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February Updates from the Mongan Institute
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Mongan ReflectionsFrom the Director
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It is astonishing to consider that it has only been a year since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. While the past 12 months have brought into bold relief long-standing health disparities and a tragically inadequate public health infrastructure, it has also revealed a previously unrealized potential of our research community. One of the success stories is well-known: Operation Warp Speed dramatically demonstrated the ability of basic and clinical scientists to pivot and produce critical research findings in a period of months—rather the usual pace of research over years and decades. Less celebrated, but equally important, has been the extraordinary response, pace, and impact of population and health care delivery science. A window of this remarkable story can be found by scanning some of the highlights of team science conducted by our researchers at the Mongan Institute on our website: https://www.monganinstitute.org/covid-19-related-projects
Groundbreaking projects at the Mongan Institute range from epidemiological and clinical cohort studies to projects addressing health disparities and novel approaches to health care delivery of prevention and treatments. Among many examples, the Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit applied innovative methods to rapidly develop a COVID Symptom Tracker App to identify risk factors and track the course of COVID-19, contributing to an international Coronavirus Pandemic Epidemiology (COPE) Consortium. Locally, researchers launched a rapid data collection effort across the Mass General Brigham system to support research, including a focus on special high-risk populations. The Medical Practice Evaluation Center quickly adapted prior work on HIV to create the Clinical and Economic Analysis of COVID-19 interventions (CEACOV) model to predict the costs and outcomes of different prevention and treatment strategies in diverse settings, including homeless shelters, college campuses, and communities in South Africa. Other work highlighting populations experiencing health disparities included initiatives by the Disparities Research Unit and the Disparities Solutions Center, in addition to numerous community-engaged research efforts. Additional research by Mongan faculty on specialty health populations and COVID-19 spanned areas such as rheumatology, dermatology, allergy and immunology, radiology, cancer prevention, gastrointestinal disease, geriatrics, and psychiatry.
Finally, a glimpse of the future can be found in an innovative program supporting summer internships in COVID research aimed at developing the next generation of researchers and capitalizing on the benefits of diversity. The MGH COVID Corps Research Internship Program quickly launched last summer, and applications for interns and mentors for the coming summer can be found on our website: https://www.monganinstitute.org/covid-corps
Academic research has often been criticized for being too incremental, too isolated from the public, and too slow to respond to the most urgent crises in public health. Over the past 12 months the extraordinary work by COVID-19 researchers at MGH and across the globe suggests that rapid, agile, and high impact science is not only possible, but realizable.
- Steve Bartels, MD, MS
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Dear Colleague,
In this newsletter you will find:
Mongan Institute News and Events
- MGH COVID Corps Biomedical Research Internship Program 2021 Now Accepting Applications for Students and Faculty Mentors
- MGH NIH Diversity Supplements Initiative Seeks MGH PIs with Eligible NIH Grants
- Meet Our New Postdoctoral Fellows: Felippe Marcondes, MD, Arundati Nagendra, PhD, and Ronita Samuels, PhD, MPH
- Esther Freeman, MD, PhD, Promoted to Associate Professor of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School
- Awards & Honors
- Margarita Alegría, PhD, Appointed to National Academies Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education Advisory Committee
- Joseph Betancourt, MD, MPH, Appointed to Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association Board of Trustees
- Vicki Fung, PhD, Elected Member of National Academy of Social Insurance
- Tracey Simon, MD, MPH, Awarded Celebration of Science Recognition Award by MGH Executive Committee on Research
- 5 Mongan Institute Faculty Awarded MGH Department of Medicine COVID Junior Investigator Support Grants
- In the News
- Recent Publications
- Job Opportunities
- Social Media Highlight
- Applications Now Open for the 2021-2022 Disparities Leadership Program
News and Events from Our Partners
- Apply: Health Disparities Research Institute Hosted by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
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MGH COVID Corps Biomedical Research Internship Program 2021 Now Accepting Applications for Students and Faculty Mentors
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The Massachusetts General Hospital COVID Corps Biomedical Research Internship Program 2021 is now accepting applications for both students interested in a 6-week research internship and faculty at MGH with research opportunities interested in mentoring a COVID Corps Scholar. The program offers a paid ($3000 stipend), remote research and training opportunity to current undergraduate and graduate students who will continue to be enrolled in Fall 2021.
