Neurology: Unmasking Elusive Enzyme Reveals Known Villain Epidemiology: Cancer Risk May Be Higher for Young Smokers Health Policy: Use of Hormone Replacement Therapy Not Determined by Clinical Factors Sowing Better Seeds Angiogenesis Inhibitors May Slow Clogging of Arteries Nipping Anorexia in the Bud Vitamins May Protect Against Heart Disease Microbial Enzymes Choosier than Believed Conference on Academic Values Set Town Meeting on Gay and Lesbian Issues To Be Held at HMS Appointments to Full and Endowed Professorships In Memoriam: Robert A. Dorwart Nobelists Tapped To Speak at Soma Weiss Day Program Honors and Advances News Brief Students Teach Community Youngsters About Good Oral Health Why Not Harvard Medical? Front Page

BULLETIN Conference on Academic Values Set HMS hosted a conference March 24 on college and university compliance with environmental standards. "Is Your School in Compliance? Achieving and Going Beyond Compliance with Environmental Regulations in Academic Settings" was cosponsored by HMS, HSPH, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Liza Green, HMS Media Services In opening the conference Paul Levy (left), executive dean for administration at HMS, noted that while regulators and universities usually have the same goal of meeting environmental standards, they need to find more effective ways to work together to achieve this. Also speaking during the introduction, John DeVillars (right), regional administrator for the EPA's New England office, emphasized measuring performance not by the number of citations written but by positive results, such as a clean record for radiation safety. Incidentally, Harvard received high marks for its radiation safety program from state inspectors who made a surprise visit in January.here will be a conference of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) on "Who's in Control? Academic Values in the Transformation of American Medicine," May 20 through 23 at the Omni Parker House Hotel in Boston. The association says, "Faculty members in American medical schools are watching their conditions of work deteriorate as the crisis in financing our nation's health care system sends academic medicine into a free fall." Speakers at the conference include John McIntyre of the New England Research Institute; Gary Dennis, president of the National Medical Association; Jack Geiger of CUNY; and HMS faculty members David Blumenthal, Arnold Relman, and Rashi Fein. To register, visit AAUP's website (www.aaup.org) or call 800-424-2973. Appointments to Full and Endowed Professorships These faculty members were appointed to full professorships in February and March. George Chen Professor of Radiation Oncology Massachusetts General Hospital Chen, who works in the Radiation Biophysics Division of the Department of Radiation Oncology at MGH, spent nine years at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif., developing the clinical physics for charged particle radiation therapy. His primary interest is the utilization of imaging in radiation therapy treatment planning. This includes image processing involving multimodality image registration and 3-D volume rendering. Daniel Cramer Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology Brigham and Women's Hospital Cramer is head of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Epidemiology Center at BWH, which performs population-based epidemiologic studies of women. He has a particular interest in how disruption of normal pituitary/gonadal regulation may lead to infertility, early menopause, and ovarian cancer. He is also active in resident teaching and in counseling women with a family history of ovarian cancer. Barbara Furie Professor of Medicine Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Furie has a longstanding interest in the mechanisms of blood coagulation, in particular the assembly of the macromolecular enzyme complexes that propagate this process. Another research interest is the posttranslational modification of the vitamin K–dependent proteins of blood coagulation. She also studies cell adhesion, particularly that mediated by the selectin family of adhesion molecules and their ligands. Irene Kochevar Professor of Dermatology Massachusetts General Hospital Kochevar's research focuses on the primary light-induced reactions in skin cells, the responses of skin to UV radiation (especially photoaging), and therapeutic applications of UV and visible light. She also serves as associate director for research at the Wellman Laboratories of Medicine at MGH. James Reinertsen Professor of Medicine and CareGroup Chief Executive Officer CareGroup As CEO of CareGroup, Reinertsen oversees the clinical, teaching, and research systems for the Beth Israel Deaconess and Mount Auburn Hospitals, among others. His primary interests are clinical improvement, physician leadership development, and health care system design. Jerrold Rosenbaum Professor of Psychiatry Massachusetts General Hospital As associate chief for clinical research and director of the Outpatient Psychiatry Division in the Department of Psychiatry at MGH, Rosenbaum's research addresses etiology, psychopathology, course and treatment of mood and anxiety disorders, including studies of children of parents with panic disorder and depression, family genetic studies, and studies of novel therapeutic strategies for these conditions. Harald von Boehmer Professor of Pathology Dana–Farber Cancer Institute A former director at the