Richard J. Barth, Jr., Keith D. Paulsen
An innovative new medical product, developed by Keith D. Paulsen, PhD, co-director of the Translational Engineering in Cancer (TEC) Research Program at Norris Cotton Cancer Center and professor of engineering at Dartmouth, and surgical oncologist and TEC Member, Richard J. Barth, Jr., MD—has been selected as the New Hampshire Tech Alliance 2021 Product of the Year.
The Breast Cancer Locator (BCL™), a custom form 3D-printed at CairnSurgical, Inc., for each individual patient based on her own anatomy and tumor size and location, is used as a guide along with supine MRI data and proprietary software to assist surgeons in locating and removing breast tumors to reduce positive margins, or cancer at the edge of the lumpectomy tissue. Removing the cancer completely in one surgery reduces the need for additional surgeries and can potentially provide a better cosmetic result for patients and allow surgeons more time to help more patients, while reducing costs for the hospital.
Paulsen, Barth, and former Dartmouth faculty member, Venkat Krishnaswamy, PhD, are co-founders of CairnSurgical, Inc., originating from research out of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Geisel School of Medicine, and Thayer School of Engineering
Erika T. Brown
A nationally recognized expert with nearly 10 years of experience in faculty affairs and professional development, and 20 years in academic medicine, Erika T. Brown, PhD, was appointed Dean of Faculty Affairs, effective December 13. She succeeds Leslie Henderson, PhD who retired earlier this year.
Brown comes to Dartmouth from the Morehouse School of Medicine, in Atlanta, GA, where she was senior associate dean for faculty affairs, and a professor in the Department of Pathology and Anatomy.
At Morehouse, she built an effective and resourceful office to develop and sustain the faculty, led the medical school’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and served on the Liaison Committee for Medical Education (LCME) Reaffirmation Steering Committee.
Madge Buus-Frank
Clinician-scientist Madge Buus-Frank, DNP, MSN, APRN, an instructor in pediatrics and of The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, received the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Neonatal Nurses.
The prestigious award recognizes an individual’s longstanding commitment to and profound impact on the field of neonatal nursing.
Buus-Frank joined Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in 1990 as one of the first acute care nurse practitioners in the intensive care nursery. During her 40-year career, she has been dedicated to the advancement of neonatal nursing and neonatal healthcare services around the world—inspiring clinicians to improve the quality, safety, and value of care for vulnerable infants and their families.
Michael S. Calderwood
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center’s (DHMC) Chief Quality Officer Michael S. Calderwood, MD, has been honored with the 2021 Medical Staff Award by the New Hampshire Hospital Association.
The award is given annually to a highly regarded New Hampshire medical staff member who exemplifies excellence in healthcare and brings credit to their institution and community, contributes to the effectiveness and efficiency of their institution, is held in high regard by peers and colleagues, and actively participates in civic and community affairs on behalf of their institution.
Calderwood distinguished himself as a leader at DHMC, the state, and the region for his many accomplishments, including disseminating factual and timely data about the COVID-19 pandemic throughout the health system.
Michael D. Cole, Edmond J. Feris
Michael D. Cole, PhD, and his research associate Edmond J. Feris, PhD, from Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC) have won two awards for their promising approach to targeting a gene responsible for many types of cancer—a cancer research accelerator award from NCCC and Dartmouth’s Magnuson Center for Entrepreneurship, and from the Lymphoma Research Foundation to investigate implications of this strategy for MYC-driven lymphomas.
Their novel strategy to target MYC’s dependence on other genes, such as TRRAP (Transformation/Transcription Domain-Associated Protein) marks a breakthrough in decades of frustrated attempts by cancer biologists worldwide to rein in the cancer-driving gene. MYC plays a central role in tumor growth in breast, colon, and lung cancers as well as in leukemia, lymphoma, and melanoma. Yet because MYC is also essential to normal cell growth and to human life, it has long been considered off limits for drug therapy.
Duane Compton
Duane Compton, PhD, dean of the Geisel School of Medicine, was reappointed to a four-year term that will continue through June 2025.
A professor of biochemistry and cell biology, and internationally known cancer biologist, Compton was recruited to Dartmouth in 1993. Following a three-year term as interim dean during which he led Geisel through a reorganization that deepened the institution’s focus on medical education and research and guided it toward a more sustainable financial path, Compton was named dean in 2017.
