Gary Ruvkun, a professor of genetics in the Department of Genetics at HMS, has received $1 million from the Dan David Foundation for his research on aging. Prizes are awarded annually in three categories—past, present and future—for outstanding scientific, technological, cultural or social contributions to humanity. Laureates are asked to donate 10 percent of their funds to the support of graduate students in their fields.
In the future category, Ruvkun was recognized for his laboratory’s discovery of conserved hormonal signaling pathways that universally influence mammalian aging. A key figure in defining the genetic basis for human health in aging, Ruvkun is credited with uncovering a core set of hormonal signals and signaling pathways that regulate aging and lifespan in animal models and that are likely also to act in humans.
Augustine M.K. Choi, chief of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Division, was awarded the 2011 Ho-Am Prize in Medicine in April. Often referred to as the “Korean Nobel,” the prize, established in 1990, recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the promotion of academics, the arts and human welfare. The Ho-Am Prize in Medicine acknowledges world-class standards in creative research in the international academic world and leaders in humankind’s quest to conquer disease. Choi, a pulmonary and critical care medicine physician-scientist, was selected for his outstanding research on the molecular regulation and function of stress responsive genes, including heme-oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and gaseous molecule carbon monoxide (CO). In his clinical practice, Choi specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Rebecca Cunningham, HMS instructor in medicine, has been awarded the 2011 Thomas H. Lee, MD, Award for Excellence in Primary Care. This annual award recognizes physicians at Brigham and Women’s Hospital who provide exceptional service and compassionate care. Named for Thomas H. Lee, a physician at the Phyllis Jen Center for Primary Care, the award celebrates successes and inspires others to pursue careers in primary care. Also a physician in the center, Cunningham is interested in women’s health, medical education, complex disease management and quality improvement. She has served as the medical director for the Care Management Program at Brigham and Women’s/Faulkner Hospital, a Medicare demonstration project aimed at improving quality of care while lowering costs for medically complex patients. She has also directed the Primary Care Clerkship for third-year medical students at HMS and the Ambulatory Curriculum for BWH’s Medicine Residency Program.
Nathanael Gray, HMS associate professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, was recognized in April with the 2011 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cancer Research for his work using synthetic chemistry and functional small molecule discovery to modulate biological pathways important in cancer. Gray’s lab develops small molecules that selectively target signaling proteins that become deregulated in cancer. He is currently working to develop new methods to modulate kinase activity.
Christos Mantzoros, professor of medicine, HMS, and professor in environmental health, Harvard School of Public Health, was recognized in April with the Solomon A. Berson Distinguished Lectureship at the annual Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology meeting in Washington, DC. Mantzoros was honored for his contributions to the study of adipokines, which are important in the pathogenesis of diabetes, obesity and associated diseases, including cardiovascular disease and malignancies. The Mantzoros lab was the first to conclusively demonstrate the role of leptin in regulating the neuroendocrine response to energy deprivation in humans and show that administration of leptin corrects neuroendocrine and reproductive abnormalities associated with acute and chronic energy deprivation in humans. Past Harvard recipients Bruce Spiegelman, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Jeffrey S. Flier, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; and C. Ronald Kahn, Joslin Diabetes Center.
Christopher Morris of the Division of Sleep Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, was selected for a postdoctoral fellowship by the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI). The two-year program offers fellows the opportunity to manage their own space-related biomedical research while learning from an experienced faculty mentor. Morris is working with Frank A.J.L. Scheer, assistant professor of medicine at HMS and the Division of Sleep Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, to look at the effects of sudden shifts in sleep/wake patterns, typical for astronauts, on the cardiovascular system. Funded by NASA, NSBRI studies health risks related to long-duration spaceflight.
Bjorn Olsen, HSDM dean for research and Hersey Professor of Cell Biology, received the 2011 Henry Gray/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Scientific Achievement Award from the American Association of Anatomists (AAA) at the organization’s annual meeting in April. This award is the AAA’s most prestigious scientific award, presented annually to a member in recognition of his or her unique and meritorious contributions to and achievements in the anatomical sciences. Olsen’s selection was based on his fundamental and groundbreaking scientific accomplishments in the fields of extracellular matrix biology, genetics, and cell and developmental biology.
Helen Shields was selected as the recipient of the 2011 American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Distinguished Educator Award for her contributions and achievements as an outstanding educator over a lifelong career.
Sheilds will receive a $1,000 cash award and be presented with a crystal award during the AGA annual meeting in May in Chicago.
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences has named six members of the Harvard Medical School and School of Public Health faculties to the class of 2011. The new class, which includes 212 of the world’s most accomplished leaders, will be inducted at a ceremony on October 1 at the Academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The inductees are:
David Corey, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and HMS professor of neurobiology;
George Daley, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Samuel E. Lux IV Professor of Hematology/Oncology, director of the Stem Cell Transplantation Program at Children’s Hospital Boston and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and HMS professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology;
Julio Frenk, dean of the faculty, Harvard School of Public Health, and the T & G Angelopoulos Professor of Public Health and International Development;
Daniel Haber, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center Director, and the Kurt J. Isselbacher/Peter B. Schwartz Professor of Oncology at HMS and Massachusetts General Hospital; and
Robert Kingston, chief of the Department of Molecular Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital and vice chair and professor of the Department of Genetics at HMS.
2011 Searle ScholarsTwo researchers, Sandeep Datta, assistant professor of neurobiology, and Wendy Garrett, assistant professor of immunology and infectious diseases at the Harvard School of Public Health and instructor in medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, have been named 2011 Searle Scholars. Datta’s proposal, Exploring the Neural Basis for Olfactory Perception, and Garrett’s, Host-bacterial Interactions in Intestinal Inflammation and Malignancy, each earned $300,000 in support over three years. In selecting Searle Scholars, a scientific advisory board looks for scientists who have demonstrated innovative work with the potential for making significant contributions to chemical and biological research. In the past 30 years, the awards have supported 482 young biomedical scientists through a trust established by the wills of John G. and Frances C. Searle.
2011 Soros FellowsThe 2011 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans selected five Harvard fellows: Melis Anahtar and David Reshef who are studying for their MD/PhD in the Harvard-MIT HST Program, David Mou who is studying for an MD/MBA, and Carlos Torres and Steve Xu, who are studying for MDs. The fellowships were established in 1997 by Paul & Daisy M. Soros as a charitable trust to support graduate-level study by accomplished and promising immigrants and children of immigrants.
