Around BIDMC

Holiday Food Drive
BIDMC Receives Commuter Award
“Talkin’ Turkey” About Advance Directives
MAFCU To Extend Branch Hours, Offers Member Appreciation Day
Staff Appointments
Breast Cancer Team Honored
Employees of the Quarter
Share the Holiday Spirit with Families in Need
Golfing for a Good Cause
Summer Program in Clinical Effectiveness

Annual Longwood Medical Area/Mission Hill
and Fenway Holiday Food Drive
- Nov. 24 to Dec. 3 (Note new end date!)

Please help the BIDMC Office of Community Relations provide food to our neighbors in Mission Hill and the Fenway who are in need, by bringing food to boxes in locations throughout BIDMC. Suggested donations include canned soups, meats and tuna, peanut butter and boxed goods. No bottled items please. All food collected will be sent to the ABCD Parker Hill/Fenway Food Pantry.

Dropoff Locations:

-- Ullian Dining Area (east campus cafeteria)

-- West Campus Cafeteria

-- Renaissance 8th Floor (PSN area)

-- 109 Brookline Ave. (2nd and 3rd floor common areas)

Information: Jane Matlaw, Director of Community Relations, at (66)7-7320


BIDMC Receives Commuter Award

Recently a coalition of business, government and human resources organizations in New England named BIDMC one of New England's 83 Best Workplaces for Commuters. The list spotlights New England employers offering superior commuter benefits to employees, thereby reducing traffic and air pollution and improving quality of life for commuters. BIDMC's Commuter Services Office provides many benefits for staff, including subsidies for off-site parking, shuttle services, MBTA passes, carpools and vanpools. BIDMC also offers several commuter programs in affiliation with MASCO (Medical Academic and Scientific Community Organization, Inc.), including CommuteWorks, which provides information on commuting alternatives for employees of member institutions in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area (LMA). BIDMC employees who currently park their cars in the LMA may want to consider MASCO's "Three for Free" Program, which offers three free monthly MBTA passes to employees who give up their parking spaces and try public transportation for three months. (Employees can take back their parking spaces at the end of three months if they choose). For more information on the "Three for Free" Program, contact Commuter Services at (66)7-3035.


“Talkin’ Turkey” About Advance Directives

The day after Thanksgiving has been designated Advance Directive Day in Massachusetts. This holiday provides the opportunity for health care providers to “talk turkey” about these important documents, which contain instructions on how a patient wants his or her care to be managed, should he or she become incapacitated.

In preparation, the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Ethics Support Service and Social Work Department will pass out advance directive packets for health care providers. The assumption is that providers who have completed health care proxy forms of their own are more likely to ask their patients and/or family members to also complete them.

Distribution will take place Mon., Nov. 24, Tues., Nov. 25 and Wed., Nov. 26 during lunchtime at the East and West campus cafeterias. Representatives from the New England Organ Bank will also be on hand with information on organ donation.

Please join us while we “talk turkey”.

For more information, please contact Nancy Julian at (66)7-7467.


MAFCU To Extend Branch Hours,
Offer Member Appreciation Day

For members' convenience, the Medical Area Federal Credit Union will be open until 5:30 p.m. every Thursday starting Dec. 4.

The public is also invited to attend MAFCU Member Appreciation Day on Thurs., Dec. 11 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
MAFCU Lobby, 221 Longwood Avenue
Stop by to learn more about the Credit Union and for prizes, raffles, giveaways, and refreshments.


Staff Appointments


Christopher A. Walsh, M.D., Ph.D., the Bullard Professor of Neurology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, has been appointed director of the Harvard Medical School M.D./Ph.D. Program. Walsh became a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator in 2002, in addition to serving on the clinical staffs of BIDMC and Children's Hospital Boston and directing the Comprehensive Brain Malformation Program. He received a combined M.D./Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and completed a neurology residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and a fellowship in Genetics at Harvard.


Virginia K. Cummings, M.D., now leads the Geriatrics Program at Milton Hospital as part of the hospital’s recent clinical affiliation with BIDMC. The program offers care for geriatric patients requiring inpatient, rehabilitation, long-term and outpatient services. Cummings will remain on the faculty of BIDMC’s gerontology division, where she directs the long-term care program. She will also provide care in Milton-area nursing homes and long-term care facilities. Referrals: 617-696-8809

Lawrence J. Ray has been appointed vice president, research operations. Ray most recently served as program administrator for clinical sciences for the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and played an integral role in creating the center in 1999. Before coming to Boston, Ray held positions of increasing responsibility at the National Cancer Institute, and received the National Institutes of Health Director’s Award in 1996. He replaces Michael Goldrich, who has become executive vice president/COO for the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative in New York.

