AY2025 Reports

 
MD Admissions – Kristen Goodell

• Applicants and Matriculants – Despite the national assault on education and expertise, interest in medical school remains strong.  We received 11,482 applications this year (about 20% of the people that apply to medical school in the US apply to our school) and conducted more than 1000 interviews. Our continued focus on identifying students with goals consistent with our institutional mission has resulted in a highly accomplished class.
• Pathway Programs – The EMSSP program has been brought under the umbrella of admissions, and new processes and technology has been enhanced.  The new admissions management software system has been successfully implemented resulting in much better tracking and student record-keeping.   The final class of the 7-year BA-MD program will be promoted to the medical school this summer.  The OMFS program has new leadership seated in the dental school, and we have more fully integrated the MED admissions team into the acceptance process for MD-OMFS applicants.
• Updating and Enhancing IT Systems – Our IT team has successfully created a new application module for EMSSP, our early assurance program for BU students, that was used this year to excellent effect. In addition, we updated the applicant assessment and interview report so that it emphasizes key aspects of each applicant, in addition to being shorter and clearer.
• 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 continue to work with Othot and have analyzed three years’ worth of applications to our school to identify the key factors that make students more or less likely to enroll. The intention is to streamline and focus our application reviewers’ attention on those students who are most likely to be admitted and to matriculate.  The Executive Admissions Committee will decide how to use this new information this summer.

Alumni Affairs – Heather Miselis

• Alumni Awards: Stephanie Feldman, MD’14, will receive the inaugural Emerging Leader Award in recognition of remarkable promise, leadership and commitment to advancing healthcare, research, education or advocacy in the early stages of her professional career. Larry Nichter, MD’78, will receive the Humanitarian Award in recognition of exemplifying the highest ideals of compassion, service, and dedication to improving health and enhancing the lives of others, making a meaningful and lasting impact on our world. Ziv Haskal, MD’86, will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award in recognition of extraordinary dedication, visionary leadership, and transformative contributions to the advancement of clinical care and biomedical research.

These individuals exemplify the leadership and commitment of our community and will be recognized on September 26 at the Annual Awards Ceremony and Luncheon.

• Alumni Career Pathway Conversations:We hosted four virtual alumni/student career conversations, engaging alumni across the country who provided their expertise in Infectious Diseases, Pathology, Urology, and Entrepreneurship in Medicine. Additionally, three alumni connected with interested students and shared their respective career wisdom in plastic surgery, private practice family medicine/sports medicine and business in medicine when in Boston.
• Events: The Alumni Team hosted 17 virtual and in-person events, including Alumni Weekend events, Class Reunions, Career Conversations, Alumni Board meetings, Working Group meetings, and Neighborhood events (South End and Quincy).

Alumni Medical Library – Kate Flewelling

• Collaborations: Library staff collaborated with multiple offices, departments and committees to provide unique services to faculty, staff and students. The Library received an Inclusion Catalyst Grant from Boston University Diversity & Inclusion to open a Little Free Library. The LFL provides a variety of leisure reading materials and travels to special events, including student wellness fairs and BUMC Art Days. In collaboration with the Academic and Educations Resources and Student Services Committees, the library opened a new Prayer and Meditation Room on the 10^th Floor of the Houseman Building.
• History and Archives: In FY25, the Library completed the move of all archival materials to climate-controlled and secure off-site storage. As part of the BUMC Reads program, the Library collaborated with the CAMED Diversity & Inclusion office on the Unsung Black Heroes in Medicine series. This series included three parts – part one was the Civil War Medicine & Recognition of Black Healthcare Professionals, a panel with Dr. Beazley and Dr. Harris; part two was a discussion on How Black Nurses Shaped Care for Tuberculosis Patients, facilitated by Dr. Schon; and part three was the virtual author talk with Maria Smilios on her book, Black Angels.
• Research Support: Library staff continued to provide comprehensive reference services and bibliometric analysis to demonstrate the impact of individual, department and center research. Senior Research Librarian David Flynn co-authored multiple articles with other School researchers in journals including Annals of Internal Medicine, Joint Commission, and Annals in Global Health. Head of Education and Information Services Kristen Sheridan and Education and Information Services Librarian Barbara Slover achieved Systematic Review Services Specialization through the Medical Library Association. This specialization consisted of 14 courses with the goal to help expand understanding and expertise in providing systematic review support to researchers.

BUMC IT – Ern Perez

• Completed multi-year campus Wi-Fi upgrade, campus core upgrade, and FHS network deployment.
• Completed year two of the 7-year plan to upgrade technology in classrooms (Keefer Auditorium and L211 and 213).
• Worked with Medical Education Office and others in the planning and launching of the new Clinical Skills and Simulation Center on L6.
• Modernization of the MD Admissions Program’s Supplemental application. MyApplication, as it’s known, is the primary applicant-facing module of AIMS, the Admissions Information Management System. The benefits include providing a more modern user experience, improved accessibility using current design standards, and improving maintainability and performance.