National Institute of Science and Medical Research in Paris, von Boehmer serves in the Department of Cancer Immunology and AIDS at DFCI. While his primary research focuses on lymphocyte development, his research interests also include autoimmune diabetes and tumor immunology. This full professor was appointed to an endowed chair in February. Robert Moellering Jr. Herrman Ludwig Blumgart Professor of Medicine Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Moellering, formerly the Shields Warren–Mallinckrodt professor of medical research, is physician in chief, chair of the Department of Medicine, and chief executive officer of Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians at BID. He is a specialist in infectious diseases, and his research interests include mechanisms of antimicrobial interaction and mechanisms of resistance to antibacterial agents. Town Meeting on Gay and Lesbian Issues To Be Held at HMS A town meeting on gay and lesbian issues within the Harvard medical community with Joseph Martin, dean of the faculty of medicine; Daniel Federman, dean for medical education; and William Silen, faculty dean for faculty development and diversity, will be held April 22 at 5:00 p.m. in the Walter Amphitheater in the Medical Education Center. Straight, gay, lesbian, and bisexual members of the community are invited to attend the discussion on personal experiences with these issues at HMS, how to raise awareness of the issues, and ways to provide support for the gay, lesbian, and bisexual community. For more information, contact the Office of Faculty Development and Diversity at 432-3020 or by email, kritsa_farnworth@hms.harvard.edu. In Memoriam Robert A. Dorwart, professor of psychiatry andof social medicine at HMS, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Cambridge Hospital, and professor of health policy and management at HSPH, died at his home after a lengthy illness on March 8. He was 51.     Dorwart was a graduate of Harvard College, Tulane University School of Medicine, and HSPH, where he was a Kellogg Foundation fellow. He began his affiliation with the Medical School in 1977 as a resident in psychiatry at Cambridge Hospital. He held various appointments at HMS, HSPH, and the John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he most recently was a professor in the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy. A nationally renowned scholar, his more than 70 publications include articles, book chapters, books, and reviews on issues of public health and the economics of mental health care. His work appeared in periodicals such as the New England Journal of Medicine and the American Journal of Psychiatry. He was also an editorial reviewer for, among others, Psychiatry, American Journal of Public Health, Journal of the American Medical Association, and Harvard Review of Psychiatry, where he served as a member of the editorial board.     Dorwart's research focused on the organization and financing of mental health care, managed care, and health care reform, and the effects these had on the quality of care for the mentally ill. His research played a role in shaping national health care policy.     He is survived by his wife, Nancy Langman-Dorwart; a daughter, Kirsten; and a son, Stefan, all of Sudbury.   Honors and Advances The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation has honored two HMS instructors in medicine, R. Paul Johnson and Philip Goulder, for their research on pediatric HIV/AIDS. The 1999 Elizabeth Glaser Scientist Award, presented by Hillary Clinton, grants each of them $700,000 for five years of research. Goulder is studying the immune responses of HIV-infected children in Africa and the U.S., while Johnson is working on a way to boost the immune system's response to the disease in infected children. The Alonzo Yerby Award, given each year by HSPH to a public health professional for dedication to community welfare and health concerns of the poor, has been awarded to HMS professor of child psychiatry Gloria Johnson-Powell. She is also the senior adviser on community and social policy research at the Judge Baker Children's Center. News Brief The William Randolph Hearst Fund at HMS is accepting applications for a $15,000 award to be given in support of research in pre- and peri-natal medicine, with an emphasis on the prevention of neuromotor disabilities. Applications are open to medical faculty with preference given to junior or new researchers. The deadline is May 1. For more information and application guidelines, contact Clint Schmidt at 432-4221. Dental Students Teach Community Youngsters About Good Oral Health Liza Green, HMS Media Services Jeff Cardenas (left), HMS '02, and Omar Sahagun (right), HMS '02, demonstrate proper brushing techniques to students at the Maurice J. Tobin School in Mission Hill. They took part in the third annual Oral Health Education Outreach, a community service project of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine and the American Student Dental Association. Using rap music, story books, and cartoons, 55 first- and second-year HMS and HSDM students taught 370 kindergarten, first-, and second-grade pupils at Tobin, Farragut, and Mission Hill Schools about the importance of the teeth and tongue, reviewed oral hygiene techniques, and distributed dental supplies donated by Colgate-Palmolive and the John O. Butler Company. This year's event was coordinated by Peter Costalos, HSDM '01. Back to Top