NEJM Editor Delivers Annual Kirshenbaum Lecture

Jennifer Kirshenbaum ( Law ’05); Elaine Kirshenbaum (CAS’71, SED’72, SPH’79);  David Coleman, MD;  Jeffrey Drazen, MD; Daniel Kirshenbaum (MED ’11); and Laura Kirshenbaum.
Jennifer Kirshenbaum ( Law ’05); Elaine Kirshenbaum (CAS’71, SED’72, SPH’79); David Coleman, MD;
Jeffrey Drazen, MD; Daniel Kirshenbaum (MED ’11); and Laura Kirshenbaum.

The lecture, named in honor and memory of prominent cardiologist Howard Kirshenbaum, offered a history of known Ebola outbreaks in central Africa and an overview of the current outbreak in West Africa.

“The current West Africa Ebola outbreak has been more extensive than the cases in Central Africa for a number of reasons,” said Drazen, also a pulmonologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Distinguished Parker B. Francis Professor Medicine at Harvard Medical School, professor of physiology at Harvard School of Public Health and adjunct professor of medicine at BUSM. “With no previous experience with Ebola, the health care systems in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia do not have the knowhow or capacity to effectively deal with and contain the disease.

Drazen, who referenced several recent NEJM articles on the Ebola outbreak, noted the differences between the two regions. The Ebola virus variant or strain evident in West Africa differs from the Central African region. He also said that some of the cultural and behavioral customs in Central African countries with outbreaks, exclusive of burial rites, carry a lower risk of infection. The West African outbreaks occurred in more densely populated areas with a more extensive road network making transmission of the virus more likely.  Drazen concluded his remarks encouraging health care workers to volunteer to care for patients in West Africa.

Elaine Kirshenbaum, BU Board of Overseers and BUSM Dean’s Advisory Board member, established the lecture. “My husband was an exceptional physician and it is an honor to support this lecture in his memory,” said Kirshenbaum. “I am honored that Jeff Drazen is this year’s lecturer, and I am grateful to BU who has been here for me.”