Continuing Education – Dan Alford

• Safer Opioid Prescribing Education (SCOPE of Pain) – We continue to offer training via live webinars, the online program, and podcasts including new episodes about disparities in pain care and the role of the interventional pain specialist. We have issued over 313,000 certificates since 2013. We were awarded a 13^thyear of funding in July of 2024.
• Performance Improvement/Quality Improvement Activities – We continue our partnership with Boston Medical Center’s (BMC) Department of Quality and Patient Safety (QPS) to sponsor the BMC QI Hub. To date, there are 341 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 2024, we have trained 148 staff members who have led 116 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 and Regeneron on the topics of Dementia Screening and Eosinophilic Esophagitis.
• Learning from Teaching – In partnership with the Office of Medical Education (OME) we launched a process for providing credit for learning from teaching for faculty who teach medical students in July of 2024. To date, 33 faculty have claimed 949.25 credits.

Development – Suzanne Maselli

• $10M pledge from Rod F. Hochman, M.D. (CAMED ’79, CAS ’79) and Nancy J. Hochman (SAR ’77, ’83) for Rod Hochman Family Clinical Skills & Simulation Center.  This pledge includes $2M for an endowment to sustain the Center, with $3M received in AY25 for the capital project.
• $5M pledge from Monita Lam for Kum Fung Lau Alzheimer’s Endowed Research Fund.  This combined outright and planned gift will support research in the Boston University Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.
• $14M grants from private foundations for School of Medicine research projects.
• $1M pledge from Richard J. Catrambone, MD, DMD (CAMED ’92), and Sophia Catrambone for Catrambone Fitness Center facility to serve Medical Campus students.

Faculty Affairs – Hee-Young Park

• 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: Over 40 Early career faculty and 40 senior mentors participated in 2024. PRoF Mentees were paired with senior faculty. Based on the mid-way survey, mentees and mentors are building relationships where mentees feel they are empowered, and mentors feel valued. For 2025 PRoF, 38 mentees and mentors were paired and will have Kickoff get together in June 2025.
• 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.
• Late Career Transition/Medicare: Faculty Affairs sponsored a seminar on Medicare for late career faculty and the response was overwhelming. Faculty from both CRC and Medical Campus joined the seminar to learn about steps involved in signing up for Medicare prior to retirement.
• Emeritus Faculty: In collaboration with Associate Provost of Faculty Affairs at CRC, a Provost Workshop was held virtually on the topic of Emeritus Faculty. Four emeritus faculty from the medical campus and CRC served as panelists and shared their transition to emeritus faculty. Over 70 faculty joined and shared their desire to build emeritus faculty community at BU.

Graduate Medical Sciences – C. James McKnight

• First Annual GMS Research Symposium. GMS hosted the first annual GMS Research Symposium on April 10^th in Heibert Lounge.  Mathew Layne chaired the Organizing Committee for the Symposium which highlighted the research of post-doctoral, PhD, master’s and undergraduates working in GMS lab.  Prizes were given for best abstracts, and those winners presented their research in short talks.   Poster presentations were also judged, and winners were awarded prizes.  The symposium was well-attended and included the six short talks from abstract winners and about eighty posters.
• PhD Mix & Mingle with Alumni. The GMS Office of Professional Development, headed by Dr. Bénédicte Gnangnon, hosted a very successful PhD Mix & Mingle with Alumni event.  This event brought 15 GMS alumni from a variety of profession and careers to Heibert Lounge to meet our current PhD students for career advice and networking.
• Non-Traditional Graduate Student Group. The Community Catalyst Center (C3), directed by GMS staffer Sarah Rowan, launched a new affinity group for Non-Traditional Graduate Students. The effort was student-led and a really great example of mentor participation in C3 programming.
• GMS Online Store. GMS launched an online store that provides students, faculty & staff with an opportunity to acquire GMS-branded gear.
• GMS Private Space Initiative. GMS Director of Graduate Affairs Kimberly Arena started a new initiative to provide reservable, private space for GMS students. These spaces have been used for job interviews, telehealth appointments, small meetings and other purposes.
• GMSSO Community Outreach. The Graduate Medical Sciences Student Organization (GMSSO) engaged in a new initiative to give back to the South End community. Monthly volunteering sessions with residents at the Susan S. Bailis Assisted Living Facility, through a charitable organization called Glamour Gals, established a connection between our graduate student population and the community’s elderly population.

