F rom getting kicked out of a bar during our first week in Boston to our Friday night potluck dinners in Vanderbilt Hall to the grand festivities of Solapalooza in Craig’s back yard, it was clear from the start that this year’s MD-PhD class would have a special bond. Despite breaking off into separate HMS societies, separate graduate programs, and separate labs, our group of 12 only continues to get clos- er and depend on each other more and more for moral sup- port, academic guidance, and comic relief. At the risk of sounding trite, we thought it worthwhile to take a few sentences to highlight the diversity of our class. We are a group with varied interests and backgrounds, drawn together by a common passion for basic science, clin- ical medicine, and free food. The twelve of us hail from five different countries, seven different states, and eleven differ- ent kindergartens. We have worked with organisms that range in genome size from 30,000 to 3,000,000,000 base pairs. We have birthdays in seven of the twelve months. And our dorm rooms can be found on three of the six floors of Vanderbilt Hall. These are but a few examples that under- score the fact that our class simply defies all conventional labels. Below are short blurbs that describe each of the members of the first year MD-PhD class. We wrote these ourselves, but deftly employed the third person to convey a sense of deep sig- nificance and import. Quentin Baca is a New Mexico native who graduated from Stanford University in chemistry in 2004. At 6’2” and the shortest of his three broth- ers, he suffers from a “short complex” and hopes to justify his existence through cooking and research. He does not mind being one of the few New Pathway students in this year’s MD-PhD class, and he hopes he can find a lab that lets him mix his physical chemistry background with biological and medical applications before his need for green chile drives him back to visit New Mexico. Lauren Barr comes to Boston from the tiny town of Pendleton, IN, via the bustling metropolis of Philadelphia where she stud- ied biochemistry and biotechnology at the University of Pennsylvania. Lauren is an avid football fan, and her love of the Indianapolis Colts and their dreamy place kicker Mike Vanderjagt is surpassed only by her hatred of the New England Patriots. When she’s not out expanding her impres- sive shoe collection or perfecting her mar- garita recipe, Lauren can be found study- ing neuroscience in hopes of someday fig- uring out synaptic transmission at the molecular level. She aspires to be a roadie for U2, but in case that doesn’t work out, she’d also love to be a great PI, professor, and pediatric neurologist. Daniel Herman graduated from MIT in 2004 with a degree in biology. As an under- graduate he performed research in many subfields within neuroscience, including hippocampal learning and memory and cortical development. Daniel’s current bio- medical interests are focused around neu- 2 NEW EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 4 ANNUAL RETREAT CELEBRATES PROGRAM’S 30TH YEAR 5 THE “P” WORD 6 FOR THE RECORD: AWARDS, PUBLICATIONS, PHDS COMPLETED, PROGRAM EVENTS, RESIDENCY APPOINTMENTS Describing the newest class of MD-PhDs IN THEIR OWN WORDS Defying Convention First year MD-PhD students following the white coat ceremony last fall. Front row (L-R): Zachary Morris, Mai Anh Huynh, Sol Schulman, Peggy Hsu, Lauren Barr, Michael Tibbetts; back: Martin Kurtev, Ben Rapoport, Quentin Baca, Srinivas Viswanathan, Dan Herman, Craig Mermel. continued on page 3 In this issue MD-PhD Program HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL newsletter spring 2005 ■ volume 16 ■ number 1 New Head of MD-PhD Social Sciences Track Appointed Allan Brandt, PhD, Amalie Moses Kass Professor of the History of Medicine was appointed in January as Director for the social sci- ences track of the MD-PhD Program. Dr. Chris A. Walsh continues to be the Director for the basic sciences track. Linda Burnley, Director of Administration and Finance, will lead the administrative efforts of both tracks. See Harvard Medical School “Focus,” April 8, 2005 issue for more details. LINDA BURNLEY
Transcript
F rom getting kicked out of a bar during our first week inBoston to our Friday night potluck dinners inVanderbilt Hall to the grand festivities of Solapalooza in
Craig’s back yard, it was clear from the start that this year’sMD-PhD class would have a special bond. Despite breakingoff into separate HMS societies, separate graduate programs,and separate labs, our group of 12 only continues to get clos-er and depend on each other more and more for moral sup-port, academic guidance, and comic relief.
At the risk of sounding trite, we thought it worthwhile totake a few sentences to highlight the diversity of our class.We are a group with varied interests and backgrounds,drawn together by a common passion for basic science, clin-ical medicine, and free food. The twelve of us hail from fivedifferent countries, seven different states, and eleven differ-ent kindergartens. We have worked with organisms thatrange in genome size from 30,000 to 3,000,000,000 basepairs. We have birthdays in seven of the twelve months. Andour dorm rooms can be found on three of the six floors ofVanderbilt Hall. These are but a few examples that under-score the fact that our class simply defies all conventionallabels.
