Around BIDMC
Ask Be Well
Calendar
Heart and Soul
In Memoriam
In the News
JCAHO: Safety Focus

BIDMC today Home

Around BIDMC

Staff Appointments
Saluting Our Laboratory Professionals
Rabkin Fellows Announced
BIDMC's Environmental Awareness Day is April 29
April is National Donate Life Month

Staff Appointments Gordon Strewler, M.D., has been appointed vice chair for clinical and educational affairs in the department of medicine. An endocrinologist with an interest in bone and mineral metabolism, Strewler spent many years on the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco, before returning to Boston to serve as chief of the medical service at the West Roxbury VA Medical Center and, later, as co-chief for the merged VA Boston Healthcare System. He joined BIDMC’s division of endocrinology in 2001 and is Master of the Walter B. Cannon Society at Harvard Medical School. Douglas W. Hanto, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.C.S., chief of BIDMC’s division of transplantation, has been appointed Lewis Thomas chair and professor at HMS. The chair supports the research of a professor studying transplant immunology.

Saluting Our Laboratory Professionals
BIDMC will celebrate National Medical Laboratory Week, April 18-24, in recognition of the critically important work performed by the medical center’s more than 300 laboratory technologists and support staff. There will be festivities for laboratory staff and displays in the cases outside of both cafeterias honoring them. Come learn about the work these quiet heroes do behind the scenes 24/7 to save patients’ lives.


Rabkin Fellows Announced
The Shapiro Institute for Education and Research is pleased to announce the academic year 2004-2005 Rabkin Fellows in Medical Education. BIDMC physicians Jennifer Beach, M.D., general medicine, and Daniel B. Jones, M.D., section chief for minimally invasive surgical services, were selected as fellows, along with Lori Berkowitz, M.D., ob/gyn, Massachusetts General Hospital; Jatin Dave, M.D., medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Diane Fingold, M.D., medicine, MGH; and David Ting, M.D., medicine/pediatrics, MGH/BWH/Children’s Hospital Boston. The Rabkin Fellowship was established in 1998 to provide faculty with dedicated time to develop further the expertise and skills needed to launch or advance academic careers in medical education and/or academic administration. Charles Hatem, M.D., Beth Lown, M.D., and Mitchell Rabkin, M.D., serve as teachers and mentors.


BIDMC’s Environmental
Awareness Day is April 29

Get in the reduce, reuse, recycle spirit during BIDMC’s annual “Healthy Work/Healthy Home” Day:

Attend a breakfast roundtable (9:00 to 10:30 a.m., Shapiro 10) with environmental experts and Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey. Must pre-register with Community Relations at (66)7-7323. Sponsored by Triumvirate Environmental.

Visit environmental awareness fairs (7:30 to 9:00 a.m., Shapiro-Kirstein Bridge; 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., West Campus Clinical Center Lobby).

Bring items you want to recycle or dispose of safely, including broken or working cell phones (we will donate them to a local shelter), mercury thermometers, cadmium and lithium batteries, and magazines.

Get information about BIDMC’s contributions to a healthy workplace and community.

Enter raffles for prizes, including Red Sox tickets.

Check out the energy efficient Toyota Prius hybrid car (outside of Kirstein in the morning, and in Joslin Park in the afternoon).

Attend a symposium (11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Shapiro 10) on “Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) and Healthcare Practices” Must pre-register. Go to http://www.premierinc.com/safety for the registration form. Sponsored by Premier, Inc.

More information: Community Relations at (66)7-7323 or jmatlaw@bidmc.harvard.edu

April is National Donate Life Month

There are more than 84,000 people nationwide waiting for an organ transplant (see graph, below). Last year, 25,448 transplants were performed using organs from both deceased and living donors. While organ donation in 2003 was at the highest rate in five years, approximately 16 people die each day waiting for a transplant.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center supports the Department of Health and Human Services' designation of April as National Donate Life Month. Everyone can become involved, whether by signing a donor card, learning more about living and deceased donation or talking about their wishes with family and friends.

You can learn more about organ donation by stopping by an information table at BIDMC on the following dates:

East Campus Cafeteria: Tues., April 27 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Shapiro Lobby: Tues., April 27 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

West Campus Cafeteria: Thurs., April 29 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

You can also learn more about organ donation by visiting the following Web sites:

New England Organ Bank: www.neob.org
United Network for Organ Sharing: www.unos.org
Coalition on Organ Donation: www.donatelife.net
Transplant Living: www.transplantliving.org

BIDMC departments that can answer questions about organ donation include:

Ethics Support Service: (66)7-1348
Pastoral Care and Education: (66)7-3030
Social Work: (66)7-3421
Transplant Center: (63)2-9700