BUSM Faculty Honors, 2013-14

Throughout the 2013-14 academic year, Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) faculty were honored for their research, clinical expertise, contributions to their profession and community service. Scientific scholarship conducted by BUSM  researchers was cited around the world and garnered national and international media attention. More than 100 faculty members as well as the Department of Pediatrics received local, regional and national honors this year.

In addition, 68 BUSM faculty members from 32 different disciplines were included in Boston Magazine’s annual list of Top Docs 2013. To read the full listing of BMC Top Docs, click here.

Department Honors:

The Department of Pediatrics received the annual Academic Pediatric Association Health Care Delivery Award, which recognizes an innovative and effective program that provides health care in the context of a teaching setting. Pediatrics is being recognized for its outstanding leadership in the area of child health, for its years of program development for underserved populations and for the department’s commitment to education both locally and nationally.

Individual Honors:

Edward Alexander, MD, a professor of medicine and physiology and a nephrologist at BMC, was the 2013 recipient of the Jerome Klein Award for Physician Excellence, selected by a senior committee of BMC and BUSM physicians.

Gary Balady, MD, professor of medicine and assistant dean of admissions, and director of Preventive Cardiology and the Non-Invasive Cardiovascular Laboratories at BMC, received the American Heart Association’s (AHA) prestigious Paul Dudley White Award. Dr. Balady was honored for his outstanding work in the field of preventive cardiology. The award is bestowed annually to a Massachusetts medical professional physician.

Stephen Brooks, MD, clinical assistant professor of surgery and a general and vascular surgeon at Cape Cod Hospital, received the 2014 Volunteer Clinical Faculty Award for BUSM. He was selected by the members of the BUSM Class of 2014 who are members of Alpha Omega Alpha, the honor medical society.

David Center, MD, and William W. Cruikshank, PhD, have been named Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Election to NAI Fellow status is a high professional distinction accorded to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.

David Coleman, MD, Wade Professor and chair of the Department of Medicine and Physician-in-Chief at BMC, was elected to an at-large member of the Association of Professors in Medicine (APM) Council. He will serve a three-year term. APM is the organization of departments of internal medicine represented by chairs and appointed leaders at medical schools and affiliated teaching hospitals in the United States and Canada. It is one of five academically focused specialty organizations, which comprise the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM). The APM Council is the organization’s governing body.

Gerard Doherty, MD, James Utley Professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery at Boston University School of Medicine and Surgeon-in-Chief at BMC, has been elected as President of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeon (AAES). He will serve as President through 2015.

Melody J. Eckardt, MD, MPH, instructor in obstetrics and gynecology, has been honored by her peers of the Norfolk South District Medical Society as the 2014 Community Clinician of the Year. The Community Clinician of the Year Award was established by the Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) to recognize a physician from each of the Society’s 20 district medical societies who has made significant contributions to his or her patients and the community and who stands out as a leading advocate and caregiver.

Jerrold Ellner, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Section of Infectious Diseases at BMC, has been elected as to the U.S. chair for the executive committee of RePORT India Consortium Secretariat.

James A. Feldman, MD, professor of emergency medicine, has been honored by the Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) as the 2014 recipient of the Grant V. Rodkey Award, an honor recognizing a Massachusetts physician for outstanding contributions to medical education and medical students.

Eva Greenwood, MBA, vice chair of Finance and Administration for the Department of Medicine, has been elected as institutional member-at-large to the Administrators of Internal Medicine. She will serve a three-year term starting July 1, 2014.

Ali Guermazi, MD, PhD, professor of radiology, director of the Quantitative Imaging Center at BUSM and section chief of musculoskeletal Imaging at BMC, was appointed a deputy editor of the journal Radiology editorial board by the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Guermazi is the first faculty member from either institution to take on this role. With this appointment, he will also serve as a member of the Margulis Award for Scientific Excellence Nominating Committee. .

Tsuneya Ikezu, MD, professor of pharmacology and neurology, was honored by the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI) for his continued efforts in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research. AAQI is a national grassroots charity that raises awareness and funds research through the donation and sale of small art quilts.

Robin R. Ingalls, MD, associate professor of medicine and microbiology, was selected as a member of the Immunity and Host Defense Study Section of the NIH Center for Scientific Review beginning July 1, 2014, until June 30, 2020.

Katherine Iverson, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry, has been named a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. The highest honor bestowed by the U.S. Government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers, Dr. Iverson also is a clinical research psychologist at the VA Boston Healthcare System.

Brian Jack, MD, professor and chair of family medicine and chief of Family Medicine at BMC, has been elected to the Institute of Medicine (IOM). Election to the IOM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service. Jack also earned the Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation for redesigning hospital discharge procedures.

Lisa A. Kachnic, MD, professor of radiology and chief and chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology, has been elected president-elect of the Board of Trustees of the American Board of Radiology (ABR). The ABR certifies physicians as qualified in the practices of diagnostic radiology, interventional radiology, radiation oncology and medical physics. Dr. Kachnic will serve a two-year term starting July 1, 2014.

Terence M. Keane, PhD, professor of psychiatry and assistant dean for research, received the Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Clinical Psychology Award from the American Psychological Association (APA) at the annual conference of the Society for Clinical Psychology.

