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MGHHOTLINEA PUBLICATION FOR EMPLOYEES AND STAFF OF THE MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL1

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After yeArs of plAnning and thanks to the help of generous donors, The Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds: Developing Resilience through Engagement, Awareness and Media (DREAM) is a reality.

The Clay Center is an online resource aimed at educating parents and other caregivers about the mental health needs of children, teens and young adults who struggle with behavioral, emotional and/or learning challenges. While based at the MGH, the center will foster collaborations between Harvard Medical School and experts from regional and national mental health organizations.

“Our mission is education,” says Gene Beresin, MD, director of the MGH Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Residency Training Program, who serves as executive director of The Clay Center. “We want to provide a strong, virtual community to support the mental health needs of young people and their families. We know the majority of psychiatric disorders begin in young adulthood, but if we can catch them early, there is a better chance of preventing hardship later.”

The Clay Center’s website offers a wealth of information including (Continued on page 2)

Knowledge is power

Historic tree delivers sweet treatA speciAl surprise arrived at the MGH main campus this week – a package full of pears fresh from the historic tree at the Mass General/North Shore Center for Outpatient Care.

On Sept. 30, arborists from Mayer Tree Service led the annual harvest of the nearly 400-year-old Endecott Pear Tree, assisted by members from the MGH Buildings and Grounds crew. Some 200 pears were plucked from the tree’s limbs and sent to the presidents’ offices at the MGH and the North Shore Medical Center, the president of the Danvers Historical Society and the executive director of the Essex National Heritage Commission.

Believed to be the oldest living fruit tree in America, the Endecott Pear Tree was planted in or about 1632 by John Endecott, the first governor of Massachusetts, who owned the property where the Danvers hospital now stands.

“The tree continues to be a sign of strength and resilience,” says Elena Sierra, RN, MPH, executive director of Mass General/North Shore Center for Outpatient Care. “It has survived centuries of harsh New England weather, and we were thrilled to see it produce such a beautiful crop of pears this year.”

PLENTIFUL PEARS: Eric Lemaire, from the Department of Buildings and Grounds at the Mass General/North Shore Center for Outpatient Care in Danvers

DREAM TEAM: From left, Gorrindo, Braaten, Schlozman and Beresin

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— The Clay Center(Continued from page 1)

“Where to turn,” a comprehensive list of services, as well as a variety of blog posts – many supplemented by videos – by MGH clinicians to address parenting concerns categorized by age group. Topics range from “Giving a 2-year-old a 15-minute time-out” to “What if my child has an anxiety disorder?” The center’s outreach efforts involve social media, partnerships with media outlets, original podcasts, education forums and collaborations with a number of specialists across Partners HealthCare and the hospital, including those within the MassGeneral Hospital for Children.

Beresin and a core group from the MGH Department of Psychiatry form the DREAM team – Ellen Braaten, PhD, associate director; Tristan Gorrindo, MD, managing director; and Steven Schlozman, MD, associate director. Psychiatric disorders are more common than almost any disorder in medicine, and one in four people will be affected by mental illness during their lives, says Beresin. But despite that prevalence, the stigma of mental health remains widespread.

The team recognized a lack of trustworthy, public information related to mental illness and wellness and created The Clay Center as a way to

help increase awareness, promote resilience and combat public misconception. “What better place to provide a trusted resource for information than the MGH?” Beresin says. “All the public may see about mental illness is that it is associated with violence; they hear very little about resilience. We all face hardships, but not all of us know how to deal with them; or perhaps, more importantly, how to prevent them.”

On Sept. 24, MGH faculty, patients, local

business owners, state officials and center donors Elizabeth Gail Hayden, and Landon and Lavinia Clay, gathered in the Ether Dome to celebrate the center’s official launch. “By empowering youths and training adults to recognize signs of mental illness, we can strengthen young people’s resilience and eradicate the social scar associated with mental illness,” said Landon Clay.

For more information about The Clay Center, visit www.pathstodream.org. n

Derri shtAsel, MD, Mph, founding director of the MGH Division of Public and Community Psychiatry, has been named the inaugural incumbent of the Michele and Howard J. Kessler Chair in Public and Community Psychiatry. The endowed chair, funded by the Kessler Center of Excellence at Partners HealthCare, will support Shtasel and successive directors as they lead efforts to expand services for individuals suffering from severe and persistent mental illness who rely on government and community-based agencies for care.

“I’m so happy to congratulate my dear friend and colleague, Derri Shtasel on receiving this well-deserved honor,” said Peter L. Slavin, MD, MGH president.

“I applaud the Kesslers for recognizing the need to create systems of mental health care for medically vulnerable populations. Creating these systems is one of the responsibilities of the incumbent, and I can think of no better person to fulfill these responsibilities than Derri Shtasel.”