Medical Education – Priya Garg

• The Class of 2026 students, the first class to participate in the curriculum redesign, have now entered their 4^th year of medical school. Faculty preceptors evaluated these students after their first block of medical school and their clinical skills were noted to be outstanding from previous years in several areas including their ability to identify common abnormal findings on a physical exam, recognize common radiological abnormalities and share information effectively with patients and their families
• In the Spring of 2025, a new course for fourth year students was launched called Back to the Classroom where students returned to attend one of seven weeklong seminars that focused on the integration of basic science with clinically relevant topics for students transitioning into internship.
• A new Clinical Skills and Simulation Center was opened in May 2025. In preparation for the use of the new space, new simulations were designed and started in two third-year clerkships, medicine and surgery and in the fourth year required rotation in Geriatrics.

Student Affairs – Angela Jackson

• The Student Affairs Office (SAO) will welcome the Class of 2029 with the White Coat Ceremony on August 4, 2025. We are delighted that Dr. Rod Hochman has accepted our invitation to be the featured speaker.
• Our Shadowing Program continues to grow, featuring online sign-ups and SAO oversight. This year, M1 and M2 students took advantage of over 300 shadowing opportunities, gaining valuable exposure to faculty across a variety of specialties and clinical settings.
• MATCH 2025 was very 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 individual meetings to help with the application process, including writing Personal Statements, interview strategies, and creating a Rank Order List, and helped students navigate the new OB/GYN application platform. In addition to the 1:1 meetings with the students assigned assistant dean in the SAO and their FSA, the ADSA meets with each M4 student to review their application strategy. A critical part of this effort, the Field Specific Advisor (FSA) program, currently includes 125 faculty in 23 specialties.
• Our approach to managing student activity groups, addressing difficult conversations reflecting national and international events and our support of students through the NRMP SOAP process were each highlighted by AAMC GSA-sponsored community calls, as best practice.
• Our student activity groups continue to flourish, reflecting the broad and varied interests and engagement of our students, with currently 101 student groups and over 466 events. Students provided 2,742 hours of community service over the past year.

Research – Andrew Taylor

• A New Instrument for the Flow Cytometry Core. Anna Belkina, Assistant Professor and Director of the Flow Core, has been awarded a $656,148 NIH shared instrument grant for the purchase of a state-of-the-art BD FACSDiscover S8, a spectral cell sorter with advanced imaging capabilities. This new instrument will allow for the simultaneous sorting of up to six populations. The advanced imaging features enhance the quality of sorted cells by eliminating debris and dead cells. The acquisition of the BD FACSDiscover S8 will support studies on pneumonia, sepsis, HIV, lung and breast cancer, adipose tissue dynamics, stem cells, and immune cell interactions, while also improving our ability to conduct single-cell transcriptomics and other downstream analyses of cell morphology and interactions. For the past 10 years, we have successfully been awarded 10 shared instrument grants totaling $6.98M.
• Progress in Medical Student Research Opportunities. Under the leadership of Matthew Layne, PhD, Assistant Dean of Research and Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Cell Biology, there has been a continued increase in medical student involvement in research. The medical student research program has launched a monthly newsletter that highlights research opportunities, conferences, and success stories of student research. The program has expanded its website resources and implemented additional strategies to help students identify mentors for the summer research program and for credit research activities. This year’s Medical Student Research Symposium showcased research conducted by 80 medical students, and for the first time, across all class years.
• Impact of Faculty Research: For 2024, all the basic-science departments ranked in the top 30 in their Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research rankings. Of the total 2763 publications, the NIH grant-funded publications have a Relative Citation Ratio (RCR) of 4.61 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 – Tarik Haydar

• Recruitment of the new Chair. The department welcomed Tarik F. Haydar, PhD, as the new Waterhouse Chair of Anatomy and Neurobiology in October. Dr. Haydar brings with him a funded program on development of the cerebral cortex. His laboratory also leads research on the developmental causes of intellectual disability in genetic disorders, particularly focusing on Down syndrome. His goals include maintaining the high levels of research funding in the department and strengthening research ties to colleagues at BMC and on the Charles River Campus.
• Recruitment of Professor Nobuyuki Ishibashi, M.D. Dr. Ishibashi joined us from Children’s National Hospital and has brought to Boston University his funded preclinical research projects and clinical trials focused on the association between congenital heart defects and brain development. His advanced research and surgical approaches will figure prominently in the department’s collaborative stance with colleagues throughout the university system.
• Research grant successes: This year has been another example of the outstanding level of research expertise in the department. Although NIH funding has been slowed, this year eight major NIH grants were scored in the outstanding range and several large grants from research foundations have been awarded to department faculty.
• Retirement of Jean-Jacques Soghomonian, PhD: This year’s bittersweet task was to accept the retirement of Dr. Soghomonian, an accomplished researcher and cherished educator, from our ranks. Dr. Soghomonian’s constant support for the department and for the many students he has impacted will be greatly missed by all. To maintain our cutting-edge educational mission, the department is currently recruiting additional educator faculty.

