“Bill, your journey into medicine began here as a student and trainee, evolved as a member of our faculty, and took you beyond our walls to the entrepreneurial challenge of drug discovery,” said HMS Dean Jeffery S. Flier. “And thankfully, it has brought you back to HMS to help elevate our school to ever greater heights.”
A 1972 graduate of the School, Chin trained at several HMS teaching hospitals, including a medical internship and residency at Beth Israel Hospital and endocrine clinical training and research at Massachusetts General Hospital.
William Chin, HMS executive dean for research, was named the Bertarelli Professor of Translational Medical Science at a ceremony at the Loeb House in Harvard Yard on April 28.
A former Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, Chin served as chief of the Genetics Division in the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and as professor of Medicine and of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at HMS.
As a pioneering molecular endocrinologist, Chin embraced the early use of emerging DNA technology to make important discoveries regarding the structure, function and regulation of hormone genes. His investigations often demonstrated a translational theme, connecting basic laboratory discoveries to their physiologic relevance in animal models and humans, showing, for example, how certain mutations can cause thyroid hormone resistance in people. He has been honored with numerous awards for research, mentorship and leadership, and has authored or co-authored nearly 300 papers, chapters and books.
After a 25-year tenure as a faculty member, Chin went on to serve for a decade as senior vice president for Discovery Research and Clinical Investigation at Eli Lilly and Co. He also served on the company’s Senior Management Council.
Chin returned to HMS as executive dean in May 2010. Since then, he has spearheaded efforts to design and implement a vision for research, with special emphasis on interdisciplinary research that crosses departmental and institutional boundaries.
“Translational medicine is about truly appreciating that we live in a healthcare ecosystem; that we need great collaborative interactions between HMS academe, industry, government and non-government agencies to solve our most vexing problems,” said Chin during the ceremony. “It’s medicine focused on patients.”
The professorship, supported by a gift from the Bertarelli Foundation, “is symbolic of the work that we need to do to be able to efficiently and productively move knowledge that we gain in basic science research as quickly and as efficiently as possible into therapies for patients,” Chin said. “And the work that the professorship will help spur, embodied in my efforts, will try to bring together programs to do that.”
