T H E M A G A Z I N E O F B R I G H A M A N D W O M E N ’ S H O S P I T A L B O S T O N

Brigham and Women’sSPR ING 2012

MAPPING OUR BOLDFUTUREDr. Betsy Nabel lays out BWH’s seven strategic commitments for continuing as a leader in patient care, research, medical education, and community health.

The advent of spring brings with it new opportunities and challenges—much like those we face in academic healthcare every day, as you’ll discover in this issue of Brigham and Women’s magazine. During this season of renewal, I have been working with hospital leadership to delineate seven strategic commitments, which illustrate our vision for the institution’s future.

Defining the commitments we’re making to our patients, staff, and community has been very gratifying for me. I had the help of many exceptional minds at this world-class institution to craft our vision, and I eagerly

anticipate our future innovations, accomplishments, and even cures. I’m also excited about the innovations taking place right now at the Brigham

and Faulkner. Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) recently partnered with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to embark upon one of the most ambitious proj-ects in cancer medicine to date. The Profile® project will sequence 471 mutations in 41 known cancer genes, bringing us closer than ever to real personalized medi-cine by identifying a patient’s individual genetic mutations that drive each tumor so we can develop specific therapies to target and defeat them.

At Faulkner, a pioneering surgical team performed the nation’s first “single-port” robot-assisted fibroid surgery. Surgeons removed a mass through a patient’s navel—saving her the discomfort that follows traditional surgery and greatly reduc-ing her recovery time.

And at BWH, there are many examples of research leading to groundbreaking discovery throughout our history. For example, there was no greater innovation at the time than when a team led by Brigham surgeon Joseph E. Murray, MD, performed the world’s first successful organ transplant, a kidney from one twin to another, on December 23, 1954. In this issue, Dr. Murray, who received a Nobel Prize for his work in transplantation, looks back on his illustrious career and looks forward to further innovations at BWH in the fields of face and hand transplantation.

We’re also looking forward to BluePrint, a series of celebrations to honor our history of transforming the future, including the 180-year anniversary of the Boston Lying-In Hospital and the 100-year anniversaries of the Peter Bent Brigham and Robert Breck Brigham Hospitals. We’ll keep you updated as BluePrint grows closer, and as always, we thank you for your generous support of Brigham and Women’s and Faulkner Hospitals.

Brigham and Women’s magazine is published two times a year for contributors of $100 or more to the hospital, volunteers, patients, and staff. For additional copies, you may contact us at:

Brigham and Women’s HospitalOffice of Development 116 Huntington Ave., Fifth FloorBoston, MA 02116-5712 617-424-4300bwhmagazine@partners.org

President Elizabeth G. Nabel, MD

Chief Medical Officer Stanley W. Ashley, MD

Executive Vice President and Chief Operating OfficerMairead Hickey, RN, PhD, FAHA

Vice President and Chief Development Officer James W. Asp II

Senior Vice President of Communication & Public Affairs Erin McDonough

Senior Director, Communications and Donor Relations Kathryn Goodfellow

Editor Noelle Shough

Staff Writers Julia Del MuroJoy Howard

Art Director John Bach

Photography Bill Brett, Lucien Capehart, Justin Knight, Larry Maglott, Sam Ogden, Stu Rosner, Jeff Thiebauth

Writing and Editorial Assistance Kristin DeJohnJudith KelliherSuzanne Rose

Visit our website at www.brighamandwomens.org

Please write to us if you wish to have your name removed from our distribution list for fundraising materials designed to support Brigham and Women’s Hospital. If you are receiving more than one copy of this magazine, send all your mailing labels to us in the postage-paid envelope provided, marking with an asterisk the one you wish us to keep using.

Thank you.

Honoring our history, transforming our future

!"#$%&!'( ). *%&!", +,President

00 B W H s u m m e r 2 0 0 3

Brigham and Women’s

features 2 Redefining ouR legacy

Brigham and Women’s and Faulkner Hospitals’ President Betsy Nabel, MD, describes her strategic commitments for navigating the waters of academic medicine in the years to come and sustaining leadership in patient care, research, education, and community health.

8 cRacking canceR’s code BWH’s Profile® project, run in tandem with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, is the most ambitious initiative of its kind, scanning for almost 500 different genetic mutations in 41 identifiable cancer genes.

14 a steady hand and a singulaR focus The trailblazing team at Faulkner Hospital recently performed the nation’s first single-port robotic fibroid removal surgery, removing a fibroid the size of an orange through a patient’s belly button.

18 PRofiles in Medicine In 1954, Joseph E. Murray, MD, made history by performing the world’s first successful organ transplant at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. Today, he looks back over an extraordinary career.

departments13 partners news

26 bwh today

28 food for thought

29 fit after 40

30 bwh newsmakers

32 bwh giving

42 bwh awards & honors

43 community fundraisers

44 planned giving

on the coverPresident Elizabeth G. Nabel, MD, known as Betsy, took the helm of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2010.

Cover photo: Stu Rosner

8 14 18

contents | spring 2012

2

Bill

Bre

tt

It is a role that Nabel is well prepared for. She completed her internship, residency, and fellowship in Cardiology at BWH before moving on to the University of Michigan, where she attained the role of chief of its Division of Cardiology. Her reputation in car-diovascular research earned her a position at the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, where she rose to the level of director of the

One of the things people notice about Brigham and Women’s Hospital President Betsy Nabel, MD, when they first meet her, is her air of quiet confidence. Though she is not tall in stature, heads naturally turn her way as she walks the halls of the hospital, stopping to give a warm greeting to a staff member or assist patients in finding their way. She is a person very much engaged in leading one of the world’s foremost academic medical centers, and it shows.

Redefining OUR legacy

Betsy NaBel, MD, talks about Brigham and Women’s and Faulkner Hospitals’ strategic plan

b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2 3

BY NOELLE SHOUGH

entire institute, overseeing an extensive national research port-folio and an annual budget of approximately $3 billion. It was there that she solidified her reputation as a visionary change agent.

When Nabel took the helm as president of Brigham and Women’s and Faulkner Hospitals (BW/F) in January 2010, she was eager to develop a “map” for the future of the institu-

tion. She knew that academic medicine was heading for tur-bulent times. Healthcare reform and the state of the economy are forcing hospitals and providers to be vigilant about the cost of care. Academic medical centers have additional challenges in supporting research and teaching missions—and in the case of the Brigham, a commitment to health equity, both locally and globally.

“I knew that we would be facing challenges and that we would have to learn to do more with less in terms of our

4 b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2

resources,” says Nabel. “I thought the best way to do that would be to proceed with a comprehensive strategic plan, which articulates and protects our strategic commitments.”

Using our four-part mission as the foundation—clinical care, research, education, and community engagement—Nabel involved hundreds of physicians, staff, and hospital stakehold-ers to establish a set of commitments to guide BW/F’s next 5 to 10 years. The BW/F Board of Trustees officially approved it in October 2011. The plan comprises seven strategic com-mitments “that integrate the four original mission areas in a great way,” Nabel says. The following illustrates the seven commitments.

Seamless high quality patient- and family-centered careThe goal of BW/F is to move from “episodic” care—e.g., you only see a physician when you’re sick—to longitudinal, population-based treatment that focuses on quality patient- and family-centered care. This model, called “the medical home,” reflects a shift away from just treating illness as it arises to focusing more on wellness. With our increasingly distributed clinics and campuses, BW/F is uniquely positioned to deliver healthcare in this way.

The medical home is about maintaining health during your entire lifetime. “The notion is that the patients are part of their care team,” Nabel emphasizes. The team ensures you

receive the right care in the right place at the right time, in a system that runs in a seamless and smooth manner. “We will have integrated health delivery systems where care is delivered in the community as well as in the academic medical center in a coordinated way,” she adds.

We’re also ensuring coordinated, collaborative care across the hospital’s widespread campuses—from our main hospital at 75 Francis Street to our other locations like Faulkner Hospital in Jamaica Plain, Brigham and Women’s Ambulatory Care

“i knew that we wOUld have tO leaRn tO dO mORe with less in teRms Of OUR ResOURces. i thOUght the best way tO dO that wOUld be tO pROceed with a cOmpRehensive stRategic plan, which aRticUlates and pROtects OUR stRategic cOmmitments.” — Betsy NaBel, MD

Betsy nabel, Md (right), president of Brigham and Women’s and faulkner hospitals, speaks at the u.n. general assembly’s high-level meeting on non-communicable diseases in september 2011.

commitments promote a stronger connection between research and clinical care throughout the institution. In 2011, BW/F celebrated several accomplishments in face and hand trans-plantation that could not have occurred without the benefit of intense biomedical research.

Now, research is advancing our understanding of the sci-ence of genetic variability: how DNA may predispose some people to diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disease, and arthritis—and how those mutations might cause us to respond better to some treatments than others. Ultimately, the goal is to enable clinicians to treat more cancers with targeted therapies (see the article about the profile project on p. 8).

The hospital’s research community is firming up plans for our Brigham Building for the Future. The 358,000-square-foot building will house both research and clinical functions and physically connect to the Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center.

Leadership in educationBW/F’s rich history in educating the next generation of health-care leaders has established the hospital as one of the most sought-out training centers for physicians-to-be in the United States and beyond. “We are committed to providing our medical students with a well-rounded education and a comprehensive understanding of prevention and wellness, and illness and disease,”

Center in Chestnut Hill, and Brigham and Women’s/Mass General Health Care Center in Foxborough. Patients can expect the same high-quality care and value at each of these locations.

Cutting-edge innovation and discoveryWith 3,800 full-time scientists and support staff working to bring discoveries from the bench to the bedside at BW/F, research is an integral part of our mission. Explains Nabel, “At the NIH, I realized that the public sees medical care and biomedical research as real jewels in the crown of this country. As Americans, we highly prize biomedical research because we understand it leads to medical advances and improvements in healthcare.”

In addition to building on BW/F’s world-renowned strengths in cardiovascular care, cancer, women’s health, the neurosciences, and orthopedics and arthritis, our strategic

Brigham and Women’s and Faulkner Hos-pitals has highlighted the following seven strategic commitments to fulfill our mission during the next 5 to 10 years:

� Seamless high-quality patient- and family- centered care

� Cutting-edge innovation and discovery

� Leadership in education

� An engaged workforce

� Health equity

� Affordable care

� Demonstrated excellence

b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2 5

Just

in K

nigh

t

6 b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2

says Nabel. “This includes experience caring for individuals here in the communities we serve across our distributed campus, as well as in communities abroad.”

BW/F’s training programs are unmatched, serving as magnets for the best and brightest next generation of physi-cians and researchers. Many BW/F trainees have gone on to assume leadership positions in other settings, making the hospital a valued resource for the nation and the world (most recently, Jim Yong Kim, MD, PhD, was named the president of the World Bank). By selecting and training exceptional physicians—those with a passion to improve current healthcare

treatments and systems—we are ensuring that our excellence in research and care grows from generation to generation and benefits as many patients as possible.

Engaged workforceEvery hospital employee plays a role in the patient experience, and the most valued employees are those who are connected to our vision and engaged in our mission. The hospital’s strategic commitments call for the Brigham to invest in the needs and careers of our workforce to ensure that we can attract and retain the most talented people to care for our patients.

On Her CAreer CHOiCe:“I always loved the sciences. My father was a research chemist at the 3M company—an inventor—and he would share at the din-ner table the scientific questions he was addressing. He was curious and thoroughly enjoyed his work, and I think that rubbed off on me.

“I also like caring for people. To me, medi-cine is a wonderful way to combine the intellectual challenges of the sciences with the human side of caring for individuals.”

On eArLy DAyS witH Her HuSbAnD, GAry nAbeL, MD:

“I met my husband here at the Brigham. He was my intern, and I was his resident. Our first date was the result of a bet on a pa-tient diagnosis. He framed the bet so that

no matter what the outcome, we would go out on a date. I didn’t mind!

“We went to a lovely restaurant in Central Square [Cambridge], and we were having a very nice dinner when a man entered and held a gun to the head of the chef, telling everybody to toss their wallets to the center of the room. He then proceeded to gather up the wallets and run out the door.

“Afterwards, the owner came out and was very apologetic, saying if anyone would like to stay for dinner, they were most welcome. Well, that restaurant cleared out except for Gary and me because we were poor, tired, hungry residents.

