Richard Blumberg, HMS professor of medicine and chief of the Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endoscopy Division at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, was awarded the William Beaumont Prize in Gastroenterology by the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA). The prize is awarded every three years and is the highest honor that the AGA bestows upon an individual to recognize lifetime scientific achievement in advancing gastroenterological research. The prize will be awarded to Blumberg at this year’s Digestive Diseases Week (DDW) meeting in San Diego.
David Corey, HMS professor of neurobiology, recently received the Award of Merit from the Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO). The award is given annually to a researcher who has made an outstanding scientific contribution to the field of otolaryngology and is regarded as the highest international award in hearing research. The ARO is an international scientific society composed of basic scientists and clinicians who are actively investigating basic science and clinical problems associated with hearing, speech, balance, smell, taste and diseases of the head and neck.
Reza Dana, the Claes H. Dohlman Professor of Ophthalmology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI), is the recipient of the 2012 Chancellor's Award in Neurosciences and Ophthalmology from Louisiana State University (LSU) Health Sciences Center School of Medicine at New Orleans. The award was presented on February 3 at LSU. Dana is MEEI cornea service and refractive surgery service director and the associate chief of ophthalmology for academic programs. He is also co-director of research and a senior scientist at Schepens Eye Research Institute. He presented the Chancellor's Award Lecture in Neuroscience and Ophthalmology titled “From ‘Bench to Bedside’: Recent Discoveries in the Immunopathogenic Mechansims of Corneal and Ocular Surface Inflammatory Disorders.”
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, recently selected The Assaulted Staff Action Program (ASAP) as an innovative program for excellence in health care for its Innovations Exchange Program. ASAP, a crisis intervention program for staff victims of patient assaults, was designed and is fielded by Raymond Flannery, Jr., associate clinical professor of psychology in the department of psychiatry at the Cambridge Health Alliance. In the past 22 years, there have been 40 ASAP teams in 7 states that have responded to 4,500 assault incidents.
Howard Green, George Higginson Professor of Cell Biology at HMS, has recently been awarded the 2012 March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology. Green, who works in regenerative medicine, developed a permanent skin restoration treatment that has saved the lives of thousands of burn victims. He previously developed the first therapeutic use of cells grown in a lab, and discovered that hybrid human and mouse cells loose their chromosomes, leading to gene mapping methods used today. In addition, Green’s work has laid the foundation for the discovery of genes that are responsible for genetic skin defects.
The March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology has been awarded on an annual basis since 1996 to investigators whose research has helped advance the science behind the understanding of birth defects.
Gerald Marx, HMS associate professor of pediatrics and senior associate in Children’s Hospital Boston’s Department of Cardiology, will be honored by the American Heart Association (AHA) with their Paul Dudley White Award at their 2012 Boston Heart Ball on April 28. The award, named in honor of Dr. Paul Dudley White, one of Boston’s most revered cardiologists and a founding father of the American Heart Association, is the most prestigious tribute given by the AHA’s Founders Affiliate and is bestowed annually on a Massachusetts medical volunteer. Marx has also been a volunteer for the AHA, both at the national and regional level, serving on numerous committees and boards. He currently serves as president of the board of directors of the AHA’s Founders Affiliate. He is internationally recognized for his contributions to patient care and medical education, treating children with the most complicated forms of heart disease from all over the globe and is the author of over 180 peer-reviewed publications, chapters of books, reviews and editorials. Marx is especially renowned as a pioneer in 3-D imaging of congenital heart disease.
Ann Partridge, HMS associate professor of medicine at Dana–Farber Cancer Institute, was named the director of the Adult Survivorship Program and the Lance Armstrong Foundation Clinic at Dana-Farber. Partridge is an accomplished clinician-researcher who is nationally recognized for her contributions to the fields of breast cancer in young women and cancer survivorship. She has been the clinical director of the Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers Breast Oncology Program at Dana-Farber since 2008. Partridge founded, and will continue to serve as the director of, Dana-Farber’s Program for Young Women with Breast Cancer, which addresses the unique needs of women in their early 40s and younger. In 2010, she was appointed chair of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Breast Cancer in Young Women, a federal advisory committee established by the Affordable Care Act.
Mildred Solomon, HMS associate clinical professor of medical ethics in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine and the Department of Anesthesia at Children’s Hospital Boston, will become the Hastings Center’s next president, effective July 2012. Solomon studies normative and empirical ethical issues in medicine, health care and the life sciences. She has contributed her expertise to education, policy and practice on a national and international scale in both adult and pediatric end-of-life-care, organ donation, pain management, sexually transmitted disease prevention and the protection of human research participants. Solomon, who is also a Hastings Center fellow, was elected by unanimous decision by the Center’s board of directors, subsequent to an international search.
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) recently elected 66 new members and 10 foreign associates, bringing the total U.S. membership to 2,254 and the number of foreign associates to 206. Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to "engineering research, practice, or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature," and to the "pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education."
The newly elected members at HMS affiliations are:
George Church, professor of genetics and director, Center for Computational Genetics, for his contributions to human genome sequencing technologies and DNA synthesis and assembly.
Elazer Edelman, professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital for contributions to the design, development and regulation of local cardiovascular drug delivery and drug eluting stents.
