children’s Hospital Boston
Berry’s research focuses on carbohydrate and myo-inositol metabolism. He has employed in vivo isotope kinetic studies using [13C]-labeled sugars and mass spectrometry to dissect whole body galactose metabolism and breath testing to establish genotype-phenotype relationships in patients with hereditary galactosemia due to galactose-1-phosphate uridyltransferase (GALT) deficiency. His related interest is myo-inositol metabolism and transport in fetal brain. For insight into the biochemical basis of prenatal CNS disease in patients with galactosemia, Berry’s lab has generated a sodium/myo-inositol co-transporter (SLC5A3) gene knockout mouse that can be rescued with prenatal nutritional intervention. Under the auspices of the Manton Center for Orphan Disease Research of Children’s Hospital Boston, Berry plans to develop an International Center for the study and treatment of galactosemia and its complications.
David Alsop
Professor of Radiology
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Alsop’s research focuses on the invention and application of new techniques for characterizing tissue with MRI. His work on MR perfusion imaging and subsequent demonstration of its usefulness in clinical populations have stimulated new directions of research and are helping to transform standard of care imaging. As director of MRI Research at Beth Israel Deaconess’ Department of Radiology, he leads an interdisciplinary group developing new strategies for MR assessment of physiology and translating them to improve clinical diagnosis.
Daniel Deschler
Professor of Otology and Laryngology
Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
Deschler’s clinical interests concentrate on the management of advanced head and neck malignancies and microvascular reconstruction. His research focuses on voice rehabilitation after laryngeal cancer treatment, head and neck reconstructive innovations and pharmacological inhibition of microvascular thrombosis. As director of the Division of Head and Neck Surgery at the MEEI, Deschler fosters a clinical and education environment centered on providing outstanding clinical care while training the future leaders of the specialty of head and neck surgery.
John Halamka
Professor of Medicine
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Halamka’s early work involved linking the electronic health records of the Beth Israel and Deaconess hospitals when the institutions merged in 1996. Since then he has focused on the exchange of healthcare data regionally and nationally as part of healthcare stimulus and healthcare reform activities. At HMS Halamka has focused on educational technology innovation and high performance computing to support the entire community. He shares the lessons he has learned in technology and policy every day on his blog, geekdoctor.blogspot.com.
Andrea McClatchey
Professor of Pathology
Massachusetts General Hospital
McClatchey’s work has uncovered fundamental aspects of normal and cancer cell biology, particularly through a longstanding study of the molecular basis of neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2), a familial cancer syndrome caused by mutation of the NF2 tumor suppressor gene. The NF2 gene encodes a protein, dubbed Merlin, that links membrane proteins to the cortical cytoskeleton. McClatchey’s work has led directly to the identification of therapeutic targets for NF2 and yielded significant new insights into how the organization of protein complexes at the cell cortex contributes to morphogenesis and tumorigenesis.
Thoralf Sundt III
Professor of Surgery
Massachusetts General Hospital
Sundt’s practice is focused on the treatment of acquired cardiovascular diseases in the adult, with a particular emphasis on aneurismal disease of the thoracic aorta. His areas of particular clinical expertise are the management of aneurysms of the aortic root, ascending aorta and arch, and the descending thoracic and thoracoabdominal aorta. Sundt’s laboratory investigations and clinical research have centered on understanding the genetics and mechanisms of aneurysm formation, particularly those associated with bicuspid aortic valve. He also has made contributions to the understanding of the pathogenesis of medical error and the role of human factors and communication in the operating room.