“The funny part of the story is that Gary had thrown his wallet to the side of the room, thinking the gunman would only gather the pile in the center of the room. He didn’t lose his wallet after all. I remember think-ing, ‘He’s a pretty clever guy.’ ”

On pHiLAntHrOpy:“The Brigham was founded on the generosity of philanthropic donors. Our donors make it possible for us to fulfill our mission: to achieve the innovation and discovery in research that leads to outstanding care; to allow us to educate the best and brightest students to be the next generation of medi-cal leaders; and to serve our community in Boston and globally. We simply couldn’t do our work without the tremendous support of our donors.”

On COMMuniCAtiOn:“Communicating who we are, where we’re headed, the challenges we’re facing, and how we’re meeting them is so important. Keeping all of our constituents groups—healthcare providers, patients, employees, donors, neighbors, elected officials and oth-ers—engaged in what we are doing is vital to our success.”

nabel collaborates with caregivers in rwanda on best practices

nabel with her husband, gary nabel, MD

nabel with stephen and roberta Weiner and Angela Bader, MD, MpH, celebrating the expansion of the Weiner center for preopera-tive evaluation

Getting to know Betsy Nabel, MD

b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2 7

“The employees of the Brigham and Faulkner family are our most precious resource. We must care for them the way we do our own family members,” explains Nabel. To that end, this com-mitment includes employee wellness programs, a comfortable, bias-free environment, the right tools for staff to meet and exceed expectations, and continuing to recruit those innovative people who will help us fulfill our mission. “We will strive to sustain a culture of inclusion, high performance, and excellence,” she says.

Health equityWhen Peter Bent Brigham left his estate to found a hospital in his name, he specifically stated it should be “for the care of sick persons in indigent circumstances,” which at the time encom-passed mostly poor European immigrants. Nearly 100 years later, BW/F continues to sustain this mission both here and abroad. Many of our physicians and nurses spend significant portions of their time practicing in resource-poor settings in our backyards, in other areas of the United States, and internationally.

Being a good neighbor includes leading beneficial com-munity programs. For example, the Student Success Jobs Program provides internships and mentors for high school students from underserved Boston neighborhoods and preps them for college and beyond, while the Birth Equity Initiative works to curb low-birthweight babies and infant mortality among black mothers. Further, our community health center–based Colorectal Cancer Screening Program targets improving screening rates.

BW/F is also a good global neighbor, running programs to increase healthcare access and delivery all over the world. In the sub-Saharan country of Rwanda alone, BW/F leads Team Heart Rwanda, providing critical heart valve surgery to young people who would otherwise go without, and is collaborating with Partners In Health to construct physicians’ living quarters for a new hospital in Butaro, while also sending global health nursing fellows to teach Rwandan nurses prenatal care and birthing techniques. “It’s part of the noble mission of medicine: to care for the sick and the poor,” says Nabel.

Affordable care The healthcare industry is facing an era of belt-tightening to combat the rising cost of care. The exact implications of health-care reform remain to be seen, but one thing is certain—we will be asked to do more with less. To fundamentally change the way we think about how we use our resources—across all of our mission areas—BW/F is embracing a philosophy of steward-ship in its endeavors. “Our goal is to use our resources in the most responsible manner and to provide affordable care to all who need it,” says Nabel.

One of Nabel’s first directives upon taking the helm at Brigham and Women’s and Faulkner Hospitals was to begin a process to remove $160 million from our cost structure over a three-year period. So far, the institution has achieved a $60 million cost cut in 2011, and we’re on track to reduce costs by another $50 million in fiscal year 2012, Nabel reveals. Finally, leadership is focusing on an additional $50 million cost savings target for 2013.

Demonstrated excellenceBeing committed to excellence in all that we do means set-ting measurable goals, developing standard methods of care, and continuously seeking opportunities for improvement. As one of the nation’s most respected academic medical centers, it isn’t enough for us to demonstrate excellence—we must define it.

As for Nabel, she looks forward to the challenge of meet-ing this and our six other strategic commitments in the years to come. She anticipates the celebration of BW/F’s rich history of transforming the future, dubbed BluePrint, marking the 180th anniversary of the founding of the Boston Lying-In, and the centennials of the Peter Bent Brigham and Robert Breck Brigham Hospitals.

During this time of great changes in healthcare, our strate-gic commitments will position us for success, because as Nabel says, “Although we cannot predict the future, we can, and will, prepare for it.”u

as One Of the natiOn’s mOst Respected academic medical centeRs, it isn’t enOUgh fOR Us tO demOnstRate excellence—we mUst define it.

Technologist Mark Byrne, of the Center for Advanced Molecular Diagnostics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, prepares samples of tumor tissue for analysis that will reveal the presence of certain cancer-related genes.

CanCer’sCraCking

Code

b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2 9

The drugs gefitinib and erlotinib, prescribed to

treat lung cancer, don’t work in most patients. But for

about 10 to 15 percent of patients, these drugs work won-

ders, rapidly shrinking tumors and prolonging lives.

Researchers, including a team from Brigham and Women’s

Hospital (BWH) and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI),

found the answer in the cancer tumors’ genes. Patients who

responded to gefitinib had tumors with mutations in their epi-

dermal growth factor receptor gene, or EGFR. When this gene

is mutated, it triggers rapid cell division and growth that can lead

to cancer. Gefitinib and erlotinib worked, researchers discovered,

because they targeted and inactivated the mutation, stymieing the

tumor’s growth.

Molecular pathologists at BWH, in collaboration with geneti-

cists at the Partners HealthCare Center for Personalized Genetic

Medicine, went on to develop a relatively fast and inexpensive test

for EGFR mutations, so that patients whose tumors carried the

mutations could receive erlotinib therapy. “Now we could realize

the promise of personalized cancer medicine by giving the right

treatment to the right patient at the right time,” says Michael

Gimbrone, MD, recent past chair of the Department of Pathology at

BWH and a strong advocate for the role of translational molecular

pathology in patient care. “It was a remarkable achievement.”

Phot

o ©

Sam

Ogd

en/D

FCI

analyzing the genetic blueprint of every patient’s tumor will accelerate scientific discovery and advance cancer care

BY SUZANNE ROSE

Cancer’s kaleidoscopeNow, DFCI and BWH have launched Profile®, a vast research effort in which cancer tissue from adult cancer patients will be scanned not just for the EGFR mutation, but for hundreds of genetic aberrations linked to cancer. By collecting data on a large scale, scientists can gain new insight into cancer’s under-pinnings and develop safe and effective therapies that can be tailored to individual patients, says Gimbrone.

The discovery of the EGFR mutation underscored the fact that lung cancer—in fact, cancer in general—was not a single disease, but a kaleidoscope of diseases, each with its own set of genetic abnormalities. Researchers on the Profile project want to know more. Might EGFR mutations be present in other types of cancer? Do certain genetic changes herald aggressive behav-ior and metastasis? Which treatments best block the effects of different mutations? And why doesn’t a therapy targeted to a particular mutation always provide a sustained response?

Answering such questions means that researchers need to gather as many tumor samples as possible and meticulously analyze each one, the results of which will drive the future of cancer care. This is the promise of BWH’s and DFCI’s Profile project—the largest initiative in existence that will bring per-sonalized medicine to cancer patients.

Digging into the DNATesting for genetic mutations has become relatively common in some cancers, including lung, colon, and breast cancer, as well as some leukemias and sarcomas. Clinicians can then use that information to guide treatment—for example, by pre-scribing a targeted therapy if one exists. Architects of Profile say the program goes beyond that by identifying many more mutations in a wider variety of cancers, ultimately enabling clinicians to treat more cancers with targeted therapies in the future.

“It’s absolutely the future—treating cancer by its muta-tions rather than solely by its organ of origin,” says Neal Lindeman, MD, director of Molecular Diagnostics in the BWH Department of Pathology. “The trick is to make it the present.” Lindeman and William C. Hahn, MD, PhD, the DFCI’s Deputy Chief Scientific Officer and director of the Center for Cancer Genome Discovery, are the project’s two primary investigators.

“By genotyping each tumor—identifying the set of muta-tions that drive it—we may eventually be able to design thera-pies geared specifically to those mutations, depriving the tumor of the ability to sustain itself while producing a minimum of side effects,” adds Dana-Farber’s Chief Scientific Officer Barrett Rollins, MD, PhD, who played a lead role in creating

10 b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2

“Now we could realize the promise of personalized cancer medicine by giving the right treatment to the right patient at the right time. It was a remarkable achievement.”MIchael GIMbroNe, MDreceNt past chaIr of DepartMeNt of patholoGy at bWh

Genetic data from Profile participants can be housed in silicon wafers like the one shown here.

“It’s absolutely the future—treating cancer by its mutations rather than solely by its organ of origin. the trick is to make it the present.” Neal lINDeMaN, MDDIrector of Molecular DIaGNostIcs,bWh DepartMeNt of patholoGy

Phot

o ©

Sam

Ogd

en/D

FCI

and by the mutations they contain. This information can be linked to patients’ clinical records—in a manner designed to protect patients’ privacy—which allows researchers to see which therapies were effective against the various mutations and tumor types, and to keep track of drug side effects. The patient’s physician receives a report detailing the mutations found in the tumor.

Not every mutation has been definitively tied to cancer, and most of those that have aren’t yet treatable, says Monica Bertagnolli, MD, chief of Surgical Oncology at BWH, who worked with Rollins and several other physicians and scientists to launch Profile.

“We may find a mutation with immediate clinical rel-evance,” says Bertagnolli. “But this is a research tool. The only way to really make discoveries is to have data from thousands of patients. Every patient is unique, so it’s very difficult to make progress without lots of data to inform research.”

The potential of personalized medicineBy combing through data, researchers might notice a subset of patients with a particular mutation. For example, physicians and scientists at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Harvard, and the Broad Institute at the Massachusetts Institute

of Technology collected samples of pediatric low-grade astro-cytoma, a childhood brain tumor, and ferretted out mutations using OncoMap. In more than half of the samples, they discov-ered mutations in a gene called BRAF. They are now testing drugs that target this mutation using mouse models.

OncoMap has proven helpful, too, in Rollins’s studies of a rare disease called Langerhans cell histiocytosis, in which too many of these specialized white blood cells grow in certain tissues, notably skin and bones. Rollins managed to find a few dozen tissue samples stored at BWH and Children’s Hospital Boston and scanned the DNA for altered genes. Again, in

Profile. “We’re laying the foundation for the development, testing, and implementation of such therapies.”

One of the most extensive research projects in cancer genomics undertaken in the country to date, Profile will be augmented later this year to include pediatric cancer patients at Children’s Hospital Boston. Rollins anticipates that as many as 10,000 patients will participate in the program annually.

Patients who consent to participate will have samples of their tumor sent to the state-of-the-art Center for Advanced Molecular Diagnostics at BWH for analysis by a system called OncoMap. A team of specialized technicians, scientists, and physicians employ cutting-edge robotics, biochemistry, mass spectrometry, and information technology to “read the letters” of genetic code in the cancer’s DNA and create a read-out of mutations, including deletions, insertions, and substitutions in the genetic code. That information is then converted into an easy-to-read table indicating whether the tumor harbors any of the 471 known mutations in the 41 cancer-linked genes that OncoMap analyzes.

One distinct advantage of the OncoMap technology is its ability to read DNA in tissue preserved years ago in paraffin or formalin, not just in fresh samples. DNA in these older, pre-served samples may remain hidden to other analytic methods.

Once analysis is complete, the results are entered into a database that sorts tumors by their organ or tissue of origin

b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2 11

“by genotyping each tumor—identifying the set of mutations that drive it—we may eventually be able to design therapies geared specifically to those mutations.”barrett rollINs, MD, phDchIef scIeNtIfIc offIcer at DaNa-farber caNcer INstItute

Profiling tumors with onComaPOncoMap, the scanning technology used in the Profile program, was developed by a team of scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Broad Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard, led by Dana-Farber’s Levi Garraway, MD, PhD. The device scans tumor samples to see whether they contain any of 471 known somatic mutations—genetic changes that occur during one’s life—in 41 genes associated with cancer. The system’s flexibility allows scientists to add new genes and mutations to the scanning process after they are identified and validated.

12 b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2

more than half of the samples, he discovered a common muta-tion, one for which a drug is already available. OncoMap has also been used to identify mutations in ovarian tumors.

Amassing data from tens of thousands of patients will allow researchers to match patients with new drugs as they are devel-oped. Researchers could also use the patient database to help design studies and recruit patients to clinical trials.

