Medicine@Yale Advancing Biomedical Science, Education and Health Care Volume 2, Issue 3 May/June 2006 City vote clears way for building of cancer treatment center A unanimous vote by the City “Every day Richard L. Edelson, m.d., Yale medical school. The new “patient- of New Haven’s Board of Aldermen nearly 50 people are Cancer Center (ycc) director and friendly” building will bring all these making changes to the city’s zon- diagnosed with a professor of dermatology, agrees. people under one roof, with imme- ing regulations and zoning map has new case of cancer “This is a huge step forward for the diate benefi ts for patients, says José cleared the way for the construction in Connecticut. The Yale Cancer Center’s capacity to Costa, m.d, ycc deputy director and of a new clinical cancer facility at facility will allow us provide truly state-of-the-art care,” professor of pathology. “Our cur- Yale-New Haven Hospital (ynhh) to meet our mis- Edelson says. “It propels forward our rent facilities are the result of a cancer fully dedicated to patient care and sion of providing entire enterprise.” center that has been in existence Marna for 30 years, and with the passage clinical research. The groundbreaking Borgstrom exceptional care to The hundreds of physicians, for the 14-story, $450 million structure the most acutely nurses, clinical researchers and labo- of time they have grown and have will take place this fall, and the facility ill patients we serve,” says Marna P. ratory technicians involved in cancer been remodeled to adapt to progress will open its doors to patients at the Borgstrom, m.p.h., ceo and presi- treatment at Yale are now dispersed in in clinical medicine, but in a less- end of 2009. dent of ynhh. several locations at the hospital and Cancer, page 4 Medical school A brother’s gift launches Yale Scholars names new dean “Local boys” Robert and Donald of public health Yale alumnus endows McCluskey show off their sailor medical school initiative uniforms in the Morris Cove sec- tion of New Haven around 1933. Paul D. Cleary, ph.d., an expert to fund young scientists on how people interact with systems that provide health care, has been The Yale Scholars program, a Program in honor of his named dean of public health and new School of Medicine initiative brother, a member of Yale’s chair of the Depart- to support and nurture promising class of 1944, is his fi rst to ment of Epidemi- young scientists, has received its the medical school. ology and Public fi rst endowment in the form of a Donald’s gift is par- Health. Cleary has major gift from Donald S. McClus- ticularly fi tting, Robert says, served since 1993 as key, m.eng., an alumnus of Yale because the spirit of the Yale professor of medi- College and the Faculty of Engineer- Scholars program closely cal sociology in the ing. The endowment will be named parallels that of an immuno- Departments of for McCluskey’s brother, Robert pathology research group Paul Cleary Health Care Policy T. McCluskey, m.d., the Benjamin he joined at New York Uni- and Social Medicine at Harvard Medi- Castleman Professor of Pathol- versity School of Medicine cal School. ogy, Emeritus, at Harvard Medical in 1955 under the leader- “We are extremely fortunate to School and Massachusetts General ship of famed scientist and have Paul join the School of Medicine Hospital (mgh). bestselling author Lewis and are excited by his vision and com- Also an alumnus of Yale College, Thomas, m.d., who went mitment,” Yale President Richard C. Robert McCluskey is a prolifi c on to become dean of Yale Levin, ph.d., and Dean and Ensign physician-scientist who has pub- School of Medicine in 1972. Professor of Medicine Robert J. Al- lished more than 200 research “The setting was exactly pern, m.d., said in a joint statement articles on the role of the immune During this period he also right,” Robert McCluskey has writ- announcing Cleary’s appointment in system in kidney disease during became an active mentor to resi- ten of Thomas’s experimental pa- March. a career spanning more than 50 dents training in renal pathology, thology unit. “He recruited a group Cleary graduated from the years. In an example of McCluskey’s producing a laboratory manual for of young investigators who had free- University of Wisconsin in 1970 with extraordinary productivity, he their daily use. In appreciation, the dom similar to what the Yale Schol- an undergraduate degree in physics. learned recombinant dna technol- residents presented him with their ars will enjoy. Members could work However, advanced studies in physics ogy just before he “retired” as chief Excellence in Teaching award. He of- on any project they chose, and there seemed too abstract during a time of of pathology at mgh at age 70 in fi cially retired in 2006. were many important accomplish- social ferment inspired by the Viet- 1993 and was awarded a grant by Donald McCluskey, who gradu- ments—not the least of which was nam War and the civil rights move- the National Institutes of Health to ated from Yale College in 1942 and the discovery of the genetic control ment, he says. embark on a new series of studies the engineering school in 1959, has of the immune response, for which After taking time off from school on the molecular genetics of renal made several gifts to his alma mater, Baruj Benacerraf was awarded the to play in blues and rock bands, pathology. but the donation to the Yale Scholars Gift, page 8 Cleary, page 8

Non-Profit Org. Inside this issue Medicine@Yale U. S. Postage Lifelines A good clip P.O. Box 7612 PAID Geriatrician Mary Tinetti works An unexpected role for the pulse New Haven, CT 06519 New Haven, CT toward a decline in falls, p. 2 oximeter, p. 6 www.medicineatyale.org Permit No. 526 Small incisions, big advance An eye for science Minimally invasive surgery in the At new gallery, biology’s beauty mainstream, p. 3 made visible, p. 6 Building a better vessel Also Yale tissue engineers sculpt new Advances, pp. 3, 5; Out & About, p. 4; blood supplies, p. 5 Grants, p. 7; Awards & Honors, p. 8

Want to find out more about medicine at Yale? E-mail us at [email protected] or phone (203) 785-5824.

