AY2025 Initiatives and Reports

MD Admissions – Kristen Goodell

• Leadership – Sheila Chapman, MD, has been named the new director of the Early Medical School Selection Program (EMSSP) following the departure of Dr. Ebonie Woolcock this summer. The primary care physician and clinical associate professor of medicine is a longstanding and highly respected member of the faculty and the associate chair for diversity & inclusion in the department of medicine. In her EMSSP role, Dr. Chapman also is an assistant dean of admissions.
• Applicants and Matriculants – We have just completed our first admissions cycle that occurred after the Supreme Court’s decision to ban the use of race in admissions. Our training, combined with an enhanced focus on recruiting students who are personally aligned with our institutional mission, and some increased efforts by our current students resulted in a highly accomplished class with similar diversity characteristics as in the past.
• Pathway Programs – The EMSSP program has been brought under the umbrella of admissions, and the admissions office will provide enhanced administrative support of the recruitment, admissions, and promotion processes. We have expanded EMSSP to include UMass Lowell and recruited our first students this year. We are hoping to expand to UMass Boston in the coming year.
• Updating and Enhancing IT Systems – Our IT team has successfully created a new application module for MMEDIC, our early assurance program for BU students, that was used this year to excellent effect. They are working on a similar module for our EMSSP applicants. In addition, the IT team is updating the interview report used for MD and MD-PhD applicants. This will bring the application modules for all of our programs into alignment and allow them to feed more easily into a single database at the time of matriculation into the medical school.
• Research and Data – We are continuing our analysis of the ability of Casper to predict performance in medical students. We have compiled the data for the first class enrolled and are hoping to analyze and publish these results. We are working with Othot, a company that offers predictive analytics about our applicant pool and our process, to help us identify the aspects of our school that are most (and least) likely to be important in applicants’ decision-making in an effort to streamline our application process.

Alumni Affairs – Heather Miselis

• Alumni Awards: We created an Alumni Board Working Group to review the CAMED alumni awards and selection process with a goal to increase the opportunity to recognize the diversity of alumni backgrounds and the scope of their careers. We expanded from two to five award categories which are now open to nominations from the School Community:

• • Advocacy, Equity and Social Justice (AESJ) in Medicine Alumni Award
  • Dean’s Lifetime Achievement Award in Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
  • Distinguished Alumni Award
  • Emerging Leaders Alumni Award
  • Humanitarian Award

• Alumni Career Pathway Conversations: We hosted five virtual alumni/student career conversations with alumni across the country including those who shared their expertise in Plastic Surgery, Neurosurgery and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. We plan to increase the number in 2025 and will provide opportunities based on student feedback.
• Celebrate Alumni: In collaboration with Communications, we highlighted alumni practicing in the military and those serving in rural communities for our “Alumni Story Project” featured in issues of the school magazine, BU Medicine. The rural medicine story was also shared in BU Today. In addition to expanding alumni recognition, we welcomed alumni back to campus for Alumni Weekend, hosting all Reunion activities on campus. We expect a large contingent of alumni back this fall at Alumni Weekend which coincides with the Presidential Inauguration.
• Department Collaborations: The Alumni Affairs team continued to build on collaborations with Departments and Programs across Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine (e.g., Development, Communications, Medical Education, Student Affairs, Admissions, EMSSP, Graduate Medical Sciences, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility) as well as BMC Divisions to support program initiatives, alumni networking and philanthropy. The team also demonstrated strong strategic partnership with University Development and Alumni Relations teams for Annual Giving, Giving Tuesday, Giving Day and the Student Telefund Center.
• Events: The Alumni Team hosted 30 virtual and in-person events, including Alumni Weekend events, Class Reunions, Career Conversations, Alumni Board meetings, Working Group meetings, Neighborhood events (New Hampshire, Maryland and Greater Boston) and affinity-based gatherings.

 Alumni Medical Library – Kate Flewelling

The Alumni Medical Library provides a collaborative environment that fosters academic excellence; supports innovative research, teaching, and learning; and encourages outreach across the Boston University Medical Campus community.

FY24 Accomplishments and FY25 Goals include:

• Library programming and outreach: We are hosting a National Library of Medicine traveling exhibit, Binding Wounds, Pushing Boundaries: African Americans in Civil War Medicine, from Oct. 7-Nov. 16, 2024. The annual library Open House will be held on Oct. 17 from 1-3 p.m.
• Collections: In FY25, the library will develop a collection development philosophy to increase transparency about how materials are selected for purchase/license.
• Archives: Most of the library’s collection of historical publications are now available online in the digital repository OpenBU. In FY25, we will move all archival materials to climate-controlled off-site storage.
• Scholarly productivity: The library provides advanced literature searching and bibliometric support to researchers. In FY24, the library purchased Overton, which tracks the impact of individual studies and researchers on policy, and Covidence, which streamlines systematic reviews.
• Global impact: Building on information partnerships in Lesotho and Armenia, the library will expand outreach in support of BUMC global efforts.
• Professional development and service: Library staff are active in the profession and continue to build their skills. All staff have had training in trauma-informed library services. Kate Flewelling is a member of the Medical Library Association’s Board of Directors and treasurer-elect. Dominique Couturier was selected for the competitive Boston Library Consortium Leads fellowship. A’Llyn Ettien is the current chair of the Medical Library Association Resource Sharing Caucus. In FY25, we are increasing the number of staff who are members of the Academy of Health Information Professionals and two librarians are working toward Systematic Review Services Specialization.

 BUMC IT – Ern Perez

• Framingham Heart Study for FY25:

• • Complete the network (wired and wireless) migration of its existing wired and wireless networks onto university-supported infrastructure.
  • Start the Onbase project that will digitize and store all of the FHS patient charts on the cloud (multi-year project)
  • Complete the Active Directory migration for better support and integration into BU services.
  • Start the Investigation into Firewall and Voice migrations to BU standards

• L2 classroom upgrades (7-yr plan)

• • In FY25, we will start year three of our 7-year plan. We will upgrade the A/V in the remaining classrooms on L2 to current standards.
  • Finalize A/V upgrades to Hiebert.

• We will assist with deploying the newClinical Skills L6 – A/V system.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• • In FY25, we will pilot AI capabilities by partnering with Noodle Factory. Deploying AI in select BUMC courses. e.g., AI tutor pilot for MED

• Applications Development

• • In FY25, we will start working on the AIMS Supplemental (MyApplication) Modernization. This project will help bring accessibility and a more modern design for students.
  • Finish the MD Program early assurance pathway consolidation (EMSSP and OMFS) application.
  • We will work with MEO to build a new attendance reconsolidation application for MED use.