“If we find mutations we can’t treat, we can use the infor-mation to build new drug trials,” adds Lindeman. “The test will get bigger as we make new discoveries, which we can then incorporate into practice. It’s a dynamic thing.” And as new technologies are developed, for example so-called “next genera-tion sequencing,” they can readily be incorporated into Profile. Plans for this transition are being developed by Lindeman and Laura MacConaill, PhD, scientific director of Profile at DFCI.

Another ‘first’Although other institutions have started to implement similar programs, “Profile is unparalleled,” says Bertagnolli. “There is really nothing like it in the world.” That’s because others test

for fewer mutations in fewer genes or limit genotyping to a small subset of patients. “There aren’t too many places in the world where you have the administrative structure, the clinical piece, and the research component to pull this off,” she adds.

“We are the only institutions doing this on every type of cancer—Profile isn’t limited to lung, breast, or other specific cancers,” Lindeman points out.

Years in the making, with input from physicians, laboratory scientists, clinical and translational researchers, clinicians of all stripes, and experts in information technology, the program is a “game-changer,” says Gimbrone. “We’re taking a compre-hensive approach to cancer care and research that builds on the existing strengths of both institutions. Current and future patients at Brigham and Women’s and Dana-Farber will be able to take advantage of the coordinated collaboration of a world-class cancer institute and an academic medical center.”

Though the cost of the tests, the infrastructure, and the staff necessary to run Profile add up, leadership at both institutions agree that the potential benefits far outweigh the expense. “We will be gathering invaluable medical information,” says Gimbrone,

“and accelerating the field. In more than 35 years at BWH, this is the most exciting program I’ve been associated with.”

Rollins agrees and notes that donors can play a part in Profile’s success. “We will need to rely on philanthropic sup-port. This is an opportunity for people to make an investment, and the return on that investment…well, I can’t imagine any-thing more impactful.”u

For information on how you can support Profile and other cancer research efforts, contact Susan Andrews in the BWH Development Office at 617-424-4349 or sjandrews@partners.org.

“profile is unparalleled. there aren’t too many places in the world where you have the administrative structure, the clinical piece, and the research component to pull this off.” MoNIca bertaGNollI, MDchIef of surGIcal oNcoloGy at bWh

sPotting Point mutationsTwo strands of DNA join to form a molecule that resembles a twisted ladder. Each rung of the lad-der connects the two strands, thanks to a base of bases, or nucleotides. The bases—adenine (A), thy-mine (T), cytosine (C), and guanine (G)—follow strict rules when matching up. A always pairs with T, and C always pairs with G. Point mutations, which can be detected during genotype scanning, occur when there’s a substitution in the sequence of letters.

In a mutation, the normal chemical base pairs of a strand of DNA (shown in blue) are replaced by others (shown in yellow).

Sci

ence

Pho

to L

ibra

ry

b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2 13

partnersnews

When people think of Partners HealthCare, they likely think of a trend-setting leader in healthcare quality. Now the organization is setting the pace in another challenge facing healthcare, that

of reducing costs.This past fall, the organization announced a goal of reducing its

expense base by $300 million over the next three years across all Part-ners HealthCare–affiliated institutions. By searching for opportunities to create efficiency, it has already achieved $80 million in savings in fiscal year 2011.

Each affiliate is doing its part, examining its costs under the microscope. For instance, Brigham and Women’s and Faulkner Hospitals recently discovered that they were using about 26 lbs. of bed linen per patient per day—and the national average is 12 lbs. Lead-ership learned that linens were being stockpiled in patients’ rooms and then thrown in the laundry after the patient stay, having never been used. Now nurses only bring the linens they will need into patient rooms, saving noteworthy amounts of water, electricity, and funds.

Increased efficiency equals savings“As the region’s largest private employer and a major supporter of the local life sciences industry, Partners HealthCare plays a vital role in the economic health of our community,” says Gary L. Gottlieb, MD, MBA, president and chief executive officer. That said, the organization is cognizant it must be a good steward of its resources. Gottlieb points out that Partners had great successes with electronic medical records and computerized drug ordering, two initiatives that led to better outcomes at a lower cost. Making strides in additional areas is its next goal.

Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have been redesigning care to be more efficient, coordinated, and patient-centered during the past few years. “There are teams organized around specific conditions [stroke, heart attack, diabetes, bypass surgery, and colon cancer] with the goal of determining how we measure value, and how we can work together to improve value for patients,” said Thomas H. Lee, MD, president

of Partners Community Healthcare, Inc. Partners HealthCare physi-cians are working to treat these conditions more effectively, keeping patients healthier and curbing hospital readmissions.

Partners HealthCare has ripped up and renegotiated existing con-tracts with two major insurance companies, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Tufts Health Plan, reducing anticipated payments to these insurers by $345 million over the next four years. It expects that those savings will be passed on to consumers and businesses.

And the organization’s hospitals are going “green,” by implement-ing environmentally friendly construction practices and facility improve-ments. The Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center at BWH and the Yawkey Outpatient Center at MGH have been certified as Leader-ship in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) buildings. With MGH’s newly opened Lunder Building also on track for LEED certification, Part-ners HealthCare is vowing to reduce energy consumption by 25 percent in the coming years.

The organization looks forward to tackling healthcare costs in ways that improve quality, access, and efficiency for patients and their families. “Our mission is to stand up and make a difference, delivering on all that we have promised to our patients, our employees, and the communities we serve,” said Gottlieb.u

Partners tackles healthcare costs

“As the region’s largest private employer and a major supporter of the local life sciences industry, Partners HealthCare plays a vital role in the economic health of our community.”

—gary gottlieb, md, mba, president and ceo, partners healthcare

iSto

ckph

oto

When a 42-year-old patient left Faulkner Hospital last October with merely a Band-Aid across her belly button, you might have thought she received ordinary treatment for a minor wound.

But once you know the details behind the adhe-sive bandage, you appreciate that her treatment was anything but ordinary. Just four hours prior to being discharged, the woman successfully underwent a first-of-its-kind single-port robotic myomectomy. The team of surgeons, medical assistants, and technicians at the Brigham and Women’s Center for Robotic Surgery at Faulkner removed a fibroid the size of an orange from her uterus—through her belly button—with a single entry. Just one.

Antonio R. Gargiulo, MD, director of Robotic Surgery at the Center for Infertility and Reproductive Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), led the surgical team. Since that groundbreaking sur-gery, Gargiulo and his team have already successfully performed a second such procedure on a 47-year-old woman who had severe abnormal uterine bleeding.

The second patient also suffered from morbid obe-sity, diabetes, and heart disease, and was considered a poor surgical candidate by conventional standards. She, too, left the hospital within four hours after the team removed a 4-cm fibroid from her uterus.

From the traditional to the radicalTraditionally, gynecologic surgeries such as these have involved large incisions. Then came laparoscopy, which is defined as minimally invasive abdominal surgery and uses small incisions and a video camera connected to optic fibers. This technique has been employed for several decades for simpler gynecologic procedures and, more recently, applied to advanced surgeries such as myomectomy and hysterectomy.

For women considering minimally invasive options to treat uterine fibroids, robotic myomectomy and single-port robotic surgery are game-changing techniques,

By Judith Kelliher

darlene Oddo, rN; Albert Jenkins; and Madalyn Gervasi, rN, MA, CNOr, are members of Faulkner’s robotic surgery team.

14 b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2

Larr

y Fr

ankl

in M

aglo

tt

00 b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 1 b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 1 15

A steAdy hAnd And A singulAr focus

Faulkner Hospital achieves a ‘first’ in fibroid removal

(left) the da Vinci Si TM surgical robot system consists of the surgeon’s console, the patient sidecart with robotic arms, and the vision system that affords the surgical team a view of the operating field.

(right) the surgeon manipulates the sensitive, precision finger controls to move the surgical instruments on the robotic arms.

says Serene Srouji, MD, associate direc-tor of Robotic Surgery in Reproductive Endocrinology at BWH. “Single-port robotic myomectomy allows women to have relief from their fibroid-related symptoms with the least invasive sur-gical approach available,” Srouji says. “Reducing the number of incisions to a single umbilical incision offers the poten-tial for not only a better cosmetic result, but for fewer complications and quicker recovery.”

Gargiulo has the same perspective. “In a time when patients are clearly asking for noninvasive treatment, surgery must aim at ultra-minimal-invasiveness.”

The collaboration and teamwork

between medical staff at BWH and Faulkner have led to many women ben-efitting from minimally invasive surgical treatments for their conditions, while maximizing their reproductive poten-tial. “Our commitment to making these services easily accessible to women, and our specific clinical interests, have led to a strong collaborative relationship, and have allowed us to treat a larger number of women,” Srouji says.

Having a highly collaborative and focused team working with the robot was one key to success for this groundbreak-ing surgery. “The clinicians really are in a partnership,” says Kathleen Leavitt, RN, BSN, MA, nursing director in the operating room at Faulkner. “Therefore, they grow together, they learn together, and they’re sharing knowledge.”

A ‘quantum leap’Before turning to robotic surgery, Gargiulo had been performing conven-tional laparoscopic myomectomies for about 10 years at BWH. But data pre-sented at a meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in 2006 changed his approach to reproduc-tive surgery. Gargiulo and Srouji swiftly moved ahead with formal training on the da Vinci Surgical System®, currently the only FDA-approved robotic surgical platform.

Achieving the technical expertise to develop single-port robotic myomecto-my took years of careful practice perfect-ing standard robotic surgery cases using multiple entries, usually a minimum of four. Since 2007, Gargiulo and Srouji have completed more than 500 major robotic surgeries, including reversal of tubal sterilization, hysterectomy for large uteri, and excision of severe endometri-osis—without resorting to opening up a single patient.

“The academic surgeon’s thinking

is always in terms of how we can push things further. A surgeon with this atti-tude can never be completely content with his or her tools,” Gargiulo says.

By late 2011, he says, Gargiulo and Srouji were ready to make the “quan-tum leap” to safely plan and execute the first single-port robotic myomectomy. Gargiulo sees two reasons that make the effort worthwhile: the first is to reduce complications associated with insertion of laparoscopic ports, such as vascular injuries, adhesions, and hernia forma-tion; the second is cosmetic—for those patients seeking the least amount of vis-ible scarring.

Though it will take time for the advantages and disadvantages of this method to be studied thoroughly, the rationale seems sound. “The thinking is that if you limit the number of entries, you will limit the number of periop-erative complications of laparoscopy,” Gargiulo says.

Honing their skillsWeeks before planning the first sin-gle-port robotic myomectomy on the 42-year-old patient, Gargiulo and his

16 b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2

“The academic surgeon’s thinking is always in terms of how we can push things further. A surgeon with this attitude can never be completely content with his or her tools.” anTOniO r. gargiulO, mddirector of robotic surgery at the center for infertility and reproductive surgery

Jeff

Thie

baut

h

By tHe numBers…

1 the number of incisions through which a fibroid was removed in the first

single-port robotic myomectomy

8 the size in centimeters of the fibroid (about the same as an orange)

500+ the number of major robotic operations performed by Gargiulo and his team of reproductive surgeons since 2007

b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2 17

team began working in a “dry lab” environ-ment using a “pelvic trainer” specifically made for single-port laparoscopic surgery. Faulkner team members Albert Jenkins, surgical technician, and Darlene Oddo, RN, circulating nurse, had taken a special course offered by Intuitive Surgical, maker of the da Vinci robot, which helped hone their skills to assist in robotic surgery.

“The surgical technicians must dem-onstrate the skills to handle the special-ized instruments in robotic surgery,” says Madalyn Gervasi, RN, MA, CNOR, of the Department of Nursing Professional and Practice Development at Faulkner.

On the day of the first surgery, the clinicians assembled to ready them-selves for the two-hour procedure. The team, which included attending sur-geons Gargiulo and Srouji; clinical fellow Amelia Bailey, MD; Oddo; and Jenkins, worked closely and efficiently to remove the fibroid through the single incision. Also on hand was a technical represen-tative from da Vinci to offer real-time troubleshooting, if necessary.

“Dr. Gargiulo reaches out to us in advance and looks for feedback, looks for how do we get there, how do we work on this,” Leavitt says. “He’s someone who always communicates and really embraces the group so that it’s a team.”

Taking controlTo get a sense of how the surgical team and the robot work together, picture the sur-geon sitting at an ergonomically designed remote console in a quiet corner of the operating room, and a robotic patient side-cart with four computer-controlled arms. One of the arms keeps the high-definition 3-D endoscope in perfect position, while the other three arms guide the articulated instruments. The surgeon controls all the movements, not the robot.