M@Y_May_June06_V1_gr1.indd 1 6/7/06 4:58:02 PM Process CyanProcess MagentaProcess YellowProcess BlackPANTONE 7474 CdVarnish Pediatric neurologist is new associate dean for YSM admissions Professor of Pediatrics and Neurol- ogy Laura R. Ment, m.d., has been named associate dean for admissions and chair of the admissions committee at the School of Medicine, effective July 1. Ment succeeds Professor of Cell Biology Thomas L. Lentz, m.d., who will step down on June 30 after serving for 38 years in the medical school’s Offi ce of Admissions. Ment, an authority on recovery of function after injury to the developing brain, is the author of more than 150 Geriatrics researcher Mary Tinetti, an expert in scholarly articles, falls, believes in treating including a 2003 the whole patient, not report in the Journal single diseases. of the American Medi- Tinetti believed that these cal Association that multiple factors could be measured, provided some of the A steadying infl uence Laura Ment and that falls could be predicted fi rst evidence that Top geriatrics researcher bring these together. Geriatrics is and prevented. She came to Yale to cognitive defi cits associated with low studies falls in older people, the field that does that.” test this idea under the tutelage birth weight diminish in the majority and ways to prevent them Tinetti began a fellowship at of the late Alvan Feinstein, m.d., of children by age 8. the University of Rochester under whose rigor in studying patients Since arriving at Yale in 1979, Ment To say that Mary E. Tinetti, m.d., renowned geriatrics researcher had spawned the field of clinical has made her mark as a gifted teacher. never thought she would find herself T. Frank Williams, m.d., but admits epidemiology. For 20 years, Tinetti’s She has received the Francis Gilman in New Haven, hailed as a leading she was nonplussed when Williams work on falls at the medical school’s Blake Award, the Leah Lowenstein researcher for her breakthrough suggested she study falls. Program on Aging has advanced the Award and the Class of 2006 Teaching studies of falling in older people, “I’d just come from a high- view that the multiple medical con- Award, and in 2003 she was inducted would be an understatement. powered internal medicine program, ditions seen in older people directly into the Society of Distinguished The Flint, Mich., native entered and I was almost embarrassed about compete with or mutually reinforce Teachers. medical school at the University working on something like falls! It one another. “If you give people Ment earned her bachelor’s and of Michigan fully wasn’t prestigious, and it wasn’t antihypertensives, you may decrease master’s degrees at Brown University, expecting to practice Lifelines some fancy disease,” Tinetti says. the risk of stroke, but the resulting and received her medical degree from family medicine on “But Frank is a compelling individ- dizziness can increase the risk of hip Tufts University School of Medicine her home state’s Mary ual, and to placate him I told him I’d fracture, and there are many other in 1973. She completed her neurology remote Upper Penin- Tinetti work on it for a year or two, think- examples,” she says. residency at Massachusetts General sula. But when ing I’d either stop doing research In collaborations with nurses Hospital in Boston and a fellowship she interacted with older patients altogether or find something more and occupational and physical thera- at Hammersmith Hospital in London, during her residency in internal meaningful.” pists, Tinetti has pioneered treat- England. medicine at the University of Min- But when Tinetti began to look ment strategies that are tailored to In September 2005, Ment was ap- nesota, Tinetti was struck by a dif- closely, she found that studying falls individual patients rather than indi- pointed to the 18-member National ference in perspective that sparked provided just the sort of clinical rich- vidual diseases. By simultaneously Advisory Neurological Disorders and her interest in geriatrics, then a rela- ness that single measures like blood combining several interventions—a Stroke Council, the major advisory tively new field. pressure could never achieve. “In the reduction in medication, balance panel of the National Institute of Neu- “The patients were concerned usual scientific method, you isolate exercises, and the removal of envi- rological Disorders and Stroke. with how they were feeling and a single factor, and you control for all ronmental hazards, for example— how they were doing, but we as the other differences. But as people she has shown that falls, and the internists would be concerned with grow older, they don’t become more debilitation and decline that often what their blood pressure looked the same, they become more differ- follow, can indeed be prevented. Medicine@Yale like,” recalls Tinetti, now the Gladys ent,” Tinetti says. “People fall when “Sometimes little things can Peter Farley, Managing Editor Phillips Crofoot Professor of Medi- a lot of things go wrong. It’s a com- make a big difference,” Tinetti says. Contributors: John Curtis, John Dillon, Janet Emanuel, Richard Galiette, Maureen Grieco, Jane cine and professor of epidemiology bination of their balance, plus their “When you’ve taken a complex Hadjimichael, Pat McCaffrey, Christopher Pates, and public health. “The dichotomy gait, plus their strength, plus their problem and figured out what to Karen Peart, Colleen Shaddox, Zsuzsanna Somogyi, between what physicians and vision, plus confusion, plus blood do about it, and you can see it make Jacqueline Weaver Photographs and Illustrations: John Curtis, Terry patients were interested in made pressure changes, plus things in the a difference right before your eyes, Dagradi, © Images.com/CORBIS, Erin Lavik, Michael me think there’s got to be a way to environment.” that’s very satisfying.” Marsland, Robert McCluskey, Margie Montalvo, Harold Shapiro Design: Peter W. Johnson, Maura Gianakos/Yale RIS

Medicine@Yale is published six times each year Yale scientist named “million-dollar professor” for teaching plan by Yale Medicine Publications, P.O. Box 7612, New Haven, CT 06519-0612. Editorial offices are located at 100 Church Street South, Suite 212, The Howard Hughes Medical ing evolution, ecology, and molecular Montana State University, discovered New Haven. Telephone: (203) 785-5824 Institute (hhmi) has named Scott and structural analysis. During spring the anti-cancer compound taxol in a Fax: (203) 785-4327 E-mail: [email protected] Strobel, ph.d., newly appointed chair break, they will take a working trek to fungus that grows on yew trees; the Website: medicineatyale.org and professor of molecular biophysics a rain forest—the Amazon and New elder Strobel now travels the world If you have a change of address or do not wish hhmi to receive future issues of Medicine@Yale, and biochemistry at Yale, an Zealand are among the proposed in search of other naturally occur- please write to us at Professor. Strobel, one of 20 new locations—to collect branches and ring compounds that may lead to the P.O. Box 7612, New Haven, CT 06519-0612 hhmi Professors nationwide, will twigs and their associated microbes. development of useful drugs. or via e-mail at [email protected]. receive $1 million over four years Students will spend a rigorous sum- “The scientists whom we have Postal permit held by Yale University, from hhmi to implement an in- mer session classifying their fi nds and selected are true pioneers, not only in 155 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT 06520 novative introductory science course identifying new bioactive compounds. their research but in their creative ap- Yale School of Medicine in which undergraduates will take Strobel, an expert on rna splic- proaches and dedication to teaching,” .Robert J Alpern, m.d., Dean Ensign Professor of Medicine “bio-prospecting” trips to the world’s ing and protein synthesis, won Yale’s says Thomas R. Cech, ph.d., hhmi Mary Hu rain forests in search of promising Dylan Hixon Prize for Teaching Excel- president. “We are hopeful that their Director of Planning and Communications naturally occurring chemicals. lence in the Natural Sciences in 2004. educational experiments will energize Michael Fitzsousa, Director of Publications In Strobel’s new course, students His father, Gary Strobel, ph.d., pro- undergraduate science education will spend the spring semester learn- fessor emeritus of plant pathology at throughout the nation.” 2 www.medicineatyale.org

M@Y_May_June06_V1_g.indd 2 6/7/06 11:58:26 AM Process CyanProcess MagentaProcess YellowProcess BlackPANTONE 7474 CdVarnish Advances Minimizing pain, accelerating healing Health and science news from Yale Minimally invasive surgical techniques are on the rise at Yale

