George O’Connor, M.D., M.S. – Interim Chief of the Section of Preventive Medicine in the Department of Medicine

We are delighted to announce that George O’Connor, M.D., M.S. has agreed to serve as Interim Chief of the Section of Preventive Medicine in the Department of Medicine starting September 1, 2022. Dr. O’Connor is Professor of Medicine based in the Pulmonary Section. He is internationally known for his studies of the epidemiology of chronic respiratory diseases, particularly in asthma, and currently serves as Associate Editor of JAMA. Dr. O’Connor is also a skilled clinician and educator, in addition to his considerable accomplishments as a physician investigator.

Dr. O’Connor will be replacing Dr. Vasan Ramachandran who will be moving to the University of Texas at San Antonio to become the founding Dean of the School of Public Health. Dr. Ramachandran is one of the world’s leading cardiovascular epidemiologists who has led a number research and training programs in the Department and School of Medicine, especially including the Framingham Heart Study and RURAL study, two of the most important longitudinal studies of cardiovascular risk in the U.S. We are very grateful for his academic leadership, mentorship of innumerable trainees and faculty, and his enduring positive impact on the Department.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. O’Connor and in thanking Dr. Ramachandran for his leadership!

Dr. Vasan Ramachandran Appointed Founding Dean, University of Texas School of Public Health at San Antonio

Vasan Ramachandran, MD, has been appointed the founding Dean of the University of Texas School of Public Health at San Antonio, effective in September.
A member of our community since 1993, Dr. Ramachandran is the Jay and Louise Coffman Professor of Vascular Biology, Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at BUSM and BUSPH, and Chief of the Section of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology in the Department of Medicine. Since 2014 he has served as principal investigator and director of the Framingham Heart Study (FHS). He also is principal investigator of the RURAL (Risk Underlying Rural Areas Longitudinal) Cohort Study, which aims to address critical gaps in our knowledge of heart and lung disorders in rural counties in the southeastern U.S. An internationally known and highly respected physician scientist and clinical epidemiologist, Dr. Ramachandran’s research has focused on heart failure, blood pressure and cardiac remodeling.

• • With a current active annual research grant portfolio of nearly $20 million and as a recipient of over $100 million from the National Institutes of Health over the last 20 years, Dr. Ramachandran is a prolific and collaborative investigator with a primary focus of leading and evaluating studies related to the epidemiology and genetic architecture of blood pressure, cardiac and vascular remodeling, and he contributed to the description of the entity of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.
  • He has earned an h-index of 188 in Google Scholar discovery with over 1,060 publications to his name including many in prominent journals such as NEJM, JACC, JAMA and Circulation.
  • He led and directed the first School of Public Health in India, the Achutha Menon Center for Health Science Studies in Kerala, where he enrolled and coordinated the first two cohorts of Master of Public Health students, a two-year residential, 60-credit program targeting mid-career physician leaders in the country. He oversaw the recruitment of the core faculty and staff, supervised curriculum development and arranged for collaborations with prominent U.S. universities such as Johns Hopkins, Harvard, UC Berkeley and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
  • As director of two NIH training grants (T32 and R38), Dr. Ramachandran has built mentoring support groups for non-white scholars within the Department of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. His experience as an immigrant and foreign-medical graduate from a developing country has given him a heightened awareness of the challenges encountered by individuals from non-majority groups and he has thus focused his attention on addressing health disparities and working toward health equity.

Dr. Ramachandran received his primary and high school education in India after which he completed a year of premedical training and then entered the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the top-ranked medical institution in India and South Asia with an attached 2,000-bed multispecialty teaching hospital. He spent the next 15 years in India training to be a physician as an internist, a senior resident and a cardiologist before moving to the United States, where he sought additional subspecialty training in imaging and cardiovascular epidemiology at the Framingham Heart Study.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Ramachandran on his new appointment and thanking him for his many contributions to our community.

Angelique Harris, PhD, Named Associate Dean for Diversity & Inclusion

We are pleased to announce Angelique C. Harris, PhD, associate professor of medicine, director of faculty development and diversity for the Department of Medicine and BUMC director of faculty development, has been appointed associate dean for diversity & inclusion, effective immediately.

