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Red Sox Scholars Line-Up Announced


Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield with Red Sox Scholar Lois Gordon (center) and BIDMC Mentor Andrea Williams, social work.

The air crackled with excitement as 25 Medical Mentors — nurses, physicians, social workers and other health professionals at BIDMC — took the field at Fenway Park with 25 Boston public middle school students and 25 Red Sox players. Stretching along the first base line, they kicked off the inaugural class of Red Sox Scholars.

Over the next five years, mentors, students and players will be paired in a program of interactive educational and social activities, including Shadow Days at Fenway Park and BIDMC’s clinical and surgical areas. Each year, another 25 academically talented, underprivileged students will each receive a $5,000 college scholarship, funded by the Red Sox Foundation. BIDMC is the presenting sponsor of the project that includes BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life) and the Boston public schools.

“How proud we are of the people from BIDMC who have volunteered to mentor these students,” said BIDMC Chairman Carl Sloane, who joined Red Sox principal owner John W. Henry and team president and CEO Larry Lucchino in congratulating the Scholars during ceremonies prior to the Sept. 16 game with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (the Red Sox won). “We are looking forward to working with these young people, to offer them a glimpse into the world of medicine, along with a steady hand.”

“These people have navigated the road,” Charles Steinberg, DDS, Red Sox vice president of public affairs, said of the mentors. “They are willing to give their time, which is their most valuable asset.”



-Jerry Berger

For the names of BIDMC's Medical Mentors -- and more photos from the event -- click here


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Published monthly for the people of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to build community, communicate direction, foster pride and recognize accomplishments.

Produced by Beth Israel Deaconess communications, (66)7-7300

managing editor:
   Valerie Hope Goldstein
print layout & design:
   Jen McGrath; Jane Hayward
web layout & design:
   Jim Dwyer
contributing writer:
Lori Howley
contributing photographers:
Oran Barber, Bruce Wahl



© BIDMC, Boston, MA, USA, 2003. All rights reserved. Material may be reproduced only with the express written consent of communications.

 

 

 














BIDMC, Joslin Team Up To Fight Diabetes

BIDMC has signed a five-year joint venture agreement with Joslin Clinic, one of the world’s top centers for diabetes research, care and education. The agreement expands the institutions’ longstanding collaboration by strengthening diabetes treatment and education programs, increasing specialty services for the 30,000 patients with diabetes the institutions treat annually, and integrating management and clinical programs.

“This represents more than an alliance between our two institutions…it’s an opportunity to improve the lives of people with diabetes,” says C. Ronald Kahn, M.D., president and director of the Joslin Diabetes Center. “With an epidemic of diabetes upon us, there has never been a more critical time to advance diabetes care.” Adds Robert Moellering, M.D., chairman of the department of medicine at BIDMC, “What we’re talking about is a synergistic relationship — a relationship where the net result is greater than the sum of its parts.”
Under the agreement, Joslin and BIDMC will provide a spectrum of multidisciplinary diabetes care, ranging from personalized disease management to specialized cardiovascular, ophthalmologic and pregnancy care and patient education. One highlight is the joint creation of collaborative clinical practice approaches to prevent and treat diabetes and its complications:

- A diabetes and cardiovascular disease program at BIDMC will address care for the many patients with diabetes who suffer from cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease. BIDMC and Joslin clinicians are developing a screening tool to identify patients with diabetes who are at risk for heart disease, so as to refer them for cardiology care at BIDMC.

- Patients at BIDMC will have increased access to the most advanced diabetes-related eye care available at the Joslin Clinic’s Beetham Eye Institute.

- BIDMC will collaborate with Joslin on clinical trials of islet cell transplantation and other research as part of BIDMC’s ongoing, active kidney and pancreas transplantation program. The medical center already collaborates with Joslin Clinic on a Diabetes and Pregnancy Program for women who have diabetes and become pregnant, and for women with gestational diabetes. Together they will create programs to prevent and treat obesity, a major risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes.

- Joslin faculty will staff a diabetes hospital consult service at BIDMC, available around-the-clock to clinicians treating inpatients with diabetes.

- Joslin and BIDMC will collaborate on training clinicians in endocrinology and diabetes; vascular surgery for diabetes complications; clinical endocrinology; nephrology; mental health; podiatry services and patient education.

The partnership also will allow for integration in key administrative areas, including the sharing of HIPAA-compliant electronic clinical information systems, which will streamline consults and improve access to specialists. While the two institutions will remain separate entities, a joint board will oversee the joint venture agreement.

Says BIDMC President and CEO Paul Levy, “We’re all just very excited about the fact that this is happening. We look forward to a very, very fruitful partnership for years to come.”