Since then, his many accomplishments include recruiting institutional leaders, elevating the school’s commitment to diversity and inclusivity, and strengthening the medical school’s financial foundation. Compton says he looks forward to continuing working with senior leadership to further the medical school’s mission, and to enhance educational and scholarly opportunities for the school and its clinical partners.
Compton recently announced the launch of a strategic planning effort to guide the medical school’s investments into the future.
Jack L. Cronenwett
The Society for Vascular Surgery Vascular Quality Initiative (SVS VQI) created the Jack L. Cronenwett, MD Quality Improvement Scholarship Award in recognition of Jack L. Cronenwett, MD, a vascular surgeon at Dartmouth-Hitchcock and Emeritus Professor of Surgery at Geisel, for his contributions to improving and advancing vascular care. The $50,000 educational scholarship will support the academic endeavors of up to five top vascular-medicine students each calendar year.
The SVS VQI, founded by Cronenwett in 2011, is a nonprofit organization comprised of vascular surgeons, radiologists, cardiologists, and other specialists who are dedicated to improving vascular quality in medicine.
Ann Barry Flood
Ann Barry Flood, PhD, professor emerita of radiology, of community and family medicine, and of The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, received the 2021 Keith G. Provan Distinguished Scholar Award from the Academy of Management (AOM).
The award annually recognizes a member of the Health Care Management Division of the AOM whose record of scholarly research in healthcare management—either traditional or innovative—demonstrates exemplary conceptual and methodological rigor.
Flood’s area of expertise is in theoretical and policy implications of professional and organizational factors influencing healthcare outcomes.
Valerie Anne Galton
The American Thyroid Association established the Valerie Anne Galton Distinguished Lectureship Award in recognition of Valerie Anne Galton, PhD, professor emerita of physiology and neurobiology, for her remarkable scientific accomplishments and significant contributions to the advancement of clinical knowledge of thyroid conditions—including the roles of the iodothyronine deiodinases in the regulation of intracellular thyroid hormone levels and thyroid hormone action during development.
A member of the medical school’s faculty for 60 years, Galton joined at a time when few women held faculty positions.
This is the organization’s first lectureship named in honor of a woman.
Lisa Marsch; William Torrey
Primary investigators Lisa Marsch, PhD, the Andrew G. Wallace Professor and director of the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health, Carlos Gómez-Restrepo MD, PhD, Faculty of Medicine Dean at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia, and co-investigator William Torrey, MD, the Raymond Sobel Professor of Psychiatry and interim chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, received one of Colombia’s most prestigious awards in medicine from the National Academy of Medicine.
Working together with Colombian community and governmental partners, the researchers were recognized for implementing a new primary care model for widespread access to diagnosis and treatment of depression and unhealthy alcohol use through mobile health technology. They also assessed the model’s infrastructure in terms of sustainability and research capacity.
Harold M. Swartz
In celebration of his 85th birthday, Harold (Hal) M. Swartz, MD, PhD, MSPH, a professor of radiology, is the subject of two special issues of the journal Applied Magnetic Resonance dedicated to his many contributions to the field of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). The first issue is now available and the second follows in January 2022.
For nearly 60 years, Swartz’s work has contributed to increasing the fundamental understanding of certain physiological and pathophysiological mechanisms and created novel ways to measure these processes in vivo using EPR and nuclear magnetic resonance.
Charles Thomas, Jr.
Norris Cotton Cancer Center section chief of Radiation Oncology, Charles R. Thomas, Jr., MD, is among 28 distinguished members selected for the American Society of Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Fellows Program. The program recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to ASTRO and to the field of radiation oncology through research, education, patient care, and service to the field.
Since its inception in 2006, the FASTRO designation has been awarded to only 394 of ASTRO’s more than 10,000 members worldwide.
Elisabeth B. Wilson
Beginning March 22, Elisabeth B. Wilson, MD, MPH, MS-HPEd, will be the new chair and professor of the Department of Community and Family Medicine for the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health (D-HH) system and Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine. She succeeds Cathleen Morrow, MD.
Wilson will lead the department’s vision, strategy, and operations, while supporting faculty, staff, and learners. She will also ensure the quality and measured outcomes of programs meet the highest standards and collaborate closely to align those standards between system member hospitals.
In her 20 years of practicing medicine, Wilson has received awards for excellence in teaching, and was the recipient of the Arnold Gold Humanism Award in 2017.
