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In This Issue:
Congratulations Nicholas Tilney, MD
On November 6, BWH’s Research Council hosted the Fifth Annual Research Report and Celebration to mark another successful year of research at BWH. Researchers, physicians, administrators and other supporters packed a crowded Bornstein Amphitheater.
The event included a presentation by chairman of the Department of Medicine Victor Dzau, MD, on the state of the research enterprise at BWH; a panel discussion entitled “The Researcher in the Clinical Environment: Challenge or Opportunity?”; and the presentation of the McArthur Award. Following the formal program, service awards were presented to BWH researchers for the first time at a reception held in the Cabot Atrium.
Dzau praised researchers and administrators for their success in attaining a record amount of research funding, citing $247 million in research expenditures in FY 01 and $525 million in future commitments.
He also commended the collaboration of BWH and MGH researchers in the opening of the new Partners Research Building at 65 Landsdowne Street in Cambridge on October 11. Dzau also cited other key achievements, including the Harvard-Partners Center for Genetics and Genomics, led by Raju Kucherlapati, PhD; the Center for Clinical Investigation, led by Gordon Williams, MD; and the new Lung Biology Center, headed by Steven Shapiro, MD.
Dzau congratulated all researchers on taking advantage of collaborations that bridge research and patient care and he encouraged scientists to continue to seek out such opportunities. Dzau also placed an emphasis on the work surrounding space planning and explained that space allocation will be handled by a newly created Executive Committee on Space (ECOS).
“Thank you to the research council for their work throughout the year and in hosting this program. Since 20 percent of our staff at BWH consists of PhDs, we want to take this opportunity to recognize your contributions and roles in fulfilling our clinical mission,” said Anthony Whittemore, MD, chief medical officer, whose comments gave way to a fruitful and frank discussion led by the panelists on their research experiences in the unique clinical setting that BWH offers.
“I can’t imagine life without my lab,” said panelist JoAnn Ingwall, PhD, who explained that the very essence of her research protocol is often dictated by the environment in which she conducts her studies.
“The BWH environment inspires me. The hospital provides a unique opportunity to investigate the chemistry of life,” echoed panelist Charles Serhan, PhD.
Other veteran researchers who joined Ingwall and Serhan on the panel include Marc Pfeffer, MD, PhD, Dennis Selkoe, MD, and Frank Speizer, MD.
At the conclusion of the panel discussion, the McArthur Research Service Award—established by the former dean of the Harvard Business School John McArthur and supported by the Susan and Katherine Radovsky Fund—was presented to Arlene Sharpe, MD, PhD, Pathology Department, who embodies the true spirit of community service that this award was established to recognize.
As announced by Michael Gimbrone, MD, “Arlene enjoys a sterling reputation as a world-class scientist in the field of cellular and molecular immunology, and in the BWH research community she is widely acknowledged as a generous and helpful collaborator and colleague.”
After the formal research presentation in the Bornstein Amphitheater, researchers with five to 50 years of service were recognized at a reception in the Cabot Atrium. Those honored for the most years of service to BWH research include Bert Vallee, MD, Department of Medicine (51 years); Nicholas Tilney, MD, Department of Surgery (37 years); Alun Gareth Jones, PhD, Department of Radiology (30 years); Israel Mirsky, PhD, Department of Medicine (34 years); Heinz Remold, MD, Department of Medicine (30 years); and Jocelyn Spragg, PhD, Department of Medicine (32 years).