Stuart A. Rosenberg, M.D., has been named president and CEO of Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians (HMFP), BIDMC’s academic multispecialty group of 750 physicians. Rosenberg is former president and CEO of the University of Texas Southwestern Health Systems. A board-certified rheumatologist, Rosenberg will also serve as a member of BIDMC’s division of rheumatology in the department of medicine. Robert C. Moellering, Jr., M.D., chairman of the department of medicine, will continue to serve HMFP as chairman of the board.

Gillian K. Wies, M.D., has been appointed director, Healthcare Associates (HCA) Psychiatry. Wies has been an active member of HCA since 2001. In her new role, she will oversee HCA’s clinical, administrative and educational activities in psychiatry.

Christopher Smith, M.D., has been named associate program director in the department of medicine. He will work closely with Program Director Eileen Reynolds, M.D., and others to maintain the exceptional level of excellence of BIDMC’s medical residency. Smith is a former chief medical resident at BIDMC, a graduate of the Rabkin Fellowship in Medical Education of the Carl J. Shapiro Institute for Education and Research, and most recently associate medical director of HCA. In addition to his new position, he will continue as associate firm chief of the Blumgart Medical Firm.


Breast Cancer Team Honored

The Beth Israel Deaconess Breast Cancer Team was a finalist for the 2003 Compassionate Caregiver of the Year Award, given by the Kenneth B. Schwartz Center, a nonprofit organization that seeks to strengthen the relationship between patients and caregivers. The Breast Cancer team was cited for their extraordinary compassion in dealing with patients. Representing the multidisciplinary team of physicians, oncology nurses, support staff and social workers at the Schwartz Center’s Oct. 23 annual dinner were Susan Cohen; Susan Troyan, M.D.; Judy Hirshfield-Bartek, R.N., M.S.; and Hester Hill Schnipper, L.I.C.S.W.


Employees of the Quarter

Three members of BIDMC’s Hotel Services staff have been named “Employees of the Quarter”: Mirsada Sarotic, food services, was recognized for her great work ethic and upbeat and positive attitude. She gets along well with co-workers, and covers positions on both BIDMC campuses. Grantley Weekes, patient transport, always goes the extra mile by comforting patients. He is praised by nurse managers, nurses and his staff members as a flexible team player. Maria Mendes, environmental services, is a new member of the housekeeping team. Since joining the staff, she has consistently provided high-quality service to the OR non-surgical areas.

Share the Holiday Spirit with Families in Need

BIDMC’s Community Caring gift-giving program helps needy children and families enjoy the holidays by providing them with presents and grocery store gift certificates. Providers and outreach workers from BIDMC’s affiliated community health centers identify families in need, and work with them to develop a gift “wish list.” Last year, BIDMC employees and Board members provided gifts to more than 500 children and their families. This is an excellent group activity for departments and is much appreciated by our patients. This year you can once again purchase “wish-list” gifts to share the holiday spirit with our health center patients. Information: Wendy Clayton at (66)7-0598 or wclayton@caregroup.harvard.edu. All gifts must be delivered to the Community Benefits Office in Gryzmish 634 by Dec. 16 so that they can be delivered to the families.


Golfing for a Good Cause

Garber Travel sponsored its annual Golf Outing for corporate clients at Shaker Hills Golf Club on Oct. 9, 2003. This year’s tournament honored the memory of past President, Lou Garber. Proceeds from the raffle prizes benefited the Cancer Research Fund at BIDMC, which supports research by Roger Lange, M.D., hematology/oncology.  Lange supervised Garber’s care in 1979 as well as in 2002.

Pictured above:  Roz Garber, widow of Lou Garber, and now President of Garber Travel, presents a check for more than $12,000 to Lange.


Summer Program in Clinical Effectiveness -- Application Deadline Feb. 1, 2004

The Program in Clinical Effectiveness, July 1 to Aug. 13, 2004, is a Joint Program of Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health, Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. It is designed for clinicians seeking the quantitative and analytic skills needed for clinical research or who are interested in health care administration.

The Program begins with an intensive seven-week, 15-credit program of  summer-long core courses in Introduction to Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Participants also select two half-summer courses from offerings in Decision Analysis, Current Issues in Health Policy, Medical Informatics, Health Care Ethics, Quality Improvement in Health Care, Development of Questionnaires to Measure the Outcomes of Health Care, Implementing Prevention, Survey of Methods and Applications in Health  Services Research and Using Large Databases for Research. Students with previous experience may enroll in  second-level courses in Analytic Issues of Clinical Epidemiology, Principles of Clinical Trials, and Survival Methods in Clinical Research.

Students are limited to 15 credits for a single summer but can take additional courses in a second summer. Qualified students may apply to a degree-granting program at the Harvard School of Public Health, before or after completion of the summer program.  Accepted students can apply their summer credits to either a Master of Science degree or a Master of Public Health degree.

Information and application:  http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/clineff or Barbara C. Rosen at  617-732-5648 or brosen@partners.org.