Newsmakers

LuPone class canceled

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the master class with Tony Award-winning actor/singer Patti LuPone on Oct. 24 in Paine Hall at the Department of Music has been canceled. A rescheduled date will be announced soon. For more information, call (617) 495-8676.

Eisenberg lands pair of awards

Maude and Lillian Presley Professor of Social Medicine Emeritus Leon Eisenberg has been named the recipient of two prestigious awards this month. A leader in child psychiatry for more than 40 years, Eisenberg received the Ruane Prize for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Research from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression. This award recognizes his work in pharmacological trials, research, teaching, and social policy. Eisenberg received the award at an Oct. 17 ceremony in New York.

Eisenberg has also been named the recipient of the Walsh McDermott Medal by the Institute of Medicine in recognition of his “distinguished service to the institute and to the National Academies over an extended period of time.” The medal will be presented at the institute’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 28.

Turnbull to head new Medicaid institute

School of Public Health Lecturer Nancy Turnbull has been named executive director of the new Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute. Created with a $1 million donation from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the purpose of the institute is to provide nonpartisan research, information, and analysis of the Medicaid program in Massachusetts, Turnbull said.

‘The Elegant Universe’ to showcase Harvard faculty

Several Harvard faculty members will help bring string theory to life in an upcoming miniseries on the public television program “NOVA.” Professors of physics Nima Arkani-Hamed and Cumrun Vafa, Mallinckrodt Professor of the History of Science and of Physics Peter Galison, and Higgins Professor of Physics Emeritus Sheldon Glashow all lend their expertise to “The Elegant Universe.”

The two-part special, which presents the nuts and bolts of string theory, will air Oct. 28 and Nov. 4 at 8 p.m. on WGBH (Channel 2).

– Compiled by Andrew Brooks