 Continuing Education – Dan Alford

• Regularly Scheduled Series Accreditation – In 2023, a total of 21,669 certificates were claimed by physicians and allied health personnel attending the 90 Regularly Scheduled Series (e.g., Grand Rounds, Case Conferences, Morbidity and Mortality Conferences). This was a 58% increase in certificates claimed from the previous years.
• Learning from Teaching – In partnership with the Office of Medical Education (UME) we developed a process for providing credit for learning from teaching for faculty who teach medical students.
• Virtual and In-Person Live Meetings – In 2023, BU CCE sponsored a total of 331 live, predominantly virtual, continuing education activities.
• Internet-Based Activities – The BU CCE Office provided or jointly provided 176 internet enduring material programs. The participants numbered 75,844 including SCOPE (22,103) and SHIELD.
• Safer Opioid Prescribing Education (SCOPE of Pain) – We continue to offer training via live webinars, the online program, and podcasts including those addressing the roles of nurses and pharmacists. Some of our webinars have included content specific to the needs of urban Native American people. We have issued over 297,000 certificates since 2013. We were awarded a 12^th year of funding in July of 2024.
• School Health Institute for Education and Leadership Development (SHIELD) –The eighth year of the SHIELD program, included 62 accredited activities and 16 nonaccredited activities with over 5,000 learners receiving continued nursing education or participation credit. SHIELD was just awarded another round of funding in July 2024 for another eight years.
• Project ECHO – To date, we have sponsored ECHO programs on the topic of Huntington’s Disease, Short Bowel Syndrome, Autism, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), Addiction Medicine, and Migraine Headaches.
• Performance Improvement/Quality Improvement Activities – We continue our partnership with Boston Medical Center’s (BMC) Department of Quality and Patient Safety to sponsor the BMC QI Hub. To date, there are 271 employees certified in Quality Improvement since the inception of the certification framework in June of 2018. Since the inception of this program through the calendar year 2023, we have trained 117 staff members who have led 102 quality and process improvement projects for the organization. We lead the Improvement Leadership Academy at BMC in partnership with the QPS Department. We led three Quality Improvement activities this year with support from Eli Lilly on the topics of T2DM, Migraine, and Dementia Screening.
• Global Pediatric Nutrition – Under the direction of Carine Lenders, MD, our Global Pediatric Nutrition program has reached over 41,000 physicians and included 110 live meetings abroad. The educational offerings include a series of online modules, webinar presentations, and in-person meetings, delivered globally to seventy-five countries. In total, we educated just over 3,750 international healthcare providers this past year. The participants that we reached were from Africa, East Asia, South Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and South America.
• Joint Partnerships – Through our faculty and staff affiliations, we jointly provided 65 live (in-person and virtual) activities in cooperation with educational partners such as the University of Massachusetts, Headache Cooperative of the Pacific, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, New Jersey Association of Family Practitioners, North American Thrombosis Forum, Partners in Contraceptive Choice and Knowledge (PICCK), Perinatal Quality Improvement (PQI), Perinatal-Neonatal Quality Improvement Network of Massachusetts (PNQIN), T1D Exchange, The Association of Community Cancer Centers, The Concussion Legacy Foundation, Consortium of Universities for Global Health, Headache Cooperative of New England, Headache Cooperative of New England, Headache Cooperative of the Pacific, Headache Society of the Northeast, and New England Hand Society.

Awards

• 2024 Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education Best Poster Presentation, Early Career Educator. Overcoming Barriers to Effective Treatment and Enrollment in Clinical Trials for Black and Underserved Patients with Multiple Myeloma – Incorporating the Patient Voice through Focus Groups – Natalie Sanfratello, MPH
• 2024 we became an approved partner of the American Medical Association – AMA Ed Hub with a dedicated landing page for our educational content

Goals for 2025

• Aim for 50% or greater for total number of interprofessional activities, encouraging our educational partners to include members of multiple professions within the planning and execution of CE activities.
• Continue to expand our understanding of AI and how it impacts CME and our learners.
• Consider integrating medical students and patients into our planning and teaching efforts.
• Include statistical analysis within our outcomes reports.
• Continue to expand our CME research work.

Development – Suzanne Maselli

With over $111M income received in FY24, which included an $80M balance from the Avedisian Trust, we are working from a position of strength as we head into FY25. In particular, the school endowment has increased to $330M in principle value, with the principle for scholarship at $118M.  Five professors were installed in Avedisian Professorships in FY24, bringing that total to seven named professorships supported by the Avedisian Trust. Other FY24 highlights include $12.5M raised from private foundations, including $6M received from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), a reinvigorated parents’ program, with two zoom programs, and three task force initiatives launched with the Dean’s Advisory Board. We were also pleased to welcome a new associate director of stewardship and donor relations to the school.

Our goals and objectives for FY25 include raising $45M in cash and $25M in pledges from alumni, parents, foundations, corporations, organizations, faculty, staff and friends.

We will:

• Continue to build support for student scholarship at CAMED, building on the $50M Avedisian gift. Revisit scholarship pyramid to identify donors at every level, starting at the top. FY25 Goal:  $10M endowed scholarship support
• Seek lead donors for Clinical Skills & Simulation Center (CSSC). Create a menu of discrete naming opportunities. Goal:  $10M
• Increasingly focus on seven-figure and greater research funding opportunities from private foundations. Goal:  $10-12M
• Seek lead faculty and researchers to partner with for research symposia, regional events, prospect meetings, and foundation proposals, delivering content across the university.
• Continue to work with the Dean’s Advisory Board on meaningful engagement with the school as we scale down the current board and seek to bring in new board members to broaden the reach and demographic spread of the School’s volunteer leadership.
• Build the Parents’ Program.
• Cultivate opportunities to close significant gifts recognizing Dean Antman’s leadership.
• Introduce BU President Dr. Melissa Gilliam to our most important donors and prospects.
• Seek enhanced partnership and collaboration with Boston Medical Center on discrete fundraising opportunities.

 Diversity & Inclusion – Angelique Harris

• We are increasing our local community engagement and support of pathway and pipeline programs. Natalie Jean has been hired to work as the Pathway Program Specialist, where she will focus on pathway program support and engagement within CAMed.
• The Diversity and Inclusion Office has moved from the A building (the medical student building) to R703. This provides easier access for all students, faculty and staff.
• In order to increase support and programming, the suite also will provide an office that will be used by ADA, the EOO, and staff from BU D&I, including the LGBTQIA+ Faculty & Staff, LGBTQIA+ Student, and the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground.
• The A207 space is now a dedicated office and lounge space for medical student support, particularly those from underrepresented groups in medicine.
• As it is an early assurance program, EMSSP has been moved to the admissions office.
• Ebonie Woolcock is no longer the director of EMSSP and Sheila Chapman is now the director and assistant dean of admissions.
• In addition to providing support to EMSSP students, Dean Chapman will also provide support to medical students, overall, and her office is in A207. Both Deans Chapman and Ramirez will offer in person office hours in that space.
• Graduate Medical Science Students are strongly encouraged to continue using the Community Catalyst Center (C3) as a lounge and meeting space. Assistant deans of diversity and inclusion, Deans Shoumita Dasgupta and Karin Schon will continue holding weekly office hours in C3.
• In January, we will again host our annual MLK Health Activism & Social Change Lecture with a presentation from Neil Singh Bedi, a medical student and community activist. The event will take place Tuesday, January 21^st from 11:30am-1pm.

Faculty Affairs – Hee-Young Park

• New Staff: Jeffrey Wong started as the Assistant Director of Faculty Affairs in December 2023.
• Conversation with Dean: Faculty Affairs hosted informal lunch with Dean. It was a gathering for Dean to get to know faculty and vice versa to support and improve faculty activities that include research, teaching and academic advancements.
• How to Get Promoted Workshops: Faculty Affairs Office and Faculty Development & Diversity Office jointly hosted virtual workshops to review faculty promotion guidelines and criteria, followed by individual CV reviews.
• Propelling Rise of Faculty (PRoF) Mentoring program: To support Chobanian & Avedisian SM early career faculty and educators toward their academic promotions, Faculty Affairs and Research Offices are collaborating with the BUMG Professional Development Committee implemented the PRoF Mentoring program where interested early career faculty would be paired with senior faculty based their needs with a goal toward academic promotion. Over 40 Early career faculty who were paired with senior faculty who will serve as mentor.
• BUMC Orientation: In collaboration with BUMG and BU HR, Faculty Affairs will be offering BUMC Orientation to faculty newly recruited faculty and open to all other Chobanian & Avedisian SM. Key offices in the School will attend and provide a quick overview of the office, along with introducing key staff.
• BUMC Emerging Leaders: BUMC Emerging Leaders, held once in every two years, will be held in October 2024. About 40 faculty who is at the late stage of assistant professor or associate professors nominated from SPH, MED and SDM will spend two full days learning about leadership skills that include financial managements, negotiations, managing difficulty conversations and other key topics.
• Late Career Transition: Faculty Affairs plans to sponsor seminars and workshops to explore how best to approach the later stage of faculty career who are close to the retirements.

 Graduate Medical Sciences – C. James McKnight

• New Course Evaluations – Dr. Brigitte Ritter, Director of Analytics & Admissions, implemented a new rubric for consistent evaluation of GMS courses. The results of the surveys are then shared with course and program directors.  This process ensures a uniform assessment of the over 100 courses offered by GMS programs each semester.
• New Professional Development Leadership – Dr. Bénédicte Gnangnon has joined GMS as Director of Professional Development. Gnangnon will work with graduate students and post-doctoral fellows to educate and prepare them for future positions in the biomedical workforce.  The Director will serve as a liaison between trainees, faculty, administration, alumni, and external consultants to coordinate career advancement efforts in GMS.
• New Dual Degree Program in Genetics and Genetic Counseling – Graduate Program in Genetics and Genomics director Shoumita Dasgupta and Genetic Counseling Program director Kathleen Swenson have formed the new PhD in Genetics and Genomics / MS in Genetic Counseling Dual Degree Program. This dual degree program will foster opportunity to bridge the gap between basic research and clinical genetics and genomics.

