Skip to Main Content
Boston University
  • Bostonia
  • BU Today
  • The Brink
  • University Publications

    • Bostonia
    • BU Today
    • The Brink
  • School & College Publications

    • The Record
Other Publications
BU Today
  • Sections
News, Opinion, Community

Beyond Gross Anatomy

Mass Medical Society honors two BU profs for advancing medical education

June 12, 2007
  • Chris Berdik
Twitter Facebook
Elaine Alpert, an SPH associate professor of social and behavioral sciences. Photo courtesy of Educational Media Center, BUMC

During her years of training as a medical student and as a young doctor in the late 1970s, Elaine Alpert, a School of Public Health associate professor, never heard the words “domestic violence” or “sexual abuse” in the context of patient care. It was, she says, “a black hole in medical education.”

But, over the last two decades, Alpert has worked to bring these issues into the light, writing curricula to train medical professionals in recognizing and asking about family violence, giving talks on the topic, and serving on numerous committees, such as the American Medical Association’s National Advisory Council on Violence and Abuse and the Massachusetts Governor’s Commission on Sexual and Domestic Violence.

This year, the Massachusetts Medical Society recognized Alpert’s leadership by awarding her its Henry Ingersoll Bowditch Award for Excellence in Public Health. The medical society also honored Steven Borkan, a School of Medicine associate professor of nephrology, giving him the Grant V. Rodkey Award for “outstanding contributions to medical education.” The award recognizes Borkan’s volunteer mentoring in a pilot program to help M.D.-Ph.D. students transition from lab work to clinical training.

Alpert, who teaches graduate courses in family violence and sexual violence prevention, says her rise to expert status on these issues was both rapid and unexpected. In 1987, as a new MED assistant dean for student affairs, a post she held until 2003, a medical student suggested a discussion group around the topic for female students. Alpert expected 12 to 15 students to attend, but 180 showed up.

“I very quickly became recognized as the medical leader in this field, even though I did not feel very expert,” says Alpert, who learned by consulting abuse survivors, advocates, other health-care providers, attorneys, and police. “But because the field was so new and the need was so great, I was very quickly asked to write chapters, give talks, and serve on committees.”

According to Alpert, one in four women and one in seven men will be affected by family violence or sexual assault at some point in their lives, and the health consequences of being abused or witnessing such abuse “are far-ranging and affect both physical and psychological health over the lifespan.” A late 1990s study commissioned by the Centers for Disease Control, for example, found that children who suffered from “adverse childhood experiences,” including sexual abuse or witnessing domestic violence, had increased risk for problems from substance abuse and suicide attempts to heart and lung disease.

In 1992, Alpert helped found the Massachusetts Medical Society’s Committee on Domestic Violence, initiating the first statewide campaign against domestic violence and coining the acronym RADAR — remember to ask, ask directly, document findings, assess for danger, review options, and refer as appropriate — to establish assessment guidelines for health-care professionals. Alpert is also the lead author of the training manual Partner Violence: How to Recognize and Treat Victims of Abuse, currently in its fourth edition.

 

Steven Borkan, a MED associate
professor of nephrology. Photo
by Paula Quatromoni, SAR
assistant professor of nutrition

Like Alpert, Borkan has also been working to fill a gap in the education of medical professionals. Borkan teaches medical students the basic science of kidney failure on the cellular level. He also teaches patient care to young doctors in the medical wards of Boston Medical Center. In the spring of 2006, he volunteered to mentor an M.D.-Ph.D. student who was about to return to clinical training after several years of lab work.

 

“For all those years they’re in the lab, these students have little contact with patients or clinical medicine,” explains Borkan. “When they’re suddenly asked to go back to patient care, they experience enormous anxiety.”

Borkan spent 40 half-day sessions with one such student, Daniel Roberts (MED’08), who was then completing his time in the lab. Roberts accompanied Borkan on clinical visits to Boston Medical Center’s general medical wards and dialysis clinic. Borkan also directed Roberts to selected readings in the medical literature and brought him to meetings of the hospital’s renal consult team and to weekly clinical teaching conferences.