The ceremony, held in The Starr Center, also included remarks from Jerrold Rosenbaum, MD, chief of Psychiatry, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, who sponsored the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act along with his father, the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. Other special guests included members of the Kessler family and Shtasel’s husband, Gary L. Gottlieb, MD, MBA, president and CEO of Partners HealthCare.

Shtasel, who founded the Division of Public and Community Psychiatry in 2009, has dedicated her career to providing direct clinical care to underserved populations. Shtasel also is executive director of the Kraft Family National Center for Leadership and Training in Community Health at Partners HealthCare.

“The Michele and Howard J. Kessler Chair is powerful because it structurally integrates public and community psychiatry within the department,” said Shtasel. “It enhances our ability to recruit mission-driven trainees; connects our amazing young people to the sickest and neediest; continuously improves community partners’ relationships; and grows community-based, community-focused research. Perhaps most importantly, it provides a vehicle to amplify the voices of people whose voices are hard to hear, and encourages us to think and talk openly about social justice.”

ENDURING SUPPORT: From left, Michele Kessler, Derri Shtasel and Howard Kessler

Derri Shtasel named to Michele and Howard J. Kessler Chair

LAUNchING ThE cENTER: Beresin speaks in the Ether Dome.

Making an impact As her Mother, Jean Nabstedt, looked on, 3-year-old Rachel happily played with MGH Institute of Health Professions students in the Charlestown Public Library’s children’s room. “Rachel can be a bit shy when she doesn’t know someone, but she perked right up with the students,” said Nabstedt, a Medford resident. “I’m glad we came.”

More than 320 faculty, staff and graduate students from the MGH Institute of Health Professions – which offers opportunities for students to learn and work alongside expert practitioners at the MGH – visited almost 30 nonprofit organizations during its second Community Day on Sept. 20.

Each team of 10 was composed of students in nursing, physical therapy and speech-language pathology who are beginning a semester-long class called Interprofessional Model for Patient and Client-centered Teams (IMPACT). The class aims to teach students to work with each other and lay the groundwork to provide interdisciplinary patient care during and after their institute education.

“The IMPACT class will help prepare graduates to function effectively as members of interprofessional collaborative teams, making a positive impact on the patients, clients and the health care systems in which they practice,” says Mary Knab, DPT, PhD, who also is a clinical specialist in the MGH Department of Physical and Occupational Therapy and a clinical assistant professor at the institute.

“It’s extremely valuable to know what students in other disciplines do,” says first-year physical therapy student, Sasha Kossak, who was paired with a speech-language pathology student.

Students performed a variety of tasks throughout Charlestown, as well as in Beacon Hill, the South End, the North End and South Boston. They provided seniors with health tips, cleaned city parks, created arts and crafts, ran an adaptive soccer clinic for kids with disabilities and led a yoga class for high schoolers.

“We feel it is important for future health professionals to understand the communities where their patients come from,” says Peter S. Cahn, PhD, associate provost for Academic Affairs at the MGH Institute of Health Professions. n

MGHHOTLINEthe u.s. census BureAu reports that the number of students entering undergraduate and graduate schools in fall 2013 decreased for the first time since 2006. However this is not the case at the MGH Institute of Health Professions where the number of full- and part-time students has increased almost 15 percent for the start of the 2013-2014 academic year.

According to the Office of Student Affairs, there are 422 new students – for a total of 1,400 – the most in the Boston graduate school’s 36-year history.

Eighteen new full- and part-time faculty have been hired for this academic year to accommodate the school’s continued growth. This is in addition to the scores of clinical instructors and preceptors in myriad health care settings who work with students to provide the kind of hands-on education for which the MGH Institute of Health Professions is renowned. The institute also has added additional state-of-the-art classrooms, labs and research space to its Charlestown Navy Yard campus.

During the past decade, the number of students increased 130 percent, as school leaders have responded to high numbers of students seeking a health care career and the continued demand for more health care professionals who can care for the country’s rapidly growing aging population. The school has added several new degree programs over that period including a doctorate in Rehabilitation Sciences, Doctor of Nursing Practice, Master of Science in Health Professions Education, and an entry-level 14-month Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing that proved to be so popular after its 2008 launch that a second class was created to meet demand.

With the addition of the Doctorate degree, the MGH Institute of Health Professions now offers the full range of academic degrees – bachelor’s, master’s, clinical doctorate and research doctorate – in Communication Sciences and Disorders, Nursing, Physical Therapy, Health Professions Education and Rehabilitation

Sciences. “There is going to be a tremendous demand for new health care professionals in the coming years, and the MGH Institute of Health Professions continues to position itself to help meet that need,” says Janis Bellack, PhD, RN, FAAN, institute president.

Bellack cited the pending retirement of much of the country’s health care workforce, the aging of the baby boom generation, and anticipated changes stemming from the implementation of President Obama’s health care reform legislation as reasons for the MGH Institute’s growth. n

BUcKING NATIONAL TRENDS: Students chat outside of MGH Institute of Health Professions at the start of the academic year.

