FY16 School Update – Basic & Clinical Sciences, Centers and Institutes

Basic Sciences

Anatomy & Neurobiology – Mark Moss

  • Discovery of disturbances in gene networks that affect brain integrity in Down syndrome (Dr. Haydar) and description of novel cortical connectivity in the brain using MR diffusion spectrum imaging (Drs. Rosene and Mortazavi)
  • Successful development and implementation of Principles Integrating Science and Medicine (PrISM) for 1st year Medical School Class.

Biochemistry – David Harris

  • Establishment of a new dept. scientific focus on RNA biology, with the recruitment of two new faculty members who will be housed in newly renovated space on K4:  Dr. Daniel Cifuentes started in November 2015, and his laboratory aims to uncover how the interplay of RNA-binding proteins and their targets orchestrate early embryogenesis using zebrafish as a model system. Dr. Alla Grishok joined in April 2016, and her laboratory utilizes the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and focuses on new mechanisms of gene regulation by short RNAs and chromatin-modifying complexes.
  • Acquisition of a new Zeiss LSM 880 laser scanning confocal microscope with Airyscan, for rapid, high-resolution imaging of biological samples.

Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics – David Farb

  • The Department received one of four grant awards nationally to advance the development and implementation of new curricular activities aimed at providing graduate students with a strong foundation in research design and methods in areas related to conducting reproducible and rigorous scientific research. This opportunity was announced in response to the issues of 60-90 percent of publications in high impact journals lacking in reproducibility.
  • David H. Farb, professor & chair and Principal Investigator of the university-wide NIGMS T32 predoctoral training grant for the Program in BioMolecular Pharmacology, nationally ranked in top 10 percent by Academic Analytics.

Clinical Sciences

Anesthesiology – Keith Lewis

  • The Department is proud to have recruited over the past year four new faculty members of African-American descent. This reflects the Department’s continued dedication to diversity. Steps have been taken to ensure these faculty members receive appropriate professional development, and are fully integrated into the Department.
  • Over the course of the past year the didactic program of our Department has been completely restructured. In particular, the flipped classroom approach has been fully adopted, which has been proven in numerous studies as an effective educational model. The educational materials utilized for this process are drawn from a groundbreaking multimedia-rich textbook co-authored by members of our faculty

Dermatology – Rhoda Alani

  • Appointment of faculty member Dr. Allison Larson as Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs. Dr. Larson also received BUSM’s 2016 Pre-Clinical Teacher of the Year Award.
  • Department of Dermatology pre-clinical teaching ranked highest for all departments at the School of Medicine.

Emergency Medicine – Jonathan Olshaker

  • Much deserved recognition for our Injury Prevention Center — grants, scholarly activity, advocacy and regional and national impact on opioid harm reduction, violence intervention, elderly fall prevention among other areas.
  • Extremely successful year for BU students going into emergency medicine; third most popular choice of specialty after Medicine and Pediatrics. All 18 BU students applying to our competitive specialty matched in Emergency Medicine.

Family Medicine – Brian Jack

In the department of family medicine, our two greatest accomplishments are:

  • When medical students interview for our residency, we tell them that the mission of our program is to give them the knowledge, attitudes and skills to be leaders in the CHC of Boston caring for our most vulnerable people.  Over 15 years, 57 percent of our graduates have chosen to work in CHCs or at BMC. There is not a program in the country whose mission is to care for the underserved that has a track record like this. Recruiting well trained primary care doctors to our community makes our communities healthier — and greatly assists BMC and the ACO in preparing for the health care of the future.
  • We believe that to move to the next level of care, we must make our physician workforce look more like our patients.  We had a major focus on recruiting under-represented minority (URM) residents this year and we are pleased to report that six of the 12 new residents are URM status.

Medicine – David Coleman

  • BUSM is one of six institutions that received the nearly $10.8 million award from the National Institute on Aging to establish the Coordinating Center for Genetics and Genomics of Alzheimer’s Disease. Lindsay Farrer will lead our efforts.
  • Established the following:
    • Center for Implementation and Improvement Science (Allan Walkey and Mari-Lynn Drainoni)
    • Center for Translational Epidemiology and Comparative Effectiveness Research (Bindu Kalesan)
    • BU Office for Interdisciplinary Research (Katya Ravid)
    • Center for AIDS Research, in partnership with Brown and Tufts (Probably Jerry Ellner)-
  • Created the inpatient Addiction Consult Service at BMC (Alexander Walley)

Neurosurgery – James Holsapple

  • Application and approval of the combined BIDMC/BMC residency in neurological surgery. Dr. Holsapple is the Program Director. First resident selected began July 1.
  • Acquired $1 million grant to support the first human trial of the non-invasive intracranial pressure monitoring system (BMC/MIT collaboration). Holsapple and Fillipidis (NSurg fellow and now resident in combined program) investigators.
  • Established relationship with Steward Health to provide neurosurgical services at St E’s and neurosurgical consultation throughout that system.
  • Hired sixth neurosurgeon (second female neurosurgeon at BMC), Dr. Kate Cronk.

Obstetrics/Gynecology – Aviva Lee-Parritz

  • Outstanding evaluations on GQ survey  for the core clerkship in Obstetrics and Gynecology
    • 98 percentile this year
    • 97 percentile last year
    • Students realize the important core  skills and values that we  impart during the clerkship, above and beyond the  specific technical and cognitive information specific to Women’s Health
  • Expansion of research portfolio.  Our departmental research mission is to improve health for women in vulnerable populations.
    • Significant strategic recruitment of new  faculty  with research portfolios to round out our overall  research mission
      • Cost effectiveness of nonsurgical treatment to pelvic floor dysfunction
      • Implementation of lifestyle changes for Latina women with gestational diabetes
      • Shared decision making  for reproductive health

Ophthalmology – Stephen Christiansen

  • Christiansen named President, American Orthoptic Journal, Inc. – 2015
  • Christiansen gave the Gordon K. Klintworth, MD, PhD Distinguished Lecture, Duke Eye Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC; April 2016.
  • Opened the new Primary Eye Care Clinic, May 2016.