Below are short blurbs that describe each of the membersof the first year MD-PhD class. We wrote these ourselves, butdeftly employed the third person to convey a sense of deep sig-nificance and import.
Quentin Baca is a NewMexico native who graduatedfrom Stanford University inchemistry in 2004. At 6’2” andthe shortest of his three broth-ers, he suffers from a “shortcomplex” and hopes to justifyhis existence through cookingand research. He does notmind being one of the fewNew Pathway students in thisyear’s MD-PhD class, and hehopes he can find a lab thatlets him mix his physicalchemistry background with
biological and medical applications beforehis need for green chile drives him back tovisit New Mexico.
Lauren Barr comes to Boston from thetiny town of Pendleton, IN, via the bustlingmetropolis of Philadelphia where she stud-ied biochemistry and biotechnology at theUniversity of Pennsylvania. Lauren is anavid football fan, and her love of theIndianapolis Colts and their dreamy placekicker Mike Vanderjagt is surpassed onlyby her hatred of the New England Patriots.When she’s not out expanding her impres-sive shoe collection or perfecting her mar-garita recipe, Lauren can be found study-ing neuroscience in hopes of someday fig-uring out synaptic transmission at themolecular level. She aspires to be a roadiefor U2, but in case that doesn’t work out,she’d also love to be a great PI, professor,and pediatric neurologist.
Daniel Herman graduated from MIT in2004 with a degree in biology. As an under-graduate he performed research in manysubfields within neuroscience, includinghippocampal learning and memory andcortical development. Daniel’s current bio-medical interests are focused around neu-
2NEW EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
4ANNUAL RETREAT CELEBRATES
PROGRAM’S 30TH YEAR
5THE “P” WORD
6FOR THE RECORD:
AWARDS, PUBLICATIONS,
PHDS COMPLETED, PROGRAM EVENTS,
RESIDENCY APPOINTMENTS
Describing the newest class of MD-PhDs
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Defying Convention
First year MD-PhD students following the white coat ceremony last fall. Front row (L-R): ZacharyMorris, Mai Anh Huynh, Sol Schulman, Peggy Hsu, Lauren Barr, Michael Tibbetts; back: MartinKurtev, Ben Rapoport, Quentin Baca, Srinivas Viswanathan, Dan Herman, Craig Mermel.
continued on page 3
In this issue
MD-PhDProgramHARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL
n e w s l e t t e rspring 2005 ■ volume 16 ■ number 1
New Head of MD-PhDSocial SciencesTrack AppointedAllan Brandt, PhD, Amalie
Moses Kass Professor of
the History of Medicine
was appointed in January
as Director for the social sci-
ences track of the MD-PhD
Program. Dr. Chris A. Walsh
continues to be the Director
for the basic sciences track.
Linda Burnley, Director
of Administration and
Finance, will lead the
administrative efforts of
both tracks. See Harvard
Medical School “Focus,”
April 8, 2005 issue for
more details.
LIN
DA
BU
RN
LEY
2HARVARD MD-PHD PROGRAM n e w s l e t t e r
I n his first year as program director, Dr. Chris A.Walsh set up a
new MD-PhD Executive Committee (EC) to address the key
issues and priorities of the basic sciences MD-PhD track. The
committee, which has been meeting regularly since last fall, is
charged with improving the integration of medical and graduate
studies, ensuring that we maintain an open and responsive career
advising system for all MD-PhD students, providing strategic
advice to the director, and facilitating the operational aspects of the
program. Dr. Chris Walsh chairs the committee which includes
Linda Burnley, administrative director; Stephen Blacklow, MD,
PhD, associate professor of pathology, HMS, associate pathologist,
Brigham & Women’s Hospital; Joel N. Hirschhorn, MD, PhD, assis-
tant professor of genetics and pediatrics, Children’s Hospital/HMS,
associate member, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Alan M.
Michelson, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine, HMS, asso-
ciate physician, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, associate investi-
gator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; and Maria Ann Rupnick,
MD, PhD, instructor in cardiovascular medicine, HMS, Brigham
and Women’s Hospital, research associate, Vascular Biology
Program, Children’s Hospital Boston Research Affiliate, Chemical
Engineering, MIT.
Dr. Stephen Blacklow replaces Richard Maas, MD, PhD, profes-
sor of genetics and Howard Hughes Investigator, as course director
of the first MD-PhD summer course “Molecular Biology of Human
Disease.” Dr. Maas conceived and developed the original course that
started in 2000 and served as an inspiring teacher and enthusiastic
course leader for the past five years. Dr. Blacklow co-directed the
course last summer with Dr. Maas and planning for the 2005 course
is underway to begin again in
July for next year’s new class. Dr.
Blacklow also serves as advisor
for MD-PhD students in the
New Pathway’s Peabody Society
as well as the graduate programs
in BBS and biophysics.
