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Understanding how the intestine replaces and repairs itself
When working stem cells within the intestine are depleted, some types of mature cells can transform themselves into stem cells, replenishing the population.
Love interrupted
A new study by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center examines the neuroanatomy behind delusional misidentification syndromes.
Microscopy taps power of programmable DNA
With a super-resolution microscopy, a team of researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute has leveraged the power of programmable DNA.
Faculty elected to National Academy of Sciences
Five Harvard faculty members were elected to the National Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Music as fine medicine
For the first time, students at Harvard Medical School in the Longwood area are participating in the annual Arts First festival, the University’s four-day celebration of the visual, literary, and performing arts.
Taking a moment to give thanks
Faculty of Arts and Sciences administrators and staff gathered this week to thank co-workers and colleagues for their professionalism and thoughtfulness — and to reach out to those less fortunate in the community.
Molecular motion in detail
In a critical breakthrough in unraveling how molecular “motors” ferry proteins and nutrients through cells, Harvard scientists have produced high-resolution images that show how the chemical “foot” of dynein — one of the most complex, but least understood such motors — binds to microtubules, the cellular structures it travels on.
Harvard scholars named outstanding early-career scientists by President Obama
President Obama today named three researchers from Harvard University as recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, ...
HMS faculty wins Clinical Scientist Development Award
Adam J. Bass, assistant professor in the department of medicine at Harvard Medical School and assistant professor of medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, has won a Doris Duke Charitable Foundation 2012 Clinical Scientist Development Award.
HMS, Dana-Farber scientists receive 2012 Alpert Prize
HMS faculty Kenneth Anderson, Paul Richardson, and Alfred Goldberg are three of four researchers being honored for their research and development of a pioneering cancer drug.
Jain receives 2012 Science of Oncology Award
Rakesh Jain received the 2012 Science of Oncology award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology, recognizing his three decades of pioneering work in the field of oncology.
HMS publication recognized in national design competition
"Frontiers in Ophthalmology," a comprehensive report of the Department of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, won a national design competition for its 2012 publication.
Experimental drug improves Cushing’s disease
A new investigational drug significantly reduced urinary cortisol levels and improved symptoms of Cushing’s disease in the largest clinical study of this endocrine disorder ever conducted.
Alzheimer’s-like changes in the brain
A study by researchers at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital indicates that the inhaled anesthetic isoflurane impairs learning and memory in mammalian brains by damaging mitochondria, a finding that suggests the anesthetic desflurane may be a better choice for Alzheimer’s patients and others susceptible to cognitive dysfunction.
Too much variety
More choices for Medicare beneficiaries may not always be better, according to Harvard Medical School research.
Helping the heart help itself
Stem cells being transfused into post-heart attack patients may not be developing into new heart muscle, but they still appear to be beneficial. Some stem cells in the bone marrow, called c-kit+ cells, appear capable of stimulating adult stem cells already present in the heart to repair damaged tissue.
The story from beginning to end
Norton Greenberger, a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and clinical professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, has written a book about the hidden world of digestion — and no holds are barred.
Charles McCabe
Charles McCabe, senior surgeon and senior physician in emergency services at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School (HMS), died July 7, 2008, after a protracted battle with melanoma, lymphoma, and multiple sclerosis.
Doctors’ group drops late-night ER visit fees
Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians said yesterday that it would no longer add $30 to bills for emergency care delivered between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m.
Doctors Don’t Agree On Letting Patients See Notes
The medical record has traditionally been viewed by the medical establishment as something that they own," says Dr. Tom Delbanco of Harvard Medical School. "They think: 'It's my private notes. This is my stuff.'"
Diabetes Medication May Get New Life as Cancer Treatment
A national tax of 1 cent per ounce of soda and other sugary drinks could stem the United States' obesity epidemic, while generating $14.9 billion the first year alone, health experts say.
Robert Timmons McCluskey
Robert T. McCluskey, a pioneer in the field of immunopathology, died June 29, 2006 at the age of 83. McCluskey was a leader in academic pathology and nephrology and his major scientific contributions were related to the immunopathogenesis of renal diseases.
Lloyd M. Aiello receives Alpert Prize for preventing blindness in diabetic patients
Lloyd M. Aiello, a Harvard Medical School clinical professor of ophthalmology at Joslin Diabetes Center's Beetham Eye Institute, will receive the 2008-09 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize on Sept. 29.
Thomas Carlyle Jones
The veterinary profession lost one of its most influential and respected leaders and the American College of Veterinary Pathologists lost its founder, Thomas Carlyle Jones, who died at the age of 95.
Insured, but Bankrupted Anyway
Dr. David Himmelstein is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a primary care doctor at the Cambridge Hospital in Massachusetts. “Our most recent study found that nearly two-thirds of Americans who declared bankruptcy cited illness or medical bills as a significant cause of their bankruptcies. And of the medically bankrupt, three-quarters of that group had insurance, at least when they first got sick….”
Medical grants a boon for Mass.
Massachusetts biomedical researchers are seeing a windfall from federal stimulus money, with the state receiving more in grants from the National Institutes of Health than all others but California.
Bringing science back to Liberian classrooms
Adam Cohen, assistant professor in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Ben Rapoport, a student at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, are bringing science to war-torn Liberia.
Child psychiatrist pens her past
Psychiatrist Nancy Rappaport uncovers a relationship with the mother she scarcely knew in her powerful familial memoir. Infused with accounts of treating her own teenage patients, Rappaport plumbs the bond between parents and children while closing in on healing.