From the console, the surgeon is able to view the operating field as a magnified,

high-resolution, 3-D image. This immer-sive environment allows for the unchal-lenged concentration of the surgeon, who operates as one with the machine as he or she moves the four independent arms.

Conventional single-port laparoscopic surgery uses long laparoscopic instru-ments inserted through a small incision, which severely limits the dexterity of the surgeon. By using the robotic platform, the surgeon is able to overcome most ergonomic challenges imposed by single-port access and to delicately repair the reproductive organs.

When asked to describe the overall feeling of using the robotic arms through a single incision, Gargiulo lightly quotes the Grimm Brothers’ story of The Elves and the Shoemaker. “It was like having a little elf earnestly working for us in the very depth of this young woman’s abdo-men,” he marvels.

Sitting in his office at BWH about a month after the first surgery, Gargiulo watches a video of the procedure from his laptop. To hear his comments as he reviews the video, you would never know that this was a groundbreaking procedure. Instead, he is focused on spreading the wealth. “We have to really push the lim-its so that, for example, the success and broader adoption of this type of procedure may dictate where the industry goes next,” he says.

For Srouji as well, the future of sin-gle-port robotic gynecologic surgery looks promising. “Conventional single-port lap-aroscopic surgery has its limitations due to the technical difficulties inherent in using multiple instruments through one incision at the same time: Collisions are the rule. The surgical robot allows many of those limitations to be overcome due to the peculiar and precise wristed movements that are possible at the tips of robotic instruments,” she says.u

“Single-port robotic myomectomy allows women to have relief

from their fibroid-related symptoms with the least invasive

surgical approach available.” serene srOuji, md

associate director of robotic surgery at the center for infertility and

reproductive surgery

Larr

y Fr

ankl

in M

aglo

tt

Support surgical innovation at Faulkner

Faulkner Hospital is on the leading edge of robotic surgery. You can help us continue to advance the field with a philan-thropic gift. Contact Christine Hines in Faulkner’s Development Office today at 617-983-7605 or cmhines@partners.org.

An Extraordinary Mission

More than 50 years after he performed the first successful human kidney transplant, Nobel Prize winner Joseph E. Murray, MD, reflects on a medical revolution

BY KRISTIN DeJOHN

bwh profiles in medicineJoseph E. Murray, MD

b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2 19

optimism, persistence, and the unwavering belief in a singular goal can save countless lives—and organ transplantation is a sterling example. “More than a million organ transplants have been performed world-wide,” marvels stefan G. Tullius, MD, PhD, chief of Transplant surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), co-director of the schuster Transplant Center, and director of the Transplant surgery Research Laboratory. “it was Dr. Joseph Murray who performed the first successful kidney transplant in 1954 and paved the way. We may not realize it today, but trans-planting an organ back then was a heroic step.”

in the early 1950s, organ transplantation seemed more the topic of science fiction than science. People had attempted transplantation for hundreds of years. “Due to immune rejection, the organs never worked very long,” recalls Joseph Murray, MD, emeritus chief of Plastic surgery at BWH. But the idea of transplanting had been dreamed of for centuries. “There were religious depictions of the twin saints Cosmas and Damian transplanting a leg. The idea of ‘surgery for spare parts’ was lore, but it was always in the background.”

Murray, a young surgeon at the time, was inspired by leaders at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (now part of Brigham and Women’s). in 1948, the Brigham had begun

Larr

y Fr

ankl

in M

aglo

tt

using dialysis to treat kidney failure. Because dialysis had limi-tations, Physician-in-Chief George Thorn, MD, supported by surgeon-in-Chief Francis Moore, MD, started the first kidney transplant program, aimed at making such an operation pos-sible. Murray was asked to join. “There was a dire need to do something because people were dying,” he recalls. “our goal was to help fellow humans.”

still, the idea of removing a kidney from a healthy person brought up ethical issues, as it was an act some might view as violating the physician’s maxim “First do no harm.” Murray recalls a friend and colleague telling him that joining the trans-plant group might ruin his career. Many simply didn’t think kidney transplantation would work. “one doctor referred to us as ‘a bunch of fools,’ ” laughs Murray. “You don’t worry about people’s opinions if you have the proper motivation.”

The world watchesMuch of Murray’s work at the time—methodically perfecting kidney transplant operations in dogs—went under the radar. But when the Brigham began accepting patients for possible trans-plants, people took notice, including the doctor of 23-year-old Richard Herrick. The young man, dying from kidney disease, had recently been discharged from the Coast Guard and had

planned to return home to say goodbye to his family. But luck was on Richard’s side: He had an identical twin, Ronald, who was alive and willing to donate his kidney. This genetic match allowed for the best chance of success. Clergy and clinicians from other hospitals were consulted about ethical issues. news leaks reported the possibility of the twin operations, and reporters were sneak-ing around the hospital for more information.

The simultaneous transplant operations were performed December 23, 1954. once Richard’s new kidney turned pink with blood, “there were grins all around,” says Murray. The operation was a success. Richard Herrick lived eight more years, married his hospital nurse, and had two healthy children. Ronald lived to age 79 and remains a symbol for transplantation.

“That kidney transplant was one of the most important operations of the 20th century,” says Michael Zinner, MD, chair of the Department of surgery at BWH. “it changed the way people thought of surgery. Until then, surgery was basically for war wounds or cancer. This operation showed that surgery could improve health in a whole new way—it could be restorative. it was transformational.”

Even Murray’s critics admitted it was a groundbreaking event. The next challenge he and his team faced was to make organ transplantation an option for all patients.

20 b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2

Identical twins Richard and Ronald Herrick (seated), with (standing, from left) surgeon Joseph Murray, MD, nephrologist John Merrill, MD, and urologic surgeon J. Hartwell Harrison, MD.

Cracking the immune barrier“Joe has a quiet, non-pushy demeanor,” says John Mannick, MD, chief of surgery emeritus at BWH. “But underneath he’s a very aggressive pur-suer of the goals he thinks are worthy.

i believe this aggressive nature allowed him to accomplish what he did.”

Despite the success with Richard Herrick, Murray knew the milestone would be only a footnote in history unless he could broaden transplantation to include non-genetic matches. Eventually, in 1959, he accomplished the first non–identical twin transplant. “That transplant was a roaring success and got a lot of publicity,” recalls Mannick. To suppress the immune system in that case, Murray had taken a suggestion to try sub-lethal radia-tion. The recipient lived 27 more years. But the X-ray protocol didn’t work in other patients.

in 1961, the tide began to change with the discovery of an anti-cancer drug that could suppress the immune system. Murray worked closely with immunologists, and in 1962, he performed the first kidney transplant from an unrelated deceased donor, opening the door to transplantation on a larger scale.

still, success rates varied. “The regimens in the early ’60s were difficult, and the odds of survival were still not good,” notes nicholas Tilney, MD, former director of BWH’s transplant program and author of Transplant: From Myth to Reality. “But Dr. Murray remained an incurable optimist, and better drugs eventually came along. He was also a wonderful mentor and so kind to the patients.”

Families on a mission“The Brigham had an amazing transplant program in 1964,” recalls Jodi Hartley, the sister of a transplant recipient. “Miracles were happening before our eyes. We all felt part of an extraordinary mission.”

Hartley’s brother stanley Williams was only 24 years old, but suffered from an incurable, hereditary disease that affected his kidneys. “We had lived for six years knowing stan was going to die. They had done all they could for him through

“That kidney transplant was one of the most important operations of the 20th century. Until then, surgery was basically for war wounds or cancer. This operation showed that surgery could improve health in a whole new way—it could be restorative. It was transformational.” michael zinner, md, chair of the department of surgery at bwh

b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2 21

Joseph Murray, MD, (with notebook) on grand rounds at BWH in the 1960s.

Born: 1919 in Milford, MA

Education:•College of the Holy Cross, Massachusetts•Harvard Medical School, MD, 1943

Internship and residency: •Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston•Children’s Hospital, Boston•Memorial Hospital, New York City•New York Hospital, New York City

Current positions: •Emeritus Chief of Plastic Surgery, BWH and Children’s Hospital, Boston•Emeritus Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School

Past positions (partial listing): •Staff surgeon, United States Army, Valley Forge General Hospital, Phoenixville, PA (1943–1947)•Plastic/General Surgeon, Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and Children’s Hospital, Boston (1951–1986)•Chief of Plastic Surgery, BWH (1951–1986) •Director, Surgical Research Laboratory, Harvard Medical School (1952–1975)•Chief of Plastic Surgery, Children’s Hospital, Boston (1972–1985)

Selected awards and honors (partial listing): •The VIIIth International Congress of the Transplantation Society—Dedication to Drs. Joseph E. Murray, John P. Merrill, and Jean Hamburger (1980) •Clinician of the Year, American Association of Plastic Surgeons (1981)•1990 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (with E. Donnall Thomas, MD)•Fellow, American College of Surgeons •Honorary Fellow of several Royal Colleges of Surgery: Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, and Singapore

•Member, National Academy of Sciences (1993)•Member, Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences (1994)•Member, Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Rome, Italy (1997)•Laetare Medal, University of Notre Dame (2005)

Memberships (partial listing): •Chairman, First and Second National Research Council Conference on Human Kidney Transplantation (1963, 1965)•Founder, International Kidney Transplant Registry (1964)•Chairman, American Board of Plastic Surgery (1969–1970)•Editorial Board Member: Transplantation Journal and the Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Selected publications: Murray JE, Merrill JP, and Harrison JH. “Renal Homotransplantation in Identical Twins,” Surgical Forum, 6:432, 1955.

Merrill JP, Murray JE, Harrison JH, and Guild W. “Successful Homotransplantion of the Human Kidney Between Identical Twins,” Journal of the American Medical Association, 160:277, 1956.

Murray JE, Lang S, Miller BF, and Dammin GJ. “Prolonged Functional Survival of Renal Autotransplants in the Dog,” Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics, 103:15, 1956.

Murray JE, Merrill JP, Dammin GJ, Dealy JB, Alexandre GPJ, and Harrison JH. “Kidney Transplantation in Modified Recipients,” Annals of Surgery, 156:337, 1962.

Murray JE, Merrill JP, Harrison JH, Dammin GJ, and Wilson RE. “Prolonged Survival of Human Kidney Homografts by Immunosuppressive Drug Therapy,” New England Journal of Medicine, 268:1315, 1963.

Murray JE and Harrison JH. “Surgical Management of Fifty Patients with Kidney Transplants Including Eighteen Pairs of Twins,” American Journal of Surgery, 105:205, 1963.

Murray, Joseph E., Surgery of the Soul: Reflections on a Curious Career. Boston Medical Library: Science History Publications/USA, 2001.

Murray JE. “The First Successful Organ Transplants in Man.” Nobel Lecture for Dec. 8, 1990, Les Prix Nobel, The Nobel Foundation, 1990/1991.

Murray JE. “Respect for and Love of this Profession and Specialty.” Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 64:390, 1979.

Family: Married to Bobby for 67 years (as of June 2012); six children, 18 grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.

Lifetime interests: Tennis, mountain climbing, traveling, and spending summer vacations with family on Chappaquiddick Island, MA.

Favorite memories: “I met my wife, Bobby, at a Boston Symphony Orchestra concert, and I knew that day that she was the girl I’d marry, but she didn’t realize it at the time!” laughs Murray. “Bobby has been a constant support, and she’s an accomplished singer, pianist, and has written and directed music books and plays. Life with her, my children, and grand-children has been wonderful.”

22 b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2

JOSEPH E. MURRAY, MD, AT A GLANCE

Receiving the Nobel Prize in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1990.

“The pathway to peace and satisfaction is helping others. I couldn’t have asked for a better life.”

—joseph e. murray, mdPo

rtra

it by

Her

bert

Abr

ams

b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2 23

dialysis, but he was at the end of his life,” Hartley says.Fortunately, Williams’s mother was a match, and Murray

performed the transplant. “it was a miracle,” says Hartley. “Twenty-four hours later he was sitting up eating. He lived 20 more years. He worked, got married, and had four children; something we never could have dreamed was possible.”

“What really helped our family was that Joe was so under-standing, caring, and interested,” adds Hartley. “We made it a tradition to connect each year with him and his wife, Bobby, on the anniversary of the transplant.”

