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NEWS OF NOTE FROM BIDMC
Lawrence General Hospital recently announced that it will build on a successful partnership in cardiovascular services and formalize its affiliation with BIDMC, which will enhance clinical programs in the greater Merrimack Valley, increase local access to all specialties of a Harvard-affiliated teaching hospital, and improve coordination of care through an integrated electronic medical record system. See the article in the Lawrence Eagle Tribune for more. You can also find other details about the partnership in the announcement in The Boston Globe and the BIDMC press release.
In this recent article in The Boston Globe, BIDMC pathologist Mark Boguski, M.D., Ph.D., talks about the launch of the Web site celebritydiagnosis.com with his wife, Michele Berman, M.D., which highlights and explains the illnesses of the rich and famous.
TAKING A STAND AGAINST CANCER
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BIDMC Cancer Center Director Lewis Cantley, Ph.D., doesn’t take the complexities of cancer research lying down. That’s why he’s got the attention of Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C), an entertainment industry–founded initiative aimed at getting new cancer treatments to patients in an accelerated timeframe. As leader of one of SU2C’s five multidisciplinary and multi-institutional “dream teams,” Cantley appeared on the initiative’s second televised event on September 10. Here’s the clip that aired on the show. You can also check out an interview with Cantley on the SU2C Web site.
On September 12, about 300 cyclists hit the road for A Reason to Ride, founded by brain cancer survivor Tom DesFosses, to raise money for cancer research at BIDMC. For more about the event, see the boston.com article. To donate to the cause, see a video of DesFosses, and more, visit Grateful Nation’s A Reason to Ride page. Also check out the recent local Peabody coverage in The Boston Globe.
The Sisters Against Ovarian Cancer Walk in Memory of Marie Spinale was held on Saturday, September 11, 2010. More than 120 people came together for the inspiring five-mile walk through the Stone Zoo in Stoneham and raised more than $22,000 for ovarian cancer research and care at BIDMC. To donate to the cause and check out photos from the event, visit Grateful Nation’s Sisters Against Ovarian Cancer page. Also check out the recent article in Wicked Local.
SWEET NEWS ABOUT CHOCOLATE
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BIDMC researchers led by cardiologist Murray Mittleman, M.D., Dr.P.H., looked into the effects of chocolate consumption on heart disease and found that it may reduce the risk of heart failure. The benefits, however, may be affected by the quality of the chocolate and the quantities in which it is eaten. See the article on WebMD, the article on theheart.org, and the article on FOODCONSUMER for more.
BIDMC obstetrician-gynecologist Hope Ricciotti, M.D., has co-written a new book, The Real Life Body Book, with author Monique Doyle Spencer to help empower young women to take control of their health and make informed medical decisions in an online era. See the book's web site for more.
NEW TECHNOLOGY BENEFITS OLDER PATIENTS
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Melissa Mattison, M.D., geriatrician and associate director of hospital medicine at BIDMC, recently published a study that found that a computerized provider order entry drug warning system improve the safety of hospitalized elderly patients by reducing orders for potentially inappropriate medications. For more, see the piece in “White Coat Notes” on boston.com, the article in ModernMedicine, the story on dotmed.com, and the article in Scientific American. BIDMC’s press release contains more details too. Find the original study on the Archives of Internal Medicine Web site.
THE SECRET TO BETTER CUSTOMER SERVICE
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AARP highlights BIDMC’s successful mystery shopping program in an article on health care’s increasing emphasis on customer service.
THE FRUITS (AND VEGETABLES) OF THEIR LABOR
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Dorchester families are getting improved access to nutritious food thanks to a collaboration among Bowdoin Street Health Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the Food Project, and the Boston Natural Areas Network. The unique project offers fresh fruits and vegetables, locally grown by young participants in Bowdoin Street’s Healthy Champions program, to neighborhood residents at discounted prices. See the video of the BNN News Report and this BIDMC video for more.
BIDMC cardiologist William Maisel, M.D., will chair the new Center Science Council at the Center for Devices and Radiological Health, which is designed to help the agency understand new technology. Maisel directs the Medical Device Safety Institute at BIDMC and has been a leading consultant to the FDA on device quality control issues. See the announcement on MassDevice for more.
A BETTER ENDING IN THE ED
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BIDMC clinicians Mara A. Schonberg, M.D., M.P.H., Jonathan Fisher, M.D., Lachlan Forrow, M.D., and Ellen McCarthy, Ph.D., M.P.H., teamed up with a physician–researcher at San Francisco VA Medical Center on a study that found that hospital emergency departments (ED) need to be better adapted to the needs of terminally ill patients who are increasingly seeking palliative care in the ED. See the full release for more.
BIDMC researcher John Rinn, Ph.D., and his team have found that a group of newly discovered genes called lincRNAs, which were previously thought of as “junk,” may instead play a critical role in cell development and regulation due to their association with a common cancer mutation. Their results were published in the journal Cell. For more, see the story in Science Centric. You can access the full research paper on Cell’s Web site, where you can hear also Rinn on audio talk about the importance of this discovery. In addition, look for Rinn on the cover of the fall issue of BIDMC’s development newsletter Giving Matters.
ON THE ROAD TO HEALTH REFORM
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With high quality care at lower cost a centerpiece of federal health care reform efforts, BIDMC and the Massachusetts Medical Society are joining forces to develop a “road map” to help avoid medical errors while making it easier to compensate patients who have been harmed. Check out the full BIDMC press release for details.
BIDMC’s
new chief of nephrology Martin Pollak, M.D., and his research team have
found that a common genetic mutation may be partly responsible for African
Americans’ greatly increased susceptibility to kidney disease. The mutation likely arose due to natural
selection because it protects against African sleeping sickness. Their results were published in Science Magazine. For more, see the article in The Philadelphia Inquirer and a story
on the National Institutes of Health Web site.
BIDMC President and CEO Paul Levy and BIDMC Chief of Radiology Jonathan Kruskal, M.D., both appeared in a Commonwealth magazine feature article on the potential pitfalls of overrelying on the latest in diagnostic imaging.
At Grateful Nation, we make saying thank you an event. Sponsored by grateful patients and their friends and family, all our fundraisers support the great work of BIDMC. Learn more about attending our upcoming events—or even starting one of your own—at http://www.bidmcgiving.org/.
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