July 13, 2007

Celebrating 10 years of the Claflin Awards

The first 10 years of the Claflin Distinguished Scholar Awards were celebrated June 21 at a gala luncheon under the Bulfinch Tent. Named in honor of Jane Claflin, MGH honorary trustee and co-chair of the Women in Academic Medicine Committee, the two-year grants support MGH women researchers who also have young children.

Representing the Executive Committee on Research, Daniel Haber, MD, PhD, director of the MGH Cancer Center, said, "The Claflin Awards are designed to benefit women faculty precisely at the most vulnerable stage of their careers, when they feel the competing pressures to care for young children and the need for research productivity in the academic world." Nancy Tarbell, MD, director of the MGH Office of Women's Careers and Center for Faculty Development, noted that recipients from the program's first nine years, who received awards totaling $2.1 million, went on to procure more than $51 million in subsequent funding from outside sources.

Standing, from left, Slavin, Cudkowitz, Tarbell and Haber; seated, Claflin

Claflin Award recipient Merit Cudkowitz, MD, said that her 1998 award came when she needed it most, with two small children and growing career expectations. Now the director of Neurology Clinical Trials at the MGH, she explained, "The awards send the message that not only is it all right to balance a research career with family, but it also is acceptable to receive support to do so."

Many of the speakers cited Claflin's tireless work on behalf of the hospital and other women on the clinical and research staff. "Jane is at the top of the list of volunteers who've made the greatest impact on the hospital," says Peter L. Slavin, MD, MGH president. "No cause has been more important to her than the careers of our women faculty."