Newsmakers

M.P.H. candidate elected AMA student section chair

Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) M.P.H. candidate Benjamin Galper ’02 has recently been elected national chair of the American Medical Association (AMA) Medical Student Section for 2006-07. The AMA is a professional organization that offers opportunities for community service, advocacy, and health policy for both physicians and medical students who wish to take part in shaping the ways in which American health care is delivered.

A student at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Galper has been taking off this year from his medical studies to earn an M.P.H. in health policy at HSPH.

Grad students receive Google scholarships

Computer science graduate student Rebecca Nesson was recently named one of 19 Anita Borg Scholarship recipients. Sponsored by Google, the $10,000 scholarship aims to encourage women to excel in computing and technology. Fellow graduate student Meeta Sharma Gupta was also recognized as one of 28 finalists. She will receive $1,000. Both students are research assistants in the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Professor White receives AAOS Diversity Award

In honor of his commitment to culturally competent care and promoting diversity in orthopedics, the 2006 Diversity Award was presented to Professor of Orthopedic Surgery Augustus A. White III during the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons’ (AAOS) general meeting last month in Chicago. This award recognizes academy fellows who have significantly contributed to advancing diversity in orthopedics through recruiting, mentoring, leadership, and treating diverse populations.

White is the Ellen and Melvin Gordon Professor of Medical Education at Harvard, and a member of the faculty of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Harvard Graduate Council 2006-07 election results in

The Harvard Graduate Council (HGC), an umbrella graduate student government representing Harvard’s 11 graduate and professional Schools, elected its new executive board at its general meeting on April 4. Cheng Zhu, a doctoral candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, was elected incoming president for the 2006-07 school year.

Rounding out the executive committee is Alicia Woodley, a J.D. candidate at Harvard Law School (elected vice president for internal operations); Sandy Hussain, a master’s candidate at the Graduate School of Design (elected vice president for events); and Jordan Amadio, a joint-degree candidate for M.D. at Harvard Medical School and M.B.A. at the Harvard Business School (elected vice president for external relations). The new executive board members will assume their positions June 8.

The mission of the HGC is to serve its members by recognizing issues or concerns affecting students and by encouraging communication and collaboration across the University.

– Compiled by Andrew Brooks