After a recent successful interven- tion at Yale-New Haven Hospital to restore blood fl ow through a failing Why 2 percent is a hemodialysis graft, a patient shook the hand of Assistant Professor of world of difference Surgery and Diagnostic Radiology Genomically speaking, we are James Wong, m.d., and declared, “Dr. 98 percent chimp, and for decades, Wong, you are the best!” biologists have puzzled over how This scene would be unremark- this small genetic modifi cation able except for the fact that the man could create such vastly different congratulating Wong was still lying creatures. on the table where the procedure had To explore this question, Kevin been performed. Because Wong had P. White, ph.d., associate profes- used a balloon angioplasty catheter sor of genetics, and his colleagues developed a gene chip to compare instead of a surgical incision to open the activity of more than 1,000 up the graft, the patient remained Surgery Chair Robert Udelsman (seated) and colleagues (standing, from left) James Wong, genes from humans, chimpanzees, awake during the procedure and went Robert Bell and Milissa McKee say savvy patients are seeking out doctors with expertise in orangutans and rhesus macaques, home immediately afterward. endoscopic surgery and other minimally invasive procedures. four species spanning 70 million Balloon angioplasty is just one years of evolution. example of a growing number of pro- As reported in the March 9 cedures that can now be performed often uses endoscopes, devices that “open” surgery. She says that children issue of Nature, the team found with “minimally invasive” techniques, can be inserted through tiny incisions treated with the new techniques are that genes that code for regula- which for patients means little or no and include a camera, a lamp and a back to school and their normal tory proteins are four times more pain, extremely small wounds, little channel for surgical instruments. A routines sooner, their parents miss likely to have increased their ex- scarring, no hospitalization, shorter surgeon operating on an adult might less time at work and hospitalization pression during human evolution use a 10-millimeter endoscope, McKee costs are cut substantially. “The differ- than those that govern house- recovery periods and fewer complica- m.d., says, but she typically works with ence is dramatic,” McKee says. “This keeping or metabolic functions. tions, says Robert Udelsman, m.b.a. a 4-millimeter version, about half Monkeying with gene regula- , chair of the Department of is defi nitely the future of children’s tors can give rise to dramatically Surgery and Lampman Memorial the diameter of a pencil, to perform health care.” different new traits, like brain Professor of Surgery and Oncology. major operations, including the repair Studies have shown that kidney size or body shape, because the Today, Udelsman says, many of defects of the lungs and intestines donations increased after surgeons proteins serve as master switches patients are informed consumers who in newborns. developed minimally invasive tech- that infl uence the activity of seek out surgeons trained in mini- In some cases, McKee has used niques for harvesting kidneys from many other genes. “For 30 years mally invasive surgery. The School of endoscopic techniques to treat heredi- live donors. Robert L. Bell, m.d., scientists suspected that gene Medicine has retooled its educational tary conditions in children whose par- assistant professor of surgery, has regulation has played a central programs to train students in these ents had been treated with traditional role in human evolution,” says Surgery, page 5 White. “This helps open the door techniques, which generally adds to a functional dissection of the an additional year of training to a role of gene regulation during the resident’s preparation for a surgical With surgical simulation, practice makes perfect evolution of modern humans.” specialty. Udelsman is one of the world’s On a recent day in the School of so that faculty can give residents a foremost practitioners of minimally Medicine’s new Surgical Skills and competency exam before they may This is your brain on invasive parathyroidectomy, a proce- Simulation Center on Cedar Street, assist in the operating room. Since dure to treat cancer or overactivity of a colonoscopy patient groaned in the center’s opening in January, an empty stomach attending physicians are reporting the parathyroid glands in which the discomfort as residents discussed increasing his sedation. But Assistant that residents and medical students Cutting calories can defi nitely pea-sized glands are removed from Professor of Surgery Andrew Duffy, are more skilled when they begin make you trimmer, and may help the neck through very small incisions. m.d., said nothing, knowing that assisting in real surgeries. you live longer. Now a new Yale Udelsman is able to speak to patients study suggests that dieting might young doctors must learn to make As Duffy looked on, Rachel Fried- during the procedure to ensure that also keep you mentally sharper. decisions independently. Besides, man, a third-year medical student, Blood levels of a gut hor- the surgery does no damage to the this was no fl esh-and-blood patient: was working on one of the center’s mone called ghrelin (rhymes with nearby larynx, and patients can gener- the images of the bowel on a video Storz Box Trainers to develop basic “melon”) rise when the stomach is ally return home shortly after the screen, the vital signs readings, even skills and dexterity. Using hand con- empty, fl ooding the brain’s eating operation. the groans were generated by a trols to guide an endoscope and long control center and stimulating Vascular surgeons like Wong who computer. narrow instruments used in mini- neurons that govern appetite. typically operate on elderly patients In minimally invasive surgery, mally invasive surgery, she picked up blocks the size of blueberries, trans- When Tamas L. Horvath, d.v.m., have been eager to adopt minimally surgeons manipulate instruments ferred them from her right-hand ph.d., chair and associate profes- invasive methods because these pa- remotely while watching the results sor of comparative medicine, and on video screens. The simulation cen- instrument to her left-hand instru- tients are especially vulnerable to ment and threaded them on pegs. colleagues injected mice with ter, made possible by donations from pneumonia and other complications Few medical schools are fortu- ghrelin, the hormone rapidly Yale-New Haven Hospital; Norwalk, following complex vascular surgery. nate enough to have such facilities, altered circuits in the hippocam- Conn.-based U.S. Surgical, a manu- Some of his patients who might have according to Duffy. But the technol- pus, a brain region that is crucial facturer of surgical devices; and Karl been too frail to undergo traditional ogy will soon be considered essen- to learning and memory. Ghrelin- Storz Endoscopy-America, a surgical tial, he says. “This is how we’re going treated mice were signifi cantly surgery have done very well with the instrument company, allows future to be training surgeons for the rest better at learning and remember- newer techniques, Wong says. surgeons to log many hours of prac- of the 21st century.” ing their way around a maze. But the very young are also tice with endoscopic instruments In people, aging and obe- benefi ting from the new approaches, before they operate on their fi rst sity—two factors associated especially endoscopic surgery, says patient. “It has huge implications for with memory loss in Alzheimer’s Milissa A. McKee, m.d., m.p.h., patient safety,” Duffy says. disease—cause ghrelin levels to assistant professor of surgery and Regulations passed in 2003 pro- fall. Horvath’s results, published in pediatrics and director of pediatric hibit medical residents from working the March issue of Nature Neuro- trauma services at Yale-New Haven more than 80 hours per week, which science, suggest that shoring up gives surgical residents fewer op- ghrelin levels with weight reduc- Children’s Hospital. McKee says that portunities to participate in opera- tion or drugs that mimic its action Yale offers more minimally inva- tions. Duffy has developed curricula could help stave off dementia. sive surgical options specifi cally for children than any other institution in based around the new technology Connecticut. In her practice, McKee Medicine@Yale May/June 2006 3

M@Y_May_June06_V1_g.indd 3 6/7/06 11:58:34 AM Process CyanProcess MagentaProcess YellowProcess BlackPANTONE 7474 CdVarnish Out & about December 19: During a visit of the united spinal association to the medical school’s Center for Neuro- science and Regeneration Research at the VA Con- necticut Healthcare System (vachs) in West Haven, Conn., the center’s members gave a science briefing and 1 United Spinal presented a check for $100,000 to support Yale/VA research on spinal cord repair. Center faculty and staff gathered with leaders of United Spinal on the vachs campus. (Front row, from left) United Spinal’s Executive Director of Research and Edu- cation John Del Colle, Deputy Executive Director Paul Tobin, board member Edmund Rowan, President Clair Russell Hesselton, Executive Director Gerard M. Kelly, board member Michele A. Leahy. (Behind Mr. Kelly, from left) Associate Executive Director for Research and Education Vivian Beyda, dr.ph., Dean Robert J. Alpern, m.d., center Director and Bridget Marie Flaherty Professor of Molecular Neurology Stephen G. Waxman, m.d., ph.d.