 Medical Education – Priya Garg

• In its second year, Class of 2026 students participated in three newly redesigned courses in PISCES (Principles Integrated Science, Clinical Medicine) and Advanced Integration in Medicine (AIM) was one of the new courses. This 10-week, case-based course was primarily taught by clerkship directors in the classroom. Faculty from Medicine, Pediatrics, Surgery, OB/GYN and Emergency Medicine focused on better preparing students for the specialty-specific diagnostic reasoning applied in clerkship rotations. Students also participated in weekly basic science reviews and board review sessions in preparation for their Step 1 exams.
• The LEADS (Learn, Experience, Advocate, Discover, Serve) course completed its first full two years culminating in a symposium held Feb.16, 2024, with the Commissioner of the MA Department of Public Health, Robert Goldstein, MD, PhD, as the keynote speaker. Second-year students presented posters on their project proposals to advance health equity through research, advocacy, quality improvement or medical education in one of eight tracks of study. Class of 2027 students produced an Op-Ed, narrative or graphical medicine piece aimed at advocacy around an advocacy issue of interest in LEADS.
• In the Fall 2023, first-year PA students were successfully integrated into PISCES and formed cohesive teams with their MD Class of 2027 student colleagues. This interprofessional model of learning in the classroom will better prepare both MD and PA students for clinical practice.
• The Academy of Medical Educator program continues to demonstrate success. Faculty from across departments who teach in Doctoring and serve as faculty advisors are highly rated year after year by students for their teaching skills.
• A new Transition to fourth-year course was created to prepare fourth-year students for the knowledge and skills needed in sub-internships and in fourth-year rotations.

 Student Affairs – Angela Jackson

• The Student Affairs Office (SAO) welcomed the new first-year class, the Class of 2028, with the White Coat Ceremony, featuring as its speaker BU’s new President, Dr. Melissa L. Gilliam, who also was coated by BUMC Provost and Dean Karen Antman. The Student Affairs Office plays a key role in the organization of major school-wide celebrations, including the White Coat Ceremony, MATCH Day celebration, Student Awards Luncheon and Commencement.
• The SAO welcomed Ricardo Cruz, MD, MPH, who is joining Student Affairs as an Assistant Dean. Dr. Cruz is a primary care physician and addiction clinician at Boston Medical Center in the Department of Medicine, Section of General Internal Medicine. He is a graduate of the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and the BMC Internal Medicine Residency Primary Care Training Program. We were sad to say goodbye to Vonzella Bryant, MD who had served as an assistant dean in the SAO, providing invaluable support and mentoring for students. Bryant transitioned to a role in Student Affairs at the University of Tennessee Memphis Health Center and co-director of a STEM pipeline program with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
• The SAO continues to expand the Student Career Exploration program, which includes career fairs, Meet the Chairs sessions, small group career development discussions with SAO faculty, and the seminar series Practical Aspects of Practicing Medicine with guest panels. This year we expanded and streamlined the Shadowing program, including an online sign-up system, aimed at providing M1 and M2 students with opportunities to spend time observing faculty in different practice settings and fields. All entering students meet with their assigned SAO dean in small groups for an introductory lunch.
• MATCH 2024 was successful, reflecting our students hard work and the mentoring and advising from faculty and support from the SAO deans and staff. The SAO provided workshops and resources to help with the resident application process, including writing Personal Statements, interview strategies, Letters of Recommendation and creating a Rank Order List, 1:1 meetings with M4 students and their selected SAO assistant dean, and the ADSA meets with each M4 student to review their application strategy. The Field Specific Advisor program continues to be refined, currently including 125 faculty in 23 specialties. Preparation for changes to the 2025 MATCH for OB/GYN are ongoing in collaboration with other schools.
• Our residency application/career planning program, USMLE Board Preparation program and wellness and advising activities were highlighted at the AAMC national meeting in the spring.
• Our emphasis on wellness promotion for our students continues to develop. This year, a series of interactive talks on mental health promotion was implemented along with specific activities aimed at the M3 class, a challenging class to reach with programing, given the nature third year rotations.
• Working with the University, the SAO facilitated the implementation of a shuttle service between the Medical Campus and the Medical Student Residence. Coordinating with Student Health Services and medical student interest groups, a Plan B contraceptive dispenser was installed at the medical school.
• Our student activity groups continue to grow, reflecting the broad and varied interests and engagement of our students, currently with 101 student groups. Students provided 3,511 hours of community service over the past year. Annual activity reports are posted online.

Research – Andrew Taylor

• Completion of Cryo-electron microscopy (Cryo-EM) core buildout.A $3,000,000-plus faculty that houses the ThermoFisher Glacios 2 system has been completed, providing advanced technological support to our structural biology researchers. The Glacios 2 Cryo-TEM provides 3D structural imaging of functional native proteins, dynamics of complex biological systems, and their changes with disease at the near-atomic resolution of 2.1 Å. Researchers will use this core to understand how proteins, the fundamental biological players in biology and disease, adopt multiple conformations and work with other proteins to form functional complexes. This core is possible because of an NIH shared instrument grant awarded to Esther Bullitt, PhD, to purchase the instrument with support from our Department of Pharmacology, Physiology & Structural Biology, and the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine.
• A New Instrument for the Center for Biometallomics. Lee Goldstein, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, has been awarded a $582,000 NIH shared instrument grant for the purchase of the state-of-the-art Time-of-Flight Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP-TOF) Mass Spectrometer. This instrument, which will be linked with a laser ablation imaging system, is a crucial addition for high-resolution elemental and isotopic tissue mapping of biomedical samples of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, CTE, cardiovascular disease, renal disease, lung diseases, cataracts, retinopathy, and environmental toxicology.
• Progress in Medical Student Research Opportunities. Under the new leadership of Matthew Layne, PhD, Assistant Dean of Research, Associate Professor Biochemistry, there has been a significant increase in medical student involvement in research. The introduction of a single web portal for all medical students interested in research to find a mentor and to apply for the summer research program and for credited research activity has more than doubled the number of medical students involved in active, funded research programs. This is a testament to the success of the new system and the growing interest in research among our medical students.
• Impact of Faculty Publications: For 2023, 54% of faculty publications were published in the top 10% journals, with 26% being in the top 10% most cited publications worldwide. In addition, publications funded by NIH grants to the school have 5.08 (Relative Citation Ratio (RCR)) times the mean number of citations of all NIH-funded publications, placing the school in the top 10% of all cited NIH-funded publications.

 Anatomy & Neurobiology – Jennifer Luebke

• Recruited a new department Chair Dr. Tarik Haydar who will begin October 1, with existing Chair Dr. Jennie Luebke returning to full-time scholarly activity.
• Continue to recruit talented new faculty who do research in the field of neuroscience.
• Continue to excel in medical, dental and graduate education and training.
• Continue outreach to the community through presentations and demonstrations of anatomy and neuroscience.
• Optimize space and equipment resources for all members of the department.
• Establish physical and virtual archives of human, non-human primate and rodent brain materials.
• Present high profile scientific symposia related to archives and also in honor of distinguished faculty and alumni.
• Enhance outreach to department alumni through a variety of alumni events including symposia.

Biochemistry and Cell Biology – David Harris

• Recruitment of additional outstanding faculty, most recently Stefan Isaac, who started in 2024 and works on the mitochondrial genome. His lab is located on K6, with other faculty (Valentina Perissi, Stephen Farmer) whose work also relates to mitochondria.
• Renovation of research space on K1.
• New departmental instrument resources, including a QuantStudio 6 Real-Time PCR System and a 3-Brain multi-electrode array recording apparatus. New departmental glassware washer.
• Continued, strong grant funding (approx. $12 million per year).
• Early Career Development Awards program (pilot grants to promising postdoctoral trainees).
• Graduate student support program (providing departmental assistance to PIs for funding of early-stage graduate students).
• Junior Faculty Advancement Program for promotion of promising research-track faculty to independent positions. This program now includes two trainees.
• Travel awards funded by the Franzblau endowment, to support trainee attendance at national and international meetings.