We strongly encourage students who are historically underrepresented in the biomedical research sciences or are local Boston residents to apply. The full-time, 6-week program will run from Monday, June 21 to Friday, July 30, 2021. Applications are due on Sunday, February 28, at 5pm ET.
We are also seeking MGH faculty with remote research opportunities who are interested in mentoring a student. Please note that all research projects must be COVID-related, unless you are able to provide grant funding to independently support the summer stipend.
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MGH NIH Diversity Supplements Initiative Seeks PIs with Eligible NIH Grants
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The Mongan Institute is dedicated to increasing diversity and inclusion in academic medicine. The Massachusetts General Hospital NIH Diversity Supplements Initiative seeks principal investigators (PIs) at MGH with eligible NIH grants who are interested in connecting with diverse scholars and applying for NIH diversity supplements. After verifying the eligibility of your NIH grant(s) (instructions below), please fill out the interest form below to add your grant(s) to the repository of eligible grants, which will be updated weekly and publicly accessible on our website. Please note that interested scholars will reach out to you directly and that we do not guarantee a match or connection with a scholar.
What is a NIH Diversity Supplement? It is an administrative supplement designed to provide support for research experiences for individuals from diverse backgrounds throughout the continuum from high school to the faculty level. It supports the research training of underrepresented trainees and faculty by providing training, mentorship, and career development. Click here to learn more about NIH-funded Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research.
Is my NIH grant eligible? We encourage you to consult the NIH Table of IC-Specific Information, Requirements and Staff Contacts and to connect with your program officer to discuss your application further. In general, additional funds may be awarded as supplements to parent awards using the following Activity Code(s). Note, however, that not all participating NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) support all the activity codes listed below.
- R00, R01, R03, R15, R18, R21, R21/R33, R24, R33, R34, R35, R37, R41, R41/R42, R42, R43, R43/R44, R44, R61/R33, RC1, RC2, RC3, RC4, RF1, RM1, SC1, SC2, SC3, U01, U10, U13, U18, U19, U2C, U24, U41, U42, U44, U54, U56, UC2, UC4, UG1, UG3/UH3, UH3, UM1, UM2, UF1, DP1, DP2, DP4, DP5, G12, G20, P01, P20, P30, P40, P41, P50, P51, P60, P2C, PM1, PN2
Is your research nutrition or obesity-related? The Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard (NORCH) also runs a similar program with investigators at Harvard and affiliated institutions who focus on nutrition and obesity-related research. If you are a PI whose work falls into such categories, please submit your interest on their website.
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Meet Our New Postdoctoral Fellows: Felippe Marcondes, MD, Arundati Nagendra, PhD, and Ronita Samuels, PhD, MPH
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Felippe Marcondes, MD, is a General Internal Medicine Fellow working under the mentorship of Jennifer Haas, MD, MSc. His research interests include health disparities among vulnerable populations, health policy, and cancer preventive screening. He recently completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch, where he worked on research in health policy involving transitions of care.
Arundati (Arun) Nagendra, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow in the Disparities Research Unit and the Center of Excellence in Psychosocial and Systemic Research, under the mentorship of Margarita Alegría, PhD, and Corinne Cather, PhD. She studies how various forms of racism, including assessment bias, contribute to disparities in Black Americans diagnosed with schizophrenia. Her long-term goal is to collaborate with community members to develop interventions that promote recovery and empowerment in Black Americans who experience psychosis.
Ronita Samuels, PhD, MPH, is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Mongan Institute under the mentorship of Stephen Bartels, MD, MS. She will be working with Dr. Bartels on a study to determine best practices to prevent COVID among staff and people with serious mental illness and intellectual/developmental disabilities in congregate care settings. Her research interests include health equity, racial and ethnic health, health disparities among vulnerable populations, and infectious disease epidemiology in the context of global health.