November 18: The annual golf tournament to benefit the t-cell lymphoma foundation of puerto rico was held at the Dorado del Mar Golf Club in Dorado, Puerto Rico. The tournament raised $50,000 for the Yale Cancer Center’s cutaneous T-cell 2 lymphoma program. Under the direction of Francine January 13–15: The annual m.d. ⁄ph.d. retreat brought students, Foss, m.d., the program strives to draw on findings faculty and administrators from the medical school’s Medical Scientist from the laboratory and clinical trials to develop Training Program (mstp) to Water’s Edge Resort and Spa in West- innovative new treatments for T-cell lymphoma brook, Conn., for games, panel discussions and informal presentations patients. 1. Sponsors of the tournament included of research. 1. Getting together for board games were students (back row, (from left) Tomy Rodriguez, Mario G. Montalvo, Nestor from left) Mary Whitman, Eyal Kimchi, Heather McGee, Fabienne Meier- Vale, senior executive vice president of Oriental Abt, Keith Gipson, Kumar Narayanan, (front row, from left) Sara Crager, Financial Group, Mario J. Montalvo of Tamaca Realty, Ellen Vollmers, Rashele Cross, Charisse Orme, Heather McCrea, Katherine Jorge Ros of Johnson & Johnson and Carlos Montalvo, Uyhazi, and Linda Bi. 2. Professor of Medicine Frederick S. Gorelick, m.d., vice president at V. Suarez & Co. 2. The tournament delivers the Selma and Karl Folkers Lecture. 3. Yale mstp alumni Jeffrey L. Sklar, m.d., ph.d., professor was hosted by Margie and Mario G. Montalvo of of pathology and laboratory medicine, and , m.d., ph.d., chief medical officer, Celgene Corp. Guaynabo. Jerry Zeldis 4. mstp student Joanna Chin at the scientific poster presentation with alumnus Peter T.C. Ho, m.d., ph.d., vice president of oncology discovery medicine at GlaxoSmithKline, Inc.

Cancer continued from page 1 than-ideal fashion,” Costa says. “The to direct many more clini- new building benefi ts from a clean, cal trials of investigational forward-looking design.” treatments discovered by One of the biggest advantages of School of Medicine faculty, the unifi ed facility will be easier access Edelson says. “To be able to state-of-the-art care for patients to do more clinical trials and families facing a challenging and to attract support for illness, Borgstrom says. “This project those trials, whether it be is all about providing the best care from the federal govern- available in the most advanced setting. ment or the pharmaceutical This building will rival those available industry, depends on our anywhere in the world.” ability to attract suffi cient According to Edelson a dedicated numbers of patients in suf- facility is critically important because fi ciently short time to get it will enhance interaction between important answers.” patients and the interdisciplinary For Costa, who has medical teams at the heart of modern been involved in planning cancer care. of the new pavilion for “Cancer care is multidisciplinary, six years, the building’s involving important input from advancement of both care several specialties. For example, medi- Among the specialists who will advance cancer care in the Yale Cancer Center’s new clinical pavilion are and research will mark a (seated, from left) Lyndsay Harris (breast), Gary Friedlaender (sarcoma), Frank Detterbeck (thoracic), Wasif ycc cal oncologists, surgical oncologists, Saif (gastrointestinal), Dennis Cooper (lymphoma/bone marrow transplant), (standing, from left) Mario new era in the ’s 30- radiotherapists, diagnostic radiolo- Sznol (melanoma), Stephan Ariyan (melanoma), Donald Lannin (breast), Francine Foss (lymphoma/bone year history. “We want to gists, pathologists and other specialists marrow transplant) and Jack van Hoff (pediatric oncology). go beyond where we are contribute signifi cantly to the man- now to explore with our agement of breast cancer patients,” Although it will be more than the new building were instrumental patients the novel diagnostic modali- he says. “Having highly coordinated three years before the fi rst patient is in the ambitious recruiting efforts of ties that will enable us to diagnose and interactive medical teams will treated in the new facility, Edelson Edward Chu, m.d., the ycc’s chief cancer at the earliest moment, and to be an enormous advantage. Bringing says the project has had a formidable of medical oncology and direc- use the therapeutics that are the most collaborative physicians together for impact even in the planning stages by tor of clinical research. In just two effective and cancer-specifi c and the face-to-face discussions to put their helping to bring top faculty to Yale. years, Chu has brought 11 top clinical least toxic,” says Costa. “We want to be heads together to discuss a chal- “We have to have the best doctors investigators to Yale, a “stellar cadre,” practicing the medicine of tomorrow. lenging case when it is fresh in their that we can possibly have, and we can according to Costa. Let’s not remodel the house; let’s build minds, rather than simply reading one do a much better job attracting them The increased capacity of the new a new house that is ideally suited not another’s notes in the chart, is simply if we have the very best facilities,” building, combined with the expertise just for today, but for where we think the best way to do it.” Edelson says, adding that plans for of Chu’s research team, will allow Yale we will be in 10 years.” 4 www.medicineatyale.org