 Pharmacology, Physiology & Biophysics – Vanna Zachariou

• Strengthened departmental drug discovery and structural biology efforts: Established new CryoEM core facility and hired specialist with CryoEM expertise to run the core, organize training and educational workshops, thereby enhancing collaborative research on disease pathophysiology and drug discovery. Recruitment of faculty (assistant/associate professor) set to begin in spring/summer of 2025.
• New shared departmental instrument resources, including Keyence BZX fluorescent microscope, cryostats, microtome, Chromium X for single cell analysis.
• Established new departmental graduate student and postdoc research and travel awards.
• Established Summer Research Workshops in Translational Physiology and Pharmacology targeted to medical students and undergraduate students.
• Recruitment of assistant professor level positions in pain therapeutics and somatosensation set to begin in April 2025.
• Promoting Research on Drug use Disorders recently recruited faculty (Philipp Mews, PhD Assistant Professor, epigenetic mechanism of drug use disorders, July 2023) active in treatment of addiction disorders.  Recruiting new assistant professor and professor level faculty to study of substance use disorders, with emphasis on psychostimulants and opioids.
• Expanding cancer research team: recruiting new positions for translational research on cancer drug discovery and therapeutic mechanisms.
• Recruited new faculty educator to expand our teaching team.
• Revamped our MAMS Physiology curriculum and modernized our delivery of course content.

Virology, Immunology & Microbiology – Rachel Fearns

The Department of Virology, Immunology & Microbiology came under the leadership of a new chair, Dr. Rachel Fearns. We also recruited a new faculty member, Dr. John Misasi, jointly with the NEIDL. Our department members continued to publish in high impact journals and to maintain a robust funding portfolio. We have also continued to deliver high quality education to dental, master’s and PhD graduate students.

For the upcoming academic year:

• We are developing a strategic plan through department faculty discussions to identify opportunities and key priorities for future focus.
• We working to recruit new faculty to complement our research strengths in viral molecular biology, host pathogen interactions, and immunology.
• In October, we will hold an immunology retreat to foster closer ties between the immunologists within the department, the Medical Campus, and Charles River Campus. The goal of this retreat is to create a foundation for future shared instrumentation and program project grant applications.
• We are working with postdoctoral and research scientists in the department to help them develop a sense of community and increase mentoring and networking support.
• We are planning to revise the PhD program and develop a master’s program.
• We are preparing a T32 training grant application for submission in January 2025.

Family Medicine – Stephen Wilson

We are here to meaningfully improve the health outcomes of our patients. Everything occurs through that lens.

Our Vision:  To make health equity the reality.

Our Mission, Vision, and Strategic Goals are grounded in our belief that all people, no matter race, ethnicity, heritage or neighborhood, should have a fair opportunity to achieve their full health potential, so we strive to remedy differences in health that are systemic, unjust, and avoidable.

Our overarching strategic goal is to define, develop, and demonstrate value-based care in Family Medicine to improve individual and population-level health equity. To accomplish this, we are:

1. Building a robust patient-centered, comprehensive accountable care model – new medical directors for office-based and hospital-based family medicine, local and national partnerships
2. Advancing scholarship and research – new research director, 3 K-awards this year, participation in a national Learning Health System network
3. Strengthening our teaching and communication – weekly and monthly dep’t communiques, individual and group faculty development
4. Improving wellness of our people – survey results demonstrating increased professional fulfillment and reduced burnout
5. Excel across the education continuum – highly rated clerkship, highly regarded residencies, new fellowship director, and a faculty doing local, regional, national, and international work

• We are transforming care delivery to be more value-based in design, delivery, and outcomes.
• We are providing care across the continuum of life (womb to tomb), health (well to sick), and settings (office, hospital, labor & delivery, patient home, nursing home), wherever patients are locally and globally.
• Our international collaborations continue
  • Lesotho continues to thrive and advance.
    • The residency program we partnered to establish is accredited and producing home-grown doctors for the country
    • New educational and patient care infrastructure is being built
  • Supporting medical education and family medicine infrastructure building continues mainly in Vietnam and Cambodia, to emerge in Bhutan, and maintain some presence in Myanmar and Laos.
• We continue our strong presence in local medical student education through our highly-rated Family Medicine Clerkship, mentoring, course instruction, and serving on committees.
• Family Medicine-Psychiatry five-year residency, our joint effort with Dep’t of Psychiatry, is one of only eight in the country.
• We continue increasing our depth and breadth by enhancing our point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) program, addiction training and services, and sports medicine presence at the Ryan Center and in community health centers, Family Medicine hospitalist service, research infrastructure, and community engagement. To buttress our collaborative partnership with the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, we are adding more operative family medicine-obstetric physicians.
• We continue to work strategically to diversify our faculty and trainees to better reach and advance the health of the communities we serve.

Our dedicated, committed faculty, residents, administration, and staff make all we do possible.

Medical Sciences & Education – Hee-Young Park

• Educators’ Collaborative Lunch will be offered each month starting September 2024. Workshops presented at the 19^th Annual BUMC McCahan Education Day will be featured, as well as other topics on how to do educational research.
• 19^th Annual BUMC John McCahan Education Conference was held successfully on May 23, with a theme on Building Collaborative Education Research. Over 30 abstracts and six workshops were showcased, as well as dynamic interactions between BUMC educators.

Medicine – Sushrut Waikar

• Patient Care: the Department continues to grow clinically, surpassing 1 million RVUs for the first time this past academic year. In the coming year we look forward to a new chief for our Gastroenterology section and expect to focus on improving patient access across our clinics. We have welcomed James Hudspeth, MD into the role of Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs overseeing the Department’s patient care.
• Research: The Department continues to grow its extra-mural research programs with a particular focus on supporting young investigators in the Department via its support of Career Development Awards (ie K awards) and the development of a new pre-K program, the Research Accelerator Program to support promising young investigators. These programs will be further coupled with a focus on T32 training programs and other fellowship directed programs and our R38 research in residency mechanism to ensure that our trainees and junior faculty have the mentorship and support to succeed as they begin their research careers.
• Education: The Department is fortunate to have outstanding training programs and superb faculty educators. In the upcoming year we will continue to focus on these programs and also began to examine the overall training of educators within the Department of Medicine. Developing the ability to support and mentor educators at every level will be a critical goal of the Department.
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: We continue to focus on all of our programs to enhance the diversity of our staff, trainees and faculty. We will continue to review and enhance our recruiting programs in the Department also at all levels. Finally, we will have our first weeklong focus on diversity this year with featured speakers and events.

Neurology – David Greer

The Department of Neurology has had a banner year each if its core areas: clinical, research, education and diversity, equity and inclusion.

• Clinical: the Department continues to grow clinically and bring on new faculty in key areas, including neurocritical care and neuromuscular medicine. We have revamped and accelerated our memory disorders and neuropsychology programs, with hiring of key faculty in those areas. We continue to be Centers of Excellence in Stroke, Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis and Epilepsy.
• Research: The Department of Neurology has had an incredibly productive year in terms of research achievements and accomplishments. Since January 2023, we have had ~100 active research grants in Neurology across both Boston University and Boston Medical Center. There has indeed been significant growth in extra-mural research programs across all Divisions, including several new federal and non-federal research grants in the Stroke and Movement Disorder Divisions. The BU Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, the BU CTE Center, the Framingham Heart Study, and the Amyloidosis Center continue to thrive and make major contributions and discoveries to their respective fields. The growth of the research programs has made Neurology a hub for mentorship and career development with many junior faculty, residents, and medical students actively publishing throughout the year. Notably, five of our junior faculty were awarded research funds through support from the Grinspoon family that led to several publications and provided the necessary support for application to career development awards.  The Department will continue to prioritize research mentorship by focusing on applying for and securing funded training programs.
• Education: The Neurology department has one of the highest rated educational programs, both for residency and fellowship training as well as medical student education. We continue to double or triple the average number of students going into neurology compared to national benchmarks nearly every year, and our department’s dedicated involvement with SIGN, the Student Interest Group in Neurology, is one of the biggest reasons for such enthusiasm from our students for the neurosciences and neurology in particular.
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: We continue to strive to incorporate DEI in every aspect of our department, and this year we developed division-specific goals that will help to focus our efforts and give practical and tangible results. We have had a particular focus on hiring more diverse providers, and this year added two new faculty from groups historically underrepresented in medicine.

