2017-18 Awards and Honors

Faculty Honors

The Center for Regenerative Medicine (CReM) earned the 2017 Sharing Research Resources Award from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), established “to recognize successful models for sharing biomedical research resources.”

Caroline Apovian, MD, FACP, FACN, FTOS, professor of medicine and pediatrics, will serve as the new president of The Obesity Society (TOS).

David Center, MD, Gordon and Ruth Snider Professor of Pulmonary Medicine, research professor of biochemistry, associate provost for translational research, was named as treasurer of the 2018-19 board of directors for Association for Clinical and Translational Science (ACTS).

Shoumita Dasgupta, PhD, assistant dean of admissions, associate professor of genetic/molecular medicine, associate professor of medical sciences and education, was elected president-elect of the Association of Professors of Human and Medical Genetics (APHMG). She will serve as president-elect from 2018-20 and president from 2020-22.

Jessie M. Gaeta, MD, assistant professor of medicine, was the 2018 recipient of the Massachusetts Medical Society’s Special Award for Excellence in Medical Service. The award honors a physician who has made a distinguished demonstration of compassion and dedication to the medical needs of his or her patients and the general public.

Tarik Haydar, PhD, associate professor of anatomy and neurobiology and Tsuneya Ikezu, MD, PhD, professor of pharmacology & experimental therapeutics and neurology are the recipients of the 2018 Jack Spivack Excellence in Neurosciences Award. Michael Esterman, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry and Maria Medalla, PhD, assistant professor of anatomy and neurobiology were named 2018 Spivack Emerging Leaders.

Kristyna Kotýnková, PhD, a post doctoral associate in pharmacology & experimental therapeutics in Dr. Neil Ganem’s lab, has been named the 2018 Dahod International Scholar. As a Dahod International Scholar, Dr. Kotýnková aims to mechanistically define how breast cancer cells adapt to possessing an abnormal number of chromosomes, a state known as aneuploidy.

Karsten Lunze, MD, DrPH, MPH, assistant professor of medicine, was recognized by the American Public Health Association for his work serving victims of war and terrorism with the Victor Sidel and Barry Levy Award for Peace. He received this award with his wife Fatima Lunze, MD, ScD, PhD, a pediatrics instructor at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital.

Ann McKee, MD, Ann McKee, MD, professor of neurology and pathology, director of the BU CTE Center, and chief of neuropathology, VA Boston Healthcare System, has been named by TIME magazine to the 2018 TIME 100, its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Also, Dr. McKee was selected by the Boston Globe as the 2017 Bostonian of the Year.

Gustavo Mostoslavsky, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine and microbiology, received the Innovator of the Year award from the BU Technology Development office.  Dr. Mostoslavsky produced a tool, STEMCCA, which makes it simpler and more efficient to generate iPS. The award is given to a faculty member whose research yields inventions or innovations benefiting society.

Julie Palmer, ScD, associate director of the Slone Epidemiology Center, professor of epidemiology at BUSPH, and associate director for population sciences at the BU-BMC Cancer Center, received the 2017 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Distinguished Lecture on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities funded by Susan G. Komen®. Also, Dr. Palmer was named one of 10 new members to the Komen Scholars – an advisory group of distinguished leaders in breast cancer research and advocacy.

Rebecca Perkins, MD, MSc, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, was honored with the American Cancer Society 2018 Volunteer Leadership Award, a prestigious national honor for volunteers with extraordinary contributions to the fight against cancer through humanitarian, distinguished service and leadership.

Katya Ravid, DSc, founding director of the Boston University Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Office and the Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research and professor of medicine, was named a fellow and new president of the Massachusetts Academy of Sciences (MAS).

Jeffrey H. Samet, MD, MA, MPH, FACP, has been awarded the American College of Physicians (ACP) Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award #1 from the Rosenthal Family Foundation for his innovative work in the field of addiction medicine.

Paul Tornetta III, MD, chair and professor of orthopaedic surgery, was named the chair of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons’ (AAOS) Council on Education.

Jennifer F. Tseng, MD, MPH, James Utley Professor and chair of surgery, was named Deputy Editor of JAMA Surgery.

Robert Witzburg, MD, former associate dean of admissions, professor of medicine at BUSM and Health Policy and Management at BUSPH, and a general internal medicine physician at Boston Medical Center (BMC), was named the 2017 recipient of the Jerome Klein Award for Physician Excellence. Dr. Witzburg retired July 1, 2018.

Student Honors

Melissa Chua, BUSM’19, has received the Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Carolyn L. Kuckein Student Research Fellowship. The purpose of the award is to foster the development of the next generation of medical researchers.

Nina Gummadi, BUSM’20, has received a Fulbright Scholar Award to India. Her research aims to characterize mental health issues, as well as barriers to mental health care, in orphaned or otherwise abandoned children in India.  A Fulbright Scholar Award is one of the highest honors the federal government gives with regard to scholarship and international exchange.

Two BUSM students recently took home first- and second-place honors in the Massachusetts Medical Society’s (MMS) 12^th annual poster symposium. Travis Hallett, BUSM’20, won first place in the Health Policy/Medical Education category for his poster “Cardiovascular Mortality Improvement by State-Level Affordable Care Act Medicaid Expansion Status, 2012-2015.” Aditya Mithal, BUSM’21, a MD/PhD student, won second place in the Basic Research category for his poster “Generation of an IPSC CDX2-eGFP Reporter Line to Create an In Vitro Model of Crohn’s Disease.”

Annaliese Ionson, BUSM’21, was appointed to serve a three-year term on the Annual Program Committee of the Obesity Society, a national organization committed to improving the lives of those affected by obesity.

Helen Jin, MD, BUSM’18, an MD/MBA recipient, was one of 30 scholarship winners nationwide selected to participate in the Family Medicine Leads Emerging Leader Institute, a year-long leadership development program.

Jackson Steinkamp, BUSM’20, received the 2018 Massachusetts Medical Society’s Information Technology Award. The honor recognizes the development of an information technology tool that helps physicians practice medicine, teach medicine, or pursue clinical research and comes with a $3,000 award.

Jie Yang, PhD, BUSM’18, worked in biophysics working with Dr. Esther Bullitt and was elected as Secretary of the Microscopy Society of America (MSA) Student Council.