Dr. Joel Hirschhorn has
been named associate director of
the program to focus primarily
on the graduate education
aspects of the training program.
He is currently organizing a
summer poster session to pro-
mote scientific exchange
between medical students inter-
ested in pursuing graduate train-
ing and the first and second year
MD-PhD students completing summer lab rotations. Dr.
Hirschhorn also serves in the capacity as special advisor to medical
students who are planning to pursue graduate training. More
recently, he is co-chairing the program’s admissions process for the
cycle 2 applicants.
Dr. Alan Michelson, a longstanding member of the admissions
and advising committees, continues, along with Dr. Walsh, to co-
chair the MD-PhD Committee of Advisors that meets regularly to
review the progress of all MD-PhD students. Dr. Michelson offers a
compassionate understanding of the complexities and challenges
that arise from transitioning back and forth between medical and
graduate training. He continues to offer advice not only to the
Castle Society students where he is the designated advisor for MD-
PhD students but he is often called upon to help with sensitive and
unique issues that arise from navigating the dual degree training.
Dr. Maria Rupnick, also named associate director, will continue
to examine the clinical aspects of the training program. In her role
as course director for the longitudinal course in clinical medicine
(LCCM) at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dr. Rupnick has
long been committed to helping students at the crucial transition as
they face the return to patient care following a long hiatus in the lab.
Dr. Rupnick is a facilitator in the annual meeting to introduce the
clerkship directors to the year 2 students in preparation for their
upcoming required 2 month summer clerkship. As course director
of the LCCM, Dr. Rupnick is charged with identifying faculty pre-
ceptors to help link students to patients in the hospitals. With med-
ical education reform ahead at HMS, Dr. Rupnick expects to
expand her role in improving and overseeing the clinical experience
of the program.
The new executive committee augments the program’s more
traditional organizational committees: the Faculty Standing
Committee, the Subcommittee on Admissions, the Committee of
Advisors and the program’s administrative staff. Dr. Walsh is
thrilled to have a new team of leaders to support the goal of ensur-
ing that students receive an excellent medical scientist training
experience.
Meet the New Executive CommitteeAddressing the key issues and priorities of the MD-PhD Program
S P R I N G 2 0 0 5
EditorLinda Burnley
Assistant EditorJanelle McCluskey
DesignerKathleen Sayre
This newsletter is published twice a year with this issue representing the 15th anniversary
rological diseases, spanning from pathophysiologyto neuroregeneration. Beyond Longwood he hascontinued to adapt to the New England lifestyleby recently learning to ski and enjoying SuperBowl and World Series victories.
Peggy Hsu is from Bethlehem, PA andgraduated in 2003 with a degree inmolecular biology from PrincetonUniversity. Having conducted thesisresearch on nutrient sensing and growthregulation in S. cerevisiae, she has spenta considerable amount of time com-muning with mutant yeast. After gradu-ation, Peggy spent a year in Dresden,Germany, where she not only studiedpost-Golgi sorting and transport butalso immersed herself in good music,engorged her belly with almond cake,and spent a considerable amount oftime communing with mutant friends.
Mai Anh Huynh’s family, part of a waveof “boat people” from Vietnam, settledin Evansville, IN, after they were sponsored fromtheir refugee camp by a Midwestern Catholiccharity. A Hoosier at heart, Mai Anh neverthelessliked Harvard enough to stay on for her MD-PhDafter graduating with an A.B. in biochemical sci-ences in 2004. Mai Anh spent her undergradsummers in the “real” Cambridge, working on athesis in structural biology at the MRC-LMB. Herexperience there inspired her to pursue a career asa physician-scientist. During her nine months inthe UK, she enjoyed traveling through Spain,Switzerland, France, and Italy. Now that her trav-els are limited to exploring Boston by foot, MaiAnh also finds time to run, dance, and spend timeoutdoors. She enjoys all types of music but limitsperformance to whistling or singing when no oneis in earshot. Mai Anh is happy that BBS offersenough options to encompass the breadth of herresearch interests, which currently include struc-tural biology, cancer biology, and neuroscience.She’s even happier to have found such wonderfulclassmates in the HST and MST program.
Martin Kurtev graduated from MIT in 2004with degrees in biology and neuroscience. Hisresearch at MIT focused on studying the molec-ular basis of aging. Currently in the HST med-ical program, Martin intends to pursue a PhDin the molecular neuroscience. Martin wasborn in Bulgaria and at the age of 15 moved toChicago, IL where he attended high school. Inhis spare time he enjoys playing soccer andother sports and reading novels.