Neurosurgery – James Holsapple

• Develop complex neurosurgery spine program under leadership Matthew Ordon, MD (Director Spine Surgery).
• Expand Summer Program in Neuroscience (SPIN collaboration including Graduate Program Neuroscience, Neurology, Neuro Pathology, Neuro Radiology, Neurosurgery, ENT, Opthalmology and possibly Psychiatry)
• Expand Neurosurgical Residency Training Program (James Holsapple, MD Program Director)
• Continue CNS drug delivery research (MIT-BU Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine-BMC Ccollaboration Urvashi Upadhyay, MD)
• Continue Master’s Medical Engineering Program (BU-BUSM Neurosurgery collaboration, Pratik Rohatgi, MD and James Holsapple, MD)
• Subaward Agreement between Boston University and Boston Medical Center under NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke 1R25NS125607-01A1, for the project “Enhancing Diversity in the Summer Program in Neuroscience at Boston University” under the direction of Boston University PI: Richard Rushmore, PhD and Boston Medical Center PI: James Holsapple, MD

Ophthalmology – Stephen Christiansen

Clinical

• The Pediatric Ophthalmology and Cornea/Anterior Segment Services are growing in the coming year with the addition of four new faculty.  Of note is the development of a refractive surgery service that will offer patients expanded opportunities for LASIK and other surgical options for managing myopia and astigmatism.

Research

• We continue to optimize utilization of our clinical research infrastructure to grow clinical research with an emphasis on health care delivery disparities in ophthalmology, especially in urban populations that are multi-cultural and multi-lingual.

International Education

• Department faculty and trainees remains actively engaged in global health by providing clinical and surgical eye care for patients in Lesotho.
• The Department has been asked by the Lesotho Ministry of Health for guidance in development of new competency-based curricula for in-country ophthalmic nurse education.  The long-term goal for Lesotho is the expansion of indigenous surgical capacity for cataract care using both traditional and non-traditional models of education and training.
• Dr. Christiansen is the Chair of the International Pediatric Eyecare Training (iPET) Committee. iPET is a new educational initiative in the Gambia that is designed to train non-MD health care providers to examine children and to provide non-surgical care for those with vision-threatening disorders. The program just graduated its second class and will be a model for similar programs we hope to start world-wide.

Orthopaedic Surgery – Paul Tornetta III

• We continue to work on a project to introduce PROMIS-based scoring to improve the experience and outcomes of our patients.
• We hired a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon to fulfill a long-standing need in our patient population.
• We are expanding our robotics program in joint replacement.
• Initiated enhanced recovery programs in our joint replacement patients.
• Top 200 in US Newsweek.
• 40% of faculty recognized in Castle Conelly Best Docs.

Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery – Gregory A. Grillone

• Clinical: Continue to expand all of our Otolaryngology subspecialty divisions to provide exceptional care and easy access for our patients. In particular, our Pediatric Otolaryngology division is now providing comprehensive management for complex craniofacial disorders not previously available to our BMC pediatric patients. This has been a year of “firsts” at BMC with successful operations including the first pediatric: cochlear implant; cleft lip and palate repair; and laryngotracheal reconstruction.
• Research: Continue aggressive efforts to build our research infrastructure and footprint leveraging a variety of funding mechanisms to support our many research efforts in the department, including serving as a primary clinical site for a P50 funded project evaluating vocal hyperfunction, submission of a multicenter U grant to study the effectiveness of amitriptyline to treat chronic cough and chronic airway hypersensitivity (CAH), and plans to submit a DP5 grant and an R25 training grant in the coming year.
• Education: All four of our Chobanian and Avedisian Boston University School of Medicine students applying to Otolaryngology residency matched into outstanding training programs around the country. Chobanian and Avedisian Boston University School of Medicine was well represented at our two major national Otolaryngology meetings this year with our students giving seven presentations. Finally we are in the process of developing and implementing an Otolaryngology specific surgical simulation curriculum for our medical students rotating through Otolaryngology.

Pathology & Laboratory Medicine – Chris Andry

Teaching Mission

• Faculty and Pathology Resident Clinical Instructors made significant contributions to Medical, Dental and Graduate School education. Eric Burks, MD was recognized for his contributions to the Medical School Hematology-Oncology block
• Sara Higgins, MD serves as our Resident Training Program Director (PD) working closely with Reggie Thomasson, MD the Associate PD and Daphney Noel, Manager and all faculty involved in clinical teaching. Dr Higgins had led in improved curriculum and program documentation, learning experience and professional development.
• Tiffany Mellott, PhD served as the course director, supportd by Mrs Celia Slayter (recognized for 40 years of service by BU) and the course was very well received this year. Approximately 140 master’s students take the PA600-700 “Introduction to Pathology” course.
• Nancy S. Miller, MD and Qing Grace Zhao, MD, PhD were recipients of the Carl J. O’Hara, MD Teaching award, selected by Pathology Residents for excellence in resident education.
• The Master’s in Pathology Laboratory Sciences program led by Elizabeth Duffy, MA graduated a very diverse body of students (50% women). Two recent graduates were accepted into PhD programs, Tochukwu Nola Ihejirika, MS (Brown University) and Porche Jones, MS (BU). The program awarded the Adrianne E Rogers, MD, Emeritus Professorscholarship, named for the co-founder of the master’s program, to William Brennan.
• Two candidates for the GMS certificate program Path 2 Path
• We continue to recruit a diverse class of Pathology Resident Trainees and Fellows, 33% of the AY25 matched class are from historically under-represented groups and 50% female.

Clinical Service

• The College of American Pathologists awarded accreditation to our two clinical divisions Anatomic Pathology (Qing Zhao, MD, PhD, Chief and Vice Chair) and Laboratory Medicine (Nancy S. Miller, MD Chief and Vice Chair) affirming the high quality of the service provided to BMC and the community.
• Clinical volume in Pathology & Laboratory Medicine has re-bounded from the Covid pandemic years. There was a 13.8% increase in total volume in FY 2023 (which bridges AY24) as compared to FY2022. FY 2024 projections show anticipated 4.5% growth.

Research

• Thomas Clarke, PhD, received the Karin Grunebaum Faculty Research Fellowship.
• Dennis Jones, PhD continues his studies on Improving anti-tumor immunity in advanced breast cancer by targeting solid stress. He is a recipient of an NCI R01 studying how enhancing T cell infiltration could improve breast cancer patients’ response to immunotherapy. In the funded R01, the researchers propose to study losartan’s effects on blood vessel structure, T cell infiltration, and tumor progression in mouse breast cancer models. They will also analyze breast cancer specimens from the Black Women’s Health Study to determine whether ARB use is associated with reduced extracellular matrix deposition and changes in vascular structure, variables associated with T infiltration. Dr Jones also received R01 fundng to study “Enhancing immunity by protecting lymphatic muscle cells from MRSA-Induced dysfunction” from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and as part of this Research With Activities Related to Diversity (ReWARD) grant, Dr. Jones will also extend the Boston University Medical Campus Education, Advising & Mentoring in STEM (BEAMS) summer program designed to increase science literacy and interest in biomedical research careers for diverse and underrepresented Boston high school students.
• Yachana Kataria, PhD serves as the PI on a $2.78M NIH contract, a BMC-BU initiative named the Boston Medical Center (BMC) Laboratory and Biorepository Services (LABS) Core Center of Excellence for Serology Development and Emergency Preparedness (CESDEP) Project.
• Ivana Delalle, MD, PhD, a neuropathologist and collaborator in neuroscience research working on Alzheimer’s Disease related biomarkers has received fundable scores for additional R01 funding, partnering with J. Krzysztof Blusztajn, PhD, Tiffany Mellott, PhD and Joel Henderson, MD, PhD.
• Eric Burks, MD has recently been funded as a co-investigator on an important U01 “The Lung Pre-Cancer Atlas project” and most recently as a BMC site PI on an R01 (2023-2028) study investigating “Imaging, Biomarkers and Digital Pathomics for the early detection of Premetastatic Cancer and Precancerous lesions associated with Lethal Phenotypes”.
• Jim Crott, PhD has expanded his laboratory and is actively collaborating with other colleagues in his field of interests, aging, nutrition and GI cancer.
• Joel Henderson, MD, PhD is actively collaborating with the Nephrology section on the national Kidney Precision Medicine Project (KPMP) funded by the NIDDK.