M@Y_May_June06_V1_gr1.indd 4 6/7/06 4:58:36 PM Process CyanProcess MagentaProcess YellowProcess BlackPANTONE 7474 CdVarnish Advances Meeting the demand for blood supply: Health and science news from Yale Yale makes strides in vessel engineering Although blood vessels may seem like mere plumbing compared to organs like the brain or eye, they are complex and dynamic components of the body, and building vessels Cells fall on sword to from scratch has been a challenge for scientists in the fi eld of tissue engi- stop Legionnaire’s neering. Having the ability to create Like a deadly stowaway, vessels from patients’ own cells would Legionella pneumophila, the bac- be a boon for cardiovascular bypass terium that causes Legionnaire’s surgery, for restoring circulation to disease, (see photo) hides inside blood-starved limbs or as replace- cells to evade detection by the im- ments for failing vascular grafts used mune system. Holed up in sealed in kidney dialysis. vacuoles, the germs multiply, Two recent Yale studies, both pub- causing fatal pneumonia in up to lished in the February 21 issue of the a quarter of those infected. But the immune system Proceedings of the National Academy of usually outwits Legionella. In the Sciences, have moved vessel engineer- March issue of the journal Nature ing closer to clinical application. In Immunology, Associate Professor one, researchers created a tiny, water- of Microbial Pathogenesis Craig rich scaffold that can nurture and Yale tissue engineers (clockwise from left) Erin Lavik, Joseph Madri and Laura Niklason are R. Roy, ph.d., and colleagues show shape microvascular networks to pro- breaking new ground in building new blood vessels. that immune cells detect Legion- vide tissues with a new blood supply; ella and destroy it by inducing cells in the other, scientists demonstrated can be chemically treated to form However, it is well known that to commit suicide. that they could tweak a molecule to numerous pores (see photo below). telomerase is highly active in cancer Roy’s team found that a pro- prolong the life of blood vessel cells tein called Birc1e detects any bits As their name implies, hydrogels are cells, which gave Niklason pause from elderly donors without causing of bacteria that escape vacuoles mostly water, which makes them about moving the technique toward and activates the caspase-1 pro- those cells to spiral toward the uncon- highly compatible with the body’s the clinic. “One of the outstanding tease, a master regulator of cell trolled cell growth seen in cancer. tissues. questions is, ‘How safe is this?’” she death. Caspase-1 degrades proteins “A microvascular network is In collaboration with Joseph A. says. “One of the main reasons tumors in infected cells, starting a cascade fundamentally important for tissue Madri, m.d., ph.d., professor of can grow forever is because they can of events that end with the cell’s engineering,” says Erin Lavik, sc.d., pathology and of molecular, cellular activate telomerase.” demise—and the elimination of assistant professor of biomedical en- and developmental biology, Lavik and In the February study, which Legionella. gineering and co-author of one of the colleagues seeded the gels with blood involved nine mostly elderly patients, “Identifi cation of Birc1e and studies, but “stability of microvascular vessel cells and implanted them under Niklason’s team took cells obtained the caspase cascade gives us infor- networks has been a challenge.” the skin of mice. After six weeks, us- during a coronary bypass procedure mation about the process of how To create new blood vessels, tissue the body fi ghts off infection by a ing a technique known as intravital and added telomerase. The group was engineers generally build scaffolds potentially lethal microbe, as well fl uorescence microscopy, the team ob- reassured to discover that, in so doing, as possible targets for treatments,” from polymers and seed them with served red blood cells fl owing through they had not produced cancerous says Roy. human blood vessel cells. Like trellises functional and stable vessel networks cells. “Just turning on telomerase by that train rosebushes, vessel scaffolds that had formed in the pores of the itself is not enough to create cancer,” Maki de Sade: guide cell growth to create a tubular hydrogel implant. Niklason says. “It’s necessary, but not structure that blood can fl ow through. Using more conventional scaf- suffi cient.” wasabi really hurts! Because Lavik’s team wanted to folds, scientists have been able to Niklason says much more work is build networks of the tiniest vessels, build larger human blood vessels needed, but that techniques like hers For pain researchers, the recent they devised a “micro-scaffold” from discovery of a neuronal receptor outside the body from a donor’s may one day enable the making of re- a hydrogel, a gelatin-like material that that relays the zip of wasabi holds own cells, but cells taken from older placement tissue the way replacement more than gastronomic interest: people—those most in need of new parts are now made for automobiles. the sinus-clearing kick of the Japa- vessels—are less viable than cells Yale advances in blood vessel engi- nese condiment registers not on from younger people, which results in neering don’t end there. Christopher the taste buds, but in pain-sensing weaker vessels. K. Breuer, m.d., assistant professor of nerve cells in the nose. Last year, researchers led by Laura surgery and pediatrics, has received According to Assistant Profes- E. Niklason, m.d., ph.d., associ- a $625,000 grant from the National sor of Pharmacology Sven-Eric ate professor of anesthesiology and Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to ph.d. Jordt, , and collaborators, the biomedical engineering, used gene develop new vessels for patients with newly identifi ed receptor is also therapy techniques to deliver telo- serious cardiovascular disease. key to garlic’s bite, and to the toxic merase, an enzyme that extends cells’ In a technique Breuer is pioneer- and infl ammatory effects of many ph.d. environmental irritants. normal lifespan, to blood vessel cells ing with W. Mark Saltzman, , As reported in the March 24 from older donors. chair and Goizueta Foundation issue of Cell, mice lacking the trpa1 The technique extended the life Professor of Chemical and Biomedical receptor experience little pain or of the cells, even those taken from Engineering, Breuer is creating more irritation when mustard oil, the patients as old as 85. In addition, stable and reliable grafts for cardio- pungent ingredient in wasabi and Niklason showed that it was possible vascular operations by treating vessel mustard, is applied to their paws. to culture new arteries for these older scaffolds with a cocktail of proteins Neurons in these mice also failed Pores through a hydrogel scaffold created by Yale scientists provide pathways for patients in vitro after the cell lifespan that stimulate cell growth and pro- to respond to the main irritant growing blood vessels. was extended. mote vessel formation. found in tear gas, wood smoke and car exhaust, and the animals were less sensitive to some types of infl ammatory pain. Surgery continued from page 3 Jordt says that fi nding ways to shut down the trpa1 receptor in observed a similar phenomenon since the gastric bypass procedure, now prolonged obesity), recovery time is people could yield much-needed the advent of laparoscopic gastric does almost all of these operations measured in days rather than weeks new pain therapies for injuries bypass procedure to treat extreme laparoscopically, and he says there are and complications are minimized, and diseases from arthritis to obesity (a laparoscope is a thin endo- numerous advantages to minimally says Bell. cancer, and that manipulating the scope specially designed to be inserted invasive techniques. When patients come in for check- receptor might also help pollution- through the abdominal wall). Patients now opt for the surgery ups two weeks after surgery, Bell says related diseases like asthma and Bell, one of three surgeons at Yale much sooner (heading off many of that he can tell them, “Go to the gym chronic cough. meeting the growing demand for the health problems that accompany today and lift as much as you want.”