Murray, a devout Catholic, is known for his compassion. “He stays in contact with his patients,” says Tullius. “it’s a life-long commitment for him, and it’s important to him that we continue that tradition.”

“He’s a tremendous individual,” adds Zinner. “Joe is a deeply spiritual, thoughtful, and caring person, and he carries that into his work. it shines through when you meet him.”

A born surgeonBorn in 1919, Murray grew up in Milford, Mass., attending public schools. His father, a lawyer and district court judge, and his mother, a teacher, emphasized the importance of education and service to others. Medicine captivated Murray early on. “our family doctor would come to the house, and my parents were reassured by his care,” he recalls. “i knew i wanted to go into surgery as early as i can remember.”

A top high school athlete, Murray decided against playing baseball for the College of the Holy Cross because it interfered

W hen Joseph E. Murray, MD, walked into a Brigham op-erating room in 1954 to attempt the first kidney trans-plant, he knew the world was watching. Similarly, in

2009, when Bohdan Pomahac, MD, scrubbed in to perform one of the first face transplants, the world watched; this time TV cameras captured the swirl of activity.

Pomahac has since gained international attention by performing a number of face and hand transplants, including the first full face transplant in the United States in 2011. But on the day of that first operation, Pomahac was a relatively unknown surgeon with a big goal. “French surgeon Dr. Jean-Michel ‘Max’ Dubernard had performed the world’s first successful partial face transplant, and I knew this procedure could help one of my patients,” says Pomahac. “There were ethical debates, but Dr. Murray was highly supportive of what I was trying to do.”

Pomahac recalls important advice. “Before that first operation, I wondered if I had done as much as I could to prepare. Dr. Murray said, ‘That feeling that you can be better prepared will never pass. You’re ready. If you over-think it, it won’t happen.’”

Murray is particularly fascinated by the series of face and hand transplants that have followed. “When we were starting in the field after World War II, we never dreamed transplantation would expand so much,” he says. “The Brigham has played a key role.”

Murray believes that Dr. Max Dubernard, the French face transplan-tation surgeon who had been a research fellow at BWH and Harvard Medical School in 1965, had benefited from training at BWH that emphasized innovation. “The spirit of the Brigham has always been ‘How can we do things better?’” says Murray. “We also used to comment, ‘If we don’t do it, who will?’”

Pomahac sees parallels going forward. “In the 1950s, it took hard work and 10 dark years to develop immunosuppressive medica-tion,” he notes. “Dr. Murray and his colleagues persevered and ulti-mately opened the gates to organ transplant. We believe if we can, once again, tweak the immune system and achieve better immune suppression, the transplant of faces, hands, legs, and other organs could become more common. It could really open the door to the replacement of any body part. And it could be historically similar.”

“Brigham and Women’s Hospital is where the next step in transplanta-tion should take place,” adds Stefan G. Tullius, MD, chief of Trans-plant Surgery at BWH, co-director of the Schuster Transplant Center, director of the Transplant Surgery Research Laboratory, and designer of the anti-rejection protocol for all face transplants. “We take an indi-vidualized, multidisciplinary approach. So we’re positioned to remain a pioneering facial and extremity transplant center.”u

Face transplants and beyond

Bohdan Pomahac, MD,with full face transplant recipient Dallas Wiens.

24 b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2

with his liberal arts studies. After Harvard Medical school, he assumed he would be part of a family practice, but World War ii changed those plans. “When i reported for active duty in the U.s. Army, instead of being sent overseas, i was up in line just as a rare slot opened at Valley Forge General Hospital in Pennsylvania—it was pure chance,” he says. Valley Forge was the largest plastic surgery center in the country and a primary center for war veterans with various injuries and burns.

“We worked very hard fixing faces, arms, legs, and burns,” says Murray. “i was thrilled to be helping all these young sol-diers.” Managing patients in dire need of skin grafts piqued his interest in transplantation and problems with rejection. one patient in particular, a 22-year-old aviator named Charles Woods, who was burned beyond recognition in a military plane crash, would have a tremendous impact on Murray.

Surgery of the soul“When Charles Woods came to us, he was nearly dead,” says Murray. “He had burns over 70% of his body, his face had been erased by fire, he was weak from loss of fluids, and infection had set in.” With permission from a deceased patient’s family, the team saved Woods’s life with skin grafts, which lasted a month before sloughing off. “it was the first time i witnessed skin rejection,” says Murray, who wondered whether it was Woods’s compromised immune system that had allowed the grafts to last so long.

The questions and interests Murray developed while car-ing for Woods would direct the rest of his career. And the men he met became an inspiration to him: “i learned that human beings have a lot of courage. not only did Charlie Woods survive, he became a successful businessman. Another aviator, Charles spencer, lost part of his face, hands, and sight from frostbite when his plane was shot and damaged at high altitude. He became a Baptist minister. There were so many stories.”

After the war, Murray returned to the Brigham and spent a decade pioneering kidney transplantation, but eventually chose to return to reconstructive surgery full-time. “There were not

many plastic surgeons at the time,” says Elof Eriksson, MD, PhD, chief of Plastic surgery at BWH. “Joe learned techniques from famed craniofacial surgeon Dr. Paul Tessier, and became instrumental in teaching these techniques and helping children with deformities around the world.”

Murray would ultimately travel to places like iran and india to train other doctors. He still keeps a plaque that reads “Difficulties are opportunities,” given to him by a lep-rosy patient. Another patient who deeply affected Murray was Raymond McMillan, a man who had been institutionalized until age 21 due to a severe facial deformity.

During a speech titled “The Cultural Values of science,” given at the Vatican in 2002, Murray recalled McMillan’s story as he talked about the benefits of reconstructive surgery. He noted, “The greatest benefit we gave Ray was not so much the

freedom of facial muscles, but rather the freedom for his inner self to glow and grow.” Murray’s premise: surgery not only saves lives, restores function, and relieves pain, but it can also improve quality of life.

“Dr. Murray is a role model for just about any surgeon on the planet. It’s not often a surgeon gets the Nobel Prize. He’s a living legend, an inspiration,

and a very progressive thinker.” bohdan pomahac, md, director of plastic surgery transplantation at bwh

Charles Woods 40 years after his injury and com-pletely healed, talking with Harvard Medical School students. His hands had been made sufficiently functional to allow him to return to flying.

b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2 25

Mountains to climbClimbing the Matterhorn in the Alps is no small adventure. For Murray, who has scaled mountains on five continents, it happened somewhat unexpectedly at age 52, while he was on a lecture tour. “i was packing, and i thought i’d throw in my hiking boots,” he chuckles. “My wife, Bobby, said, ‘Why are you taking those?’ and i said, ‘You never know.’ ” He ultimately took a side trip, hired a guide, and made it to the top.

Due to his extensive travels, Murray often combined the professional with pleasure, and was in san Francisco with his wife for a conference when he learned he had won the 1990 nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. “i was very pleased,” he laughs. “But Bobby said, ‘You know, it’s just frosting on the cake. We’ve had a good life.’ ”

When he learned the co-recipient was former Brigham resident and friend E. Donnall Thomas, MD, who had pio-neered bone marrow transplantation, he was thrilled. “We were also in san Francisco attending the same conference when we heard the news,” says Mannick. “We had quite a party. it

was wonderful to see the prize go to two remarkably nice and unpretentious people.”

“Dr. Murray is a role model for just about any surgeon on the planet,” says Bohdan Pomahac, MD, director of Plastic surgery Transplantation at BWH. “it’s not often a surgeon gets the nobel Prize. He’s a living legend, an inspiration, and a very progressive thinker.”

At 93, Murray continues to stay involved with medical prog-ress at BWH, and admits he’s not ready to slow down. “My wife says, ‘Why don’t you stop doing all these things and just relax?’ i don’t want to stop. The more you do, the more you learn.”

“What’s inspiring is that Dr. Murray is always looking for-ward,” adds Tullius. “He’s always trying to improve the future.”u

Celebrate the legacy!Brigham and Women’s Hospital is honoring Murray’s exceptional career with the Joseph E. Murray Distinguished Chair in Transplant Surgery. If you would like to make a gift to help establish this chair, please con-tact Karen Fung in the BWH Development Office at 617-424-4362 or kfung5@partners.org.

Dr. Murray shares his Nobel Prize certificate with Brigham and Women’sand Faulkner Hospitals’ President Betsy Nabel, MD.

bwhtoday

26 b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2

Inspirational BWH leaders featured in new book Renowned local photographer Bill Brett and his daughter, Kerry Brett, paid homage to the female leaders of the Boston community with their recent book Boston, Inspirational Women. Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) is honored to be represented by several of our women leaders in this collection of more than 125 black-and-white photos, featuring champions of healthcare, education, philanthropy, and more.

Portraits of BWH’s women leaders from this collection were displayed earlier this year on the Nesson Pike, the hallway that traverses the length of the hospital from 15 Francis Street to 75 Francis Street.

Brigham employees featured in the collection are Elizabeth G. Nabel, MD, president of BWH; Paula A. Johnson, MD, MPH, chief of the Division of Women’s Health and executive director of the Connors Center for Women’s Health and Gender Biology; Erin McDonough, senior vice president of Communication & Public Affairs; and Roseanna Means, MD, of BWH’s Fish Center for Women’s Health and founder of Women of Means, a nonprofit organization that provides medical care to homeless women and children. The book also includes portraits of Myra Kraft, a devoted donor to BWH and a leading lady of philanthropy

in New England and beyond, who died in July 2011; and Elaine Schuster, a prominent and long-time advocate, avid philanthropist, and respected volunteer leader for BWH.u

(Clockwise, from far left) Myra Kraft; Paula Johnson, MD, MPH; Erin McDonough; Elaine Schuster; Roseanna Means, MD; and Betsy Nabel, MD.

Phot

os b

y B

ill B

rett

and

Ker

ry B

rett

bwhnewsmakers

Just as investors prefer to “back a winner,” an increasing number of physicians and scientists are doing the same at Brigham and Women’s and Faulkner Hospitals (BW/F).

In the past year, membership in the Hippocrates Society has grown by nearly 25 percent. Additionally, of the 187 total members, 24 have attained the newly established Partner-level status by donating more than $100,000 to the hospitals. The society—founded in 2002 with guidance from long-time donor Fred Sharf; Marshall Wolf, MD; and Lawrence Cohn, MD— recognizes current and former BW/F physicians and scientists who have made a cumulative philanthropic commitment of $10,000 or more to the hospitals.

Invigorated by this recent success, the 15-member Hippocrates Society Committee is dedicated to achieving 100 percent participation in BW/F philanthropy from our physicians and scientists.

“Grateful patients frequently give $10 or $20 to a research fund or in unrestricted gifts, so why shouldn’t I?” said committee member Julie Glowacki, PhD, director of the Skeletal Biology Research Laboratory at BWH. “Giving back to the hospital creates a continuum of opportunity for other people to experience that same kind of joy that I get out of my own research.”u

b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2 27

“Giving back to the hospital creates a continuum of opportunity for other

people to experience that same kind of joy that I get out of my own research.” —Julie Glowacki, PhD, Director of the Skeletal BioloGy

reSearch laBoratory at Bwh

Jennifer Leaning, MD, SMH, presented the BW/F Hippocrates Society’s 2011 Humanitarian Award to Mark Davis, MD, MS.

Among the attendees at the 2011 Hippocrates Society reception were Meryl LeBoff, MD (left), and JoAnn Manson, MD, DrPH (right).Speakers at the 2011 Hippocrates Society reception included Humanitarian

Award winner Mark Davis, MD, MS (center); Senior Cardiac Surgeon and Hippocrates Society Committee member Lawrence Cohn, MD (left); and BW/F President Betsy Nabel, MD (right).

Hippocrates Society expanding in numbers and focus

28 b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2

As the waistlines of many Americans continue to expand, new diets pop up daily promising quick fixes and rapid weight loss. While many fad diets are quackery, some

have scientific research behind them. One term popping up in several valid diet plans is “glycemic index.” The glycemic index ranks foods based on their effect on the body’s blood glucose levels. More important than the glycemic index of a food, is its glycemic load (GL)—because that number can have an impact on how much weight we gain or lose, and how well we feel.

The glycemic load measures the amount of carbohydrates we eat in combination with the food’s glycemic index rating to determine how that final number affects the body. Research shows that a low GL diet, in combination with high fiber intake, may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabe-tes. Anything under the rank of 10 is considered a low GL.