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Esther Freeman, MD, PhD, Promoted to Associate Professor of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School
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Esther Freeman, MD, PhD, was promoted to Associate Professor of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Freeman is also Director of Global Health Dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Chair of the International Alliance for Global Health Dermatology.
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Margarita Alegría, PhD, Appointed to National Academies Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education Advisory Committee
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Dr. Alegría is Chief of the Disparities Research Unit and Harry G. Lehnert, Jr. and Lucille F. Cyr Lehnert Endowed MGH Research Institute Chair.
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Joseph Betancourt, MD, MPH, Appointed to Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association Board of Trustees
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Joseph Betancourt, MD, MPH, has been appointed to the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association (MHA) Board of Trustees. Through advocacy, education, and collaboration, MHA’s mission is to improve the overall health of the commonwealth and support providers’ efforts to offer high-quality, affordable and accessible care. MHA has used its platform to serve as a nexus of coordination for the healthcare system throughout the COVID-19 crisis, bringing leaders together and forging solutions to the most complex challenges presented by the pandemic.
Dr. Betancourt is MGH/MGPO Senior Vice President for Equity and Community Health, Founder, Senior Advisor, and Faculty at the Disparities Solutions Center, a faculty member at the Mongan Institute, and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
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Vicki Fung, PhD, Elected Member of National Academy of Social Insurance
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Vicki Fung, PhD, has been elected as a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance. Election to membership in the National Academy of Social Insurance is considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded to a social insurance professional. Academy membership recognizes those who have made distinguished and continuing achievements in the field.
Dr. Fung is Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a researcher at the Health Policy Research Center within the Mongan Institute.
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Tracey Simon, MD, MPH, Awarded Celebration of Science Recognition Award by MGH Executive Committee on Research
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Tracey Simon, MD, MPH, was awarded the Celebration of Science Recognition Award by the MGH Executive Committee on Research (ECOR). Dr. Simon is a gastroenterologist who has been a member of the Clinical & Translational Epidemiology Unit at the Mongan Institute at MGH since 2015. She is also an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
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5 Mongan Institute Faculty Awarded MGH Department of Medicine COVID Junior Investigator Support Grants
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Jeffrey Ashburner, PhD, MPH
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Kimberly Blumenthal, MD, MSc
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Julie Levison, MD, MPhil, MPH
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The MGH Department of Medicine (DOM) Diversity and Inclusion Board has awarded 13 researchers with DOM COVID Junior Investigator Support Grants. Of the 13 recipients, 5 are junior faculty members of the Mongan Institute. Please join us in congratulating Jeffrey Ashburner, PhD, MPH (General Internal Medicine/Mongan Institute), Kimberly Blumenthal, MD, MSc (Rheumatology, Allergy & Immunology), David Drew, PhD (Gastroenterology/Clinical & Translational Epidemiology Unit), Julie Levison, MD, MPhil, MPH, FACP (General Internal Medicine/Mongan Institute), and Zachary Wallace, MD, MSc (Rheumatology, Allergy & Immunology).
The DOM Diversity and Inclusion Board developed the DOM COVID Junior Investigator Support Grants to support junior investigators who have not yet received R01 funding, in response to restrictions on research imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, including lab closures and deployment of PIs and support staff. Each awardee will receive a grant of $50,000, jointly funded by the DOM and the awardee’s division or unit.
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A study co-authored by Andrew Chan, MD, MPH, Long Nguyen, MD, MS, and David Drew, MD, has received press for their findings about how the certain diets may promote gut microbes linked to obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.
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Andrew Chan, MD, MPH, Chief of the Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit, spoke with the New York Times about his research into the pandemic’s disproportionate toll on health care workers. Read the article, “A Parallel Pandemic Hits Health Care Workers: Trauma and Exhaustion" below.
