January 27, 2006

In General

Rebecca Betensky, of the MGH Biostatistics Center, received the annual Mortimer Spiegelman Award from the American Public Health Association (APHA) Statistics Section, the oldest and largest organization of public health professionals in the world. The award recognizes an outstanding public health statistician under the age of 40.

Sekar Kathiresan, MD, of MGH Cardiology, and Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, of MGH Medicine, were two of the recipients of the 2005 Clinical Scientist Development Awards given by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The award program supports junior physician-scientists in making the critical and challenging transition to an independent researcher. Award recipients work in the fields of cancer, AIDS, cardiovascular disease, sickle cell anemia and other blood disorders.

John A. Parrish, MD, chief of MGH Dermatology and director of the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology (CIMIT), has been elected to the Board of Directors for the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI). The NSBRI — funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration — is a
consortium of institutions studying the health risks of long-duration space flight. Projects address concerns such as bone and muscle loss, cardiovascular changes, immunology and infection.