Beyond the Biopsy: A Tiny Monitor for Cancer
Doctors doing a needle biopsy to analyze tissue for cancer may one day add a second step to the procedure: depositing a tiny device at the site to report on growth of a tumor — and even the effects of chemotherapy.
Don’t amputate the wrong leg
Are you scheduled for surgery in 2010? If so, you should know that agreeing to an operation involves some risk. This is a fact of life, and there may never be a way to reduce the risk to zero. But a study from Harvard Medical School shows there's a proven way to cut deaths following surgery by 40%.
For Best Results, Take the Sting Out of Criticism
This may come as a surprise, but I don’t like criticism. I prefer constant praise and approval from my friends, family and bosses.
Kirschner and King named University Professors
Gary King and Marc W. Kirschner have been named University Professors, Harvard’s highest professorial distinction.
Social pressure keeps African AIDS patients in treatment
One of the surprises of the global AIDS epidemic has been the high level of adherence to antiretroviral drug treatment in sub-Saharan Africa.
Safer stem cells for therapy
When stem cell researchers in Japan and the United States announced in 2007 that they had developed long-sought methods to return fully developed adult human cells to an embryonic-like state, the world of stem cell research was turned upside down.
I. (Israel) David Todres
(Israel) David Todres, Professor of Paediatrics (Anaesthesia) at Harvard Medical School, died at his home of lymphoma on Sept. 26, 2008. He was 73.
Shukri F. Khuri
Dr. Shukri F. Khuri passed away peacefully at the age of 65, surrounded by family and friends, on September 26, 2008, at his Westwood home, after courageously battling brain cancer for more than eighteen months. A gifted and spirited surgeon and researcher, his absolute love for life enabled him to achieve remarkable professional success and effectively pursue his passions for family, friends and various interests.
2008-09: A look back
As Commencement closes another chapter of the Harvard story, here is a brief backward glance at highlights of the year that was.
Dean Tosteson dies at age 84
Daniel C. Tosteson, the Caroline Shields Walker Distinguished Professor of Cell Biology, who served an extraordinary two decades as dean of Harvard Medical School, from 1977 to 1997, died peacefully on May 27 after a long illness. He was 84 years old.
Mobile health van returns $36 for every dollar invested
Researchers from Harvard Medical School (HMS) have developed a prototype “return on investment calculator” that can measure the value of prevention services. Using a Boston-based mobile health program called the “Family Van” to test the tool, the team found that for the services provided in 2008, this program, in the long run, will return $36 for every dollar invested.
Judah Folkman
Judah Folkman was born Moses Judah Folkman in 1933. The son of a rabbi, he became inspired to become a physician as a young boy when visiting ailing members of the congregation with his father. He soon became fascinated with science and medicine, and as a high school student he devised a perfusion system in his basement that maintained the viability of a beating rat heart for days after surgical removal.
Brigham face transplant recipient goes home
James Maki, a 59-year-old who became the nation’s second face transplant recipient in April to repair injuries from a horrific subway accident, left Brigham and Women’s Hospital on Thursday (May 21), thankful for what he called a “new chance to build my life.”
Forstein honored with the Art of Healing Award
Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA), a Harvard-affiliated public health care system, has recently presentedMarshall Forstein, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, with its second annual Art of Healing Award. The award recognizes an individual for exemplary leadership, advocacy, and innovation in healing.
William Curry Moloney
William Curry Moloney was born in Boston on December 19, 1907. He attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester and then Tufts Medical School and took up the practice of Hematology on the Tufts service at Boston City Hospital in 1932. He was married to the late Josephine O’Brien for more than 50 years and they had four children William Jr., Thomas, Patricia and Elizabeth.
Patients expect computers to play major role in health care
As President Obama calls for streamlining heath care by fully converting to electronic medical records, and as Congress prepares to debate issues of patient privacy, one question has largely gone unasked: What do patients want?
Lessons from past explored to expedite future research
People, knowledge, communication, and capitalism were front and center last week as authorities on innovation sought to shed light on ways to speed up the development of new medical treatments from discoveries in the lab.
Leskov, Zimmerman awarded Hofer Prize for Collecting
Ilya Leskov’s love affair with the city of Paris began with a map. As a child growing up in Moscow, Leskov read the work of writers such as Dumas and Hugo, and often traced the exploits of his literary heroes across a map of the city he’d taped to the back of his front door. Earlier this month, Leskov’s passion paid off — he was awarded first prize in the Philip Hofer Prize for Collecting on April 14.
In brief
PBK ELECTS 24 JUNIORS; HMS’S NEW FOLKMAN FELLOWSHIP; EALS ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS
HMS Dean’s Symposium on Clinical and Translational Research set
Harvard Medical School (HMS) will host a two-day Dean’s Symposium on Clinical and Translational Research on April 30 and May 1. Students, trainees, and faculty who are engaged in, or are interested in, clinical and translational research will convene for the first event of this kind.
Brigham surgeons perform face transplant
Surgeons at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital toiled in twin operating rooms Thursday (April 9), becoming just the second U.S. team to perform facial transplant surgery.
HMS’s Harlow receives award from melanoma foundation
The Melanoma Research Foundation (MRF) awarded its Established Investigator Grant to Edward E. Harlow, the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor of Cancer Research and Teaching at Harvard Medical School (HMS), on Feb. 24.
