News at HSPHKatherine Baicker, professor of health economics, Atul Gawande, associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management and JoAnn Manson, professor in the Department of Epidemiology, are among the 65 new Institute of Medicine members announced by the IOM on October 17, in conjunction with its 41st annual meeting. Election to the IOM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine. Baicker also was appointed to the Board of Directors of Eli Lilly and Company in December. She serves on the board’s public policy and compliance committee.
Robert Blendon, senior associate dean for policy translation and leadership development, is the inaugural recipient of the Richard L. Menschel Professorship in Public Health. This honor recognizes Blendon's leadership of the Division Policy Translation and Leadership Development, as well as his commitment to innovation and creativity in public health practice, research, scholarship, and teaching. Blendon remains director of the Division.
W. Michael Byrd and Linda Clayton, instructors in HSPH's Department of Health Policy and Management, were awarded honorary degrees from Wheelock College, in Boston, during the school's annual Convocation Ceremony on September 14. Byrd and Clayton, a married couple, are both practicing obstetrician-gynecologists.
Richard Cash, senior lecturer on global health, received the 2011 Fries Prize for Improving Health from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on November 8. The James F. and Sarah T. Fries Foundation honored Cash for his leadership in the development and dissemination of Oral Rehydration Therapy, a practical treatment for cholera and other diarrheal diseases that has saved the lives of at least 60 million children worldwide.
Max Essex, Mary Woodward Lasker Professor of Health Sciences and chairman of the Harvard School of Public Health AIDS Initiative, was awarded the Institute of Human Virology Lifetime Achievement Award for Scientific Contributions for his work on animal and human retrovirus research and his public health leadership Botswana. The award was presented during IHV's 13th Annual International Gala Awards Banquet on November 1.
Sarah Fortune is the inaugural recipient of the Melvin J. and Geraldine L. Glimcher Assistant Professorship in the Division of Biological Sciences. Fortune, who has been an assistant professor of immunology and infectious diseases at HSPH since 2006, seeks to understand the bacterium responsible for TB, and in particular how its ability to mutate contributes to drug resistance. The Glimcher Assistant Professorship was established by the transfer of teaching and research funds that had supported the work of Laurie Glimcher, the former Irene Heinz Given Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases.
Richard Gelber, professor in the Department of Biostatistics, received the ECCO Clinical Research Award at the European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress, held in Stockholm, Sweden, in September. The award honors an "outstanding international contribution to the integration of scientific research and clinical practice in the field of cancer." Gelber was recognized along with colleague Aron Goldhirsch, of the European Institute for Oncology, for their research group's work on breast cancer.
David Hemenway received the Striving for Social Justice Award from Boston’s Community Works, an umbrella organization of 34 social justice groups. Hemenway is the director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center and the Youth Violence Prevention Center. He has spent much of his career studying youth violence and implementing violence prevention programs.
Miguel Hernán was named an AAS fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was recognized for "cutting-edge contributions to methodological and substantive research in epidemiology, outstanding professional service, and excellence in teaching." New fellows were honored during the 2012 AAAS Annual Meeting in Vancouver, BC, Canada on February 18.
Nancy Kane was selected as this year's winner of the ASPH/Pfizer Award for Teaching Excellence. She was honored during the Association of Schools of Public Health Annual Meeting reception and award ceremony on October 31.
Nan Laird was appointed the new Harvey V. Fineberg Professor of Public Health. This honor recognizes her more than 35 years developing statistical methodology, teaching, and conducting applied research. Laird also received this year’s Samuel S. Wilks Medal from the American Statistical Association for “her pioneering work on the EM algorithm, which set the foundation for many subsequent advances in computational statistics and biology."
Marc Lipsitch, professor of epidemiology, was honored by his colleagues at the North American Congress of Epidemiology 2011, in June. Lipsitch was lead author of a paper titled “Negative Controls: A Tool for Detecting Confounding and Bias in Observational Studies,” that was awarded the Kenneth Rothman Prize for the best manuscript published in Epidemiology in 2010. According to a press release from the journal, the paper “addresses an underutilized but intuitively appealing approach in a clear and accessible way.” HSPH’s Eric Tchetgen Tchetgen, associate professor of epidemiology, and Theodore Cohen, assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology are co-authors.
Frank Sacks, professor of cardiovascular disease prevention is the recipient of the 2011 Research Achievement Award of the American Heart Association. This award is conferred annually in recognition of distinguished scientific achievement in the field of cardiovascular research. He was honored on November 13 at the AHA Scientific Sessions.
Vishal Vaidya, assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Health, received an outstanding new environmental scientist (ONES) grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The prestigious grants are awarded to “exceptionally talented early stage investigators,” according to NIEHS.
David Williams, Florence Sprague Norman and Laura Smart Norman Professor of Public Health, received the prestigious Leo G. Reeder Award from the American Sociological Association's Medical Sociology section in honor of his "outstanding and distinguished career in medical sociology." It was presented in August at the annual meeting of the ASA.
Marvin Zelen, Lemuel Shattuck Research Professor of Statistical Science, was appointed by the Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Institute of Advanced Study as a 2011-12 Sackler Lecturer. He delivered his lectures in December.