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Lisa Iezzoni, MD, a researcher in the Health Policy Research Center and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, spoke with STAT News about her recent study on physicians’ perceptions of patients with disabilities, and how the surprising results may affect people with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read the article, “Large majority of doctors hold misconceptions about people with disabilities, survey finds” below.
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April Jorge, MD, Assistant in Medicine in the MGH Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology Clinical Epidemiology Program, spoke with Rheumatology Network about the findings of her study, “Temporal trends and severe COVID-19 outcomes in patients with rheumatic disease,” and what this may mean for patients with rheumatic disease moving forward in the pandemic.
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Bharati Kochar, MD, a gastroenterologist at MGH, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and researcher at the Clinical & Translational Epidemiology Unit, spoke with Healio News about a recent study investigating treatments for older patients with inflammatory bowel disease.
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Nancy Rigotti, MD, Director of the Tobacco Research and Treatment Center, spoke with Wired Magazine about whether e-cigarettes and vaping help adults stop smoking cigarettes, and how the potential benefits for adults may be outshadowed by concerns about e-cigarettes' effects on kids.
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Magdalena Sevilla, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow working with Dr. Alisa Manning at the Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit, spoke with STAT News about testing whether the System Usability Scale, originally developed in English, can also accurately gauge usability of digital health tools in Spanish.
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Recent Publications
Below are a few publications recently published by Mongan Institute investigators. Please find a more comprehensive list of publications from the past 3 months on our website.
- Clinical Decision Making During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Metlay JP, Armstrong KA. Clinical Decision Making During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Ann Intern Med. 2021 Feb 2. doi: 10.7326/M20-8179. [Epub ahead of print]
- ANCA-Associated Vasculitis Management in the United States: Data from the Rheumatology Informatics System for Effectiveness (RISE) Registry
Wallace ZS, Yun H, Curtis JR, Chen L, Stone JH, Choi HK. ANCA-Associated Vasculitis Management in the United States: Data from the Rheumatology Informatics System for Effectiveness (RISE) Registry. J Rheumatol. 2021 Feb 1:jrheum.201330. doi: 10.3899/jrheum.201330. [Epub ahead of print]
- Healthy lifestyle, endoscopic screening, and colorectal cancer incidence and mortality in the United States: A nationwide cohort study
Wang K, Ma W, Wu K, Ogino S, Chan AT, Giovannucci EL, Song M. Healthy lifestyle, endoscopic screening, and colorectal cancer incidence and mortality in the United States: A nationwide cohort study. PLoS Med. 2021 Feb 1;18(2):e1003522. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003522. [Epub ahead of print]
- COVID-19 Vaccination and Obesity: Optimism and Challenges
Townsend MJ, Kyle TK, Stanford FC. COVID-19 Vaccination and Obesity: Optimism and Challenges. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2021 Jan 28. doi: 10.1002/oby.23131. [Epub ahead of print]
- Hydroxychloroquine in the prevention of COVID-19 mortality
Jorge A. Hydroxychloroquine in the prevention of COVID-19 mortality. Lancet Rheumatol. 2021 Jan;3(1):e2-e3. doi: 10.1016/S2665-9913(20)30390-8.
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Please visit our website to stay updated on all open positions at the Mongan Institute and our centers/programs. To apply, visit the MGH Careers website and search the job number listed.
- Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics Faculty Search
The Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School is recruiting faculty to expand our research portfolio in bioethics. Appointment as an Instructor, Assistant, or Associate Professor, commensurate with training, experience, and achievements, based in both the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School and at the Mongan Institute. Interested individuals should submit a letter of interest and their Curriculum Vitae to: Robert Truog, Director, Center for Bioethics, Harvard Medical School, bioethicssearch@hms.harvard.edu.
- Project Coordinator - 3143614
The Disparities Solutions Center (DSC) seeks a Project Coordinator to coordinate and evaluate a variety of projects related to Initiative 4 in the MGH 10-Point Structural Equity Plan: Assuring equity in access to and delivery of clinical care. BIPOC are encouraged to apply.