Diversity & Inclusion

• The department actively participated in the BU Education, Advising and Mentoring in STEMM (BEAMS) program, hosting six high school students from the John D. O’Bryant High School, Boston MA and three students from The Pathways Initiative. Students were hosted by Dennis Jones, PhD, Liz Duffy, MA, Gareth Morgan, PhD and Chris Andry, PhD (with one student placed in Dermatology with Dan Dempsey, PhD). Many faculty and staff in both the clinical and research services contributed to the student’s experiential learning.
• We continued to annually recognize the life and career of Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller and recognize his role in the field of Neuropathology and neuroscience. We use his experience of institutional and societal racism as a lesson in awareness.

Pediatrics – Elijah Paintsil

• Vision: Make the children of Boston the healthiest pediatric urban population in the nation. Leverage the rich academic and clinical culture, and community engagement of Boston Medical Center as a strategic advantage in an evolving healthcare landscape to provide a blueprint for the future of pediatric care globally.
• Mission:
  • Expand our reach to meet patients where they are.
  • Partner with our communities to provide the best care for our patients
  • Consolidate to deepen relationships within the community and provide more community-centric care.
  • Transform how we deliver care through efficiency, optimization and communication.
• Strategic Planning: The Department of Pediatrics is undergoing an inclusive strategic planning process anchored on six pillars: Culture of Belonging, Clinical Excellence and Growth, Research, Education, Clinical Innovation, and Philanthropy and Entrepreneurship. The five-year strategic plan is due to launch in October 2024.
• Leadership Academy: Launched in Spring 2024, the academy holds sessions three times per year on leadership skills for leaders and emerging leaders within the department of Pediatrics. The first two sessions in March and June focused on basics of leadership, and foundations of teambuilding.
• Recruitment: The department has launched searches for a chief of emergency medicine and a chief of pediatric endocrinology, looking to have both positions filled in FY25.

Radiology – Jorge Soto

Clinical Programs & Patient Care

Recent clinical highlights include the imaging PACS system migration to SECTRA and a current major construction project to install one Siemens 1.5T MRI scanner in the Menino Building.  X-Ray and Mammography breast imaging services are also now located in the Crosstown Building.  This additional option will allow an increase of breast imaging screenings to increase by 33%.

Education

The Department of Radiology also plays an important role in educating students throughout the four-year BUSM and Physician Assistant curricula. Led by our vice-chair of education, Dr. Harprit Bedi, trainees and faculty teach key imaging concepts across all years of training and provide longitudinal mentoring for those students who decide to pursue radiology as a career.

Recent educational highlights include incorporation of several innovative supplementary experiences such as: (1) The emphasis is on innovative interactive teaching formats with flipped classrooms and use of audience response systems as well as interactive websites.  In the third-year clerkship, students engage in case discussions and complete OSCE-based imaging exercises and multiple interactive teaching sessions.  (2) A special Education elective is offered monthly to BUSM fourth-year students who have particular interest in helping to develop new educational experiences for students and trainees, including contributing cases to the BMC Radiology Teaching database.

Research

Research is an integral part of the Department of Radiology, reflecting a major commitment to advancing knowledge and improving patient care and outcomes. Research interests span all areas, including basic science clinical and translational projects, artificial intelligence and machine learning, healthcare disparities, health policy and advocacy, quality improvement, education, and global health. Collaborations with faculty at the Charles River Campus and across institutions with the ultimate goal of all of these research endeavors is to advance imaging care in a manner that improves patient outcomes and the health of the community that we serve.

Integral to our research program is the Center for Translational Neurotrauma Imaging at Boston University, codirected by Radiology investigators Kevin Chang, MD, and Lee Goldstein, MD, PhD, which houses both clinical (3.0T) and preclinical (9.4T) MRI installations as well as ultrasound technology and seek to improve brain imaging techniques and open doors to developing diagnostics and treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.   To continue to expand services to research, the CTNI will be able to offer clinical research imaging that requires MRI contrast injections and will be staffed with faculty, Radiology residents and physician assistants.

Surgery – Alik Farber

The Department of Surgery is proud of the many accomplishments achieved during the past year. We are working strategically and thoughtfully on multiple fronts to continue to optimize patient care and strengthen research support and educational activities, while ensuring that we foster an inclusive environment that respects and values all.

Patient Care and Quality

• We continue to seek ways to deliver high-quality care in the most efficient manner and have begun the process of creating strategic action plans for 11 divisions and sections in the Department of Surgery.
• We have recruited and hired five new surgeons (podiatry, transplant, minimally invasive, cardiac, and colorectal), three of whom will start in September 2024.
• For more than 15 years, Boston Medical Center has been active in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP). In 2023, we were recognized by ACS NSQIP® as a Meritorious Hospital, one of just 46 hospitals (among 615) to achieve this distinction in both the “High Risk” and “All Cases” categories. In addition, in recognition of ongoing quality improvement efforts and longstanding achievements, our department was named an ACS Surgical Quality Partner and received the Surgical Quality Partner Diamond Plaque.
• In 2023, two of our divisions were recognized for providing high-quality care. The Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, which actively participates in the Society for Vascular Surgery’s Vascular Quality Initiative, received three out of three stars, and the Division of Cardiac Surgery received a three-star rating from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the highest possible score, for coronary artery bypass graft operations.
• We were just recognized for high performance in Heart & Vascular Surgery, GI Surgery, and Lung Surgery in the annual S. News and World Report Best Hospitals rankings.
• Ongoing quality improvement initiatives involve optimization of emergency department utilization, length of inpatient stay, and postoperative hospital readmissions. Other active efforts focus on improving outcomes following tracheostomies and gastrostomy tube placements. Our department continues ongoing work on minimizing venous thromboembolic events and pulmonary complications.

Research  

• During the last academic year, our faculty and residents received six new grants and published more than 160 papers in peer-reviewed journals, with medical students and trainees as authors on a significant number. During the next year, we will continue to fine-tune current work to create a more robust infrastructure that supports research in our department.

Education

• This past year, our department oversaw its twelfth annual Surgery Internship Preparatory Course, which included more than 50 educators from the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston Medical Center, and the broader Boston medical community.
• We are revitalizing our approach to medical student education. This includes improving our third-year surgical clerkship curriculum so that it is case-based and implementing a dedicated medical student clinical mentorship program on every Department of Surgery rotation. In addition, every division and section will appoint one faculty member who will be responsible for overseeing and leading medical student education, clinical experience, and well-being.
• We were happy to welcome our 2024-25 class of six categorical and five preliminary general surgery interns. The general surgery residency continues to exceed our GME goals of 20% underrepresented in medicine across all classes.

Faculty Development

• We are strengthening faculty resources and are implementing a formal development and promotion initiative to further scholarly activity and academic advancement.

Vitality

• Our medical students are a driving force behind the expansion of the Department of Surgery’s Socially Responsible Surgery (SRS) organization, founded at Boston Medical Center 10 years ago. The SRS program now has more than 20 chapters across the country, with students participating in virtual research seminars. The first in-person SRS national event was held in Boston last fall.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

• Our general surgery residency program has a well-deserved reputation for providing a warm environment for LGBTQ+ residents. A group of our Surgery residents and faculty founded Advancing Cultural Competency & Equity in Surgical Specialties (ACCESS) to recognize and encourage individuals from various backgrounds in the Department of Surgery. In addition to internal meetings and events, ACCESS organizes social events for trainees across the city.
• In 2023, we welcomed our third annual DEI Visiting Professor, Selwyn O. Rogers, Jr., MD, MPH, Professor of Surgery at the University of Chicago and Chief of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery for the University of Chicago Hospitals. We look forward to welcoming Michaela West, MD, PhD, Professor of Surgery at the University of Minnesota, as our fourth DEI Visiting Professor in September.

