Contact Us

Staff

Aetna Susan B. Anthony Award goes to MED prof

Arlene Ash, a MED research professor of medicine and an SPH professor of biostatistics and cofounder of DxCG, Inc., a leading provider of software solutions that measure health status and accurately predict health-care expenses, has received an Aetna Susan B. Anthony Award for research entitled Sex and Race Disparities in Pre-AMI Diagnosis: Missed Opportunities? Aetna and the American Public Health Association (APHA) cosponsor the annual awards program to honor individuals whose research has made significant differences in the lives of older women. Ash’s research team, which included co–principal investigator Karen Freund, a MED professor of medicine, examined whether Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized for heart attack differ, by sex or race, in their likelihood of having been diagnosed with coronary heart disease in the previous year. The researchers found many “missed opportunities” for coronary heart disease diagnoses among white men, but substantially more among women and blacks. Understanding the mechanisms that produce these disparities could lead to earlier recognition and treatment — and improved outcomes — for men and women of all races.

Hartford Foundation funds Aging Research Center

Boston University has been awarded funding from the John A. Hartford Foundation to create a center in interdisciplinary geriatric health-care research. The Boston University Aging Research Center (BU ARC) will focus on improving the health of vulnerable older adults through innovative and culturally relevant research. Under the leadership of Rebecca Silliman, a MED professor of medicine and chief of the geriatrics section at Boston Medical Center, and Judith Gonyea, an SSW associate professor and chair of the SSW research department, the center will be guided by a steering committee of experienced investigators, including Dan Berlowitz, an SPH associate professor and associate chair of SPH health services research, David Felson, a MED professor of medicine and an SPH professor of public health, Robert Green, a MED associate professor of neurology, and Alan Jette, a professor and dean of SAR.

The center’s three key goals are to improve chronic illness care and outcomes, prevent functional decline and enhance functional recovery, and the early identification and care of older persons with dementing illnesses and their families. The center plans to develop an interdisciplinary research infrastructure fostering new geriatric health-care research collaborations among junior and established investigators at BU, as well as support pilot projects related to its goals. “This is a wonderful opportunity for BU,” says Silliman. “It will enable us to focus our considerable array of interdisciplinary talent and resources in promoting aging research on critical issues facing our patients and community and will bring together faculty from both the Medical and Charles River campuses.”

CAS chemistry prof chosen for Bristol-Myers Squibb grant

John Porco, Jr., a CAS assistant professor of chemistry, has received an unrestricted grant in synthetic organic chemistry from Bristol-Myers Squibb. The three-year grant provides Porco and his team of researchers a total of $300,000 in funds for investigations in synthetic chemistry, which is a key tool in drug discovery and development efforts by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Porco’s research focuses on the development of new methods for the efficient synthesis of complex molecules such as those used in today’s pharmaceuticals and of new combinatorial methods to make highly diverse libraries of organic molecules. “The BMS award will allow my team to expand its efforts and to initiate new projects that are exploratory in nature, including the pursuit of new complex-molecule targets,” says Porco. “The award also indicates that BU’s chemistry department has achieved a critical mass in the area of complex molecule synthesis.”

COM professor receives AEJMC award

Melvin DeFleur, a COM professor in the department of mass communication, advertising, and public relations, will receive the 2003 Paul J. Deutschmann Award for Excellence in Research from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication at its annual convention this summer. DeFleur, who is considered a pioneer in mass communication theory, will address the convention about a recent study he conducted with his wife, Margaret DeFleur, a COM associate professor, of some 1,300 teenagers from 12 countries about their attitudes toward Americans (see “Research Briefs,” B.U. Bridge, September 20, 2002). DeFleur’s award nomination recognizes a body of significant research over a career and reads, in part, “His contributions are so well-known as to be among the basic building blocks of our field. Scholars . . . are simply uninformed if they don’t know and appreciate his work. [He] has been a highly productive and original researcher, a person who has advanced theoretical constructs and enhanced methodology, while also being willing to engage in synthetic activity that honors and respects other researchers.”

WBUR honored with five Murrow awards

WBUR 90.9 FM, Boston’s National Public Radio station, has won five regional Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio-Television News Directors Association for excellence in coverage during 2002. Winners include:

• Best News Documentary: “Fighting the Next War: Inside Out,” reporter Anthony Brooks, executive producer Anna Bensted
• Best Spot News Coverage: “Cardinal Law Resigns,” reporter Monica Brady-Myerov and staff, managing editor Kathleen McKenna
• Best News Series: “The State of Welfare in Massachusetts,” reporter Jennifer Schmidt
• Best Use of Sound: “Beached Whales on Cape Cod,” reporter Monica Brady-Myerov
• Best Investigative: “Airport Security,” reporter Fred Thys.
  

IRNE awards to CFA instructor, BU alums, Huntington Theatre Company

The Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) has selected winners in several categories for its 2002 awards. The awards are chosen by independent critics and focus on those theater companies and individuals that work in New England but don’t always get noticed by the major mainstream critics. Richard Chambers, a CFA instructor in design, received the 2002 award for Best Set Design, Small Company, for the Boston Playwrights’ Theatre production of The Blowin of Baile Gall. Playwright Ronan Noone (GRS’01) was awarded Best New Play, Small Company, for The Blowin of Baile Gall (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre) and The Lepers of Baile Baiste (Súgán Theatre Company). Paula Plum (CFA’75), who will guest-star in the upcoming CFA school of theatre arts production of Noel Coward’s Hay Fever, won Best Actress, Small Company, for W;t (Lyric West Theater) and Miss Price (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre). The complete listing of the IRNE awards, which includes many for the Huntington Theatre Company, can be found at www.theatermirror.com/irnewin02.htm.

4 April 2003
Boston University
Office of University Relations