Leadership and Service

Dean’s Report 2014 I 2015 14 leadership and service

ACADEMIC AND CLINICAL AFFAIRS

Centralizing Professional Development

The Office for Academic and Clinical Affairs, headed by Dean for Academic and Clinical Affairs Nancy Tarbell, the C.C. Wang Professor of Radiation Oncology, oversees the School’s clinical and faculty affairs, diversity inclusion initiatives and research integrity programs. This centralized office fosters cohesiveness and collaboration among all of these key branches of administration.

The core Academic and Clinical Affairs Office performs clinical departmental reviews and provides oversight of HMS centers, faculty development and diversity initiative awards, Foundation Funds and hospital affiliation agreements.

Among achievements in 2016 were the creation of new policies for faculty recruitment and search practices, including a training program to minimize unconscious bias and the establishment of both the HMS Initiative in RNA Medicine and the HMS Center for Glycoscience. Each will foster collaborative research and education within these emerging scientific fields.

Dean’s Report 2016–2017

Kathryn Hall, instructor in medicine in the Division of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is a fellow in the Harvard Catalyst Program for Faculty Development and Diversity Inclusion, which supports exceptional clinical and translational researchers. She has made pioneering discoveries in the study of how genes influence the placebo response.

FACULTY AFFAIRS

The Office for Faculty Affairs, led by Dean for Faculty Affairs Maureen Connelly, is committed to streamlining and strengthening the processes for faculty advancement and recognition. Achievements include:

Restructured promotions process In 2016, 60 faculty were promoted to professor, 151 to associate professor and 390 to assistant professor, with all candidates assessed for excellence in teaching, investigation, clinical expertise and innovation.

Increased gender diversity among senior faculty In 2016, three women from populations underrepresented in medicine (URiM) were promoted to professor. A total of eight women of URiM backgrounds have achieved this rank since 2007. Overall, the total number of women professors has risen to 18 percent of the senior faculty; 8 percent of promotions to professor this academic year went to URiM faculty.

Enhanced career support for junior faculty Criteria were created that outline requirements for attaining instructor status, including an expectation that candidates will have an identifiable mentor and will attend an annual career conference.

Seventy comprehensive presentations regarding career advancement were offered to basic and social science departments as well as to the School’s clinical affiliates.

A record 76 faculty members enrolled in a three-day course designed to promote leadership in academic medicine.

DIVERSITY INCLUSION AND COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP

Promoting excellence through the pursuit of diversity has been a priority at HMS for 25 years. Led by Dean for Diversity and Community Partnership Joan Reede, significant achievements include the following:

Above: Joan Reede, dean for diversity and community partnership, was named a full HMS professor of medicine in July 2016. Reede has created dozens of programs that support and promote the recruitment, retention and advancement of individuals from groups underrepresented in medicine.

Opposite page: Nawal Nour, HMS associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, visits with Layla Guled. Nour is an alumna of the Commonwealth Fund Mongan Fellowship in Minority Health Policy and the founding director of the African Women’s Health Center.

In June 2016, HMS celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Commonwealth Fund Mongan Fellowship in Minority Health Policy, a one-year fellowship offering intensive study to physicians committed to transforming health care delivery systems for vulnerable populations.

HMS welcomed two additional scientists from groups underrepresented in medicine to the Dean’s Postdoctoral Fellowship program, for a total of seven.

The annual Faculty Fellowship Programs now support a total of four junior faculty drawn from the ranks of minority faculty at HMS hospital affiliates.

Outreach to promising candidates from groups underrepresented in medicine resulted in more than 400 college, medical and graduate students and fellows attending the School’s 2016 New England Science Symposium, where they presented research and engaged in career development activities.

Nearly 300 middle-school students from Boston and Cambridge public schools participated in a one-day Explorations program where they attended presentations on educational options and were hosted by Harvard faculty and research associates in laboratory and clinical settings.

HMS celebrates a culture that honors outstanding service through the Daniel D. Federman Staff Award for Exceptional Service to HMS/HSDM and the Barbara J. McNeil Faculty Award for Exceptional Service to HMS/ HSDM. The Dean’s Community Service Award recognizes exceptional service contributions by members of the HMS community.

FACULTY AND RESEARCH INTEGRITY

Under Dean for Faculty and Research Integrity Gretchen Brodnicki, this year HMS revised its policy concerning faculty relationships with industry by instituting a small but significant change to the School’s conflicts of interest policy. With approval of the HMS Standing Committee on Conflicts of Interest, the revised policy states that investigators who develop a technology at HMS that is subsequently licensed to industry may petition to continue to be involved in that research at HMS. It was determined that this change will benefit both academia and industry, furthering the research and development successes of both. n