Craig Mermel graduated from WashingtonUniversity in St. Louis in 2004 with degrees inBiochemistry and Mathematics. As an under-graduate, Craig studied the molecular mecha-nisms regulating granulocytic development. He iscurrently fascinated by the parallels between nor-mal developmental pathways and tumorigenesis,and hopes to explore how the recombination
events that occur in maturing lymphocytes con-tribute to the process of lymphoma formation. Inhis spare time, you will find Craig enjoying timewith his fiancée Lauren and attempting to pry theremains of his Harvard ID from the ferociousjaws of his beagle puppy Lily.
Zachary Morris is not actually the star of“Saved by the Bell” though he does confess towatching the show and modeling his everymove off the show’s main character who main-tains the same namesake. Zach is a native ofRockford, IL though he votes as a resident ofStevens Point, WI—where his parents now live—because it’s more of a swing state. Prior tojoining the rank and file at HMS, Zach complet-ed a B.A. at Ripon College in chemistry andbiology. He then deferred his admission to HMSfor two years while he studied medical anthro-pology and history of science and medicine atOxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. Hisresearch interests lie in membrane proteinstructure-function relationships and he is par-ticularly interested in the processes of viral entryand tumor cell metastasis. This past winterbreak Zach was married to his high schoolsweetheart, Camie Jeske. They are both enjoyingthe Boston area and are tremendously gratefulfor all the wonderful friends they’ve made in theHMS M.D.-Ph.D. program.
Benjamin Rapoport graduated from HarvardUniversity in 2003 with an undergraduate degreein physics and mathematics and a master’s degree
in physics. Before entering the M.D.-Ph.D.program he completed a second master’sdegree in mathematics at Oxford University,where his research focused on mathematicalmodels of neural systems. Ben is pursuing hisPh.D. in the MIT Physics Department and isparticularly interested in electronic interfaceswith the human nervous system. He is also an
avid long-distance runner and erst-while cartoonist.
Sol Schulman is from Buffalo Grove, ILand graduated from BrandeisUniversity in May, 2004 with a BS/MSin biochemistry. Although best knownfor his landmark 7th grade poster enti-tled “The Effect of Light and Salt onBrine Shrimp,” his subsequent researchhas been in medicinal chemistry andprotein biochemistry. Sol is currentlyinterested in how proteins and virusescross membranes and regularly assuresinterviewers and self alike that a betterunderstanding of these processes will beof clinical utility. A once-serious musi-cian and avid outdoorsman, Sol is
known to enjoy his remote wilderness excursionswith trumpet in hand.
Michael Tibbetts graduated from PrincetonUniversity with a degree in molecular biologyand is now in the HST program. He was raised inClearwater, Florida but spent many vacations inthe Cayman Islands where his family can trace itsroots to the 18th century. He grew up playingsoccer competitively and along with several otherfirst-year MD-PhD students competed in theVanderbilt Hall indoor soccer league this past fall.He has previously studied gynodioecious plantspecies and solved protein crystal structures, butis now interested in targeted cancer therapies.
Srinivas Viswanathan was raised in Tenafly, NJ.He attended college at Yale and graduated in2004 with a BS/MS degree in molecular bio-physics & biochemistry. As an undergraduate,he worked in a molecular virology lab, studyingKaposi Sarcoma Herpesvirus. Srini is now in theHST program, and his current scientific inter-ests lie in stem cell biology and the cellular path-ways that are disrupted in human cancers. Heenjoys squash, playing the violin, and ruminat-ing on the plight of the follicular dendritic cell.Most recently, he has taken to riding the E linefor free and wearing winter hats indoors. In thefuture, he plans to combine basic science withclinical practice in an academic setting. Hehopes that his poor sense of direction does notcause him to get lost on his way from the benchto the bedside.
NEWEST CLASS
HARVARD MD-PHD PROGRAM n e w s l e t t e r
c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 1
Students invited Dr. Michael Sandel, the Anne T.and Robert M. Bass Professor ofGovernment, as their guest speaker for a lunch seminar they organized last summer.
SPRING 2005
4
O ver one hundred faculty and students
participated in the MD-PhD Program’s
Annual Retreat last October 2004 at
Waterville Valley, New Hampshire.
Dr. Anne B. Young, Julieanne Dorn profes-
sor of neurology at HMS and the chief of neu-
rology service at MGH, delivered the Eva J.
Neer Memorial Lecture, “Huntington’s
Disease: From the Shores of Lake Maracaibo to
the Clinic.” Dr.Young who holds MD and PhD
degrees from Johns Hopkins, delivered a won-
derful talk that stretched from bench to bed-
side, summarizing her work on finding fami-
lies with Huntington’s disease, mapping the
gene, studying the gene function, and now
moving to developing therapeutics that might
slow neuronal degeneration.
Senior students who gave oral presentations
were Jakob Begun, Martin Burke, Irene Chen,
Christopher Connor, Jean-Marc Gauguet, Arlo
Miller, and Bradley Molyneaux. An exciting
faculty discussion on stem cell research was
moderated by Jeffrey D. Macklis, MD, associate
professor of medicine (MGH): “Science,
Politics, and Applications of Stem Cell
Research.”