Biochemistry and Cell Biology – David Harris

• Establishment of a mitochondrial research unit on K6 consisting of Stefan Isaac, a newly recruited Assistant Professor, Valentina Perissi, and Stephen Farmer.
• Renovation of research space on K6 and equipment space on K1.
• Continued, strong grant funding (approx. $12 million per year), and on-target management of the dept. budget.
• Faculty member Barbara Schreiber named Ph.D. Educator of the Year
• Recruitment of at least seven new graduate students to the department.
• Seven trainees received travel awards funded by the Franzblau endowment to support their attendance at national and international meetings.

Pharmacology, Physiology & Biophysics – Vanna Zachariou

• Strengthened departmental drug discovery and structural biology efforts: First CryoEM Symposium, monthly educational and research seminars. Significant use of new cryo-EM facilities by PP&B members as well as by outside investigators
• Recruitment of Assistant Professor Morgan Gilman, starting August 1, 2025. Dr Gilman is a structural biologist and experienced CryoEM user.
• Recruitment of Dr. Travis Rotterman, Assistant Professor, who joined the department April 14 2025. Dr Rotterman is an electrophysiologist with expertise in spinal cord injury and neurological disorders.

Virology, Immunology & Microbiology – Rachel Fearns

• Florian Douam was awarded the Smith Odyssey Award to develop a new experimental human skin and immune system model to study mosquito transmitted viral infections (https://www.bumc.bu.edu/camed/2024/11/21/florian-douam-phd-jessica-l-fetterman-phd-receive-smith-family-foundations-odyssey-award/)
• The Fearns group and their collaborators at Harvard University and UMass Amherst published a paper in Cell describing structural and functional features of the polymerase of the highly pathogenic Nipah virushttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S009286742401434X?via%3Dihub and  https://www.clinicallab.com/scientists-uncover-structure-of-critical-component-in-deadly-nipah-virus-28160
• Researchers in the VIM department were awarded several R01 grants:
  • Hisashi Akiyama: 1R01AI183400, PI: Hisashi Akiyama (PI), RNA modification and innate immune activation in HIV infection, Total costs $4,009,030
  • Rachel Fearns: 1R01AI191462, PIs Rachel Fearns (contact PI), Rebecca Dutch, Mechanism of parainfluenza virus genome replication, Total costs $3,727,315
  • Suryaram Gummuluru:
    • R01DA059952-01A1, PIs: Suryaram Gummuluru (contact PI), Andrew Henderson, Mechanisms of persistent inflammasome activation in myeloid cells, Total Costs: $4,057,845
    • R01AI179725-01 PIs: Andrew Henderson (contact PI), Suryaram Gummuluru, Defective HIV proviruses and persistent innate immune activation, Total Costs: $4,247,527
    • R01AI182232-01 PIs Clarissa Valim (contact PI), Suryaram Gummuluru, James Beeson, Don Mathanga, Determinants of poor responsiveness to the booster dose of the RTS,S malaria vaccine in African children, Total Costs: $3,529,692

Anesthesiology – Rafael Ortega

• Integration of the department of anesthesiology across the Boston Medical Center Health System
• Publication in the NEJM on Blast Injuries
• Opening of five additional operating rooms at BMC

Family Medicine – Stephen Wilson

• Clinical & Community– During a time of primary care shortage, over 70 of our family physician faculty have our continuity practices at 10 community health centers spread out across Boston; 46 of our family medicine and family medicine-psychiatry residents having their continuity practices at five of those sites.
• Education– Our Family Medicine MS3 Clerkship continues to be one of the top-rated clerkships.
• Research– We held our first Department of Family Medicine Research and Scholarship Day, which was very successful and energizing.

 Medical Sciences & Education – Hee-Young Park

• Educators’ Collaborative Lunch was held each month. Topics included were; A Path to Wellness: Incorporating Wellness into an Advising Curriculum, Go Figures: Using Visual Tools for Health Sciences Education, and Why your students are so upset about sex and gender: Navigating a changing culture in medical teaching.
• 20^th Annual BUMC John McCahan Education Conference was held successfully on May 21, 2025, with a theme on Tradition & Transformation. The keynote speaker was Dr. Karen Antman, BUMC Provost & Dean, Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. Over 100 attendees gathered and celebrated the 20^th anniversary of this conference. Following Dr. Antman’s keynote talk on leadership and communication, the attendees held roundtable discussions on how to continue to transform the medical and graduate education at BUMC. Over 30 abstracts and 5 Workshops were show-cased, as well as dynamic interactions between BUMC educators.

