Faculty & Staff News

Jumbo Wins

Ndidiamaka Amutah-Onukagha, the Julia A. Okoro Professor of Black Maternal Health, was appointed to serve on the Secretary of Health and Human Services' Advisory Committee on Infant and Maternal Mortality (ACIMM). The ACIMM advises the Secretary of Health and Human Services on activities, policies, and programs to reduce infant and maternal mortality and morbidity, improve the health of women and infants, and address disparities and inequities in birth outcomes. This prestigious appointment is a testament to Amutah-Onukagha’s outstanding dedication and expertise in maternal and infant health. As a member of this vital committee, she will play a crucial role in shaping policies and strategies to improve health outcomes for mothers and infants nationwide.

James Kryzanski, clinical associate professor of neurosurgery, was recognized by Newsweek as one of the 150 best spine surgeons in America. Kryzanski is Chief of Epilepsy Surgery and Co-Chief of Spine Surgery at Tufts Medical Center. Read more.

Scott Gilbert, MD, professor of medicine, has received this year’s Robert Narins Award from the American Society of Nephrology (ASN). Founded in 1966 the ASN is the world’s largest professional society devoted to the study of kidney disease. The Narins Award honors individuals who have made substantial and meritorious contributions in education and teaching in nephrology. This Lifetime Achievement Award is given to one individual each year and will be present to Gilbert at a plenary session of the ASN Annual Meeting in San Diego in October this year.

David J. Greenblatt, the Louis Lasagna, M.D. Professor of Immunology, is the recipient of the Hartmut Derendorf Mentorship in Clinical Pharmacology Award from the American College of Clinical Pharmacology. This award is given annually to an awardee who demonstrates exemplary promotion of clinical pharmacology, with emphasis on training/guidance of junior scientists and/or colleagues. Greenblatt is also the 2024 ASCPT and FDA William Abrams Lecture Award recipient. The title of Greenblatt’s lecture is “The Benzodiazepine Era,” which he delivered virtually.

Craig Gordon, associate professor of medicine, will serve as the next Director of Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) Center of Excellence at Tufts Medical Center.  The center is dedicated to providing comprehensive, cutting-edge care to patients with polycystic kidney disease, which is the fourth leading cause of kidney failure, and more than half of people with PKD will develop kidney failure by the age of 50.

Agnieszka Trzcinka, associate professor of anesthesiology and perioperative medicine, received an “Outstanding Service Award” from the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists, “in recognition for extraordinary contributions to the advancement of women in cardiac anesthesiology”.

Rachel Buchsbaum has served as Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology and Director of the Cancer Center at Tufts Medical Center, Professor of Medicine and the Jane F. Desforges, MD, Chair in Hematology and Oncology at Tufts University School of Medicine. She has been an esteemed clinician, mentor, researcher, and leader for nearly three decades at Tufts Medicine and TUSM. Dr. Buchsbaum will be stepping down from her position, while she is continuing part-time as a researcher and educator for the coming year.

Alice Lichtenstein, Stanley N. Gershoff Professor of Nutrition Science and Policy and professor of medicine, was named a 2024 recipient of the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Award of Meritorious Achievement, the organization’s highest honor given to those that make a true impact on its mission. Lichtenstein was formally recognized during the AHA’s virtual National Volunteer Awards on May 2.

Abe Bayer, MD/PhD candidate at the School of Medicine and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, received the 2024 Experimental Pathologist in Graduate Training Merit Award from the American Society for Investigative Pathology.

Kevin J. John, clinical associate of medicine, received first prize at the 2024 CVC Research Fellows Symposium for his presentation “Acute Limb Ischemia in Cardiogenic Shock.”

TUSM Awards

Natalie V. Zucker Research Center for Women Scholars Award
The Natalie V. Zucker Research Center for Women Scholars Awards were established to advance the research careers of junior women scientists conducting basic and clinical biomedical research at Tufts School of Medicine or its major affiliated hospitals. This year's award recipients are Hayley Muendlein, Regina Powers, Qiwen Dong, Anna-Lisa Lawrence, Carolyn Chlebek, Rachel Ende, and Zhu (Jenny) Cui. Read more.

Charlton Research Grants
Miranda Good, assistant professor of medicine, Gat Rauner, assistant research professor of developmental, molecular and chemical biology, and Peter Zhao, assistant professor of ophthalmology, are the recipients of the 2024 Charlton Research Grants. These grants are designed to propel innovative projects towards securing extramural funding from both public and private sources. Read more.

Research News

Tufts Scientists Reveal How Molecules Shape Cells, Cells Move to Shape Tissue
A team of biomedical researchers at TUSM have made a groundbreaking discovery about how certain molecules move within cells to shape them and ultimately form animal tissues. Their research, published in Developmental Cell, uncovered the mechanisms that drive cellular shape and tissue organization. Read more.

Anastassios Pittas, professor of medicine, co-chaired the Endocrine Society’s new clinical practice guidance on Vitamin D for Prevention of Disease. The new guidelines recommend vitamin D higher than the recommended daily allowance for children, pregnant people, adults over 75 and adults with prediabetes. Read more.