On Sunday morning, Drs. Maria Rupnick,
Joel Hirschhorn, Denisa Wagner and Chris A
Walsh led a discussion with the students on
how to choose a research problem. Everything
from the differences between Bacon and
Aristotle’s theories of knowledge, to the burn-
ing question of how to get out of the lab before
your hair turns gray, was discussed.
The general principles provided again by
Dr. Hirschhorn for this article are:
Ask important questionsBe passionate about your questions or your fieldof inquiry or your approachExpose yourself to other ideas
Be aware of different types of experiments/proj-ects: hypothesis-testing (“Gallilean”) vs. descrip-tive (“Baconian”), which can give unexpectedresults (but, “you can’t plan unexpected results”)
“Class I” experiments: No matter how theyturn out, the answer is interesting. Descriptiveexperiments, or experiments in new fields areoften class I
“Class II” experiments: If the experiment comesout one way, you learn something, but the otherresult is uninformative“Class III” experiments: No matter how itcomes out, you learn nothing.
Do as many class I experiments as you can andavoid class III experiments.
The retreat event capped the end of theprogram’s year long celebration of 30 years ofcontinuous NIH grant support from theMedical Scientists Training Program (MSTP)Grant. Other sponsors for the 2004 retreatincluded Novartis Institutes for BioMedicalResearch,Inc, Abbott Laboratories, GenzymeCorporation, Invitrogen Life TechnologiesCorporation, Merck Research Laboratories,New England BioLabs, Inc, Praecis,Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Schering-PloughResearch Institute.
HARVARD MD-PHD PROGRAM n e w s l e t t e r
At left, retreat participants; upper right, Ilya Leskov and Salil Garg; middle, Irene Chen;lower right, Drs. Anne Young and Chris Walsh.
PHOTOS BY MOSHE JAKUBOWSKI AND LINDA BURNLEY
Celebrating 30 yearsRetreat participants celebrate theprogram’s 30th birthday year
SPRING 2005
5HARVARD MD-PHD PROGRAM n e w s l e t t e r
Thanks to the generous support of the UCSD MD-PhD program,
I had the opportunity to attend the 2004 “Days of Molecular
Medicine” Conference at the Wellcome Trust Institute Genome
Sequencing Campus in Hinxton, UK from March 18-20 hosted by
Nature Medicine, UCSD and the Wellcome Trust. The theme for this
meeting was Integrative Physiology and Human Disease: Neurohormonal
and Metabolic Pathways. Fittingly, the symbol of the conference incor-
porated an integral to the surprise of us with technical backgrounds.
My arrival in England began the day prior to the conference with a visit
to Tate Britain in London before departing for Cambridge, a thorough-
ly historical and aesthetic experience before embarking on a weekend
of cutting-edge science.
The conference was hosted by Steve O’Rahilly of Cambridge
University (UK), who stressed the importance of physiological under-
standing to the biomedical research conducted by the attendees. In this
current rethinking of metabolism within the context of genetic regula-
tion, the field of metabolic disease must vanquish resistance to physiol-
ogy, the dreaded “P” word for many administrators and grant evalua-
tors. The meeting promptly began with a keynote address by Jeffrey
Friedman (Rockefeller) of leptin fame, in a presentation entitled
“Molecular Physiology of Human Obesity and Related Metabolic
Diseases.” In a very eclectic and encompassing style, the discoverer of
leptin deconstructed the social and clinical perceptions of obesity and
the important role of physician researchers in developing therapy for
obesity that will eventually update our classification from personal
choice to disease While quoting Lavoisier and Shakespeare in relating
the importance of energy balance and the stigmatization of obesity,
Professor Friedman carefully highlighted the intricate interplay among
brain, fat, liver and muscle in the development of obesity. His analogy
of leptin resistance and obesity with insulin resistance and diabetes
bridged the physiology of metabolic syndrome in setting the stage for a
weekend of engaging scientific discussion.
The first session focused on the hypothalamic control of feeding and
energy expenditure. Harvard University’s Terry Maratos-Flier gave an
interesting presentation on the role of melanin-concentrating hormone
(MCH) as an important mediator of the obese phenotype in a leptin-
deficient mouse model of obesity. Other notables in this session includ-
ed Roger Cone (OHSU), Luciano Rosetti (AECOM) and David
Cummings (U. Washington). Subsequently the DMM Forum show-
cased research around the globe to improve communications among
scientists and possible scholarly collaborations. In a unique presenta-
tion, Kari Steffansson presented deCODE Genetics’ latest work identi-
fying ALOX5AP allelic susceptibility to stroke in the Icelandic popula-
tion. The forum included presenters from India, Pakistan, Estonia and
other areas where the Wellcome Trust is involved in promoting medical
research. The following day, the conference approached the field of
intracellular mechanisms that regulate food intake through the under-
standing of transcription factors and signaling cascades. Harvard’s own
Bruce Spiegelman presented work on genomic analysis of PGC-1a-
dependent oxidative phosphorylation in diabetic muscle.