 Medicine – Sushrut Waikar

• $19M award from PCORI: Boston Medical Center (BMC) researchers have been approved for $19 million in research funding by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) for Boston Hypertension Equity Alliance in Treatment (BHEAT), a five-year study focused on improving hypertension control and reducing associated health disparities.
• $14M “PPG Grant”: A team of researchers led by Darrell N. Kotton, MD, the David C. Seldin Professor of Medicine, has been awarded a five-year, $14 million grant from the NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) for “Developing Pluripotent Stem Cells to Model and Treat Lung Disease.”
• Discovery of pathway responsible for Calciphylaxis, a rare and often fatal skin condition: Vipul Chitalia’s laboratory discovered a novel biological pathway, called the IL6 pathway, central to the skin lesion initiation and progression. Blocking this pathway they believe, will prevent progression of the skin ulcers and resolve the pain seen in patients with calciphylaxis. This paper was published in Science Translational Medicine April 2025.

 Neurology – David Greer

The National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and National Institute on Aging has awarded $15 million to the DIAGNOSE CTE Research Project-II. The study will focus on examining potential biomarkers to help doctors accurately diagnose CTE in living patients. It also will help clinicians learn how to differentiate CTE in the clinic from similar diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Neurosurgery – James Holsapple

• Obtained approval for neurosurgical residency expansion from 1 resident per year to 2 residents per year
• Successfully roll-out R25 supported expanded SPIN program (Summer Program in Neuroscience)
• Successful recruitment of complex spine neurosurgeon (Dr. Matt Ordon) and new BMC neurospine director

Obstetrics & Gynecology – Kate White

• Clinical: Our OB Hemorrhage Equity QI initiative won the PNQIN Clinical Team Award at the annual meeting/summit, based on implementation of the Jada suction tamponade device to reduce disparities in postpartum hemorrhage.
• DEI: We relaunched the Respectful Care in Obstetrics educational initiative, using a multi-pronged approach to explore and address the domains of OB Racism as outlined in a prominent sociological model.
• Julie Mottl-Santiago’s study found that a community doula program for low-income patients was cost-saving and produced return on investment for Medicaid payers, while increasing access to doula services for low-income people. (Mottl-Santiago J, Dukhovny D, Feinberg E, Moore J, Parker V, Cabral H, Bowser D, Declercq G. Return-on-Investment Analysis of an Enhanced Community Doula Program: Pre- and Post-COVID-19 Considerations. Birth. 2025 Jun;52(2):299-307. doi: 10.1111/birt.12886. Epub 2024 Oct 11. PMID: 39394757)

 Orthopaedic Surgery – Paul Tornetta III

• 50% of the surgeons in the department are listed as Best of Boston
• Dr Tiger Li was awarded the prestigious “American British Canadian” fellowship by the AOA; served as the Instructional Course Chair for the AAOS
• Dr Ayesha Abdeen was awarded the Arthritis Foundation Marion Ropes Award, Boston MA 2025
• The arthroplasty service received a FARE grant from the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons
• Drs Chadi and Tony Tannoury received 2 Best Paper awards from the North American Spine Society
• Paul Tornetta III, MD, PhD served as the President of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons; received the “Distinguished Clinical Educator” Award from he American Orthopaedic Association (lifetime award level), and named int he top 1% of researchers of researchers by Avante-Garde’s research all stars
• Chadi Tannoury, Tony Tannoury, and Tiger Li were named in the top 3% of researchers by Avante-Garde’s research all stars.

Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery – Gregory A. Grillone

• Clinical – We continue to grow all our Otolaryngology divisions to provide exceptional care and easy access for our This year, our division of head and neck surgery has expanded with the recruitment of another full-time head & neck/microvascular surgeon.
• Research – We continue aggressive efforts to build our research footprint, leveraging a variety of funding mechanisms to support our many research efforts in the department, including: submission a renewal application to continue our elastic scattering spectroscopy (ESS) research, focusing now on applying ESS to screen for oral cancers and to evaluate deep margins in oral cancer resection; submission of a DP5 grant; and re-submission of a multicenter U grant to study the effectiveness of amitriptyline to treat chronic cough and chronic airway hypersensitivity (CAH). We continue to serve as a primary clinical site for a P50 funded project evaluating vocal hyperfunction.
• Medical Student Education and Mentoring – All three of our Chobanian and Avedisian Boston University School of Medicine students applying to Otolaryngology residency in 2025 matched into top tier training programs around the country. The Chobanian and Avedisian Boston University School of Medicine was very well represented at our two major national Otolaryngology meetings this year with our medical students participating in 15 presentations.