Medicine@Yale May/June 2006 5

M@Y_May_June06_V1_gr1.indd 5 6/7/06 4:59:04 PM Process CyanProcess MagentaProcess YellowProcess BlackPANTONE 7474 CdVarnish Diving deep into a data wave to help make surgery safer Monitoring expert by early oximeters—“One man’s artifact is another man’s signal,” he devises clever new way says—prompted him to devise soft- to manage blood loss ware to sift through the raw oximetry signal for potentially valuable clinical When patients undergo surgery, information. In 1873 an observant German Kirk Shelley says it’s inevitable that they will lose some that pulse oxim- blood, so surgical teams strive to physician, Adolf Kussmaul, coined eters like the one replenish patients’ fl uids over the the term “pulsus paradoxus” for a clipped to his ear course of an operation. But the most phenomenon in which blood fl ow provide a wealth drops slightly after a deep breath, a of untapped clini- common technique to track blood cal information. volume—catheters inserted through dip caused when blood remains in the heart that provide a readout on a the lungs and doesn’t reach the heart. monitor—are invasive and not par- Shelley discovered that pulsus para- “There’s all sorts of wild, raw data emergency departments. He plans to ticularly accurate. doxus produced by the mechanical that comes off the pulse oximeter mine the pulse oximeter signal for According to Kirk H. Shelley, ventilation that accompanies general that companies have worked hard to more clinical riches, explaining that m.d., ph.d., associate profes- anesthesia could be detected in the eliminate, because it has been seen as his affi nity for noninvasive medical sor of anesthesiology, the fl aws of raw oximetry waveform, and that just noise,” Carr says. “What’s ironic is gadgetry stems from watching Star catheter-based monitoring often this information could be combined that the background data actually had Trek’s Dr. McCoy in action. engage operating room personnel in with other data in the waveform to useful information in it.” “McCoy would pass his devices a delicate clinical balancing act with precisely manage fl uid replacement in As a member of an active re- over the patient and would know very high stakes. “Too little fl uid can surgical patients. search group headed by Professor of exactly what to do with the patient,” L. Alan Carr, ph.d., a senior Anesthesiology David G. Silverman, Shelley says. “I really think the newer put a tremendous amount of stress m.d., on the kidneys, the cardiovascular licensing associate in Yale’s Offi ce which is devoted to noninvasive generations of the pulse oximeter and system and the central nervous sys- of Cooperative Research who shep- monitoring, Shelley is now adapting the new information we’re going to tem. Organs need a certain amount herded the discovery through a patent his method for use in non ventilated get out of them are going to be like of blood, and you’re risking a patient application, says that Shelley found patients suffering from blood loss, that. We’re going to continue step- going into shock,” Shelley says. “But if treasure where others saw trash. such as trauma patients arriving at wise, evolving this.” you give too much fl uid for the heart to pump, it backs up, causing bloat- ing and pulmonary edema. Every day in the operating room, we try to fi nd An eye for science the right balance between these two extremes.” Because we learn so much In a micrograph from the Now Shelley, who as chief of am- about our world through vision, laboratory of Ensign Professor of Medicine Arthur E. Broadus, images have become a crucial part bulatory surgery takes part in about the blue reaction product of 8,000 surgeries a year at Yale-New of modern science. Pictures lend the enzyme ß-galactosidase Haven Hospital, has found a possible an immediacy and a deeper under- identifi es sites of expression of solution to this daily surgical dilemma standing of complex phenomena, a protein related to parathy- roid hormone in a 15-day-old from cells to stars, that cannot be that’s already very close at hand—or embryonic mouse. Prominent more precisely, clipped to patients’ captured by numbers alone. But in among these sites are whisker fi ngers—in hospitals around the addition to providing compelling and hair follicles, nailbeds, the world. By combining a clinical insight data, scientific images can also be epithelia of the nostrils and mouth and cartilage in the 1870 valuable for their sheer beauty. A from the s with data provided mouse’s growing skeleton. by the modern pulse oximeter, a selection of dazzling images from Broadus’s collaborators include clothespin-like clip placed on a fi nger- the life sciences now adorns the Xuesong Chen, Barbara E. tip, ear or toe to measure the oxygen tac Gallery, a permanent exhibit Dreyer, Vicki E. Hammond, Julie R. Hens and William M. adjoining The Anlyan Center, a level in the blood, Shelley has discov- Philbrick. ered a noninvasive, precisely quanti- hub of biomedical research at the fi ed method to monitor blood loss School of Medicine. We will feature and guide diffi cult decisions in the more images from the tac Gallery operating room. in this space in future issues. The pulse oximeter has become a common sight in hospitals since it was fi rst introduced in the 1980s. The clips contain light-emitting diodes that shine both visible red and infra- red light through the skin. Because deoxygenated hemoglobin allows infrared light to pass but absorbs red light, while oxygenated hemoglobin allows red light to pass and absorbs infrared, the oximeter can detect changes in the blood’s oxygen satura- tion by calculating the relative absorp- tion of red and infrared light. Shelley, who changed specialties Structural images of a portion of tug, a Above, left: Crystallized rat bile seen in a brightfi eld micrograph utilizing Nomarksi from internal medicine to anesthe- protein involved in glucose metabolism, interference optics by Albert Mennone, research associate in the Yale Liver Center. Right: siology in the late 1980s, began a from the laboratory of Jonathan S. In this confocal micrograph by Lynn Neff, an osteoclast, a type of cell that degrades and residency in his new fi eld just as pulse Bogan, assistant professor of medi- resorbs bone, has been labeled with fl uorescent antibodies that show the cell’s multiple oximeters appeared on the scene. In cine. The overall shape of the protein’s nuclei (blue), microtubules (green), and actin fi laments (red). Neff’s work was carried out backbone is shown at upper left, while in the laboratory of Roland Baron, professor of orthopaedics and cell biology. those early days, Shelley discovered particular features are highlighted at that oximetry clips generated exceed- upper right. The electrostatic charge ingly complex waveforms that were present at the protein’s surface is shown “cleaned up” by oximeter manu- at lower left, and the degree of fl exibility of various components of the protein is facturers in favor of clear, simple shown at lower right. Bogan was joined signals. But Shelley’s curiosity about in this work by Michael E. Hodsdon, the wealth of information produced M. Cristina Tettamanzi, and Chenfei Yu.

6 www.medicineatyale.org

M@Y_May_June06_V1_g.indd 6 6/7/06 12:00:33 PM Process CyanProcess MagentaProcess YellowProcess BlackPANTONE 7474 CdVarnish Disability is no dead-end for elders, Yale research fi nds $3.2 million grant will indicated that the rate of chronic dis- ability—defi ned as disability lasting sustain fruitful study at least three months—among older of disabling events persons had fallen markedly over the previous 20 years, probably due to Between the daunting complexi- a decline in smoking and advances ties of Medicare’s new prescription in cardiovascular and orthopaedic drug plans, the uncertainties sur- medicine such as coronary bypass rounding the solvency of Social Secu- surgery, anti-hypertensive drugs and rity and the rising rates of Alzheimer’s prosthetic knee and hip replace- disease and other ailments of the ments. But the same surveys showed elderly, it would seem that bad news that this trend had been offset by the about America’s older persons decid- overall aging of the population, so edly outweighs the good. But over the the conventional wisdom in geriatrics past nine years, geriatrics researcher held that, despite improvements in and Associate Professor of Medicine medical care, the total number of Thomas M. Gill, m.d., has pieced chronically disabled older Americans together some surprising and uplift- had remained about the same. ing news about disability among our However, the surveys in ques- Thomas Gill (right) and Denise Shepherd (left) have made regular phone calls and home visits aging population using a simple but tion were conducted two to fi ve years to New Haven residents like Grace Cook (center), a long-time participant in Gill’s pep study, to powerful tool: the telephone. apart and required many participants create a detailed picture of the impact of disability on older persons. In 1997, Gill enrolled over 750 to rely on their memories of past elderly New Haven-area residents in disabling events—and sometimes and out of nursing homes, and when from which they recover. Therefore, an ambitious study known as the Pre- even asked respondents to predict they make a transition between living there are probably about 5 million cipitating Events Project (pep). Since future disability. Gill launched pep to in the community to assisted living.” chronically disabled older Americans then, over the course of 55,000 tele- explore whether a fi ner-grained and This sustained and regular at any given time, 2 million fewer than phone interviews and 3,200 at-home less subjective analysis might yield a contact between pep researchers estimated by previous research. This visits with the study participants, more reliable picture of chronic dis- and participants has yielded a new, means that the total impact of dis- Gill and his team have overturned ability. Over the course of the study, more nuanced view of the challenges ability on the health care system may previous views about chronic dis- the pep research team has conducted presented by disability in old age. be much smaller than predicted by ability among the elderly and revealed phone interviews with each study “When you look every month, the older studies. that older Americans surmount most participant every month and has paid rates of disability over time are much Gill says that the medical school’s physical setbacks with remarkable them personal visits every 18 months. higher than those shown in the single long-standing tradition in geriatrics resiliency. And participants’ commitment to snapshots of surveys,” Gill says. “The research, exemplifi ed by the Yale In November, the National the project has been extraordinary, difference was dramatic, and the only Program on Aging and the Claude D. Institute on Aging recognized Gill’s according to Gill. way that could happen is if people Pepper Older Americans Indepen- accomplishments with a $3.2 mil- “pep was originally envisioned as were recovering at much higher rates dence Center, have played no small lion merit award—a designation lasting only two or three years, but it’s than had previously been reported. part in pep’s success. “A project like reserved for the “most outstand- exceeded our wildest expectations,” Prior reports said that about a third of this would be diffi cult to pull off ing” grant proposals “from superior Gill says. “Our completion rate for older people will recover after a dis- without the Pepper Center and the researchers”—that will allow him to these telephone interviews is 99 per- abling event, but we found that when Program on Aging because they pro- continue to follow his original study cent. We have very little missing data, you look carefully, every month, these vide a stable cadre of superb research- group for several more years. and very few participants—about recovery rates are up to 80 percent.” ers who’ve been moving from project When Gill arrived at Yale as 4 percent—have dropped out over The bottom line, Gill says, is that to project over the past 20 years with a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical the course of the study. We follow for most older persons disability is established links to the community,” Scholar in 1993, national survey data individuals in and out of hospitals, in not irreversible, but a recurrent event Gill says. “That cannot be replicated.” Grants and contracts awarded to Yale School of Medicine November/December 2005 Federal