PAIRING UP FOR NONPROFITS: MGH Institute of Health Professions students volunteer on Community Day.

Institute of Health Professions enrollment surges

editorColleen Marshall

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AssistAnt editorEmily Williams617-724-2753

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Patricia donahoe, md, director of the Pediatric Surgical Research Laboratories at the MGH, was elected to the Board of Directors and Governors of American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities, the fundraising organization for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Donahoe served on the St. Jude Scientific Advisory Board from 1997 to 2006.

david Kuter, md, dPhil, director of Clinical Hematology in the MGH Cancer Center, will be honored by The American Society of Hematology (ASH) with the 2013 Ernest Beutler Lecture and Prize on Dec. 9 at the 55th ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition in New Orleans. Kuter is recognized for his significant advances in the discovery of thrombopoietin (TPO), the platelet growth factor that regulates platelet production. The Ernest Beutler Lecture, named for the late Ernest Beutler, MD, a past president of ASH and physician-scientist for more than 50 years, is a two-part lectureship. The award is given to two individuals; one who has enabled advances in basic science and the other for achievements in clinical science or translational research. Kuter and fellow recipient Kenneth Kaushansky, MD, of Stony Brook University, will present a lecture, “Thrombopoietin: From Molecule to Medicine,” outlining the clinical development of the recombinant TPO and the newer TPO receptor agonists.

Jen sheen, Phd, of the MGH Department of Molecular Biology, was selected to receive the 2014 Martin Gibbs Medal Award of the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) for her “seminal and innovative contributions to the understanding of molecular mechanisms underlying the plant signal transduction cascades that mediate nutrient, hormone, and environmental stress responses and pathogen defenses in plants.” The Gibbs Medal is presented biennially to an individual who has pioneered advances that establish new directions of investigation in the plant sciences. Sheen will be honored during a symposium at the 2014 ASPB annual meeting in Portland, Ore.

the mGH has been designated as a Center of Excellence by the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO), an international consortium of health care professionals

and scientists who are dedicated to the development and evaluation of novel therapies for support of failing organ systems. The MGH Extracorporeal Life Support (ECLS) program received The Excellence in Life Support Award, for demonstrating excellence in extracorporeal membrane oxygenation treatments and in training, education, collaboration and communication. Members of the MGH ECLS team were presented the award at a ceremony during this year’s ELSO meeting in September.

Hena Ahmed, medical student in the MGH Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, received second place in the Association of Women Surgeons (AWS), Green Solutions for the Operating Room competition. Ahmed’s submission, “QR Code Inventory for Health Care Equipment Recovery and Resource Distribution for Global Impact,” proposed recycling operating room materials through collection and distribution to resource-poor settings.

Kevin oh, md, of the MGH Department of Radiation Oncology, received the 2013 Educator of the Year Award from The Association for Residents in Radiation Oncology (ARRO). Presented annually, the award recognizes outstanding teachers and mentors of radiation oncology residents. The ARRO is dedicated to improving patient care through professional education and training, support for clinical practice and health policy standards, advancement of science and research, and advocacy.

Arthur Boland, md, orthopædic surgeon in the MGH Sports Medicine Service, was honored by the Arthritis

Foundation New England Region with the Dr. Marian Ropes Award for excellence in arthritis care and leadership in the fight against arthritis. Ropes – a pioneer and national leader in the field of rheumatology – also was the first female medical resident at the MGH. The award is given annually to a highly regarded rheumatologist and orthopædic surgeon.

Joshua roffman, md, of the MGH Department of Psychiatry, was among three recipients honored with an MQ Fellows Award, recognizing early career investigators in the field of obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety and schizophrenia. Roffman will conduct an exploratory study of the impact of folic acid supplementation on risk factors for schizophrenia, which he hopes may prevent schizophrenia in the future. The 2013 fellows were selected from a highly competitive international group of more than 100 applicants from more than 15 countries. MQ is a London-based nonprofit focused on identifying and funding research key to solving global issues in mental health.

malissa J. Wood, md, co-director of the MGH Corrigan Women’s Heart Health Program, will receive the 2013 Women in Cardiology Mentoring Award from the Council on Clinical Cardiology. This award recognizes individuals who have an outstanding record of effectively mentoring women cardiologists and underscores the importance of mentoring in the professional development of women. The award will be presented during the annual 2013 Clinical Cardiology Council Dinner at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions in Dallas, Texas on Nov. 16.

the Mgh Revere HealthCare Center celebrated Community Health Day on Sept. 26. The annual education event provides community members the opportunity to network and attend presentations given by MGH faculty on current health care issues. Roger Pasinski, MD, director of the center, welcomed guests including Revere Mayor Dan Rizzo. Christopher McDougle, MD, director of the Lurie Center for Autism, provided the keynote address, “Update on Autism Spectrum Disorder for your community.”

cOLLABORATION: From left, McDougle and Pasinski celebrate Community Health Day.