Pathology & Laboratory Medicine – Chris Andry

• Elizabeth Duffy, MA, Assistant Professor and Program Director for the Masters in Pathology Laboratory Sciences was recognized by the school of medicine as Educator of the Year for Master’s programs and also received the Faculty Recognition Award from Graduate Medical Sciences. Isa Jacoba, MD, Clinical Instructor, was also recognized as Resident Educator of the Year by the school.
• Eric Burks, MDand Dennis Jones, PhD were promoted to Associate Professor.  Yiqin Xiong, MD, PhD and Samuel Ajjarapu, MD were appointed as Assistant Professor and Ming Lo, DVM, PhD, as a Research Assistant Professor.  All primary appointments in our department.
• Ivana Delalle, MD, PhD. Professor of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine is the principal investigator and recipient of an R01 entitled “Long non-coding RNAs as therapeutic targets and biomarkers of Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias”, partnering with  Krzysztof Blusztajn, PhD, Tiffany Mellott, PhD and Joel Henderson, MD, PhD.  Thomas Clarke, PhD, Assistant Professor, received a Boston Medical Center Cancer Innovator Award, with co-collaborators Sara Higgins, MDand Qing Grace Zhao, MD as well as an American Cancer Society Pilot Award. He was a selected speaker at the Environmental and Mutagenesis and Genomics Society Annual Meeting. Palm Springs, CA

Pediatrics – Elijah Paintsil

• Launched a Five-Year Strategic Plan: Introduced Today’s BMC Pediatric Care is Tomorrow’s Care Everywhere, a forward-looking roadmap to guide departmental growth, innovation, and impact.
• Established the ‘Partner of the Year’ Recognition Program: Created a new initiative to celebrate individuals who have made outstanding contributions to advancing departmental priorities and fostering a culture of collaboration and excellence.
• Launched M=P: A Multi-Year Mental Health Integration Initiative: Introduced M=P(Mental Health = Physical Health), a transformative effort anchored by the Neurodiverse Urban Youth (NUY) Clinic and the WholeHealth Hub concept, to drive the meaningful integration of mental health into both primary and specialty pediatric care.

Surgery – Alik Farber

• The Department of Surgery’s excellent clinical productivity in AY25 speaks to the strong work ethic of our surgeons and the collaborative efforts of our operations teams. These teams were integral to the opening of five new operating rooms in May 2025, and through interdisciplinary efficiency efforts and lean healthcare methodology, we are improving surgical throughput while minimizing redundancy and waste. And once again, we were recognized by the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program, this year as one of 77 hospitals nationwide that achieved meritorious outcomes in surgical patient care, specifically in the high-risk category.
• In the education realm, we have updated our third-year surgical clerkship curriculum to a case-based format and have appointed a new clerkship director, Luise Pernar, MD, MHPE, who has significant experience in the education space and is focused on ensuring the best clinical and overall experience for medical students while on our service. In addition, our six graduating chief residents have matched to prestigious fellowships that will begin later this summer, and the trend continues with two of our rising chiefs and one of our 2024 graduates recently matching to pediatric surgery fellowships, which are highly competitive.
• Work is well underway, with significant progress made in integrating BMC South and BMC Brighton into the BMC Health System Department of Surgery. The expansion of our department creates numerous opportunities and will undoubtedly benefit our patients by optimizing the care we provide across the three hospitals.

Aging Research – Vladamir Botchkarev and Slava Labunsky

• Continued to coordinate interdisciplinary collaborations across 38 different labs from both the Medical and Charles-River Campuses.
• The Center hosted its Annual Aging Research Symposium in October 2024 and led a bi-monthly seminar series, inviting leading researchers including Drs. Vadim Gladyshev and Marcia Haigis (Harvard University), Laura Niedernhofer (University of Minnesota), Andrei Seluanov (University of Rochester).
• Additionally, members of the Center for Aging Research actively participated in the Research-on-Tap Symposium on the Biology of Aging organized by the BU Vice-President in April 2025.

These collaborative efforts will serve as a platform for a forthcoming T32 Training Grant application focused on advancing our understanding of basic mechanisms driving aging and translating these discoveries to clinical practice, to promote healthy aging in humans.

 Amyloidosis Center – Vaishali Sanchorawala

• Clinical Research: We are proud to be a lead enrolling site for the MAGNITUDE trial—the first in-human, in vivo CRISPR gene-editing study for ATTR cardiac amyloidosis. With eight patients enrolled from our center with the principal investigator Omar Siddiqi, MD, this trial represents a major step toward potentially curative therapies.
• Basic Science & Discovery: We updated ALBase, our public database of immunoglobulin light chain sequences in AL amyloidosis, enabling global research into disease mechanisms. A major milestone this year: using cryo-EM, we captured the first high-resolution image of a patient-derived lambda amyloid fibril; paving the way for structure-based drug design; under the leadership of Tatiana Prokaeva, MD, PhD and Olga Gursky, PhD.
• Education: We were honored to receive the prestigious Amyloidosis Research Consortium Fellowship grant, enabling us to recruit a dedicated fellow to advance clinical training and research in amyloidosis starting July 2025.