With focus on biological and signal integration, the following ses-
sions exposed the dialogue of muscle, fat and liver in the development
of metabolic disease. Barbara Kahn (Harvard) presented exciting
results on the role of leptin-mediated inhibition of AMP-kinase in the
hypothalamus and its importance on regulating food intake in mice. In
addition, Gerald Shulman (Yale) communicated NMR human studies
on impaired mitochondrial activity in the insulin-resistant offspring of
Type 2 Diabetics. Gary Ruvkun (Harvard) discussed RNAi models for
insulin signaling in C. elegans. Other presenters included Leif Groop
(Lund), Steve O’Rahilly (Cambridge), Takashi Kadowaki (Tokyo) and
Markus Stoffel (Rockefeller).
The 2004 “Days of Molecular Medicine” allowed me to bask in cur-
rent translational research for the treatment of obesity, diabetes and
metabolic disease. I met MD-PhD students from various universities
around the world who shared a passion for understanding the intrica-
cies of metabolism for the benefit of future patients. Likewise, faculty
members at the meeting were accessible and supportive of combined
degree education and bench-to-bedside research. Increasing interplay
between disciplines to translate medical advances in metabolism from
laboratory to the clinic was evident
in the enthusiastic attendance at the
conference and the intellectual
exchange among the participants. I
feel confident that MD-PhD educa-
tion will allow me to seize strengths
from medicine and science to fur-
ther solidify the role of physician-
scientists in understanding meta-
bolic disorders by uttering the “P”
word of physiology.
Jose Aleman is a second-year Castle
student doing his PhD at MIT in
HST MEMP.
REFERENCES:
Editorial. “Days of Molecular Medicine 2004.” Nat Med. 2004 ay;10(5):437.
Friedman JM. “Modern science vs. the stigma of obesity.” Nat Med. 2004
Jun;10(6):563-9
The “P” wordBY JOSÉ O.ALEMÅN
José O. Aleman
SPRING 2005
6
For the RecordCurrent Student Awards and HonorsDavid Berry received the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for innovation andinvention in February 2005. He also won the $1k competition at MIT inDecember 2004.
Irene Chen received the 2005 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Awardsponsored by the Basic Sciences Division of Fred Hutchinson Cancer ResearchCenter. The award is sponsored by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centerand is given to 15 students internationally. Chen will participate in a scientificsymposium from May 6 to 7 at the research center.
Jeremy Greene was awarded the 2004Shryock Medal by the AmericanAssociation for the History ofMedicine and the 2002 Roy PorterEssay Prize by the Society for theSocial History of Medicine.
John Hanna was a recipient of the2004 Karnovsky Fellowship offered bythe Harvard Faculty of Arts andSciences.
Ben Sommers was awarded theNational Science Foundation (NSF)Graduate Fellowship in Ecomonics(2004-05) and the Dean’s Award for
Excellence in Student Teaching, John F. Kennedy School of Government–HarvardUniversity (2003-04).
Zuzana Tothova was awarded the Presidential Fellowship by PresidentSummers, for her PhD study in the BBS program within Harvard University’sGraduate School of Arts and Sciences–Division of Medical Sciences.
Recent Publications
Ali MH, Taylor CM, Grigoryan G, Allen KN, Imperiali B, Keating AE. Design of a Heterospecific, Tetrameric, 21-Residue Miniprotein with Mixed alpha/betaStructure. Structure (Camb). 2005 Feb;13(2):225-34.
Begun J, Sifri CD, Goldman S, Calderwood SB, Ausubel FM. Staphylococcusaureus virulence factors identified by using a high-throughput Caenorhabditiselegans-killing model. Infect Immun. 2005 Feb;73(2):872-7.
Suh KY, Yang JM, Khademhosseini A, Berry D, Tran TN, Park H, Langer RCharacterization of chemisorbed hyaluronic acid directly immobilized on solidsubstrates. J Biomed Mater Res B Appl Biomater. 2005 Feb 15;72(2):292-8.
Berry D, Lynn DM, Sasisekharan R, Langer R. Poly(beta-amino ester)s promotecellular uptake of heparin and cancer cell death. Chem Biol. 2004 Apr;11(4):487-98.
Chyung JH, Raper DM, Selkoe DJ. {gamma}-Secretase Exists on the PlasmaMembrane as an Intact Complex That Accepts Substrates and Effects Intra-membrane Cleavage. J Biol Chem. 2005 Feb 11;280(6):4383-92. Epub 2004 Nov 29.
Coffee MP, Garnett GP, Mlilo M, Voeten HA, Chandiwana S, Gregson S. Patternsof movement and risk of HIV infection in rural Zimbabwe. J Infect Dis. 2005 Feb1;191 Suppl 1:S159-67.