- Research Program/Project Manager, Biometry Unit - 3131079
The Medical Practice Evaluation Center (MPEC) is seeking an intellectually curious and highly organized individual to serve as the Program/Project Manager of the Center’s growing Biometry Unit. The Program/Project Manager for the MPEC Biometry Unit will play a key role in research program administration through coordination of data analysis activities and oversight of Biometry Unit personnel allocations, in addition to potentially contributing to projects as a researcher, if interested. In collaboration with the Directory of Biometry, the Program/Project Manager will lead continuous process improvements to maximize efficiency, transparency, and communication among Investigators and the Biometry Unit.
- Research Data Analyst/Biostatistician - 3129496
The Medical Practice Evaluation Center (MPEC) has an opportunity for an enthusiastic and energetic individual to join our research team investigating the clinical and economic value of alternative strategies of HIV treatment and prevention, as well as modeling other diseases, as a Data Analyst/Biostatistician. The candidate should be highly motivated with experience in quantitative methods and public health research. The candidate should have solid foundation in biostatistics and statistical programming. Ideally, the candidate will have experience in mathematical model development, parameterization, and debugging.
- Data Analyst I - 3129494
The Medical Practice Evaluation Center (MPEC) is seeking a clinical research Data Analyst to join our research team. The Data Analyst will work with investigators in the Outcomes and Implementation Science Program to analyze and evaluate interventions to improve health outcomes in the United States and international settings.
- Clinical Research Coordinator - 3140852
The Center for Aging and Serious Illness (CASI) in the Mongan Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital seeks a Clinical Research Coordinator (CRC). Under the general supervision of the CASI Director, the CRC will assist with the organization and execution of the group’s clinical studies and clinical trials, with a focus on regulatory submissions.
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Applications Now Open for the 2021-2022 Disparities Leadership Program
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The Disparities Leadership Program (DLP) is the Disparities Solutions Center's year-long, executive education program focused exclusively on helping health care leaders achieve equity in quality. The program is designed to help you translate the latest understanding of disparities into realistic solutions you can adopt within your organization.
Through the DLP, we aim to create leaders prepared to meet the challenges of health care transformation by improving quality for populations who experience disparities. The program has three main goals:
- To equip health care leaders with a rich understanding of the causes of disparities, the vision to implement solutions, and the strategies to transform their organization to deliver high-value health care.
- To help leaders create strategic plans or projects to advance their work in reducing disparities in a customized way, with practical benefits tailored to every organization.
- To create a professional learning and networking environment for leaders in health care to engage in peer-to-peer learning, crowd sourcing of ideas and strategies for reducing disparities, resource sharing, collaboration, and ongoing support in the form of a national DLP alumni network.
The DSC has the unique advantage of 14 years of experience developing and implementing the DLP, the only program of its kind in the nation. To date, the DLP has trained 13 cohorts that include a total of 479 participants from 207 organizations (105 hospitals, 53 health plans, 21 community health organizations, and 28 others, including professional organizations, hospital trade organizations, schools of medicine, and federal and state government agencies) representing 33 states, Washington D.C., the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Canada, and Switzerland.
Intent to Apply Deadline (recommended, not required)
| Friday, June 25, 2021
| Full Application Deadline
| Friday, July 9, 2021
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Apply: Health Disparities Research Institute Hosted by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
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The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) will host the Health Disparities Research Institute (HDRI) virtually August 9-13, 2021. Applications will be accepted from February 1 through March 8, 2021. HDRI aims to support the research career development of promising early-career minority health and health disparities research scientists, and to stimulate research in disciplines supported by health disparities science. This program is intended for early-stage research investigators who have completed their terminal degree or post-graduate clinical training within the past 10 years.
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Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay up-to-date on important news, updates, events, and publications from our researchers, and visit our website for more information! Don't forget to tag us and use our hashtag, #MonganInstitute, so we can see your posts, too.
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