On Feb. 14, Children’s Hospital Boston featured its first Innovation Day, organized by the Hospital’s Innovation Acceleration Program, an 18-month-old program at Children’s that supports innovation with funding, software development and advice. The TEDMED style conference featured talks by 17 of the Hospital’s clinicians. Children’s Chief Innovation Officer Naomi Fried welcomed a packed house, which included attendees from across the country. Medical innovation can take surprising forms. A simple idea like a Mylar-lined hat can help infants retain body heat and improve the post-surgical rewarming process. Cutting edge technologies can be used to bring a surprisingly personal touch to...
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Jeffrey S. Flier, dean of the Faculty of Medicine called the meeting to order, announcing that the agenda for the January meeting would include a remarkable, 50 year-old film about Harvard Medical School would be shown, followed by a discussion of the major issues raised by the half-century look at HMS. Flier then introduced guests who were invited to the meeting to join in the discussion: David Dawson, HMS professor of neurology (who appears in the film), and three current medical students, Adam Was, Vamsidhar Chavakula, and Dayron Rodriguez. Flier introduced Martin Samuels, HMS professor of neurology and head...
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First on the schedule in genetics clinic one afternoon were two sisters, ages 8 and 10, who had an appointment for evaluation of a “possible connective tissue disorder.” I remember thinking that they were much younger than the teenagers I had previously seen in clinic for similar reasons, referred by their pediatricians for newly elongated limbs or mild scoliosis. In the elevator up to clinic, my mind conjured vivid images from a seminal textbook on heritable connective tissue disorders. Stark black and white photographs depicted slender children with disproportionately long, spindly limbs and fingers, serpentine spines, sunken chests, and...
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Harvard University’s Office for Sustainability is accepting nominations for the 2012 Green Carpet Awards. The awards honor staff, students and faculty across the University for significant contributions to sustainability. The deadline for nominations is March 9, 2012. Winners will be announced April 12th in Sanders Theatre in Cambridge. Learn more at ­green.harvard.edu.
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Is the mommy track vanquished? Or is it still a derailer of medical careers? The question loomed large as champions of women’s careers at HMS explored the challenges of flexible career paths during a panel discussion convened Feb. 6 by the HMS/HSDM Joint Committee on the Status of Women (JCSW). The panel, titled “Lessons from Recipients of the Joseph B. Martin Dean’s Leadership Award for the Advancement of Women,” was moderated by Dean for Faculty Affairs Maureen Connelly and comprised four past honorees: Beth Beighlie, HMS senior client services representative; Susan Block, chair of the Department of Psychosocial Oncology...
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The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT has been awarded a $32.5 million grant from the Klarman Family Foundation to support a new collaborative effort focused on deciphering how human cells are wired. The grant will allow the scientific community to expand its understanding of how biological decisions are made in health and disease, paving the way for major treatment breakthroughs. The Klarman Family Foundation grant will launch the Klarman Cell Observatory at the Broad Institute, which will foster groundbreaking discoveries and technological advances in cell circuit research. It will continue to propel advances in...
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