CTSI – David Center

• Transforming Research into Impact: First installment in a new series of mini–Impact Reports: The BU CTSI’s first installment of a Mini Impact Report series highlights BU CTSI’s accomplishments in accelerating discoveries, reducing health inequities, and fostering a sustainable research ecosystem.View the Full Report Here.
• Jana Iverson, a researcher at BU’s Sargent College, explores how early motor development shapes later-emerging skills such as communication and language. To support this work, she partnered with the BU CTSI Community Engagement Program and the General Clinical Research Unit (GCRU). Dr. Iverson’s project, titled“Body Weight Harness Mobility System for Infants with Down Syndrome,” was awarded $50,000 by the BUCTSI for the period April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024. Learn more about Dr. Iverson’s research here.
• The BU CTSI General Clinical Research Unit (GCRU) and the new Clinical Research Unit (CRU) at Boston Medical Center (BMC) have partnered to enhance clinical research capacity across both institutions. Opened on November 5, 2024on the 6th floor of the Yawkey Building, the BMC CRU is designed for higher-risk, early-phase clinical trials involving intravenous or injectable investigational products. It features overnight observation capabilities and is staffed by our GCRU and BMC expert clinical research personnel. Meanwhile, the GCRU at BU CTSI continues to lead and support low-risk studies, including behavioral, observational, and survey-based research, as well as biospecimen collection and training services. The two units work together to ensure a seamless pipeline for clinical research offering investigators comprehensive support by using our Research Navigator Team to support with multilingual recruitment, regulatory guidance, rapid study startup to name a few. For more information about the GCRU, go here.
• Advancing Translational Science Through Cutting-Edge Technology: The 12th Annual Translational Science Symposium in Memory of David C. Seldin, MD, PhD (1957-2015) —On March 19, 2025, Boston University’s Clinical & Translational Science Institute hosted its 12th Annual Translational Science Symposium at the Duan Family Center for Computing & Data Sciences. The event gathered researchers, clinicians, and trainees to spotlight cutting-edge innovations in technology and regenerative medicine that are shaping the future of healthcare. Visit our BU CTSI Symposium page. View the symposium recording sessions here.
• Boston University CTSI, in collaboration with VA Boston, will launch a Request for Information (RFI) to identify innovative research opportunities using the Million Veterans Program (MVP) dataset—the nation’s largest linked genomic resource. With data from over 1 million veterans, including full gene sequencing for more than 450,000 individuals, MVP offers an unprecedented opportunity for breakthroughs in translational science, health equity, and precision medicine. The dataset features extensive linked information, including electronic health records, radiology, blood proteomics, and more curated and managed by the VA Boston Healthcare System. Through this RFI, BU CTSI and VA Boston aim to engage researchers with novel ideas, analytical tools, and clinical applications that will expand the value and impact of MVP across disciplines.

Framingham Heart Study – Donald Lloyd-Jones

• The Framingham Heart Study (FHS) is now in its 77^th year of continuous study of the determinants, mechanisms, and outcomes of cardiovascular diseases and, increasingly, of other chronic diseases of aging, including cognitive health and dementia. In the last year, FHS investigators authored 173 scientific manuscripts, many in top-tier biomedical journals.
• Donald M. Lloyd-Jones MD, ScM, became director of the Framingham Center for Population and Prevention Science and principal investigator of the FHS effective January 1, 2025. He previously was a fellow and junior faculty researcher at Framingham from 1997-2003, and most recently was chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University from 2009-2024. 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.
• In February, FHS received a new $58M contract to continue study operations for six more years, including two new examination cycles. FHS recently completed the 4^th exam cycle of the Gen3 Cohort (grandchildren of the original study participants). Planning is underway for the next cycle of examinations of FHS Offspring (second-generation) participants that is expected to begin in the fall of 2025. We welcome collaboration across the BU community for future exams and to leverage the FHS data for novel scientific insights.
• FHS continues to share phenotype and genetic/genomic data in a variety of de-identified national data-sharing platforms. FHS also continues to participate in a number of consortia including C4R (Collaborative Cohort of Cohorts for COVID-19 Research), the 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 awarded four research prizes to speakers and poster presenters at the Annual Research Symposium in November 2024 with a record turnout and genomics vendors contributing to a product show.
• The GSI awarded 4 pilot grant projects to test the Illumina Fluent technology and hosted 14 seminars showcasing new sequencing technologies and original genomics faculty research programs.
• The GSI maintained its strong educational partnerships with the GPGG PhD program that celebrated the 20^th anniversary of the start of the GPGG to foster genetics and genomics graduate student research.  The partnership with the BU Bioinformatics program also brought 14 master’s students to conduct internships with GSI faculty labs.