The GL is not listed on the nutrition labels of your food products. That’s because so many things influence the glycemic load. For example, pasta that is cooked al dente has a

lower GL than the same pasta cooked for 20 minutes. Cooking methods and even the food’s region of origin can all change the GL count, making it difficult to cite precisely.

But there is a way to follow a low-GL diet. First, be aware of the type and amount of carbohydrates you consume. Second, focus on the word whole. Foods such as whole grain bread, whole wheat pasta, and grains like millet, bulgur, and whole oats, are all examples of healthy carbohydrates. Others include fresh fruits, vegetables, and legumes.

Be careful of refined carbohydrates. These are often found in processed foods including breads and cereals with added sug-ars. For example, even though a cereal has whole grain flakes, it still has a lot of added sugar, including fructose and corn syrup. Limit those types of carbohydrates.

Finally, remember that moderation and substitution are keys to a healthy diet. Have an apple instead of apple juice, or substitute whole wheat pasta for regular pasta. And try out the gazpacho recipe below to experience how savory and delicious healthy eating can be!u

Making informed choices to manage your glycemic load

food for thought

by kathy mcmanus, ms, rd dIrector of nutrItIon at BrIgHaM and WoMen’s HosPItal

INgREDIENtS:1 tomato 1 small onion1 medium green pepper1 medium cucumber1 stalk of celery2 tbsp. dry parsley1 tbsp. dried chives1 tsp. minced garlic1 tbsp. rice vinegar2 tbsp. olive oil½ tsp. salt¼ tsp. black pepper½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce2 cups low sodium vegetable juice

yIELD:4 portions: 1 cup each

NutRItIoNAL DAtA:calories: 120 total fat: 7.4 gsaturated fat: 1 gtrans fat: 0 gcholesterol: 0 mgsodium: 387 mgcarbohydrates: 11.2 g protein: 2.2 gdietary fiber: 2.8 g

MEtHoD:1. Peel cucumber, cut in half, and scrape out seeds with a spoon.2. cut tomato in half and scrape out seeds with a spoon.3. finely chop up the cucumber, tomato, onion, celery, and green pepper,

setting half of each vegetable aside in a bowl.4. Blend the other half of the vegetables with the garlic, vinegar, olive oil, salt,

black pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and vegetable juice.5. Place the blended food into the bowl with the finely diced vegetables and

stir well.6. refrigerate for 2 hours; add the dry parsley and chives 15 minutes before

serving.7. garnish with nonfat sour cream or yogurt.

soup gazpacho

b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2 29

As you pass your 40th birthday, it’s common to feel a lack of energy when you once were full of vigor.

But don’t resign yourself to a life of tired-ness just yet. Think of it as a treatable medical condition! Try taking a close look at your lifestyle patterns and pre-scribe changes for yourself that will bring your energy level back to its old intensity.

Treat yourself to sleep. The optimal amount of sleep people need is seven to eight hours. Sleeping less compromises your quality of life, your memory, your energy level, and your longevity. On the other hand, sleeping more than nine hours is associated with a higher risk of stroke, so more is not better.

Another important factor is the qual-ity of your sleep. Waking up tired after sleeping a healthy amount suggests that your sleep quality is poor. Many adults suffer from sleep apnea, which manifests itself in snoring or waking up frequently, because their airway is blocked and they cannot breathe normally. A sleep evalu-ation, including a sleep study, will detect apnea or other sleep issues and point to the best treatment strategy.

Count your caffeine and alcohol intake. Even if you don’t think you are particularly sensitive to caffeine, it could be a culprit in sapping your energy. Caffeine consumption, even earlier in the day, prevents deep restorative sleep.

A large coffee at one popular franchise has more than 200 milligrams of caf-feine. Your body eliminates only half the caffeine in six hours. If you finish two large coffees at noon, you have a 400 milligram caffeine load—which means that at 6 pm, half the caffeine remains (200 mg), and at midnight 100 mg of caffeine remain in your system. You are still revved up and won’t experience good quality sleep.

Alcohol is another culprit. You may drink beer, wine, or liquor to relax you and help you fall asleep, but alcohol will prevent you from entering the deeper phase of restorative sleep—and you will feel tired in the morning.

Assess your mental state. Depression saps your physical and emo-tional energy. If you’ve recently lost interest in the people and activities you

normally enjoy, are sleeping too much or too little, or are eating too much or too little, you may be depressed. Treatment options include counseling, medication, or both.

Prioritize exercise. Weight gain is an energy sapper, slowing you down and increasing your risk of sleeping poorly. Normal loss of muscle mass begins in mid-life, and you begin to burn fewer calories per hour. You can combat this loss by performing weight-bearing exer-cise. People who exercise regularly also tend to sleep better at night.

Consider your thyroid. If you feel you’re doing everything right and still suffering from low energy, your thyroid gland may be malfunctioning. Sluggish thyroid function saps your energy, makes your hair fall out, weakens your nails, and causes weight gain. The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland in the front of the neck that sets your metabolism or energy-burning rate. Thyroid disease is 10 times more common in women than men, and is more common with increas-ing age. It is diagnosed with a blood test, and treated with medication by mouth to restore the metabolic rate, returning your energy levels to normal.

If you have low energy at age 40 or beyond, or you wake up tired, explore these possibilities with your doctor before you chalk it up to “middle age” decline.u

Maintaining your vigor in midlife

Julia schlam EdElman md, facog, ncmP

Dr. Julia Schlam Edelman is a board-certified obstetrician/gynecolgist, certified menopause clinician,

and an instructor at Harvard Medical School. She completed her residency in obstetrics and

gynecology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The author of Menopause Matters: Your guide to

a long and Healthy life, Edelman was chosen by the North American Menopause Society as its

“Menopause Practitioner of the Year for 2010.” Go to www.JuliaEdelmanMD.com for more infor-

mation, including a sample book chapter, the table of contents, and helpful links.

fit aftEr 40

Don’t resign yourself to a life of tiredness. Take a close look at your lifestyle patterns and prescribe changes for yourself that will bring your energy level back to its old intensity.

bwhnewsmakers

30 b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2

BWH transplant program gives new life to recipientsLast year was filled with milestones for the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) transplant program. In addition to three full-face transplants, the team conducted the hospital’s first double hand transplant in October. Bohdan Pomahac, MD, has been a leading force in pushing this burgeoning sector of transplantation.

Richard Mangino’s world changed dramatically 10 years ago when a mere kidney stone evolved into a devastating bloodstream infection that ravaged his body. To save Richard’s life, doctors had to amputate his arms below the elbows and his legs below the knees. But things took a turn for the better late last year when a 40-member BWH surgical team attached a donor’s forearms and hands below Richard’s elbows, including bones, skin, tendons, muscles, ligaments, and blood vessels.

Within a couple of days of his surgery, Richard was moving his fingers. For the first time in a decade, he can play the piano, touch his grandsons’ faces, and hold hands with Carole, his wife of 42 years. Richard’s Brigham experience continues, with regular visits for occupational therapy and tests that continue to improve the function of his new arms. He marvels at both the skill and the demeanor of the Brigham’s staff.

“Everyone listens to my family and me like we’re the experts!” Richard said. “At first, I thought they treated us like rock stars because I’m the first to have this done here. But every time I’m walking through the hallways, I notice that every-one gets treated the same way. Everyone’s a rock star here!”u

Haleys’ foundation funds breakthrough brain studiesBrigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) donors Steven and Kathy Haley started the Brain Sci-ence Foundation (BSF) 10 years ago with one goal in mind: to provide desperately needed seed funding to neuroscience researchers. Seed funding plays a critical role in academic medicine, supporting innova-tive research projects until they are mature and stable enough to receive grants from the National Institutes of Health, or funding from other governent or industry sources. Now, the Haleys are seeing the fruits of the BSF’s labor, with the exciting results of two BSF-funded neuroscience studies garnering national atten-tion.

In a study published in the journal Cancer, Elizabeth Claus, MD, a BWH neurosurgeon, found that people with brain tumors called meningiomas were twice as likely to have ever had bitewing dental X-rays compared to people who had not had such X-rays. For many people, bitewing X-rays are their principal exposure to radiation. Though radiation levels of dental X-rays have dropped significantly since the time study participants had them, Claus says it’s worth considering reducing these exposures in healthy patients without cavities and other risk factors.

Another research team led by Anna

Krichevsky, PhD, a neurobiologist at BWH’s Center for Neurologic Diseases, piloted a new, minimally invasive technique that may some-day be used to diagnose brain cancer without surgery. In the study, published in the journal Neuro-Oncology, researchers found that mol-ecules called microRNAs act like genetic ther-mostats, and may be used to detect and moni-tor disease progression in glioblastomas—the most common and most aggressive malignant brain tumor in humans. Krichevsky is patent-ing the work and hopes to test the technique more extensively in follow-up studies.u

Just

in K

nigh

t

Double hand transplant recipient Richard Mangino

bwhnewsmakers

Previous human studies have suggested that early life exposure to microbes—i.e., germs—helps build immunity to allergic and autoimmune diseases such as hay fever, asthma, and inflammatory bowel disease. This concept is known as the hygiene hypothesis, and it has been conjecture. Until now.

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and Harvard Medical School’s Channing Laboratory published a study online in the journal Science on the Science Express website in March that provides evidence supporting the hygiene hypothesis, as well as a potential mechanism by which it might occur. The researchers studied the immune system of mice lacking bacteria or any other microbes (“germ-free mice”) and compared them to mice living in a normal environment with microbes. They found that germ-free mice had exaggerated inflammation of the lungs and colon resem-bling asthma and colitis, respectively. Most importantly, the researchers discovered that exposing the germ-free mice to microbes during their first weeks of life led to a normal-ized immune system and prevented diseases. This positive result did not occur when mice were exposed later in adult life.

While warning that further research is still needed in humans, Richard Blumberg, MD, chief of the BWH Division of Gastroenterology, Hepa-tology and Endoscopy, said, “These studies show the critical importance of proper immune conditioning by microbes during the earliest periods of life.”u

Researchers get the dirt on immunity

A persistent problem in chemotherapy has been target-ing these potent drugs to only cancer cells, while leav-ing healthy tissue alone. But researchers led by Omid Farokhzad, MD, director of the Laboratory of Nanomedi-cine and Biomaterials at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, have done just that, representing a stunning breakthrough in the fight against cancer. What’s more, they’ve devel-oped what is the first tiny drug-carrying robot—so micro-scopically small it earns the designation “nanoparticle”—to enter human clinical trials.

Working in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and BIND Biosciences—which developed the drug and conducted the trial—Farokhzad’s team laced nanoparticles with potent doses of cancer-fighting chemotherapy drugs, and equipped them with the equivalent of a Global Positioning System (GPS) to find and bind to cancerous cells. As such, they can effectively attack and shrink tumors without harming the body’s healthy tissues.

In Farokhzad’s phase-one clinical trial with 17 cancer patients, researchers demonstrated that these specially engineered nanopar-ticles achieved much higher drug concentrations in tumors. Patients received 100-fold higher concentrations than conventional chemo-

therapy, while experiencing doses as low as 20 percent of the normally prescribed drug, significantly reducing their side effects. Many of the participants’ tumors shrank, even with the lower doses.

Farokhzad is optimistic about future clinical trials, which will test the nanoparticles on larger groups of cancer patients. “In the past, we couldn’t bring very high amounts of cancer-fighting drugs selectively to the site of disease,” said Farokhzad. “This potentially revolutionizes how cancer will be treated in the future.”u

b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2 31

BWH may revolutionize chemotherapy use

Nanoparticles carrying chemotherapy drugs and equipped with “gPS,” invade cancer cells, where they unleash the drugs within, effectively destroying the cancer cells.

Illus

trat

ion:

nic

ole

r.

fulle

r. s

ayo-

art

isto

ckph

oto

32 b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2

Kowa Company honors Aikawa with Associate ChairPioneering an entirely new model of collaboration between industry and academic medicine, the Japa-nese drug company, Kowa Company, Ltd, is a founding investor in the Center for Interdisciplinary Cardiovascu-lar Sciences (CICS) at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, established in 2009. Working with Masanori Aikawa, MD, founder and director of the CICS, Kowa hopes to speed the translation of basic science research into clinical medicine. Recently, Kowa honored Aikawa with a $2 million gift to establish the Yoshihiro Miwa Associ-ate Chair in the CICS.