“Dr. Borkan exemplifies what it means to be a student-friendly faculty member,” Roberts wrote in a letter recommending his mentor for the Rodkey Award. “He is genuinely interested in the student’s perspective and values all members of his team.”

For his part, Borkan encourages other faculty to volunteer as mentors. “There are plenty of teachers on the Medical Campus who do both clinical and basic research, which would be a perfect match for these students” says Borkan. “The ultimate goal is to show them that it is possible to integrate clinical medicine with basic research.”

Chris Berdik can be reached at cberdik@bu.edu.

Explore Related Topics:

  • Awards
  • Faculty
  • Share this story

Share

Beyond Gross Anatomy

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
  • Chris Berdik

    Chris Berdik Profile

Latest from BU Today

  • Education

    What’s Behind the Rise in Violence Against Teachers?

  • Fine Arts

    How I Made This: Jacob Whitchurch (CFA’26)

  • Things-to-do

    To Do Today: Seaport Sweat

  • Film & TV

    Did You Win Free Tickets to See Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning Tonight?

  • COMMENCEMENT 2025

    Experience BU’s 2025 Commencement from a Terrier Point of View

  • Obituaries

    Remembering Leslie Epstein, Pillar of BU’s Creative Writing Program

  • Voices & Opinion

    POV: This Memorial Day, Remember BU’s Fallen Heroes by Visiting the New Online Honor Wall

  • University News

    23 Charles River Campus Faculty Promoted to Full Professor

  • Commencement 2025

    Photos: A Look Back at BU’s Commencement

  • Theatre

    It’s “Prom Season” at Wheelock Family Theatre

  • Things-to-do

    Six Spots to Check Out This Memorial Day in Boston

  • Commencement 2025

    Video: Class of 2025: What We’ll Take with Us as We Begin a New Chapter

  • Health & Medicine

    What Does Biden’s Cancer Diagnosis Mean?

  • Watch Now

    BU’s Class of 2025: What Are Your Plans After Graduating?

  • Fitness

    BU Sports Rehab Therapists on Jayson Tatum’s Achilles Injury and Recovery Ahead

  • Commencement 2025

    Sights and Sounds from Boston University’s Class of 2025 Commencement

  • Commencement 2025

    Video: 2025 Graduate Jayde Best: “I Ended Up Exactly Where I Wanted to Be”

  • Commencement 2025

    “Empathy Is Essential,” BU Commencement Speaker Emily Deschanel Tells 2025 Graduates

  • Voices & Opinion

    I’m a Business Professor Who Asked Dozens of Former Students How They Define Success

  • Commencement 2025

    Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine Convocations a Joyous Affair

Section navigation

  • Sections
  • Must Reads
  • Videos
  • Series
  • Close-ups
  • Archives
  • About + Contact
Get Our Email

Explore Our Publications

Bostonia

Boston University’s Alumni Magazine

BU Today

News, Opinion, Community

The Brink

Pioneering Research from Boston University

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • Weibo
  • TikTok
© Boston University. All rights reserved. www.bu.edu
© 2025 Trustees of Boston UniversityPrivacy StatementAccessibility
Boston University
Notice of Non-Discrimination: Boston University prohibits discrimination and harassment on the basis of race, color, natural or protective hairstyle, religion, sex or gender, age, national origin, ethnicity, shared ancestry and ethnic characteristics, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, pregnancy or pregnancy-related condition, military service, marital, parental, veteran status, or any other legally protected status in any and all educational programs or activities operated by Boston University. Retaliation is also prohibited. Please refer questions or concerns about Title IX, discrimination based on any other status protected by law or BU policy, or retaliation to Boston University’s Executive Director of Equal Opportunity/Title IX Coordinator, at titleix@bu.edu or (617) 358-1796. Read Boston University’s full Notice of Nondiscrimination.
Search
Boston University Masterplate
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
Beyond Gross Anatomy
0
share this