Orthopaedic Surgery – Scott Duncan

  • Recruited a midcareer surgeon from Tufts to lead our Joint Replacement Program.
  • Increased the funding to our research branch.
  • Had our best year to date in the match.

Otolaryngology/Head & Neck – Kenneth Grundfast

  • Secured funding to establish the Strong-Vaughan Professorship in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. A celebration was held May 16 to announce the new professorship; Dr. M. Stuart Strong, the first chair of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery in the modern era, spoke at the celebration event.
  • Vice Chair Dr. Gregory A. Grillone received the coveted 2016 Edmund Prince Fowler Award, which is given annually to the author of the best thesis on a basic science subject submitted as a requirement for membership in the Triological Society, the most prestigious of all otolaryngology professional societies. In the viewpoint of many otolaryngologists nationwide, the Fowler Award represents the highest honor that can be afforded to an otolaryngologist each year.

Pathology & Laboratory Medicine – Daniel Remick

  • Successful biobanking initiatives with completion of NCI contract
  • Submission of new NCI contract
  • Creation of a new graduate school course on using human biospecimens for research.
  • Launching new educational initiatives including an eight-week pathology fellowship course, an off-campus graduate course in immunology and publishing a textbook on transfusion medicine.

Pediatrics – Bob Vinci

  • In Partnership with Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics has received a multi-million dollar award to develop Community Based Strategies to Improve Child Mental Health. http://www.smithfamilyfoundation.net/health/
  • We formed a nonprofit called StreetCred designed to address Childhood Poverty. This was developed by two of our Pediatric Residents at BMC. It addresses the social determinants of health and is an innovative approach to improving child health.

Urology – Richard Babayan

  • Babayan became President of the American Urological Association on May 17, 2016.
  • He will host the American Urological Association Annual Meeting in Boston in May 2017.

Centers and Institutes

Amyloidosis Center – Martha Skinner

  • 27 abstracts from the Amyloidosis Center have been accepted for presentation at the XVth International Symposium on Amyloidosis.
  • We established the David Seldin MD, PhD Amyloidosis Research Training Endowment fund with the generous contributions of 235 members of the friends and family of the Amyloidosis Center.

BU BMC Cancer Center – Avi Spira

  • NEJM paper validating our airway genomic biomarker for lung cancer detection (July 2015).
  • $10 million sponsored research agreement with Jannsen for COPD and lung cancer.
  • ~130 faculty became members of the Center.
  • Establishment of Shipley prostate cancer program.

Genome Sciences Institute – Richard Myers

The Genome Science Institute undertakes several activities to promote the education, scientific investigation and clinical practice pertaining to the field of Genetics and Genomics.

  • RNA-sequencing Workshop:

In the past year we sponsored a hands on workshop designed to train students, post-docs and faculty in the realm of RNA-sequencing.

In collaboration with New England Biolabs, we offered an opportunity for 24 individual labs to learn how to prepare RNA samples for sequencing. The GSI financially supported the actual sequencing of the RNA, and finally we sponsored a workshop on the analysis of the resulting data.

The process allows labs to generate preliminary data for grant proposals and imparts the skill set needed to carry-out the assays and the analysis of resulting data to be able to write a competitive grant application.  The workshop was fully subscribed and the feedback was extremely positive.

  • Faculty recruitment in Genetics and Genomics:

Over the past year the GSI has co-lead with the Department of Biochemistry, the recruitment of new faculty with expertise in genetics and genomics.  Approximately 400 applications were received and each was reviewed by at least two faculty search committee members.  Twelve were selected for interviews and six were invited for second visits. Negotiation is now in progress to recruit two faculty.

  • Bioinformatics Analysis Resource:

In cooperation with the Bioinformatics program on the Charles River Campus, the Genome Science Institute has recruited and is co-directing the creation of a resource to provide consultation in the field of bioinformatics. Provided by Dr. Adam Labadorf, it will be available to faculty on both the Medical and Charles River Campuses. Expertise in the analysis and interpretation of a variety of sequencing and related analytic approaches will be available.

Pulmonary Center – Joseph Mizgerd

  • The T32 training grant “Biology of the Lung: A Multidisciplinary Approach” was successfully renewed, for years 41 through 45 of continuous support from the NIH for the BU Pulmonary Center to train scientists in lung biology and pulmonary medicine, including PhD students, PhD postdocs, and MD clinical fellows.  Co-PIs are Professors David Center and Jay Mizgerd.
  • Avi Spira and colleagues reported in the New England Journal of Medicine results of a clinical trial to determine the effectiveness of a gene expression profile they developed in the Pulmonary Center as a signature of lung cancer. After examining 639 patients across 28 medical centers, results demonstrated that such molecular analyses of bronchial brushings significantly improve the capacity for bronchoscopy to accurately diagnose lung cancer.

Regenerative Medicine (CReM) – Darrell Kotton

  • We received a grant from the Massachusetts Life Science Center (MLSC) to build a stem cell facility that will house our new “Lung Regeneration Initiative.”
  • We published a study in Cell Stem Cell regarding regeneration of thyroid tissue in vivo using pluripotent stem cells.

Women’s Health – Tracy Battaglia