Dr. Harris has designed, implemented and led innovative programs that provide and promote more equitable learning and working environments for faculty, staff and students around issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging and justice. A medical sociologist, Dr. Harris’s research includes race and ethnicity, gender and sexualities, health and illness, social movements, cultural studies, urban studies and media studies. More specifically, examining how groups construct health issues and how the structural marginalization and stigmatization they experience impact their experiences with health care. Dr. Harris has authored and co-authored dozens of books, articles, and essays, including Womanist AIDS Activism in the United States: “It’s Who We Are” (Roman & Littlefield, 2022), Queer People of Color: Connected but Not Comfortable (Lynne Rienner, 2018) and the Intersections of Race and Sexuality (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) book series.

Originally from Mattapan, Mass., Dr. Harris received a BA in social psychology and an MA in applied sociology from the University of Massachusetts, Boston; an MA in sociology from CUNY-Queens College, and MPhil and PhD in sociology, with a focus in medical sociology, from CUNY-Graduate Center.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Harris on their new role.

Kaku So-Armah, Ph.D., has accepted the role of Assistant Chair for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA)

We are delighted to announce that Kaku So-Armah, Ph.D., has accepted the role of Assistant Chair for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) in the Department of Medicine’s Faculty Development and Diversity Office effective July 1, 2022.

Dr. So-Armah identifies as a husband, a father, an epidemiologist, and an Associate Professor in the Section of General Internal Medicine, amongst other things.  His lab uses molecular biology coupled with data on health behaviors, risk factors, and disease diagnoses to identify and explain novel epidemiological associations and identify novel intervention targets. His research focuses on substance use and chronic infections like human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and tuberculosis (TB) and how these exposures impact the heart, liver, and lungs. The populations and problems on which his lab focuses have attracted scientists from groups underrepresented in the biomedical research workforce. He recognizes, values, and leverages the power of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives in solving complex research and clinical problems.

Additionally, Dr. So-Armah currently collaborates with several fantastic teams on the following initiatives:

• The Inclusion Diversity & Equity In Addiction medicine, Addiction health professions, and Addiction research (IDEAAA) program. 
• The Providence/Boston Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) Diversity Equity Inclusion and Belonging Program
• The Grayken Center for Addiction Anti-racist Approach to Substance Use Treatment working group
• The BU School of Medicine Faculty Development and Diversity Committee (FDDC)
• The BU Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustainable Transformation (FIRST) grant application

Working alongside the Faculty Development & Diversity Office, as Assistant Chair, Dr. So-Armah will focus on:

• Serving as a faculty resource to ensure that all DoM Faculty are recruited using best practices for inclusive searches.
• Meeting with potential Faculty candidates to discuss DEIA in the DoM.
• Advising DoM Faculty Development and Diversity’s Evans Student Scholars Program.
• Working with Vice Chair, Director, and Associate Chair on DEIA initiatives in the DoM.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. So-Armah!

Anthony “Tony” Hollenberg, MD, has been named the John Wade Professor and Chair of the DoM at BUSM, and Physician-in-Chief at BMC

We are pleased to announce that Anthony “Tony” Hollenberg, MD, has been named the John Wade Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine (DOM) at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), and Physician-in-Chief at Boston Medical Center (BMC). Dr. Hollenberg will join BUSM/BMC this fall.

Currently, Dr. Hollenberg is the Chair of the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and Physician-in-Chief at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City. Prior to this role, he served as Chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism and Vice Chair for Mentoring at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Hollenberg, a native of Toronto, received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and his medical degree from the University of Calgary. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, followed by a clinical and research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital.

A leading physician-scientist specializing in endocrinology, Dr. Hollenberg’s work focuses on thyroid disorders, investigating the physiological and molecular mechanisms by which thyroid hormones regulate metabolism, including body weight. Additionally, his laboratory explores the underpinnings of thyroid gland development. He has published more than 98 original studies in journals and contributed 31 book chapters and reviews. Dr. Hollenberg’s extensive research expertise will enhance pre-clinical, translational, and clinical research across the Department.