Amyloidosis Center – Vaishali Sanchorawala

• Vaishali Sanchorawala, MD, professor of medicine and director of the Amyloidosis Center, published a review article in the New England Journal of Medicine in June 2024 which was received with great enthusiasm from the medical community.
• The XIX International Symposium on Amyloidosis was held in Rochester, MN, from March 26-30, 2024. Our clinical and research team from the Boston University Amyloidosis Center was at the forefront, with 14 members attending the symposium. We had the privilege of presenting 4 oral and 17 poster presentations. Additionally, our Vaishali Sanchorawala, MD passionately led an interactive session titled “Cases with the Aces,” which involved a panel of experts discussing challenging cases. Our senior cardiologist Frederick Ruberg, MD enlightened the conference attendees with his talk on implantable cardioverter-defibrillators in cardiac amyloidosis.
• At the XIX International Symposium on Amyloidosis, Vaishali Sanchorawala, MD presented the inaugural Skinner Award, which is named in honor of the founding director of the center. Dr. Martha Skinner’s legacy as a pioneer in amyloidosis research, coupled with her resilience and dedication, was celebrated during the award presentation ceremony. The Skinner Award was established in early-2024 with her generous support and recognizes women scientists who have made outstanding contributions to the field of amyloidosis.

 Center for Regenerative Medicine – Darrell Kotton

• The Center for Regenerative Medicine (CReM) had a year of successful faculty growth, with two newly recruited investigators emerging on campus with rapidly growing labs in our physically contiguous Center space on the second floor of 670 Albany St. These labs headed by newly minted Principal Investigators – Assistant Professors Kim Vanuytsel, PhD, and Kostas Alysandratos, MD, PhD – are studying regenerative and stem cell-based therapies for blood borne diseases and lung diseases, respectively.
• A highlight was the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the CReM’s move into our 16,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art stem cell facility, which is now recognized as an international leader in regenerative medicine, stem cell biology, gene therapy, and tissue engineering.
• Of the many high-profile publications from the past year, four  papers in Cell Stem Cell, 2023-2024, by the Gouon-Evans, Hawkins, Alysandratos, and Kotton Labs reported on successful applications of induced pluripotent stem cells and primary progenitors for regenerating liver and lung tissues in vivo in mouse models, representing the culmination of several years of discoveries related to engineering in vivo regeneration.
• An additional highlight of the past year were the many publications from the CReM featuring organoids and stem cells profiled by single cell RNA sequencing, providing new atlases of human development and disease for the blood, liver, lungs, and intestinal systems.
• Several CReM groups worked together to gene edit pluripotent stem cells or organoids in order to publish new models of human genetic diseases, including the first human models revealing how gene loci identified in genome wide association studies (GWAS) contribute to disease risk.
• The Center continues to be a popular home for PhD and MD/PhD graduate student dissertations and a leader of BU’s Regenerative Medicine Training Program funded by the NIH/NCATS through a successfully renewed TL1 training grant.
• This year also marks the launch of our new $14 Million Program Project Grant, funded by the NIH/NHLBI. The new award will fund an integrated, multi-investigator program where four interacting labs (Kotton, Wilson, Hawkins, Alysandratos), all located in the CReM, will develop next generation stem cell-based therapies for currently incurable genetic lung diseases affecting children and adults, including childhood and adult interstitial lung diseases, an inherited form of emphysema (alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency), cystic fibrosis and primary ciliary dyskinesia.

CTSI – David Center

The BU CTSI 2023 Annual Impact report was released earlier this year with several noteworthy achievements, accomplishments and success stories highlighted including the following:

• Continued support for new and ongoing research through programs in community engagement, bioinformatics, statistics, regulatory knowledge for clinical studies, and recruitment of study participants.
• Launched a Research Partnership Scholars grant through the Community Engagement (CE) Program, funding six community-academic teams to date, with an RFA released for three more grants.
• Maintained an Advancing Equity in Health Research Community Advisory Board with 12 members, while offering courses, workshops and seminars to build capacity for community engaged research.
• Advanced bioinformatics efforts by building foundational data systems and networks, leading in the establishment of data platforms integrating clinical, social, and environmental data.
• Participated in the NCATS ENACT Network, an i2B2-based Electronic Health Records (EHR) research platform enabling access to de-identified data from over 142 million patients.
• Partnered with BMC’s Health Equity Accelerator to expand systems for place-based data in the OMOP CDM-based Data for Equity (D4E) platform.
• Distributed over $750,000 in awards for individual pilot projects and team science Affinity Research Collaboratives (ARCs), primarily supporting early-career investigators and team science.
• Conducted unique research programs, including examining COVID-19 effects on opioid use disorder treatments and developing GeneHive for integrating clinical data with individual RNA and DNA sequences.
• Continued support for the TL1 National Research Service Award (NRSA) Program and KL2 Program, providing stipends, tuition, and salary support for PhD students, postdoctoral fellows, and early-career research faculty.
• Expanded Workforce Development Programs to support networking and skill building for research faculty and staff.
• Committed to full data sharing, result dissemination, and examining the impact of science on policy, including an initiative using the Overton tool to analyze policy documents for research-related citations.

Staff Transitions at BU CTSI

• Deborah Fournier, PhD, Assistant Provost and Institutional Research and Evaluation, the BU CTSI’s Director of Evaluation, retired after being at BU since 1995 and serving as the Director of Evaluation for the BU CTSI since 2008.  We thank her for her invaluable contributions!
• Congratulations to Rebecca Lobb, ScD, MPH, on her promotion to Director of Integration and Strategic Partnerships atBU CTSI, where she will drive transformative change in support of MPIs, Module Leaders, and partners.
• Former BU CTSI Community Engagement Program Co-directors; Tracy Battaglia, MD, MPH, and Linda Sprague Martinez, PhD, have new positions. Dr. Battaglia is now the Associate Director of Cancer Care Equity at Yale Cancer Center, and Dr. Sprague Martinez has been appointed Director of the Health Disparities Institute at UConn Health. We are grateful for their contributions and wish them success in their new positions.
• We are excited to share recent changes to the BU CTSI leadership team:
  • Frederick Ruberg, MD, as the new Director of Workforce Development.
  • Elisha Wachman, MD,and Andy Henderson, PhD, as Co-Directors of the Integrated Pilot Grant Award Program.
  • Robyn Cohen, MD, and Natalia Morone, MD, as Co-Director of the Career Development Award Writing Workshop Series.
  • Astraea Augsberger, PhD, as the Director of the Community Engagement Program.
  • Kim Brimhall, PhD, as the Director of Evaluation and Continuous Improvement.
  • Marc Lenburg, PhD, and Weining Lu, MD, as Co-Directors of the R Proposal Writing Workshop.

Framingham Heart Study – Joanne Murabito and George O’Connor

• After a national search, Donald M. Lloyd-Jones MD, ScM, to become director of the Framingham Center for Population and Prevention Science and principal investigator of the Framingham Heart Study effective January 1, 2025. Dr. Lloyd-Jones is the chair of preventive medicine and Eileen M. Foell Professor of Heart Research and professor of preventive medicine, medicine and pediatrics at Northwestern University. Dr. Lloyd-Jones also served as the national president of the American Heart Association in 2021-22. His research interests include the study of the mechanisms and life course of cardiovascular health and healthy aging, and cardiovascular disease epidemiology, risk estimation and prevention.
• The Framingham Heart Study now in its 76^th year, celebrated the study’s 75^th anniversary with two events this academic year. On Oct. 25, 2023, we hosted on open house for study participants at the Research Center in Framingham. Participants had an opportunity to hear from many study PIs about how their participation contributed to advancements in our understanding of cardiovascular disease, brain aging, and a range of health conditions. On April 8, 2024, an anniversary celebration took place at Nevins Hall at the Framingham memorial Building in Framingham, MA that included FHS participants, investigators, staff, BU and NHLBI scientists and invited guests. Participants heard about the accomplishments of the study from Dr. Monica Bertagnolli Director of NIH, Dr. David Goff Director Division of Cardiovascular Sciences NHLBI, Dr. April Carson PI of the Jackson Heart Study, Dean Antman, as well as local, state, and federal representatives (U.S. Congresswoman Katherine Clark, Senate President Karen Spilka, and Mayor Charlie Sisitsky). Reverend Dr. J. Anthony Lloyd provided the Invocation and Ethics Advisory Board President and participant, Thomas Grassia spoke on what it meant to be a FHS participant.
• Planning for the next cycle of examinations of FHS participants that is estimated to begin in the fall of 2025 is underway. After holding investigator retreats nearly 20 investigator teams moved forward to propose novel testing components for the examination and submit applications for funding. We welcome collaboration across the BU community. FHS continues to share phenotype and genetic/genomic data in both dbGaP and NHLBI BioLINCC.
• The technical and business plan for the next six-year contract of the FHS to plan for continuation of core study operations from 2025 to 2031 was successfully submitted.
• FHS continues to participate in a number of consortia both genetic and non-genetic including C4R (Collaborative Cohort of Cohorts for COVID-19 Research), Cross-cohort Collaboration (CCC), Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE), and NHLBI’s Trans-omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) Program.