Military Health – Glenn Markenson

• Developed a military health research consortium with Northeastern University, and the United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine.
• Launched a formal fellowship pathway to support BU students pursuing careers in military health.
• Hosted the Center’s first Newburry Fund undergraduate fellow, who contributed to analysis and manuscript drafting on sexual dysfunction in military populations.

Pulmonary Center – Joseph Mizgerd

• The Pulmonary Center team published nearly 250 research papers in the last year. These publications reported discoveries that reveal the molecular and cellular underpinnings of healthy lungs, mechanisms responsible for respiratory diseases, and changes to pulmonary and critical care practice that can improve outcomes for patients.
• The Pulmonary Center added new faculty members during this last year, including Assistant Professors Andrea Alber, Chris Chu, Eric Heckman, Michael Herriges, Divya Shankar, and DJ Wallman.
• The Pulmonary Center faculty continued its emphasis on educating diverse trainees, especially predoctoral PhD and MD/PhD students and postdoctoral MD, MD/PhD, and PhD fellows. In the last year, at least 9 PhD or MD/PhD students defended their doctoral theses and at least 7 MD fellows completed their sub-specialty medical training. In addition, the Center provided research opportunities and clinical or scientific training to many other predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees as well as to medical residents, medical students, college students, and high school students.

 Slone Epidemiology Center – Julie Palmer

We conducted a national search for a mid-career investigator with expertise in neuroepidemiology and genetic epidemiology.  Dr. Astrid Suchy-Dicey will be joining the Slone Epidemiology Center and faculty in the Section of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology in August.  She leads aging and neuroepidemiology research in the Strong Heart Study (SHS), a long-standing NHLBI cohort study of American Indians.  She will continue to lead those efforts in the SHS while initiating her own aging research within the Black Women’s Health Study (BWHS).

In addition to NIH grants, we have continued to have success in obtaining foundation grants:

• Mollie Barnard was awarded a 4-year American Cancer Society Research Scholars Grant on cardiometabolic health and risk of breast cancer in Black women ($930,408)
• Julie Palmer received a one-year grant from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation to investigate social drivers of breast cancer risk and prognosis in Black women ($589,409)

Dr. Mollie Barnard was first author of a JAMA paper entitled Endometriosis Typology and Ovarian Cancer Risk, which was accompanied by an editorial and received much media attention. Using data from the Utah Population Database, Dr. Barnard and colleagues documented a positive association between endometriosis and epithelial ovarian cancer, varied by endometriosis subtype and ovarian cancer histotype. Women with deep infiltrating endometriosis and/or ovarian endometriomas were estimated to be 9.7 times more likely to develop ovarian cancer when compared to women without endometriosis.

Goals for the coming year:

• Continue the Slone Center 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 proteomics and metabolomics using pre-diagnostic blood samples in a nested case-control study of breast cancer.
• Expand BWHS cardiovascular disease research to include heart failure.  Increase collaborations with Framingham Heart Study investigators.

Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute

• Multiple center investigators were awarded new NIH funding. Dr. Noyan Gokce in collaboration with Dr. Schlezinger at the School of Public Health received a new R01 to study how environmental pollutants accumulate in fat tissue and impact cardiovascular health. Drs. Francesca Seta and Jingyan Han received a new R01 to study mechanisms of aortic aneurysm and potential novel therapeutic approaches through modulation of redox signaling. Dr. Victoria Herrera along with Dr. David Greer were awarded an R61 to develop a biomarker of inflammatory driven brain injury in spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage.
• Dr. Jessica Fetterman was awarded a Smith Family Foundation Odyssey Award to expand approaches to understand the cardiovascular consequences of mitochondrial genetic variation and mitochondrial genetic disorders.
• Work from the American Heart Association Cardio-Oncology Center led by Dr. Katya Ravid along with center investigators including Dr. Vipul Chitalia and Nathanael Fillmore are developing machine-learning based projects advancing precision medicine approaches to reduce the burden of cancer-associated thrombosis.
• The Whitaker Cardiovascular Seminar series provides opportunities to bring together interdisciplinary investigators and has hosted visiting faculty in collaboration with the Center for Regenerative Medicine and the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology and Biophysics.
• The Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute faculty are actively involved in educational activities including predoctoral PhD and postdoctoral MD, MD/PhD, and PhD fellows as well as multiple master’s programs. In addition, learners across the spectrum from high school students, undergraduates, medical students, and medical residents participate in scientific training activities.