Campus & Alumni News | Summer 2009
k www.bumc.bu.edu
It’s one thing to forget where you put them. It’s another to forget what they’re for.
Targeting Alzheimer’s Disease
k Also Inside: New Provost of Graduate Medical Sciences Named BUSM Alumna Pledges Largest Individual Gift to School of Medicine MESSAGEE FRFROOMM TH THEE D DEEANAN
Dear Friends,
Commencement 2009, the graduation of my first freshman class as dean, was a milestone for me. These incredibly talented, curious, and caring new physicians are now launched into their residencies, the next phase of their training and professional lives.
We are tracking national trends to determine their effects on the Medical Campus. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), also known as the Stimulus Package, is a unique opportunity for our exception- ally creative faculty to capture funding to advance their basic science and clinical research pursuits. Because of the compressed timeframe of ARRA requirements, we developed new strategies to harness this opportunity. The good news is that in fiscal year 2009, the number of research applications increased by 26 percent, and our research awards increased by 10 percent over last year, with $144 million in grants awarded to the School of Medicine, plus an additional $12 million for the National Emerging and Infectious Diseases Laboratories.
An example of our research is the extensive and successful Alzheimer’s disease programs on campus. This work integrates the talents of a wide cross-section of researchers on the Medical and Charles River campuses, weaving the disciplines of discovery, clinical care, and educational initia- tives to understand and better treat or prevent this destructive disease. We feature some of the highlights of their work in this issue.
We also recently received the largest individual donation to the School of Medicine in our history. An alumna of the School, who wishes to remain anonymous, has generously committed $10.5 million to create a breast cancer research center and to support the construction of the student resi- dence on campus. (See page 8.)
After considerable study and discussion by the MD-PhD Executive Commit- tee, under the direction of David Farb, PhD, new students in the MD-PhD program now receive full funding for tuition in addition to a research stipend during their PhD years. Easing the educational debt of these students provides greater flexibility to pursue the research that advances biomedical knowledge and treatments for patients. (See page 9.)
We are pleased that the work that we do to fulfill BUSM’s mission of provid- ing high-quality medical and health sciences education, leading basic and clinical research, and supporting patient-centered care is being recognized with the rise in our national ranking among medical schools as judged by U.S. News & World Report. We are now ranked 35th among the nation’s 126 medical schools, between Brown and Dartmouth.
Your affiliation with BUSM enriches our community, and we greatly value this relationship.
Best wishes,
Karen Antman, MD Provost, Medical Campus Dean, School of Medicine BU NEWS
Table of Contents
2 BUSM News
10 Graduate Medical Sciences News
12 Research
16 Faculty News
23 Student News
29 Giving to BUSM
32 Alumni News New Online Archive of University Research Offers Public Access
Boston University is in the process of creating Robert Hudson, director of BU’s Mugar Memorial an online archive of University research avail- Library, is co-chair of the University Council able for public access. It is believed that this is Committee on Scholarly Activities and Libraries, the first time an entire university has made its a key force behind the move toward open research so openly available. access. Hudson says the effort to maintain an Campus & Alumni News | Summer 2009 up-to-date collection of scholarly journals The online archive will allow anyone to view costs approximately $