Seven Harvard Docs Honored by Academy

Seven members of the Harvard community were among 55 researchers elected Tuesday to the Institute of Medicine, a branch of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences.

The institute, whose active membership now totals 574 people, was chartered by Congress to provide that legislature with health policy advice.

Current institute projects include research on cancer among minorities and the medically under-served, improving civilian medical response to chemical and biological terrorism, prevention of perinatal transmission of HIV, medical use of marijuana and dietary recommendations.

The Harvard professors elected were:

* Dennis A. Ausiello '67, professor of clinical medicine at the Medical School (HMS) and physician-in-chief of medical services and chief of the renal unit at Mass. General Hospital (MGH);

* David Blumenthal '70, associate professor of medicine at HMS and chief of the health policy research and development unit at MGH;

* Laurie H. Glimcher '72, Given professor of immunology at the School of Public Health (HSPH) and professor of medicine at HMS;

* Ronald C. Kessler, professor in the Department of Health-Care Policy at HMS;

* Eva J. Neer, professor of medicine at HMS and senior biochemist in the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital;

* Thomas P. Stossel, professor of medicine at HMS, co-director of the division of hematology and director of the division of experimental medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital;

* Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition and chair of the Department of Nutrition at HSPH.

Blumenthal, who researches the organization and finance of health care services, has been a member of the HMS faculty since 1980.

"I'm very pleased and honored to be associated with my colleagues and many friends in the organization, and I look forward to participating in all its activities," he said.

Glimcher, a rheumatologist who has taught at Harvard since 1984, also said she felt honored by her election. "It's always nice to receive positive feedback on the quality of one's research," she said.

Glimcher studies the regulation of immune response, and in particular how T-lymphocytes control the immune response to pathogens.

Willett, who has been at HSPH since 1980 and chair of the Department of Nutrition for five years, said he studies dietary factors and other lifestyle behaviors in relation to cancer, cardiovascular disease and other chronic illnesses.

"I think I can provide it with information and guidance on how lifestyle behaviors can be modified to enhance health," he said.

Neer, a professor of medicine at HMS since 1989, researches how cells respond to external signals by hormones.

"The institute carries out a number of interesting and important studies, and I may be able to take part in some of them," she said. "I look forward to doing so."