News
Sept. 24 Reception to Celebrate BUSM History, Restoration and Faculty Support
The BUMC community is invited to a dedication and reception to celebrate recently restored historical pieces at the School of Medicine and Medical Campus. Recent improvements include the newly created picnic area on Talbot Green, a display of BUSM artifacts and artwork on the first floor of the Instructional Building, and the refurbished marble fountain... More
Chronic Care Management Program Does Not Result in Increased Abstinence From Alcohol and Other Drug Dependence According to BUSM’s Saitz
Persons with alcohol and other drug dependence who received chronic care management including relapse prevention counseling and medical, addiction and psychiatric treatment were no more abstinent than those who received usual primary care, according to a study in the September 18 issue of JAMA. Chronic care management (CCM) is a way of delivering care that has... More
Sustainability Festival on Talbot Green Sept. 18
sustainability@BU is holding a festival on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on Talbot Green for BUMC students, faculty and staff. Receive a free travel mug in exchange for pledging to participate in BU’s sustainability effort Join the Challenge, a campus-wide campaign in which school and college teams compete for points by performing one sustainable... More
PA Program Receives Accreditation
The Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant Inc., had approved the BU School of Medicine Physician Assistant Program for provisional accreditation. Provisional accreditation is granted to programs that have not yet enrolled students but have demonstrated preparedness to initiate a program in accordance with accreditation Standards. The Physician Assistant profession, which began... More
MED Grapples with Major Sequestration Cuts
Centers bracing for cuts, layoffs as NIH budget slashed No one knows the ultimate toll that federal sequestration will take on the Boston University Medical Campus. But its research centers have already seen cuts of up to 100 percent for fiscal 2013, necessitating layoffs and a renewed, urgent push to secure nongovernment funding sources. Research funding for... More
Celebrate National Postdoc Appreciation Week Sept. 17-19
The GMS Office of Professional Development and Postdoctoral Affairs is celebrating National Postdoc Appreciation Week (NPAW) Sept. 17-19. The list of events includes an ice cream social, seminar on scientific storytelling and a communication styles workshop. Tuesday, Sept. 17, 1:30-3 p.m., the NPAW kicks off with an ice cream social on Talbot Green in front of... More
The Trouble with Molly
Drug was used in spate of overdoses, fatalities A series of recent overdoses—three of them fatal—attributed to the club drug MDMA, known as molly, has raised new concerns about its potentially lethal consequences. Late last month, three people at the House of Blues in Kenmore Square overdosed on the drug, a purportedly pure powdered form of 3, More
David McAneny, MD, Named New Vice Chair of Surgery
David McAneny, MD, associate professor of surgery at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and associate chair for clinical quality and safety at Boston Medical Center (BMC), has been named vice chair of the department of surgery at BUSM and BMC. In this role, he will serve as division chief of general surgery and section... More
BU Alums Gather in Thailand to Celebrate GSDM’s 50th Anniversary
Earlier this summer, Dean and Mrs. Jeffrey W. Hutter along with Professor of Restorative Sciences and Biomaterials Dr. Lee Chou hosted an alumni reception at the Plaza Athénée Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, during the International Association of Dental Research–Asia Pacific Region meeting. Sixty-eight Boston University and Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine (GSDM)... More
Sept. 11 BUSPH Forum to Discuss Public Health Issues at Guantanamo Bay Prison
The BU School of Public Health (BUSPH) will hold the semester's first public health forum on Wednesday, Sept. 11, and will examine timely and critical public health issues among prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp. Sondra Crosby, MD is the featured speaker. She is an associate professor of medicine at BU School of Medicine and... More
Dr. Tsuneya Ikezu honored by Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative
The Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI) honored Dr. Tsuneya Ikezu, Professor of Pharmacology and Neurology, last week for his continued efforts in Alzheimer’s disease research. AAQI is a national grassroots charity that raises awareness and funds research through the donation and sale of small art quilts. Marge Farquharson and Dawn Forde, AAQI representatives, visited the Department... More
Researchers Find Insulin Status an Important Determinant of the Positive Effect of Weight Reduction on Vascular Function
Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) have found that among obese people who had lost considerable weight, those with high insulin levels--a marker of insulin resistance in the body--were the most likely to experience better blood vessel function following the weight loss. These findings appear online in the... More
Sept. 17 – 19: National Postdoc Appreciation Week at BUMC
The Graduate Medical Sciences Office of Professional Development and Postdoctoral Affairs presents the third annual National Postdoc Appreciation Week (NPAW) beginning Tuesday, Sept. 17 through Thursday, Sept. 19. See below for a list of events. Tuesday, Sept. 17: The NPAW will begin with an Ice Cream Social held on Talbot Green right in front of the... More
