Discovery of the Month: Dec 2018
"Retinoic Acid Signaling is Essential for Airway Smooth Muscle Homeostasis"
Felicia Chen, Fengzhi Shao, Anne Hinds, Sean Yao, Sumati Ram-Mohan, Timothy A. Norman, Ramaswamy Krishnan, and Alan Fine
Presented by Dr. Chen at Grand Rounds, December 14, 2018
This is the first installment in the Dept of Medicine series, Discovery of the Month. Recent projects are recognized and featured during a special monthly grand rounds for significant findings and publications.
Elevated Blood Pressure in People Under 40 Poses Hazard of Developing Cardiovascular Diseases Prematurely
High blood pressure or hypertension is a major health problem that affects more than 100 million people in the U.S. (using the current 130 systolic or 80 diastolic) and over one billion worldwide. Despite being considered a disease of older adults, there are two new studies in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that are reporting the association of high blood pressure with the risk of premature cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adults younger than 40. In an accompanying JAMA editorial, Vasan Ramachandran, MD, FACC, Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine, mentions that major gaps exist in the current knowledge regarding the epidemiology, diagnosis, risk stratification and management of higher blood pressure levels in young adults.
American Thyroid Association Names Elizabeth Pearce, MD, BoD President
Professor of Medicine in the Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Nutrition, Elizabeth Pearce, MD, MSc, has been named president of the Board of Directors of the American Thyroid Association. Her one-year term began in October 2018 and has served as president-elect for the past year.
Dr. Pearce received her undergraduate and medical degrees from Harvard University and a masters’ degree in epidemiology from BU School of Public Health. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and her fellowship in endocrinology at BU under the mentorship of Dr. Lewis Braverman. Read more: http://www.bumc.bu.edu/busm/2018/11/07/american-thyroid-association-names-elizabeth-pearce-bod-president/
Fall 2018 Newsletter
Fall 2018 Newsletter
Nina Lin, MD and Manish Sagar, MD, Receive NIH Award to Combat HIV-induced Chronic Inflammation
Congratulations to Nina Lin, MD, Assistant Professor in the Section of Infectious Disease and Manish Sagar, MD, Associate Professor in the Section of Infectious Disease, who along with their colleague Suryaram (Rahm) Gummuluru, PhD, Associate Professor of Microbiology, received a five-year, $3.8 million RO1 Award from the National Institute of Aging (NIA)/National Institutes of Health (NIH). They will be researching whether persistent HIV RNA expression in older HIV+ individuals contributes to chronic inflammation and immune exhaustion resulting in an accelerated aging phenotype. The findings from this study could eventually allow for the development of effective strategies to decrease or reverse the persistent HIV RNA expression dependent induction of inflammation that drives disease pathogenesis in the growing population of older individuals living with HIV.
AY18 Faculty Awards and Honors
Congratulations to the following Department of Medicine faculty members for their achievements during 2017-2018!
The Center for Regenerative Medicine (CReM) earned the 2017 Sharing Research Resources Award from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), established “to recognize successful models for sharing biomedical research resources.”
Caroline Apovian, MD, FACP, FACN, FTOS, Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, will serve as the new president of The Obesity Society (TOS).
David Center, MD, Gordon and Ruth Snider Professor of Pulmonary Medicine, Research Professor of Biochemistry, Associate Provost for Translational Research, was named as treasurer of the 2018-19 board of directors for Association for Clinical and Translational Science (ACTS).
Shoumita Dasgupta, PhD, Assistant Dean of Admissions, Associate Professor of Genetic/Molecular Medicine, Associate Professor of Medical Sciences and Education, was elected president-elect of the Association of Professors of Human and Medical Genetics (APHMG). She will serve as president-elect from 2018-20 and president from 2020-22.
Jessie M. Gaeta, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, was the 2018 recipient of the Massachusetts Medical Society’s Special Award for Excellence in Medical Service. The award honors a physician who has made a distinguished demonstration of compassion and dedication to the medical needs of his or her patients and the general public.
Karsten Lunze, MD, DrPH, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine, was recognized by the American Public Health Association for his work serving victims of war and terrorism with the Victor Sidel and Barry Levy Award for Peace. He received this award with his wife Fatima Lunze, MD, ScD, PhD, a pediatrics instructor at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital.
Gustavo Mostoslavsky, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine and Microbiology, received the Innovator of the Year award from the BU Technology Development office. Dr. Mostoslavsky produced a tool, STEMCCA, which makes it simpler and more efficient to generate iPS. The award is given to a faculty member whose research yields inventions or innovations benefiting society.
Katya Ravid, DSc, Founding Director of the Boston University Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Office and the Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research and Professor of Medicine, was named a fellow and new president of the Massachusetts Academy of Sciences (MAS).
Jeffrey H. Samet, MD, MA, MPH, FACP, has been awarded the American College of Physicians (ACP) Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award #1 from the Rosenthal Family Foundation for his innovative work in the field of addiction medicine.
Robert Witzburg, MD, Former Associate Dean of Admissions, Professor of Medicine at BUSM and Health Policy and Management at BUSPH, and a general internal medicine physician at Boston Medical Center (BMC), was named the 2017 recipient of the Jerome Klein Award for Physician Excellence. Dr. Witzburg retired July 1, 2018.