Under his leadership, the Department will cultivate and attract top talent in academic medicine and research while also fostering and mentoring emerging talent, advancing our core missions, and raising BUSM/BMC’s national profile even further.

We thank David Coleman, MD, who has served as Chief and Chair of the Department of Medicine since 2006, who announced his plans last year to step down from his leadership role. We are grateful for Dr. Coleman’s many lasting contributions to the Department, including the recruitment of outstanding faculty and growing the Department’s research programs in size and scope, and for his exceptional leadership and his many contributions to our health system, faculty practice, medical school, and professional community over his 16 years at BUSM/BMC.

We also would like to thank Jennifer Tseng, MD, MPH, Chief and Chair of Surgery, and Sandro Galea, MD, MPH, DPH, Dean and Robert A. Knox Professor, Boston University School of Public Health, who led the search committee, as well as the committee members for their work that developed a very strong national candidate pool.

Please join us in thanking Dr. Coleman and welcoming Dr. Hollenberg back to Boston.

Check Out PairMe! A New Recruiting Tool for PIs and BU Students!

PairMe is a recruiting tool for PIs and the BU students; using a swipe-match mechanism, the platform aims to match students to the research jobs posted by the PIs. You can access PairMe here. Please find instructions and more information below.

Endocrinology has Moved to a New Location!

2022 DoM Evans Days Abstract Submission Deadline and Guidelines!

2022 Evans Days 

October 13-14, 2022

 Abstract Submissions are now Closed.

Abstract Submission Guidelines:

Instructions for Completing the Online Abstracts Form

1. In order to submit an abstract, we request some information about you. Please provide the following.
   1. Your name
   2. Section/Department
   3. Your Mentor
   4. Research Collaboration
   5. Preferred email and phone number
   6. Home mailing address
   7. Recent Headshot
   8. Include a brief bio of yourself (where did you go to school, research interest, etc.)
   9. Is this research Basic Science or Clinical?
   10. 3 Keywords

Once step one is complete and reviewed you will then be able to submit your abstract(s). Abstract must be submitted by Friday, July 15 by 11:59pm EST.

2. Evaluation of abstracts will be based on the following considerations. You will be asked to address each of these items in separate text boxes. The total character limit is 1470 for the four boxes combined.
   1. Objective: Clearly state the objective of the research project
   2. Methods: Concisely note the methods used to obtain the results
   3. Results: Clearly describe the results of the research
   4. Conclusions: Briefly state the conclusions of the research project
   5. Image Size: No larger than 2in high x 4in wide for publication purposes.

3. The abstracts receipt deadline Friday, July 15 by 11:59pm will remain firm and any abstracts received after the deadline will not be accepted.

Submission Rules

1. Abstracts may be submitted Wednesday, June 15 and will not be accepted after Friday, July 15 at 11:59 PM, EST
2. Character Count: Abstracts are limited to 1470 characters, not including spaces. Image size should be no larger than 2in high x 4in wide for publication purposes.
3. Make abstracts as informative as possible, including a brief statement of the purpose of the study or why it was done, the methods used, the results observed, and the author(s)' conclusions based upon the results. Actual data should be summarized. It is inadequate to state "the results will be discussed" or "the data will be presented." Abstracts must be written in English.
4. You will be asked to partition your abstract into four section: Objective, Methods, Results and Conclusions. The total limit for all four sections combined is 1470 characters.
5. NO REVISIONS to abstracts will be allowed after the deadline.
6. Authorship on multiple abstracts permitted (1^st authorship is permitted on one abstract only).
7. All Department of Medicine faculty, fellows, housestaff, post-docs and graduate students may submit abstracts.
8. Submissions are accepted from any BUMC member but ONLY DOM Trainees, Students, and Post docs will be eligible for competitive awards.
9. Work done at another institution can be accepted as long as It was done in collaboration with a DOM faculty member.
10. Upon completion of your submission you will receive an email confirmation.
11. Please be prepared to submit a poster in PDF or Powerpoint format to accompany your abstract. We will reach out to you once the abstract submission deadline has closed with more information on how to prepare your poster. The deadline for poster submissions will be September 12^th.

If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to Christine Choi at choikp@bu.edu.