"Should Alcohol Be Part of a Healthy Lifestyle?"

Speaker: Eric Rimm, Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition, Departments of Epidemiology and Nutrition

Wednesday, November 17
12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
Kresge G-2

Lunch will be provided. RSVP to deansoff@hsph.harvard.edu. This event is open to the HSPH community only.

McCormick, Koh, and Wirth Honored by IOM

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) held its annual meeting on October 18 and 19 at the National Academy of Sciences main building in Washington, DC. Coinciding with the meeting, the Institute conferred accolades on several HSPH faculty members.

McCormick Receives David Rall Medal

Marie McCormick, Sumner and Esther Feldberg Professor of Maternal and Child Health, received the David Rall Medal for her outstanding leadership of the Committee on Immunization Safety Review for the IOM. She received the award at the annual meeting.

McCormick headed a group of health professionals to assess the validity of immunization safety concerns. The group produced five reports that informed federal policy and that are available online to the public free of charge. One of the group’s most difficult assignments was the investigation of a suggested link between autism and the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. The suggested link was described in a paper published in The Lancet in 1998 and caused concern among doctors, parents, and public health officials. Led by McCormick, the IOM committee reviewed the body of existing scientific evidence and found no MMR-autism link, issuing a report in 2001. McCormick testified before Congress on the results and communicated the findings to the media. Last March, 10 co-authors of The Lancet paper issued a retraction of the paper.

"Given the emotional impact of childhood illnesses that develop at around the same time when children receive vaccinations, it took absolute integrity and critical analysis of the evidence, plus enormous personal courage, to lead this effort," said HSPH Dean Barry Bloom. "For that, both we and the IOM are in Marie’s debt."

Koh and Wirth Named Members

Howard Koh, associate dean for public health practice and professor of health policy and management in the Department of Health Policy and Management, and Dyann Wirth, professor of infectious diseases in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, have been elected as members of the Institute of Medicine. They were among 65 new members who were announced on October 18.

Koh is a noted champion of disease prevention and spent six years as the Massachusetts Commissioner of Public Health, helping to advance tobacco control, cancer prevention, AIDS treatment and prevention, substance abuse services, and the elimination of health disparities. Since assuming his duties as head of the Division of Public Health Practice in 2003, Koh has been focused on training the next generation of public health leaders and leading the HSPH Center for Public Health Preparedness.

Wirth leads the Malaria Initiative at HSPH and has developed fundamental molecular genetic tools used in the investigation of malaria and leishmaniasis. She has used these tools to identify molecular mechanisms of drug resistance in protozoan parasites. The work has implications for millions of people worldwide who suffer from these preventable diseases. Wirth is also an affiliate of the Broad Institute, where she is engaged in an effort to find new drug therapies.