BUSM Researchers Call for Individualized Criteria for Diagnosing Obesity
With soaring obesity rates in the U.S., the American Medical Association has classified obesity as a disease. This major shift in healthcare policy brings much needed medical attention to obese patients. However, this definition of obesity focuses on a single criterion of Body Mass Index (BMI), which includes a large group of persons with high... More
Salih Reveals Protein’s Functions in Tissue and Bone Formation
Dr. Erdjan Salih, associate professor in the Department of Molecular & Cell Biology, has published his second paper of 2013 on the egg yolk protein phosvitin in the journal Development Biology. The new research has implications for evolution, ex vivo egg embryo development, and regenerative medicine and provides a new understanding of vitamin C (ascorbate). “The... More
BUSM Researchers Find MC1R is a Potent Regulator of PTEN
A person's skin pigment, which determines hair color and skin tone, is influenced by the melanocortin-1 (MC1R) gene receptor. For the population's one to two percent of redheads, a mutation in MC1R accounts for their red hair color and typical light skin. Now researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Boston University School of... More
BUMC Office of Facilities Management is Moving
Effective Aug. 30, BUMC Facilities Management is moving to a new office located on the fifth floor, B500 of the Robinson Building. Facilities Management maintains building systems, custodial services, grounds keeping, receiving, construction and other special services such as furniture rearrangement on campus. The process to request Facilities services remains the same. Facilities Management can... More
BUSM Professor Anand Devaiah, MD, Releases New Textbook on Otology and Neurotology
Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center’s (BMC) Anand Devaiah, MD, FACS, has co-authored a new textbook, “Otology and Neurotology: Otorhinolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery.” “This book is an invaluable reference for residents, fellows, allied health professionals, comprehensive otolaryngologists, otologists, neurologists, and skull base surgeons,” said Dr. Devaiah. “Otology and Neurotology” provides guidance... More
Vigorous Physical Activity Linked to Lower Incidence of Obesity in Young African-American Women
The prevalence of obesity has increased markedly in the U.S. in recent years. According to a new study by researchers from Boston University Slone Epidemiology Center’s Black Women’s Health Study (BWHS), the risk of becoming obese among young African-American women decreased with increasing levels of vigorous activity. The investigators focused on younger women because most... More
Overall and Central Obesity Linked to Delayed Conception in African-American Women, According to BU Researchers
In a first of its kind study, researchers from the Slone Epidemiology Center (SEC) at Boston University (BU) found that African-American women who were overweight or obese had a greater risk of delayed conception and infertility when compared with women who were of normal weight. In addition, women who had larger waist circumferences and greater... More
Marathon Bombing Victims Aided by Rapid Response, Imaging of Injuries
The Boston Marathon bombing brought international attention back to the devastating effects of terrorism. There were numerous victims with severe injuries that needed immediate attention. A novel study in Arthritis Care & Research, a journal published by Wiley on behalf of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), presents cases from Boston-area hospitals where victims were... More
Experiences of Racism Linked to Adult-Onset Asthma in African-American Women
According to a new study from the Slone Epidemiology Center (SEC) at Boston University, African-American women who reported more frequent experiences of racism had a greater likelihood of adult-onset asthma compared to women who reported less frequent experiences. The study, which currently appears on-line in the journal Chest, was led by Patricia Coogan, DSc, senior epidemiologist... More
Study Finds Physicians Need to Better Recognize Maternal Use of Herbal Supplements while Breastfeeding
In an article published in this month’s issue of Pediatrics In Review, researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) stress the importance of physicians recognizing that many mothers use herbal supplements while breastfeeding in order to make accurate health assessments for both mother and child. In the US, no existing regulatory guidelines set a standardized... More
BU Gives $8,500 in Grants for Summer Programs and Local Non-profit
Boston University recently gave $8,500 to support programs that support the arts and cultural environment in Roxbury and a summer biotech program for local youth. The grants are part of the on-going program to provide community assistance to local nonprofit organizations. In the last two years, these BU community grants have provided over $20,000... More
Biotechnologist for a Week
In the video above, participants in BU’s SummerLab program imagine they are employees in the research department of a biotechnology company. Photos by Cydney Scott Most 16-year-olds’ appreciation of jellyfish is colored by the creature’s tendency to sting anything it comes in contact with, but a group of area high school students got over... More