April 3, 2017 – Cabot Atrium
Faculty and trainees came together for the Lung Research Center’s annual symposium on Monday, April 3rd to highlight lung research from across the Brigham, including the Channing Division of Network Medicine, the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and the division of Thoracic Surgery.
Keynoting the event was Scott T. Weiss, MD, Scientific Director of Mass General Brigham Personalized Medicine, who encouraged junior investigators to move beyond the specific scientific fields in which they were trained to acquire the necessary skills to take on large, interdisciplinary projects. Dr. Weiss’ tour de force into the effects of Vitamin D on diseases such as asthma and preeclampsia was built on research spanning the gap from basic to clinical research in the fields of genetics, bioinformatics, epidemiology and immunology.
Highlighting the power of such comprehensive studies, Dr. Weiss reminded everyone that “…in 2000, when the human genome was mapped, Dr. Claude Lenfant, then Director of NHLBI, said that asthma would never be prevented. Today, 17 years later, we are on the verge of doing just that.”
Scott T. Weiss, MD, Scientific Director, Mass General Brigham Personalized Medicine
The poster session, featuring 38 research projects from junior faculty and trainees drew a large and enthusiastic crowd. Among all the outstanding work that was presented, three researchers stood out and were awarded with a $1000 cash prize: Patrick Burkett, MD, PhD, Instructor in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine; Rachel Kelly, PhD, Research Fellow in the Channing Division of Network Medicine; and Moshe Lapidot, MD, Research Fellow in Thoracic Surgery.