Named for the President and CEO of Kowa, the Yoshihiro Miwa Associate Chair recognizes Aikawa’s exceptional service, research, and leadership in the fields of cardiology and vascular biology. As envisioned by Miwa and Aikawa, the CICS is home to leading aca-demic medicine and industry investigators from both BWH and Kowa, all of whom are devoted to breakthrough cardiovascular research that will fundamentally improve the health of the millions of people worldwide with heart disease.

“I am profoundly grateful for the extraordinary partnership with Kowa, and humbled by Mr. Miwa’s vision and generosity,” Aikawa says. “It is my hope that the ongoing relationship between Kowa and the CICS will establish a new paradigm for clinical discoveries to help people suffer-ing with heart disease.” u

bwhgiving

Since its establishment in 2002, the International Mesothelioma Program (IMP) at Brigham and Women’s Hospital has been the premier center for mesothelioma care and the largest of its kind in the world, treating more than 150 patients in the last year. A clear demonstration of the program’s global reach can be found in the generous donation by Cuiyan Yang and her husband Shunli Zheng of China, who gave the IMP $1 million to further advance mesothelioma research.

Mesothelioma is a rare cancer of the cells that make up the sac or lining around the lungs and chest walls. Between 50 and 80 percent of patients diag-nosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma are aware of exposure to asbestos at some point in their lives. But under the direction of David J. Sugarbaker, MD, Raphael Bueno, MD, and the multidisciplinary IMP team, patients are living

longer, more active lives, while the IMP strives to improve treatments through innovative research.Yang and Zheng felt strongly about supporting the efforts of Sugarbaker and Bueno, granting the program with its first seven-

figure international gift. The couple’s philanthropic investment will help Bueno and his colleagues identify the genetic mutations of tumors through gene sequencing, which will eventually lead to more targeted treatment options. According to Bueno, “Without the support of our generous donors such as Cuiyan Yang and her husband, this exciting project that allows us to determine the genetic fingerprint of a tumor would not be possible.”u

IMP grows international support

From left: Peter Libby, MD, Chief, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, BWH; Elena Aikawa, MD, PhD, Director, Vascular Biology Program, BWH CICS; Barbara Bierer, MD, Senior Vice President, Research, BWH; Yoshihiro Miwa, President and CEO, Kowa Company, Ltd.; and Masanori Aikawa, MD, PhD, Founder and Director, BWH CICS.

Cuiyan Yang and Shunli Zheng

bwhgiving

Schuster Center eases transplant experienceThirty-five years ago, one of Elaine and Jerry Schuster’s young sons donated a kidney to his brother during successful transplant surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). Since then, the Schusters have been dedicated to the advancement of transplantation medicine and surgery, culminating in the creation of the multidisciplinary, patient- and family-focused Schuster Trans-plant Center at BWH.

The Schuster Transplant Center provides high-quality care to kidney, pan-creas, and lung transplant patients. Evaluation for transplant typically involves several visits with providers and a significant amount of testing, all of which can be time-consuming and burdensome for patients. To complete their work-ups, patients are often asked to make several trips to the hospital, sometimes to multiple locations. In contrast, the Schuster Transplant Center offers a single outpatient location with coordinated and intensive clinical support that focuses on the whole transplant experience. For instance, the center provides a com-prehensive pre-transplant testing and evaluation clinic all in a single setting. In addition, patients can also obtain long-term post-transplant care with a focus on managing complex immunosuppressive drug regimens. The concept is that of “one stop shopping,” a clinical space completely focused on the needs of the patient for the entire lifetime.

“Our vision is to promote integrated, patient-focused treatment, support, and education, giving patients and their families a home base for care that is completely dedicated to their needs,” the Schusters said. u

b w h | s p i n g 2 0 1 2 33

Slim Institute backs kidney transplant researchSince Joseph Murray, MD, successfully trans-planted the first kidney in 1954 at the Brigham, the science of transplantation has grown by leaps and bounds—but opportunities still exist to enable patients to lead longer, healthier lives. Through his Carlos Slim Health Institute, internationally promi-nent businessman Carlos Slim Helú is delving into those possibilities by supporting Stefan G. Tullius, MD, PhD, FACS, in the Transplant Surgery Research Laboratory, which aims to improve kidney transplan-tation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH).

Permanent and enduring kidney replace-ment still eludes modern medicine, with most transplanted organs failing within 20 years of transplant. As chief of Transplant Surgery at BWH, Tullius leads research to examine why organs from deceased donors don’t last as long as kidneys from

live donors. Tullius theorizes that a donated kidney sustains injuries tied to organ procurement and the lack of blood flow and oxygen supply prior to being transplanted. Further, Tullius and his colleagues believe that immunosuppressive drugs may not target inflammatory response, which may wear down the donated kidney after time.

Tullius’s extensive research to increase the lon-gevity and health of a donated kidney for transplant will have positive outcomes for many, improving transplant patients’ lifespans and reducing the need for subsequent transplants. Uncovering the mecha-nisms that lead to organ injury and failure may also apply in the fields of acute kidney injury, cardiac ischemia, stroke, and other diseases.

“We are very pleased to support the vital work of donor organ health,” says Roberto Tapia-Conyer, MD, of the Slim Health Institute. “Projects like this are paramount for moving the transplantation field forward.”u

Jerry and Elaine Schuster with Mayor Thomas Menino at the opening of the Schuster Transplant Center in November 2011

Stefan G. Tullius, MD

34 b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2

bwhgiving

Deborah and Robert First believe strongly in collaboration, which was the impetus for the couple’s second round of support for an innova-tive ovarian cancer research initiative shared by Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). Working closely with both institutions, the Firsts recently made a $500,000 gift to advance important research in detecting ovarian cancer at earlier stages of the disease.

Ranked together at number five in cancer care by the U.S. News & World Report’s top hospital ratings, BWH and DFCI each bring unique and complementary strengths to the project. Connected by a walking bridge, the two organizations are home to researchers whose excit-ing endeavors may push the scientific community closer to eradicating cancer altogether.

The Firsts’ gift supports the joint efforts of leading researcher Ross Berkowitz, MD, and his colleague Alex Ng, PhD, from the Depart-ment of Obstetrics and Gynecology at BWH, and Ronny Drapkin, MD, PhD, from the Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers at DFCI. Their mutual goal is to detect and measure certain cancer- driving proteins to stop their activation process and better understand their relationship to the development of ovarian cancer. Berkowitz describes the Firsts’ involvement as “a visionary alliance that allows researchers to more effectively aim toward earlier detection and better prevention strategies for our patients.”u

Firsts boost collaborative cancer studies

For more than 25 years, Michael E. Weinblatt, MD, has dedicated his career to discovering new treat-ments for rheumatoid arthritis. He is also a highly sought-after mentor, and has established a repu-tation for going out of his way to provide comfort and treatment to patients who are dealing with the sometimes baffling intricacies of the disease.

To express their deep gratitude for Dr. Wein-blatt’s compassionate care and advice, Harold and DuVal Bowen recently made a $250,000 gift to fund awards for rising investigators engaged in innovative research in rheumatoid arthritis. The Harold and DuVal Bowen Physician-Scientist Fund in Rheuma-tology will provide necessary interim support for investigators at a critical time in their careers, help-ing to smooth the volatility of the government funding cycle so that they can sustain the momentum of their research.

“This incredibly generous gift from the Bowen family will help us move the field of rheumatoid arthritis forward, and ultimately bring comfort to many patients dealing with this often debilitating disease,” said Weinblatt.

“DuVal was referred to Dr. Weinblatt approxi-mately 20 years ago because of the extreme serious-ness of her rheumatoid arthritis,” said Harold Bowen. “Hopefully our participation in this program, under his direction, will help eliminate or alleviate the effects of this cruel disease. We will be forever grateful for Dr. Weinblatt’s ongoing care and support.”u

Bowen family advances rheumatology research

Deborah and Robert First with their grandchildren

Michael E. Weinblatt, MD

bwhgiving

b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2 35

As scientists expand their knowl-edge about what causes breast cancer, and what works to most

effectively treat it, they are zeroing in on the specific drivers of the disease—which may be found in the body’s proteins. For example, a group of proteins called Nuclear

Factor kappa B, or NF-kB, may drive breast cancer in certain patients, as well as raise their resistance to chemotherapy. In his role as the inaugural Hale Research Fellow, Bose Kochupurakkal, PhD, at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), is leading promising studies of anti–NF-kB drugs to specifically target this cancer.

Created by Rob and Karen Hale, the Hale Fellowship is bestowed upon a BWH investigator whose studies may be deemed too risky to receive grant funding from the National Institutes of Health. As the current Hale fellow, Kochupurakkal is working to identify the breast cancer

tumors that will most likely respond to anti–NF-kB therapy, or a combina-tion of anti–NF-kB plus chemotherapy drugs. Not only may more common use of this treatment help reduce the need for chemotherapy—and its detrimental side effects—but Kochupurakkal believes that NF-kB may serve as a useful biomarker in

future breast cancer diagnosis.“The Hale Fellowship is essential

for developing projects that are high risk and high impact,” said Kochupurakkal. “It is helping us build the critical knowl-edge base to bring anti–NF-kB drugs to patients and identify those who will best benefit from these drugs.”u

Hale fellow tackles targeted breast cancer therapy

BRIGHAM AND WOMEN’S HOSPITALPRESENTS THE FOURTH ANNUAL INPARTYSATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2012 INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL BOSTON

CO-CHAIRS: John and Cyndy Fish, Rob and Karen Hale, Steve and Judy Kaye, Carmine and Beth Martignetti, and Scott and Heidi Schuster

For more information and to reserve your table, RSVP to 617-424-4338 or email wflorentino@partners.org. Please consider reserving your table by June as seats are limited.

“The Hale Fellowship is essential for developing projects that are high risk and high impact.”

—Bose KochupuraKKal, phDBose Kochupurakkal, PhD

bwhgiving

36 b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2

Right: Sybil and Robert Sheinkopf with Marie and Sidney Goldman

Center right: Herbert and Beverly Myers

Far right: Marshall Wolf, MD, with Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro

BWH and Palm BeacH— Perfect togetHer

Guests who regularly attend the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) Palm Beach series know to expect fun-filled and informative events every year. The celebration in January 2012, attended by the hospital’s philanthropically minded advocates in southern Flori-

da, highlighted BWH’s efforts to continue breaking boundaries in medical care.

The series was set off by an annual dinner and night of enter-tainment at the Breakers Oceanfront Luxury Hotel. Dubbed “the BWH Olympics,” the dinner was chaired by Marshall Wolf, MD, and Katharine Wolf, MD, and emceed by Boston personality Scott Wahle. Guests enjoyed footage of BWH President Betsy Nabel, MD, carrying the actual Olympic torch for the Vancouver Olympic Games in 2010 and a taped commentary by familiar Olympics sportscaster Bob Costas.

Several Brigham physicians were recognized with medals for their accomplishments, including Atul Gawande, MD, MPH, an internationally renowned expert in patient safety, and Steven Ringer, MD, and Robert Insoft, MD, trailblazers in improving the survival and life quality of infants in BWH’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Attendees also learned about the groundbreaking studies of Emily Stern, MD, in brain imaging, and marveled at the work of Andreas Gomoll, MD, who performs a procedure in which patients grow their own cartilage to fix knee joint dam-age. Video montages featured each physician’s inspirational projects.

Additional events included a Men’s Health Breakfast and a Women’s Health Luncheon. The breakfast, hosted by Robert and Sybil Sheinkopf, focused on wellness, with a panel of phy-sicians presenting essential health tips. Other guests enjoyed the Women’s Luncheon, hosted by Beth and Teresa Martignetti, which discussed the importance of generational research for predicting future health outcomes.n

Phot

os: L

ucie

n C

apeh

art

brigham and women’s hospital

in palm beach

bwhgiving

00 b w h | w i n t e r 2 0 1 0

Left: Beth Martignetti with Lilian Mahrokhian, MD, and Paula Johnson, MD, MPH, at the Women’s Health Luncheon

Right: David Silbersweig, MD, with Steven and Kathleen Haley

Far right: BWH President Betsy Nabel, MD, and Howard Kessler

Far left: Louis and Zacharie Vinios

Left: Diane and Joseph Anton

Right: Katharine Wolf, MD, and Marshall Wolf, MD

Far right: Ryna S. Greenbaum and Bernard Wineberg

Far left: The Men’s Health Breakfast panel, from left, Adam Kibel, MD; Donald B. Levy, MD; Jorge Plutzky, MD; O’Neil Britton, MD; and Meryl LeBoff, MD

Left: Judie and Larry Schlager

Right: Michele Kessler and Meryl LeBoff, MD

38 b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2

Right: Elizabeth Karlson, MD, Barbara Bierer, MD, Steven Hyman, MD, and Steven Karlson

Center right: Kathleen VanDernoot addresses the audience

Second from right: Howard and Michele Kessler

Far right: Rob and Karen Hale

A celebrAtion of innovAtion At the in PArtyEach year, Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) celebrates its rich history and promising future at the IN Party, highlighting the hospital’s most exciting innovations in human health. On September 17 last year at the Intercontinental Hotel in Boston, guests enjoyed a magnificent event, co-chaired by hospital supporters Steve and Judy Kaye, John and Cyndy Fish, and Jim Manzi. The evening was filled with entertainment and emotional moments, including moving patient stories, a performance by the renowned Ailey II dance troupe, and a night of dancing to the sounds of D.J. Scott Durday.