Robert Alpern, nih, General Clinical Research Jin-Young Choi, Arthritis Foundation, Toll-like Modulations, 2 years, amount confidential Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Noninvasive Center (Robert Sherwin, m.d., Director), 5 Receptor Stimulation in cns Lupus, 2 years, Yingqun Huang, Fannie E. Rippel Foundation, Imaging of Matrix Metalloproteinase in Chronic years, $23,993,166 • Daniel Goldstein, nih, $150,000 • Lauren Cohn, Millennium Pharma- Use of a Novel sirna Delivery System to Restore Rat Models of Myocardial Ischemic Injury: Role of Innate Immunity in Transplantation ceuticals Inc., Direct Measurement of ahr in Chemosensitivity to Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Implications of Early Prediction of LV Remodel- Tolerance, 4 years, $1,308,000 • Karl Insogna, crth2-Deficient Mice, 1 year, $16,350 • Cynthia Cells, 2 years, $150,000 • Judith Lichtman, ing, 1 year, $108,788 • Jane Taylor, Tourette Dept. of Agriculture (US), Dietary Protein Epperson, National Alliance for Research on Fannie E. Rippel Foundation, Determinant of Syndrome Association, Inc., Instrumental Habit Affects Intestinal Calcium Absorption: Conse- Schizophrenia and Depression, Serotonin, Disparities in the Care and Outcomes for Young Behavior as an Animal Model of Tourette’s quences and Mechanism, 3 years, $475,000 • Neurosteroids and gaba Contributions to Women with Acute Myocardial Infarction, 1 year, Syndrome: Investigation of the Role of Striatal Michael Koelle, nih, G Protein Signaling in the ssri Treatment Response in pmdd: A 1H-mrs $150,000 • Xiaomei Ma, Myeloproliferative and Frontal Cortical Signaling Pathways, 1 year, C. elegans Nervous System, 5 years, $1,823,147 Study, 2 years, $100,000 • Durland Fish, New Disorders Foundation, Epidemiology of Chronic $60,825 • Edward Uchio, American Geriatrics David McCormick, nih, Calcium Signaling York Medical College, Genotypic Variation Myeloproliferative Disorders, 1 year, $128,500 • Society, Aging Effects on the vhl Tumor Sup- & Prefrontal Deficits in Schizophrenia, 3 years, and B. burgdorferi Pathogenesis, 11 months, John Macmicking, Searle Scholar Program, pressor Pathway in the Development of Renal $6,187,258 • Sherry McKee, nih, Do Pharmaco- $42,189 • Judith Ford, University of Califor- p47 gtpases: Decoding the Language of Immune Carcinoma, 2 years, $75,000 • Agnes Vignery, logical Treatments for Smoking Cessation Reduce nia–Irvine, Function birn (Bioinformatics Recognition for Phagosomal Pathogens, 3 years, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Alcohol Drinking?, 4 years, $1,178,552 • Hongyu Research Network), 1 year, $235,000 • Liana $240,000 • Robert Malison, Hartford Hospital, Identification and Functional Characterization of Zhao, nih, Statistical Methods to Map Genes Fraenkel, Arthritis Foundation, Improving Cocaine-Induced Place Preference Using Virtual New Molecular Targets to Treat Osteoporosis and for Complex Traits, 4 years, $1,238,739 Informed Choice for Patients Considering tja, Reality, 2 years, $74,589 • Graeme Mason, Rheumatoid Arthritis, 2 years, $180,000 • Joanne 1 year, $100,000 • Joel Gelernter, University of Dana Foundation, Quantitative MR Imaging Weidhaas, Breast Cancer Alliance, Inc., Defin- Connecticut Health Center, Genetic Versus Phe- and Spectroscopy in Alcoholism: gaba and ing the Best Treatment Options in brca1- notype Markers of Relapse Risk, 5 years, $46,649 Glutamate Impact of Genetic Vulnerability to mediated Breast Cancer Using a C. elegans Non-Federal Cary Gross, Common Sense Media, Media Alcoholism, 3 years, $100,000 • Sarah Pater- Model of Radiosensitivity, 2 years, $125,000 Evidence Assessment Project, 1 year, $10,000 • son, National Alliance for Autism Research, Kevin White, University of California–San Janet Brandsma, Go Therapeutics, Inc., Par- Handan Gunduz-Bruce, National Alliance for Brain Morphometry in Newborns at Risk for Diego, Molecular Basis of Cell Tolerance to O2 ticulate Delivery Vehicle for Ad-Based Vaccina- Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, Autism: An mri Study, 2 years, $118,360 • Jill Deprivation, 7 months, $10,014 • Scott Woods, tion Against Cottontail Rabbit Papillomavirus gaba-Glutamate Interactions and Psychosis, 2 Reiter, Breast Cancer Alliance, Inc., Quan- Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, (crpv) Infection in Rabbits, 10 months, $19,234 years, $60,000 • Keith Hawkins, Alzheimer’s titative Analysis of egfr Variants in Breast d-Serine Treatment of Schizophrenia, 1 year, David Cheng, Pfizer, Inc., Y-003-04 Study- Association, Neuropsychological Norms for Older Cancer, 2 years, $125,000 • Jennifer Ruger, $193,150 • Kimberly Yonkers, State of CT Dept. Increasing fdg-pet Specificity with Krebs African-Americans, 3 years, $239,992 • Steven Open Society Institute, Health Governance of Public Health, Provider Education for Perina- Cycle Flux Using Spectroscopy, 2 years, $588,301 Hebert and John Geibel, Amgen, Inc., CaSR Project, 6 months, $49,611 • Albert Sinusas, tal Depression, 6 months, $125,000

Medicine@Yale May/June 2006 7

M@Y_May_June06_V1_gr1.indd 7 6/7/06 4:59:41 PM Process CyanProcess MagentaProcess YellowProcess BlackdVarnish Awards & honors Two Yale biologists receive Gairdner Awards