Currier SC, Lee CK, Chang BS, Bodell AL, Pai GS, Job L, Lagae LG, Al-Gazali LI,Eyaid WM, Enns G, Dobyns WB, Walsh CA. Mutations in POMT1 are found in a minority of patients with Walker-Warburg syndrome. Am J Med Genet A. 2005Jan 6;133A(1):53-57.
Manke IA, Nguyen A, Lim D, Stewart MQ, Elia AE, Yaffe MB. MAPKAP kinase-2is a cell cycle checkpoint kinase that regulates the G2/M transition and S phaseprogression in response to UV irradiation. Mol Cell. 2005 Jan 7;17(1):37-48.
Greene JA. An ethnography of nonadherence: culture, poverty, and tuberculosisin urban Bolivia. Cult Med Psychiatry. 2004 Sep;28(3):401-25.
Greene, JA. Therapeutic Infidelities: Noncompliance Enters the MedicalLiterature: 1955-1975. Soc Hist Med 2004 17: 327-343.
Elsasser S, Chandler-Militello D, Muller B, Hanna J, Finley D. Rad23 and Rpn10serve as alternative ubiquitin receptors for the proteasome. J Biol Chem. 2004 Jun 25;279(26):26817-22. Epub 2004 Apr 26.
Lin KY, Lin SC. A tale of two molecules: nitric oxide and asymmetric dimethy-larginine. Acta Cardiologica Sinica 2004;20:201-11.
Mills CE, Robins JM, Lipsitch M. Transmissibility of 1918 pandemic influenza.Nature. 2004 Dec 16;432(7019):904-6.
Miyamoto DT, Perlman ZE, Burbank KS, Groen AC, Mitchison TJ. The kinesinEg5 drives poleward microtubule flux in Xenopus laevis egg extract spindles. JCell Biol. 2004 Dec 6;167(5):813-8.
Arlotta P*, Molyneaux BJ*, Chen J, Inoue J, Kominami R, Macklis JD. NeuronalSubtype-Specific Genes that Control Corticospinal Motor Neuron DevelopmentIn Vivo. Neuron. 2005 Jan 20;45(2):207-21.
Lin Z, Kumar A, Senbanerjee S, Staniszewski K, Parmar K, Vaughan DE,Gimbrone MA Jr, Balasubramanian V, Garcia-Cardena G, Jain MK. Kruppel-LikeFactor 2 (KLF2) Regulates Endothelial Thrombotic Function. Circ Res. 2005 Feb17; [Epub ahead of print].
Evans EE, Roeder RKW, Carter JA, Rapoport BI. Homoclinic tangles, bifurca-tions and edge stochasticity in diverted tokamaks. Contributions to PlasmaPhysics April 2004 44 (1-3): 235-240.
Dillon CP, Sandy P, Nencioni A, Kissler S, Rubinson DA, Van Parijs L Rnai as anexperimental and therapeutic tool to study and regulate physiological and dis-ease processes. Annu Rev Physiol. 2005;67:147-73.
Seeburg DP, Pak D, Sheng M. Polo-like kinases in the nervous system. Oncogene.2005 Jan 10;24(2):292-8.
Seeburg DP, Liu X, Chen C. Frequency-dependent modulation of retinogenicu-late transmission by serotonin. J Neurosci. 2004 Dec 1;24(48):10950-62.
Zhu PP, Patterson A, Stadler J, Seeburg DP, Sheng M, Blackstone C. Intra- andintermolecular domain interactions of the C-terminal GTPase effector domainof the multimeric dynamin-like GTPase Drp1. J Biol Chem. 2004 Aug20;279(34):35967-74. Epub 2004 Jun 18.
Sommers BD.Who really pays for health insurance? The incidence of employer-provided health insurance with sticky nominal wages. Int J Health Care FinanceEcon. 2005 Mar;5(1):89-118.
Sommers B. From Medicaid to Uninsured: Drop-Out among Children in PublicInsurance Programs. Health Serv Res. 2005 Feb;40(1):59-78.
Taniguchi CM, Ueki K, Kahn CR. Complementary roles of IRS-1 and IRS-2 inthe hepatic regulation of metabolism. J Clin Invest. 2005 Feb 10; [Epub ahead ofprint].
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(*= equal contributors)
John Hanna and Dr. Joel Hirschhorn atthe program’s annual retreat last fall.
HARVARD MD-PHD PROGRAM n e w s l e t t e r SPRING 2005
7
Special Events
HARVARD MD-PHD PROGRAM n e w s l e t t e rSPRING 2005
Anna Farago, Ruth Foreman, Elizabeth Stover, and ZuzanaTothova outside the Salk Institute while attending the 2005 Days of Molecular Medicine Conference in March. Ashu Jadhavalso attended the conference. The topic was “Stem Cell Biologyand Human Disease.”
