Harvard Medical School News Tips for July
Community Outreach
Hands-on Science For High School and College Students
Students who haven't had a chance to spend time in a research lab and don't know what kinds of opportunities are available are not likely to aspire to careers in a biomedical science. To address this problem, Project Success provides paid internships for minority high school and college students, allowing them to spend eight weeks in research labs at Harvard Medical School and its affiliated teaching hospitals. Each student is matched with a faculty mentor and assigned a research project to design and carry out. Along with hands-on laboratory experiences, they receive one-on-one career guidance and role modeling. Throughout the summer and the school year, Project Success students to participate in career development and scientific seminars and workshops, and tour hospitals and biotech companies. Students are encouraged to return for subsequent summers and many do. Since Project Success began in 1993, 47 students have participated in 78 research projects. This summer, half of the 20 students participating-4 college and 16 high school students-are returning. More impressive, though, is where Project Success students go when they graduate from high school. In the fall of 1999, 6 Project Success students will be attending Harvard, 3 will be at Brown, 2 at MIT, and one at Stanford.
Contact: Peta Gillyatt, 617-432-0443 ([email protected])
History of Medicine
Magical Stones and Imperial Bones
A new exhibit, "Magical Stones and Imperial Bones" is now open to the public at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine. Highlights include a colony of penicillin grown in the laboratory of Dr. Alexander Fleming, who discovered the anti-bacterial properties of penicillin; photographic prints of the x-rays of Csar Nicholas and Alexandra of Russia; the diary of the surgeon aboard the relief ship sent out in search of lost Arctic explorer, Sir John Franklin; and An Abridgement of the Practice of Midwifery, the first illustrated medical textbook and the first obstetrical textbook to be published in the United States. The exhibit marks the opening of the newly renovated Rare Books and Special Collections Department, which has the largest medical manuscript collection in the United States. These include the personal papers of Benjamin Waterhouse, who introduced vaccination to the US. The Waterhouse Papers contain letters written by three American presidents, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and John Quincy Adams. The Department also has the largest collection of incunabula--books printed before 1501--in the United States. As "Magical Stones and Imperial Bones" shows, not all the collection is on paper. For instance, the department is home to one of the largest medical numismatic collections in the world, more than 6,000 medals dating from the 16th century and earlier.
Contact: Peta Gillyatt, 617-432-0443 ([email protected])
Health and the Ecosystem
Center for Conservation Medicine Studies Ecosystem-Human Health
Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment, Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, and the Wildlife Preservation Trust International have founded the Center for Conservation Medicine (CCM) to study the association between human and animal health and the health of global ecosystems. Conservation medicine draws together veterinarians, physicians, ecologists, and other environmental and health professionals to research and promote an ecological context to health management. "A growing body of evidence suggests that human and animal disease can be an indicator of the health of the global environment. In addition, recent studies have found that understanding the scope and nature of specific assaults to the environment may help us to predict some human disease outbreaks," explains Eric Chivian, director of the HMS Center. "It is becoming more apparent that we must preserve our environment and the millions of species we share this planet with if we wish to stay healthy." CCM is currently involved in several field projects, including the Marine Ecosystem Health Initiative, which monitors key species to measure marine health, and the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, a program to develop disease-free corridors for free-ranging wildlife populations between Yellowstone National Park and the Yukon Territory.
Contact: Bill Schaller, 617-432-0441, [email protected]
Mental Health
Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Indigenous People
Indigenous populations throughout the world experience high rates of mental health problems, including substance abuse, depression, and suicide. There has been little research that has examined their mental health status and treatment needs, but Alex Cohen, HMS instructor in social medicine, is working to change this. Cohen and the World Health Organization recently published The Mental Health of Indigenous People: An International Overview. The report cites the importance of analyzing both the underlying social issues and the psychological factors impacting indigenous people's mental health. To accomplish this, Cohen says that mental health professionals need to re-evaluate their own roles and work with the indigenous communities to define their mental health priorities, to address social inequities, and to attend to individuals with mental disabilities. "We must place mental health problems within the context by which they are shaped," Cohen explains. "If this isn't done, we run the risk of medicalizing what are primarily social problems,"
Contact: Bill Schaller, 617-432-0441, [email protected]
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