Read more: http://www.bumc.bu.edu/busm/about/office-of-the-dean/2017-18-awards-and-honors/
AY18 Research Accomplishments
The Department of Medicine would like to recognize the following research accomplishments that occurred during FY18. Congratulations to all the faculty members for their innovative, ground breaking research!
Published Studies Receiving Mainstream and Science Media Attention:
Bindu Kalesan’s study in the Journal of Affective Disorders found that the average profile of an American using a gun for suicide is a married, white male over the age of 50 who is experiencing deteriorating health.
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Dr. Jessica Fetterman’s study in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology provides further evidence that e-cigarettes are not necessarily a benign way to help quit smoking. Five flavorings tested in the lab damaged the heart-protective functions of endothelial cells, which line the inside of blood vessels and the heart.
Large Federal Awards of Note:
An NIH-NCATS Cooperative Agreement continuation award of $10.4 million over two years to PI David Center, MD, Pulmonary Medicine, for the BU Clinical and Transitional Science Institute.
An NIH-NIA Cooperative Agreement continuation award of $2.7 million over five years to PI David Felson, MD, MPH, Epidemiology, for Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study (MOST).
Foundation Awards of Note:
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation -- $447,000 to Joanne Murabito, MD, and Emelia Benjamin, MD, to explore new approaches to health promotion using mobile devices such as smartphones.
Congratulations to co-PIs Suzy Sarfaty, MD, and Sondra Crosby, MD, for receiving a three-year, $392,000 grant from the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation to help train future physicians to better serve refugee and immigrant populations.
Newly Announced/Established or Installed BUSM Professorships During FY18:
Robert Witzburg, MD, Scholarship Fund
Hemant Roy, MD, was installed as the Franz J. Ingelfinger, MD, Professor in Gastroenterology
Naomi M. Hamburg, MD, MS, FACC, was installed as the Joseph A. Vita, MD, Professor in Cardiovascular Medicine
Noyan Gokce, M.D., and Ohio University Researcher Awarded NIH Grant
Congratulations to Noyan Gokce, M.D., Professor of Medicine in the Section of Cardiology, who received a 4 year, $2.2 million R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Gokce and his co-principal investigator Vishwajeet Puri, PhD, Professor at The Diabetes Institute at Ohio University, will investigate the relationship between obesity-induced changes in fat tissue metabolism in human adipose stores (tissue that stores energy in the form of fat) in relations to vascular and cardiometabolic dysfunction. Obesity is rampant in the United States, with 69% of the population currently overweight or obese. Drs. Gokce and Puri's research will seek to characterize the relationship between obesity, adipose tissue dysfunction, insulin resistance, and how these processes cause vascular disease.
Read more: http://www.bumc.bu.edu/busm/2018/07/11/bu-and-ohio-university-researchers-awarded-nih-grant/
The Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Establishes Two New Arcs To Promote Team Science
ARCs consist of faculty and trainees from different disciplines across both BU campuses and are organized around foci of common research interests. The development of the ARCs create opportunities for new interdisciplinary approaches to research and training in biomedical research.
The new ARCs include:
Connecting Tissues and Investigators (Fibrosis in Pathology)
Co-Directors: Irving Bigio, PhD; Maria Trojanowska, PhD; and Xaralabos (Bob) Varelas, PhD
This ARC will bring together basic researchers, clinicians, and bioengineers across both campuses to test the hypothesis that there are shared and tissue-specific factors in organ fibrosis. These factors can be utilized to develop improved and more quantitative diagnostics to identify both global and/or tissue-specific biomarkers and therapeutic targets. The team will focus on molecular phenotyping of profibrotic cells, metabolomics and imaging of fibrosis.
Tobacco Regulatory Science
Director: Jessica Fetterman, PhD
Co-Directors: Stine Grodal, PhD; Naomi Hamburg, MD; and Andrew Stokes, PhD
The Tobacco Regulatory Science ARC seeks to tackle questions related to the safety, perceptions, marketing, and use patterns of new and emerging tobacco products and to evaluate the effectiveness of associated regulatory measures. Research is needed to inform policy makers of the health, perceptions, economic and behavioral effects of new and emerging tobacco products in order to develop the appropriate policies to protect human health.
Retrieved from: http://www.bumc.bu.edu/busm/2018/06/21/two-new-arcs-established-to-promote-team-science/
Maureen Dubreuil, MD, MSc, Receives 2018 Spondylitis Association of America (SAA) Bruckel Early Career Investigator in Axial Spondyloarthritis Award
Maureen Dubreuil, MD, MSc, Assistant Professor of Clinical Epidemiology Research & Training, received the 2018 Spondylitis Association of America (SAA) Bruckel Early Career Investigator in Axial Spondyloarthritis Award. The $20,000.00 award was created to recognize outstanding “contributions to the care and understanding of patients with spondyloarthritis," and named in honor of the Associations co-founder Jane Bruckel. It is awarded on an annual basis to an early career investigator that shows the most promise to contribute to the understanding or therapy of axial spondyloarthritis. Spondyloarthritis is a type of arthritis which attacks the spine and the joints of the arms and legs in some individuals.
Dr. Dubreuil's research is focused on comorbidities and pharmacoepidemiology of spondyloarthritis, and she is currently studying patient preferences and cost-effectiveness of treatment modalities for this disease. This award will help with her ongoing research. Congratulations Dr. Dubreuil!