LymeX Diagnostics Prize
A team from Tufts School of Medicine is one of six to advance to Phase 3 of the LymeX Diagnostics Prize. Led by Peter Gwynne, research assistant professor of molecular biology and microbiology, the Tufts team is working on a serum test targeting a unique antibody that would accurately identify early infection and allow clinicians to optimize additional treatment. In fall 2024, the Phase 3 teams will present and publicize their diagnostic test at Demo Day, showcasing their proposed solutions to representatives from government and industry, including clinician and consumer organizations. Read more.

Treating Babesiosis with Antimalarial Drug
For the tick-borne infection babesiosis, adding the antimalarial drug tafenoquine may be a lifesaver for vulnerable patients who relapse after standard treatment, according to a new study co-authored by Edouard Vannier, assistant professor of medicine. The research was conducted in collaboration with researchers at Brown University and the Yale School of Public Health and was published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Read more.

Alysse Wurcel, associate professor of medicine, received a new research grant to study Massachusetts HIV and Justice-Involved Populations, funded through NIDA.

MyDzung Chu, assistant professor of medicine, is an author of “Federal Housing Assistance and Blood Lead Levels in a Nationally Representative US Sample Age 6 and Older: NHANES, 1999–2018,” published March 13 in Environmental Health Perspectives. The new study suggests that lead inspection and removal regulations for public housing have been effective over time, reducing the risk of lead exposure for residents. After decades of high lead levels in its housing stock, it’s a sliver of hope for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that remediation and safety efforts are working.

Ludovic Trinquart, associate professor of medicine, is senior author of a new study from Denmark in The BMJ showing that the lifetime risk of atrial fibrillation (a heart condition that causes an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rate) has increased from one in four to one in three over the past two decades. And among those with the condition, two in five are likely to develop heart failure over their remaining lifetime and one in five encounter a stroke, with little or no improvement in risk evident over the 20-year study period. The study’s researchers say stroke and heart failure prevention strategies are needed for people with atrial fibrillation.

Aarti Grover, assistant professor of medicine at TUSM and the medical director at the Center for Sleep Medicine at TMC, presented at the Sleep Fellows' Boot Camp on Diagnostic testing in Sleep Medicine and interactive sessions at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, which includes the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the premier professional society for sleep medicine held in Houston June 1-5.

Majd Alsoubani, assistant professor, Shira Doron, professor of medicine, and Maya Nadimpalli, research assistant professor, all at Tufts’ Stuart B. Levy Center for Integrated Management of Antimicrobial Resistance, authored “How Should Health Care Respond to Threats Antimicrobial Resistance Poses to Workers?” in the AMA Journal of Ethics.

Amy Lee, dean of admissions and associate professor of family medicine, authored “Storylines of family medicine IV: perspectives on practice—lenses of appreciation” in the journal Family Medicine and Community Health. This publication is part of “Storylines of Family Medicine,” a 12-part series of thematically linked mini-essays with accompanying illustrations that explore the many dimensions of family medicine, as interpreted by individual family physicians and medical educators in the United States and elsewhere around the world.

Recent Events

INFEST-igate LYME Conference 

The INFEST-igate LYME Conference, a two-day event hosted by the Tufts Lyme Disease Initiative, aimed to cultivate networks within the Lyme research community, ensuring a promising future for the next generation of investigators. This unique conference brought together Lyme disease researchers for engaging activities such as elevator pitches, speed networking for collaborations, meetings with funders, and a "Shark Tank" style evaluation of proposals.

TUSM-Spelman College Enrichment Program

Earlier this month, a pilot program between TUSM and Spelman College brought ten outstanding undergraduate juniors and seniors to campus for an immersive experience in medical school. Running from June 1 to June 8, 2024, the program aimed to provide participants with an in-depth understanding of the graduate programs available at TUSM. It supported informed decision-making about medical, graduate, and other professional schools, and equipped students with essential skills for graduate school, with a focus on medical school, biomedical sciences, and other professional health science programs.

Tufts CSDD Symposium

The symposium "New Medicines Development at a Crossroads: Trends & Transformation in Drug Development" was hosted by the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (CSDD) on June 3 in honor of Ken Kaitin, the former director of Tufts CSDD. The event featured enlightening historical insights and discussions on new developments at the FDA's Center for Clinical Trial Innovation (C3TI), led by Dr. Kevin Bugin, Director of the CDER Center for Clinical Trial Innovation and Deputy Director of Operations at the FDA. The symposium also included a thought-provoking panel on the trends driving transformation in drug development, featuring industry experts.

Upcoming Events

Tufts GSBS Relay

The Tufts GSBS Relays is a mini-Olympics-style competition between the academic programs at Tufts Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS), significant as one of the few events where all GSBS programs participate annually. The Relays feature an academic portion, where students submit achievements for points, and an athletic portion with various competitive events. A key component is fundraising for the Student Enrichment Fund, which provides students with academic and professional development opportunities. Profits from attendance, raffle ticket sales, and donations support this fund. Over the past twenty years, the Fund has helped students present at scientific conferences, enroll in external training, and attend career seminars. This year's Relays will be held on July 19th on Field F at the Tufts Medford campus. Learn more. 

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