November 16, 2001

Harn to Serve on Review Section

Donald Harn, professor of tropical public health in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, has accepted an invitation to serve as a member of the Tropical Medicine and Parasitology Study Section, Center for Scientific Review, Department of Health and Human Services. Members are selected based on demonstrated competence and achievement in their scientific discipline. Study section members review grant applications submitted to the National Institutes of Health, make recommendations about the applications, and survey the status of research in their field of science.

Hill Named Fulbright New Century Scholar

Allan Hill, Andelot Professor of Demography in the Department of Population and International Health, has been named a Fulbright New Century Scholar (NCS). The announcement was made at a press conference on October 3 at the Council for International Exchange of Scholars in Washington, DC.

The NCS Program is a new initiative of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State and the Council for International Exchange of Scholars. It is designed to build on the strengths of the Fulbright Scholar Program, one of the oldest and largest international exchange programs in the world.

NCS will bring together annually over the next three years more than two dozen research scholars and professionals from the US and around the world for multidisciplinary collaboration on a topic of substantial global significance. For the academic year 2001-2002, the research focus will be "Challenges of Health in a Borderless World."

Hill’s focus in the program will be on "Women’s Health in West Africa: Values, Policies and Programs." He will investigate whether priorities set for the improvement of health in developing countries by international agencies may be ill suited to the effective promotion of women’s health in Africa.

Alumnus Elected to IOM

Danny Jacobs, MPH ‘89, has been elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. Members are elected by the incumbent membership on the basis of professional achievement and of demonstrated interest, concern and involvement with problems and critical issues that affect public health. Jacobs’ academic appointments have included a position at HMS. In administrative roles, he has served as the director of metabolic support service and the associate program director of the Clinical Research Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. His research interests include the metabolic effects of malnutrition, stress, infection and injury.

Countway Library to Offer Geospatial Data Tools and Sources

The Countway Library will host a brown bag seminar and discussion session on the new Harvard Geospatial Library (HGL), a resource that provides search tools and access to geospatial data, on Thursday, December 6 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. in the Countway Auditorium, 5th floor.

Bonnie Burns of the Harvard Map Collection will present an informational overview of the resource and take questions and commentary.

The Harvard Geospatial Library was created to aid the discovery of data that can be used in Geographic Information Systems. HGL provides keyword, author, and title searches like any library catalog, but it also has tools to search for data geographically.

The user defines an area of interest using a map of the world, and HGL returns a list of datasets that cover that area. In addition, HGL provides access to some datasets on-line.

For more information, contact Paul Bain at 617-432-3236 or Bonnie Burns at 617-495-2417.

Fineberg to Head IOM

Harvey Fineberg, former HSPH Dean and Harvard University Provost, has been selected to become the seventh president of the Institute of Medicine (IOM). He will begin his six-year term on July 1, 2002.

Fineberg was dean of HSPH for 13 years before serving as the university’s provost from 1997 to June 2001. The 1,429-member Institute of Medicine was chartered in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

IOM advises the government on issues such as vaccine safety, health care delivery and quality, nutrition standards, cancer prevention and management, and military and veterans’ health.

Leape Named Honorary Fellow

Lucian Leape, adjunct professor of health policy in the Department of Health Policy and Management, was named an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada during ceremonies on September 21 in Ottawa, Canada.

Leape also served as the keynote speaker the following day at the College’s plenary session of its annual conference.

The focus of the all-day session was the advancement of patient safety and prevention of injuries caused by medical treatments.

Alumnus and Professor Win Award

Daniel Scharfstein, HSPH alumnus from the Department of Biostatistics, and James Robins, Mitchell L. and Robin LaFoley Dong Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Epidemiology, have won an award from the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies.

The committee includes members from the American Statistical Association. The researchers, along with colleague Anastasios Tsiatis, won the George W. Snedecor Award for their paper, "Semiparametric Efficiency and Its implications on the Design and Analysis of Group-Sequential Studies."

The paper was published in 1997 in the Journal of the American Statistical Association.

Halloween Celebration Raises Money for September 11th Fund

More than 150 HSPH community members turned out for some Halloween fun on October 31 outside the Kresge cafeteria. Along with the usual goodies, this year featured the HSPH deans participating in a costume contest to raise money for September 11th relief efforts.

People voted for the best costume by putting change into plastic pumpkins designated for each dean.

Dressed as the Grim Reaper, Stan Hudson, assistant dean for enrollment services, won. More than $200 was raised for the September 11th Fund of the American Red Cross.

At right, Shayla Toledo looks at mom Grace Toledo's (left) candy. Wendy Wheeler, administrative assistantant to Dean Barry Bloom, joins the fun.