This year’s event showcased the hospital’s advances in the fields of face transplantation and neonatal intensive care, as well as cardiovascular medicine, cancer, and neurosurgery. A moving video vignette emphasized the pioneering work of the BWH Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), which treated Gayle and Michael Schumacher’s premature son. Weston, who spent more than three months in the NICU after birth, is now an active and healthy 10-year-old.

The emotion was palpable during a presentation featuring Bohdan Pomahac, MD, who broke barriers in surgery by performing the nation’s first full face transplant last year. The patient, Dallas Wiens, surprised guests by coming all the way from Texas to partake in the festivities. Also featured were interactive touch screens highlight-ing other inspirational hospital accomplishments.

The IN Party raised more than $1 million to fund multiple innova-tive programs across BWH. As BWH President Betsy Nabel, MD, said, “The event was a great success and, most importantly, a great time. It is always wonderful to be able to celebrate the Brigham’s achievements with the people who make them possible.” n

Phot

os: J

ustin

Kni

ght

bwhgiving

00 b w h | w i n t e r 2 0 1 0 b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2 39

Left: Bohdan Pomahac, MD, with face transplant patient Dallas Wiens and BWH President Betsy Nabel, MD

Right: Event co-chairs Cyndy and John Fish

Far right: Gayle Schumacher with Kathryn and Dan Marous

Left: Roberta Weiner, Colleen Bain, Betsy Solomon, and Lesley Solomon

Right: Kim Williams and Paula A. Johnson, MD, MPH

Far right: Roberta Cohn, Larry Cohn, MD, Derri Shtasel, MD, MPH, Kay Calvert, event co-chair Jim Manzi, and Partners HealthCare President and CEO Gary L. Gottlieb, MD, MBA

Far left: Sandford Smith, Joel T. Katz, MD, and Ellan Cates-Smith

Center left: Guests enjoyed the Ailey II dancers

Left: Inez and Kevin Gaines

Right: Event co-chairs Steven and Judy Kaye

40 b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2

faulkner celeBrates tWenty years of Briefcase racingOne hundred skiers and snowboarders of all ages

raised more than $50,000 to benefit the Faulkner

Breast Centre during the annual Briefcase Race this

March. Participants celebrated Faulkner Hospital’s 20th

ski race at Loon Mountain in Lincoln, NH.

The race featured five-person teams—many of them in

festive costumes—which competed on an easy dual-

slalom course, with soft-sided briefcases in hand. This

year’s race raised money to expand patient education

initiatives and support research into high-risk breast

lesions and the role of surgery.

Since its inception, the Briefcase Race has raised more

than $1 million to support the Faulkner Breast Centre.

“It was an incredible weekend for everyone who joined

us in support of the fight against breast cancer,” says

Margaret Duggan, MD, FACS, medical director of the

Faulkner Breast Centre. “There is really nothing like the

Briefcase Race.”n

THE

20CELE

BRATING 20 YEARS

1992-2012

2012

The Pink Ladies in action

Team Royal Flush, from the Faulkner hospital Radiology Department

Team The Real houswives of Loon

bwhgiving

b w h | w i n t e r 2 0 1 2 41

briefcase race host Mike Lynch, sports director and anchor for wCVb-TV Channel 5 in boston

Team Fruit of the Loon, from theFaulkner breast Centre

Team Spartans, from brait builders

Team All in the bag, from the Gem Group

Team big Canadian, from Dedham Medical Associates

bwhawards&honors

42 b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2

Ponton Fund honors face transplant trailblazer This past December, the inaugural Club Colette Prize was presented to Bohdan Pomahac, MD, in the amount of $50,000. The Daniel E. Ponton Fund honored the pioneer-ing plastic surgeon because of his innovative work in face transplantation, dramatically improving his patients’ mental and physical health. Pomahac last year conducted the first successful full face transplant in the United States on Dallas Wiens, and since then has completed additional transplants. The Ponton Fund was established to support the visionary approach of the hospital’s Institute for the Neuro-sciences, which accelerates the neuroscience community’s most promising research endeavors. It also fuels BWH’s global surgery projects in Tanzania, the Dominican Republic, and Rwanda, bringing hope and healing to those in resource-poor settings.u

Michael J. Zinner, MD; Dan Ponton; Betsy Nabel, MD; and Bohdan Pomahac, MD

Jeff

Thie

baut

h

Spence award curbs caregiver burnout Because of her previous post as president and CEO of Emerson Hospital in Concord, Mass., and her continued work in the field, Rina Spence had an insider’s knowledge of some of the problems facing primary care. She was concerned about the propensity of women physicians specializing in primary care to drop out of the workforce when family demands became too difficult to juggle with full-time work. “I wanted to do something to keep women in primary care practice and help them stay motivated with good resources and balance,” says Spence.

The inaugural Rina Spence Award in Primary Care and Women’s Health—funded by Spence, her husband, Gary Countryman, and other advocates of women in healthcare— enabled Carolyn Kreinsen, MD, MSc, to receive $25,000 this year. Kreinsen’s pro-posal, a Primary Care Trauma Center, will offer support to patients who have been victims of trauma, as well as educate staff about trauma’s impact on a victim. The Spence award gives Kreinsen protected time away from her practice to execute her idea.

Spence would like to see others donate to this meaningful cause going forward. “The goal is to open this award fund to others who want to support women in primary care. Then we can offer multiple awards in a year and raise awareness of how to sustain women’s careers,” Spence says.u

Khademhosseini lauded for tissue regeneration Having already earned the Curtis McGraw Award of the American Society for Engineering Education and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scien-tists and Engineers from President Obama at the White House, Ali Khademhosseini, MASc, PhD, has made important strides in tissue engineering. His latest endeavor is creating pieces of living tissue that may redefine the landscape of organ transplantation. “We combine expertise from dis-ciplines such as engineering, materials science, and biology to regenerate artificial tissues that can be transplanted,” he says.

Khademhosseini has been much lauded for his innovative work, racking up a long list of addi-tional honors this past year, including election to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellows, the 2012 Young Investigator Award of the American Chemical So-ciety—Biochemical Technology Division, the 2012 Polymer International IUPAC Award, and a 2011 fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for promising young investigators.u

Rina Spence

bwhgiving

00 b w h | w i n t e r 2 0 1 0 b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2 43

CoMMuniTyfundraisers

RunneR CuTS hAiR FoR CoMMuniTy heALTh

When Team Brigham runner

Juliana Carvajal had a fundraising

goal to meet before the big race

on Marathon Monday, she joined

forces with her husband, Sacha,

who owns Safar Coiffures on New-

bury Street. The couple opened

the salon to charity work on April

1, with all of the stylists donating

their time, and clients donating

$25 or more per haircut. The

Cut-a-Thon also featured a silent

auction, face painter, band, and

free food. Participants gave more

than $3,000 toward Carvajal’s

fundraising goal for Team Brigham,

which supports the community

health programs of BWH.

Philanthropic donors to Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) are special people. Here we present just a smattering of some of the wonderful fundraising events organized by grateful patients and other stakeholders of the hospital. It’s our way of thanking you for all you do.

To host your own community fundraising event, please contact:

Katie Fallon 617-424-4322 cfallon2@partners.org

GALA bACkS LeukeMiA ReSeARCh

After Greg Jensen attended a

MARJO golf tournament, run

by Mark and Joanna Clausen

to raise money for leukemia

research, Jensen decided to host

a fundraiser of his own to raise

money for MARJO and to support

the research of the laboratory run

by BWH hematologist Benjamin

Levine Ebert, MD, PhD. Jensen’s

inspiration, the Color Orange Ball,

was a fun-filled night of dinner,

dancing, and raffles that raised

$14,580 for the fight against

leukemia.

AuCTion RAiSeS DonATionS ARTFuLLy

Constance Tenney and her

children, Mariel and Andrew,

held their second the Art for the

Heart event to raise donations in

memory of Constance’s husband

Charles H. Tenney III. Proceeds

from the event, a fine art auction,

support the Cardiac Amyloidosis

Program at BWH. To date, Art

for the Heart has raised more

than $16,000 overall, in addition

to the Tenney family’s personal

donation of $50,000, to help

fill a void in programs designed

to diagnose and treat systemic

amyloidosis.

MeMoRiAL TeA booSTS MeSo CARe

In memory of their son, Kenneth,

Ron and Heather Reid held their

second Daffodil Tea to support

the Mesothelioma Treatment and

Research Fund at BWH. The fund

bolsters the work of renowned

Brigham mesothelioma specialist

David J. Sugarbaker, MD, whose

unique treatments for this rare

cancer are among the most ad-

vanced in the world. The Daffodil

Tea raised more than $6,000

this year, and the Reids credit

the success of the event to the

tremendous support from their

family, friends, and community.

PLAnneDgiving

44 b w h | s p r i n g 2 0 1 2

*Offer good only at Au Bon Pain café at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital location on

75 Francis Street. Expires December 31, 2012. Cannot be combined with any other offers.

Non-transferable. Copies are void.

There’s nothing like a richly brewed cup of coffee to

begin your day. Now you can enjoy one free on us—one

for you and one for a friend—and get great advice on

investing in the future through planned giving.

The Legacy Society at Brigham and Women’s and

Faulkner Hospitals, in partnership with Au Bon Pain,

would like to give you free coffee the next time you visit

the hospital. Just send an email to Carla Byers at

cbyers@partners.org and provide her with your name

and address. She will send you two coupons for a free

cup of Au Bon Pain coffee*—any flavor, any size—and a

little helpful information.

Do something good for yourself by learning how to invest

in the future, and get rewarded in return. We hope to

hear from you soon.

Have a Cup of Coffee on us!

The legacy societyof Brigham and Women’s and Faulkner Hospitals

The Legacy Society recognizes individuals who have included us in their estate plans through a will, trust, life-income gift, or other planned gift. This honorary society acknowledges the generosity of friends whose vision for the future will provide a legacy to support our mission.

If you have included or have plans to include BW/F in your will or estate plan, please let us know at bcoole@partners.org.

Free coffee from the Legacy Society

Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) is recognized inter-nationally for excellence in patient care, medical research, and the training of healthcare professionals.

A teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School and a found-ing member of Partners HealthCare System, the medical center comprises 793 beds, extensive outpatient facilities, and state-of-the-art research laboratories.

A preeminent provider of care for patients with cardio-vas-cular disease, BWH is home to the Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center, which pools the talents of special-ists in cardiology, vascular medicine, cardiac and vascular surgery, radiology, and pathology. The hospital is also lead-ing the charge against neurological disorders and cancers.

BWH is known worldwide for pioneering work in the trans-plantation of vital organs and tissues, including hearts, lungs, kidneys, and bone marrow. An innovator in ortho-pedic and joint-replacement surgery, the hospital has achieved breakthroughs in treating arthritis and rheumatic disorders. It is also New England’s top provider of high-risk obstetrics and newborn intensive care, and it offers a variety of specialty services for women through the Mary Horrigan Connors Center for Women’s Health.

Year after year, BWH ranks high among independent U.S. hospitals receiving research funding from the National Institutes of Health. Thanks to its clinical, laboratory, and population-based studies, the hospital is advancing the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of dis-ease for people in Boston, across the country, and around the world.

Visit our website at www.brighamandwomens.org.

About BWH

Development Office116 Huntington Avenue, 5th floorBoston, Massachusetts 02116‑5712617‑424‑4300

cHAnge servicerequesteD

A TeAching AffiliATeof hArvArd MedicAl School

NONPROFIT US POSTage PaIDh0llISTON, Ma PeRMIT NO. 20

V TASE R I