Ducksoo Kim, MD, professor of radiology and director of the vascular and interventional radiology fellowship at BMC  and Karen Buch, MD, a third year radiology resident at BMC  have been selected as Grand Challenges Explorations (GCE) winners, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. They will use nanotechnology to develop a next- generation condom to prevent breakage and improve efficiency in order broaden its appeal and increase usage.

Thomas Kilgore, DMD, and William Lehman, PhD, were the recipients of the 2014 Spencer N. Frankl Award for Excellence in Teaching from BU Goldman School of Dental Medicine (GSDM). Dr. Kilgore, former GSDM associate dean for academic affairs and for advanced education and international programs, is a professor of oral and maxillofacial surgery at GSDM. Dr. Lehman is a professor of physiology and biophysics at BUSM and a faculty member in the Cellular Biophysics Program at Boston University.

Judith A. Linden, MD, associate professor of emergency medicine, was honored by her physician peers as the 2014 Community Clinician of the Year of the Suffolk District Medical Society, one of the district societies of the Massachusetts Medical Society, the statewide professional association of physicians.

Devin Mann, MD, MS, assistant professor of medicine and attending physician at BMC, has been appointed to the Health Information Technology (HIT) Policy Committee by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Rafael Ortega, MD, professor of anesthesiology and vice chair for academic affairs for the Department of Anesthesiology, and Alcy Torres, MD, assistant professor of pediatric neurology, have been listed among the 100 most influential Latinos in Massachusetts by El Planeta, Boston’s Latino daily newspaper.

Thomas Perls, MD, MPH, professor of medicine and a geriatrician at BMC was honored with the Ewald W. Busse Research Award. One of the most prestigious in the field of gerontological research, the award is given every four years in conjunction with the World Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics  and recognizes the achievements of late junior or mid-career scientists, encouraging their continued contributions to aging research.

Patricia Resick, PhD, ABPP, professor of psychiatry and psychology, received the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Division of Trauma Psychology Award for Lifetime Achievement in the field of Trauma Psychology.

Joshua D. Safer, MD, associate professor of medicine and director of the endocrinology fellowship program, has been elected president-elect of the Association of Specialty Professors (ASP) starting July 1, 2014, followed by a year as president and the following year as past president. ASP is the organization of specialty internal medicine divisions at medical schools and community teaching hospitals in the U.S. and Canada.

David J. Salant, MD, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and chief, section of nephrology at BMC, has been awarded the 2013 John P. Peters Award from the American Society of Nephrology (ASN).

Jeffrey I. Schneider, MD, assistant professor of emergency medicine and residency program director for the BMC Department of Emergency Medicine, was named recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Educator Award by the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors (CORD) Academy for Scholarship in Education in Emergency Medicine. This national award recognizes outstanding educators meeting standards of academic excellence.

Robert Sege, MD, PhD, professor of pediatrics and director of BMC Department of Pediatrics Division of Child and Family Advocacy was named a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) in Washington D.C. The CSSP is a nonpartisan Washington D.C. nonprofit that works with policymakers and communities across the country to promote smart policies that improve the lives of children and their families.

Avrum Spira, MD, MSc, the Alexander Graham Bell Professor of Medicine and chief of the Division of Computational Biomedicine at BUSM and physician in the pulmonary, critical care and allergy department at BMC, received the Alton Ochsner Award Relating Smoking and Disease. This award recognizes Spira’s seminal research contributions that have enhanced the understanding of the biological response of lung tissue to tobacco smoke, which can cause lung cancer and chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD).

Richard Wainford, PhD, assistant professor of pharmacology and medicine and director of the Laboratory of Cardio-renal research, has received the American Physiological Association 2014 Arthur C. Guyton Award in Integrative Physiology.

Mary Warner, MMSc, PA-C, director of the Physician Assistant program, was honored by the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) with its PAragon Research Publishing Award, which recognizes a PA who published an exceptional research article within the past year. Lead author of  “Career Patterns of Physician Assistants: A Retrospective Longitudinal Study,” the article received a Gold Medal for Best Original Research from the American Society of Healthcare Publication Editors and was published in the June 2014 edition of the Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants. It takes a closer look at the education, training and practice patterns of PAs post-graduation.

Robert Witzburg, MD, professor of medicine and associate dean and director for admissions, received the Association of American Medical College’s Northeast Group on Student Affairs (NEGSA) inaugural Outstanding Service award for his innovative admissions initiatives and national leadership on the transition of medical school admissions programs to focus on holistic review as a tool to enhance the diversity of the physician workforce.

Benjamin Wolozin, MD, PhD, associate professor of pharmacology and neurology has been awarded the Zenith Fellows Award from the Alzheimer’s Association. The award will support Wolozin’s research in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease. The goal of this work is to determine the molecular foundation of the proteins responsible for causing Alzheimer’s.

Gopal Yadavalli, MD, assistant professor of medicine and director of the internal medicine residency program, has been elected to the Council of the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine (APDIM). The APDIM is the international organization of accredited internal medicine residency programs. Dr. Yadavalli, a member of the infectious diseases faculty, will serve a three-year term beginning July 1, 2014.