At the 10th annual MD-PhD women’s dinner hosted last December by Dr. Anne Young. Left to right: Rochelle Witt, Dr. Cammie Lesser, Jenny Chang and Savita Dandapani.
Annual Spring Dinner June 7
Commencement June 9
Summer Course Begins July 6
23rd Annual Retreat Oct. 14-16
Save the DateNote these upcoming program events
PhDs Completed 2004-05David A. Berry, Health Sciences and Technology, Biological Engineering at MIT. [RobertLanger, Ph.D.] Glycosaminoglycan regulation of cell function (4/05).
Vassilios J. Bezzerides, Health Sciences and Technology, Biophysics (GSAS) at HarvardUniversity [David Clapham, M.D., Ph.D.] Rapid Translocation of the TRPC5 IonChannel: Implications for Growth Cone Motility (6/04).
Emanuela Binello, Health Sciences and Technology, Medical Engineering and MedicalPhysics- Nuclear Engineering at MIT [Richard Mitchell, M.D., Ph.D.] Role of PeroxisomeProliferator-activated Receptors in Mechanisms of Rejection in Heart Transplantation(5/04).
Jay H. Chyung, Holmes, Neuroscience at Harvard University [Dennis Selkoe, M.D.] Cellsurface events in the amyloidogenic processing of the amyloid precursor protein (9/04).
Jason I. Comander, Health Sciences and Technology, BBS-Cell and Develpmental Biology(DMS) at Harvard University [Michael Gimbrone, M.D.] Transcriptional and FunctionalModulation of the Endothelial Cell Inflammatory Response by a BiomechanicalStimulus (10/04).
Sophie C. Currier, Health Sciences and Technology, Neuroscience at Harvard University[Chris Walsh, M.D., Ph.D.] Genetics of Walker-Warburg Syndrome A Disorder of Brain,Muscle and Eye Development (6/04).
Thomas A.S. Deuel, Health Sciences and Technology, Neuroscience at Harvard University[Chris Walsh, M.D., Ph.D.] Doublecortin and the Doublecortin-like Kinase in CNSDevelopment and Plasticity (8/04).
Jean-Marc Gauguet, Health Sciences and Technology, BBS-Pathology (DMS) at HarvardUniversity [Ulrich R. von Andrian, Ph.D., M.D.] Normal and Malignant LymphocyteMigration: Glycosyltransferases and Integrins in Lymphocyte Homing & CXCR4 Inhibitionof Multiple Myeloma (4/05)
Yonatan H. Grad, Health Sciences and Technology, BBS-Genetics (DMS) at HarvardUniversity [George Church, Ph.D.] Computational analysis and prediction of regulatorysequences in bilaterians (5/04).
Jeremy A. Greene, Castle, History of Science (GSAS), at Harvard University [AllanBrandt, Ph.D.] The Therapeutic Transition: Pharmaceuticals and the Marketing ofChronic Disease (5/04).
Sanjiv Harpavat, Cannon, Neuroscience at Harvard University [Constance Cepko, Ph.D.]Roles of Thyroid Hormones in Chick Retinal Development (10/04).
Ashutosh P. Jadhav, Health Sciences and Technology, BBS-Genetics (DMS) at HarvardUniversity [Connie Cepko, Ph.D.] Regulation of vertebrate retinal development by the Notchsignaling pathway (4/05).
Arlo J. Miller, Holmes, BBS-Cell and Developmental Biology (DMS) at HarvardUniversity [David Fisher, M.D., Ph.D.] The Regulation of Melanoma Antigens by theMicrophthalmia Transcription Factor (5/04).
David T. Miyamoto, Health Sciences and Technology, BBS-Cell and DevelopmentalBiology (DMS) at Harvard University [Timothy Mitchison, Ph.D.] Probing the Functionsof Kinesins in Mitosis (9/04).
Sahar Nissim, Peabody, BBS-Cell and Developmental Biology (DMS) at Harvard University[Clifford Tabin, Ph.D.] Signaling Centers in Early Limb Development (4/05)
Benjamin D. Sommers, Holmes, Health Policy (GSAS), at Harvard University [Joseph P.Newhouse, Ph.D.] The dynamics of public and private health insurance coverage in theUnited States (3/05).
Jonathan S. Thierman, Health Sciences and Technology, Medical Engineering andMedical Physics at MIT [Kullervo Hynynen, Ph.D.] Sources of Difference FrequencySound in a Dual-Frequency Imaging System with Implications for Monitoring ThermalSurgery (9/04).
Lisa Zakhary, Castle, Neuroscience (DMS) at Harvard University [Catherine Dulac, Ph.D.]Anatomical and Functional Analysis of MicroRNAs in Mammalian Olfactory Neurogenesis(4/05).