Genome Science Institute – Nelson Lau

• The GSI’s Annual Research Symposium in November 2023 showcased new faculty members with genetics and genomics research portfolios and 10 trainee talks and 33 poster presentations.
• The GSI seminars highlighted speakers using long-read sequencing and single-cell sequencing technologies, and 9 pilot grant projects were awarded in these topics.
• Four GPGG PhD students successfully defended and graduated this year, while 9 new students were recruited.  This brings the program to 22 PhD students across multiple departments at the school training with our GSI faculty.

Military Health – Glenn Markenson

The Center for Military Health had a productive year. These were some of the highlights:

• Successful Execution of CRADA Agreement: Signed and executed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between Boston University (BU) and the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM). Secured funding for a Master’s student from the Boston University School of Public Health to collaborate with USARIEM scientists on data mining SPHERE databases for OB/GYN projects. This funding, potentially up to $234,000, supports the student for up to five years, contingent on performance.
• Strategic Collaboration on CDMRP TERP: Established a collaborative partnership between BU, USARIEM, and Northeastern University.
• Successful Summer Internship Funding: Secured $4,500 through the Newbury Center Summer Fund for a student intern to complete 300 hours from June to August 2024. The intern will contribute to ongoing projects and assist with grant applications for CDMRP funding.
• Ongoing CDMRP Grant Applications: Actively working on multiple CDMRP grant applications.
• Sexual Dysfunction Grant Development: Working towards finalizing and submitting the Sexual Dysfunction Grant for NIH consideration by December 2024.

Goals for the upcoming year:

• Expand and Enhance the Internship Program: In the upcoming year, we will focus on both expanding and improving our internship program. Our immediate goal is to oversee the current intern’s contributions to ongoing projects and grant applications, ensuring they receive valuable mentorship and professional development. We will also evaluate the program’s effectiveness, using feedback to refine and enhance its structure. To attract high-quality candidates and increase visibility, we plan to promote the internship program through academic and professional channels and develop partnerships with other institutions for broader outreach.
• Establish a Student and Faculty Interdisciplinary Military Health Research Group: We aim to establish a dedicated research group that brings together students and faculty from various disciplines to focus on military health research. This initiative will involve defining the group’s mission, goals, and structure. We will launch interdisciplinary projects addressing key issues in military health, encouraging joint research efforts and collaborative grant applications. To foster ongoing collaboration, we will organize regular meetings, workshops, and networking events for members to share progress and identify new research opportunities.
• Develop and Launch the Veteran Healthcare Pathway Program: We will design and implement a comprehensive Veteran Healthcare Pathway Program aimed at enhancing healthcare services for veterans. This will involve defining the program’s objectives, target audience, and key components. We will collaborate with veteran organizations, healthcare providers, and academic institutions to develop and support the program, securing necessary funding and resources. Once launched, we will closely monitor the program’s effectiveness, adjusting based on participant and feedback to ensure its success and impact.
• Advance Existing Goals: Our ongoing objectives include ensuring the successful continuation of the master’s student’s work under the CRADA agreement and preparing for potential funding extensions based on performance. We will strengthen our collaborative efforts on CDMRP TERP grants to secure funding.

Pulmonary Center – Joseph Mizgerd

The Pulmonary Center faculty and trainees had another outstandingly productive year.

• Pulmonary Center members published more than 200 research papers during the last year. These publications reported discoveries that elucidate the inner workings of the lungs in exquisite cellular and molecular detail and that illuminate opportunities, challenges, and advances in pulmonary medicine practice.
• The Pulmonary Center research was largely supported by extramural funding from the federal government and private foundations. Supplementing the ongoing awards that drove research throughout the last year, Pulmonary Center faculty received new awards to empower further studies and innovative directions. New award highlights include a P01 award (to Kotton, Wilson, Hawkins, and Alysandratos), R01 awards (e.g., to Bosmann, to Lenburg, to Mizgerd, and more), F awards for multiple trainees, and many more.
• The Pulmonary Center faculty educated a broad group of learners, with particular emphases on predoctoral PhD and MD/PhD students and postdoctoral MD, MD/PhD, and PhD fellows. In the last year, at least 5 PhD or MD/PhD students defended their doctoral theses, and 9 MD fellows completed their sub-specialty medical training. In addition, the Center provided research opportunities and clinical or scientific training to medical residents, medical students, college students, and high school students.
• The Pulmonary Center added two new faculty members in this last year, Assistant Professor Chris Kearney and Assistant Professor Erin Crossey.

For the upcoming year, Pulmonary Center goals are to make further and greater advances against lung disease. The Center will grow and strengthen its team of faculty and trainees, via new recruitments and collaborations, with DEIA principles guiding the team building. Plans are in place to expand extramural research funding to enable bold new investigative directions. The educational activities will continue through coursework, non-credit curricula, and mentorship to provide future generations of scientists bolstering lung health and fighting pulmonary disease.

Slone Epidemiology Center – Julie Palmer

Dr. Lynn Rosenberg was awarded a five-year National Institute of Aging grant ($14,549,877 in total costs) to evaluate psychosocial stressors in relation to cognitive decline in Black women. The study will follow 2,500 participants without Alzheimer’s Disease recruited from among women ages 55 and older in Slone’s Black Women’s Health Study.  The participants will undergo cognitive assessments every year for five years, their stored blood samples will be assayed for established and putative biomarkers for Alzheimer’s Disease, and genome-wide genotyping will be carried out.

In addition to other new NIH R01 grants received by Slone faculty, there was also an increase in support from foundations, including the American Cancer Society (Dr. Jessica Petrick), Breast Cancer Research Foundation (Dr. Julie Palmer), and Susan G. Komen Foundation (Dr. Etienne Holder).

Goals for the coming year:

• Continue the Slone Center major research emphasis on health disparities, both through BWHS research on adult populations and through clinical trials of newborns and pediatric patients.
• Expand BWHS research to include environmental causes of disease through silicone wristbands that capture exposures over a seven-day period.
• Continue to increase the number of medical campus clinical faculty who collaborate with BWHS investigators on research in their own areas of expertise.
• Continue commitment to mentoring trainees (masters students, medical students, doctoral students, postdocs).

Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute – Naomi Hamburg

The Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute (WCVI) had a highly productive year.

• Members of the WCVI published highly impactful research papers contributing to our understanding of the impact of aging, cardiometabolic diseases, tobacco use, and cancer on the development of heart and vascular disease and thrombosis.
• Research in the WCVI was supported by extramural funding from the federal government and private foundations. Ongoing awards include American Heart Association centers to study Cardiometabolic Disease, Cardio-oncology, and Youth Vaping and NIH grants studying mitochondrial genetic variation, vascular intervention related thrombosis, oxidative stress and atherogenesis, and neutrophils as drivers of cardiometabolic diseases.
• New awards include an R01 award to Dr. Naomi Hamburg to evaluate endothelial cell health in 2,000 participants in the Framingham Heart Study Cohorts.
• The WCVI is actively involved in educational activities including predoctoral PhD and postdoctoral MD, MD/PhD, and PhD fellows.
• Multiple MD students have participated in the LEADS program research pathway with WCVI faculty and there continues to be a combined research and clinical training program in Vascular Medicine.

For the upcoming year, the WCVI goals are to contribute to develop knowledge to combat heart disease. The Institute plans to grow our faculty team including through recruitment and building collaborations across the cardiovascular research enterprises at the medical campus and beyond. Build new translational research innovation to facilitate novel investigative arenas. Strengthen educational activities and mentorship to train the next generation of cardiovascular investigators with a focus on inclusiveness and diversity.