Alison P. Joan A. Steitz, ph.d., Sterling against infections and the spread of ph.d. Galvani, , Professor of Molecular Biophysics and malignant tumors in the body. assistant profes- Biochemistry and a Howard Hughes The awards, which will be pre- sor of epidemiol- ogy, has received Medical Institute investigator, and sented in October in Toronto, “honor a Guggenheim Thomas D. Pollard, m.d., chair and outstanding achievements in our Foundation Fel- Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cel- understanding of our cells with major lowship for her lular and Developmental Biology, are ramifi cations for cancer, nutrition, research on the winners of the 2006 Gairdner Inter- auto-immune disease, atherosclerosis public perception of influenza vacci- Joan Steitz Thomas Pollard national Awards, which are among the and hormone action,” says John Dirks, nation policies. Guggenheim Fellows m.d. are appointed not only on the most prestigious in science. , the Gairdner Foundation’s pres- have gone on to win the Nobel Prize. basis of past achievements, but on Steitz was named by the Toronto, ident. Ralph Brinster, v.m.d., ph.d., Awardees are chosen in a two- the promise for exceptional future Canada-based Gairdner Foundation, of the University of Pennsylvania’s stage process, through two medi- achievements. The John Simon Gug- which sponsors the awards, for her School of Veterinary Medicine, and cal advisory committees of leading genheim Memorial Foundation was rnp ph.d. established in 1925 by former United discovery of sn s (pronounced Ronald M. Evans, , of the Salk Canadian and international medical States Senator Simon Guggenheim “snurps”), complexes of protein and Institute for Biological Sciences, will scientists. Each prize carries a cash and his wife in memory of their son. rna that edit and splice other rna also receive Gairdner International award of $30,000 (Canadian). As The Foundation supports individu- strands to form messenger rna, Awards from the foundation. part of the Gairdner Foundation’s als in the fields of natural sciences, the genetic recipe used by the cell’s The Gairdner Foundation was mandate to communicate the work social sciences, humanities and cre- ative arts. protein-making machinery. Other established in 1957 by Toronto of medical researchers, Gairdner win- rnas and proteins studied by Steitz stockbroker and industrialist James ners visit universities across Canada Alexander are believed to play roles in fertility, A. Gairdner, whose lifelong interest to present academic lectures on their Neumeister, in medical research led to his convic- area of expertise. m.d. development, viral infection, autoim- , associ- mune disease and cancer. tion that the achievements of medical In 2004, another member of the ate professor of psychiatry, was Pollard was cited along with Alan scientists should be acknowledged in medical school faculty, Arthur L. awarded the 2006 Hall, ph.d., of the Memorial Sloan- a tangible way. Horwich, m.d., the Eugene Higgins Bristol Myers Kettering Cancer Center in New York, Since 1959, the Gairdner Interna- Professor of Genetics and Pediat- Squibb Max for discovering the molecular basis tional Awards have honored out- rics and a Howard Hughes Medical Hamilton Memo- of cellular motility and the mecha- standing contributions by medical Institute investigator, won a Gairdner rial Prize by the Collegium Inter- nationale Neuro-Psychopharmo- nism of its regulation, fundamental scientists worldwide whose work will International Award for his infl uential cologium. The prize, which carries a knowledge required to understand signifi cantly improve the quality of research on protein folding mecha- cash award of $10,000, recognizes a embryonic development, defense life. Of the 279 Gairdner winners, 65 nisms in the cell. young scientist for outstanding con- tributions to psychopharmacology. Cleary continued from page 1 Neumeister studies the molecular and genetic bases of anxiety and Cleary chose to study medical sociol- 2005 after 10 years in the post, and In- may be more likely to have an impact. mood disorders, especially depres- m.p.h., sion and post-traumatic stress disor- ogy, also at Wisconsin. terim Dean Brian P. Leaderer, Young assistant professors who want der, and has scientifically evaluated In 1982 Cleary joined the faculty ph.d., the Susan Dwight Bliss Profes- to work in that area will have men- therapies for these disorders. at Harvard as professor of health sor of Epidemiology. tors,” Cleary says. “I feel very strongly care policy. His work has sought Cleary believes that faculty mem- about developing research program- Peter J. Novick, better ways to fi nd out how patients bers have their own vision guiding matically, fostering multidisciplinary ph.d., professor of cell biology, view their care and has studied what their research. “My philosophy of collaborations and developing excel- has been elected determines variations in the quality organization,” he says, “is that I should lence in focused areas.” to the American of health care. He has traveled the make it easier for the faculty to do In announcing the appointment, Academy of Arts world to study behavioral aspects of their job better. What can I do as a Levin praised Cleary’s background and Sciences. hiv⁄aids, smoking, alcohol abuse leader of the organization to enable in quantitative methodology and Novick, an expert on vesicle traf- and mental illness. “The things I have them to realize that vision?” analysis. “I know that many of you, ficking and cell polarity in yeast, focused on are health behavior, ana- Nonetheless, Cleary, a member as I do, look forward to working with joins over 130 other Yale faculty as lytic methods, social epidemiology, of the National Academy of Science’s him in the years ahead,” Levin told a a fellow of the Cambridge, Mass.- statistical modeling, health policy and Institute of Medicine, strongly favors gathering of public health faculty in based Academy. The Academy was behavioral science,” Cleary says. collaborative research. “Let’s say you the Winslow Auditorium. “You will founded in 1780 by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock and Cleary begins his work at the have two people, three people, four fi nd that he can be a sympathetic other Revolutionary leaders to bring School of Medicine in July, succeed- people who want to focus on cancer listener, someone who can pay atten- scholarly, political and business ing Michael H. Merson, m.d., the research. They may reinforce each tion to people and at the same time be leaders together “to cultivate every Anna M.R. Lauder Professor of Public other. You may be able to get more capable of independent thinking and art and science which may tend to Health, who stepped down as dean in support for certain programs. You leadership.” advance the interest, honour, dignity, and happiness of a free, indepen- dent, and virtuous people.” Gift continued from page 1

Jody L. Sindelar, Nobel Prize in 1980. The unencum- Dean and Ensign Professor of donors will receive an annual report ph.d. , profes- bered time to explore new approaches Medicine Robert J. Alpern, m.d., who on the work of the scientists they have sor of public afforded by the Yale Scholars program launched the Yale Scholars Program supported. Each Yale Scholar will health, has been named presi- is the ideal way to uncover new patho- in order to attract the best young sci- receive $1 million in startup funding, dent of the genic mechanisms, which may lead to entists to the medical school faculty, distributed over four years. “The Yale newly formed effective forms of treatment.” hopes to be able to name fi ve Yale Scholars program funds an investi- American Like their father, the McCluskey Scholars each year. A gift of at least gator at an early stage in his or her Society of Health brothers grew up in the Morris Cove $2.5 million career and passes every four years to a Economists (ashe). Sindelar, who studies the economics of smoking, section of New Haven. “In those days,” is needed to different one,” Alpern says. alcohol and illicit drugs, is a found- Donald says, “Yale was either preppies fund a Yale McCluskey’s gift provides the ing member of ashe, a professional or local boys.” Donald’s wife, Doro- Scholars endowment for the fi rst Yale Scholar, organization dedicated to promot- thy, also has an advanced Yale degree, endow- who will be chosen from new faculty ing excellence in health econom- from the School of Forestry and Envi- ment, with recruits arriving this summer and fall. ics research in the United States. She was program chair for ashe’s ronmental Studies. She graduated in each dollar “Being named a Yale Scholar will be inaugural conference, to be held in 1973, then went into politics, serving matched by an honor for young scientists, and Madison, Wis., in June 2006. The as a state representative from North the univer- it is only going to go to the best re- biennial meeting will provide a Branford in the Connecticut legisla- sity. These cruits,” says Alpern. “We at the School forum for emerging ideas and ture. Her Yale connections reach back endow- of Medicine are deeply grateful to empirical results in health econom- ics research through over 400 paper to a great-uncle, Josiah Hazen, an 1898 ments may Donald McCluskey for initiating this and poster presentations, as well as Yale College graduate. And two of the be restricted program, and it is a privilege to name multiple plenary sessions. McCluskeys’ three children have Yale Robert and Donald according the fi rst Yale Scholar endowment after McCluskey at Robert’s degrees, a son from Yale College and a home in 2005. to a donor’s such a distinguished physician- daughter from the law school. wishes, and scientist.”

8 www.medicineatyale.org

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