AY2025 Yearend Report

June 17, 2025

Dear Faculty, Staff and Students,

Given that this is my last report as dean, I’d like to particularly thank our community for your many contributions over the years, and especially for this last academic year.

Despite the disruption to our grants, visas and other national modifications, our faculty, staff and students remain focused on the school’s mission, vision and values. While we don’t yet know the full budget impact of the cancellations and delays in research funding from the various federal agencies, our researchers are continuing their innovation on the frontline of science unrelenting, pursuing new grants. Whatever the outcome, we will remain committed to our goal creating the optimal campus community to learn, teach and discover.

Faculty Honors: Our faculty continue to receive well-deserved recognition. For a list of those who received national and international honors this year, click here.

When you receive an honor or award, please notify Maria Ober, associate dean of communications, so that the school can announce and track our faculty, staff and student accomplishments. If you received an honor or award that is not listed, please contact Maria now to update our list.

Research Publications: Our faculty continue to receive significant mainstream media coverage for their exceptional published research. Here are the top research stories for Academic year 2024-5.

• Jesse Mez’s study in JAMA Network reported that the odds of acquiring Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) increased 34% with each year men played ice hockey. Another study in Neurology showed those with CTE and a family history of mental iIlness correlated with aggression in middle age.
• Thor Stein’s study in JAMA Neurology found a link between playing contact sports and parkinsonism in individuals with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.
• Rachel Fearn’s study in Cell uncovered the structure of a critical component in the deadly Nipah virus.
• Ivana Delalle’s study in Alzheimer’s & Dementia revealed disease biology, risk for progression, and the potential for a novel blood test for Alzheimer’s disease.
• Mara Murray Horwitz’s study in the Annals of Internal Medicine found unconditional cash transfers following childbirth increased breastfeeding.

Academic Year 2025’s largest new/renewal grants, as of May 1:

See the full-page PDF

Foundation awards of note:

• $5.8M from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to Katherine Iverson, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry, to evaluate an intervention for people who have experienced intimate partner violence.
• $1.1M from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to Finn Hawkins, MBBCh, associate professor of medicine, for the project “Autologous cell-based therapy to cure CF lung disease.”  This research is part of the larger CreM project to use lung disease-specific iPS cells to model a variety of lung diseases and with these models track disease pathogenesis and develop of novel gene therapies.
• $500,000 from the Bob Woodruff Foundation to Tara Galovski, PhD, professor of psychiatry, for the Women Veterans Network, a national program supporting the wellbeing of women who have served in the military.

Click here to read the latest news from our associate deans, chairs, center and institute directors.

Serving as provost and dean has been a privilege. You are among the most dedicated and collaborative faculty and staff with whom I’ve ever worked at multiple institutions. Thank you for your continued commitment to our educational and research missions. The best is yet to come.

Karen H. Antman, MD
Provost, BU Medical Campus
Dean, Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine