BIDMC’s Visiting Scholars Program: Fighting AIDS In Africa
PIC Program Helps Students Gain Work Skills
Staff Appointments
Employees of the Quarter
In Memoriam
Making a Difference
CareGroup Named “Most Wired”

BIDMC’s Visiting Scholars Program:
Fighting AIDS In Africa

AIDS fighters Joyce Sackey, M.D., and Luka Kur, M.D.

Physicians at BIDMC are at the forefront of efforts to train African physicians in HIV treatment and prevention:

- Luka D. Kur, M.D., a physician from the Sudan, traveled to BIDMC this summer to participate in the medical center’s Visiting Scholar program. Launched in 2001 in collaboration with the Foundation for African Relief (FAR), the program is part of the AIDS Collaborative Project, which fosters teamwork between health professionals in Africa, their BIDMC counterparts and the Harvard medical community in a strategic fight against Africa’s HIV/AIDS epidemic. Kur, the first Visiting Scholar from the Sudan, is completing his fellowship in HIV Management at BIDMC.

Kur presented his project on the impact of sexually transmitted diseases on HIV at Healthcare Associates’ (HCA) HIV conference. He told conference attendees that due to an ongoing Civil War in the Sudan, he believes that his country has not received the international assistance necessary to effectively fight the war against HIV. He also discussed his plans to introduce an HIV surveillance program upon his return to the Sudan.

Kur completed his research project with the support of BIDMC preceptors John Doweiko, M.D. and Camilla Graham, M.D., infectious disease; Howard Libman, M.D., general medicine/HCA; Lisa Hirschhorn, M.D., infectious disease; Igor Koralnik, M.D., neurology; Booker T. Bush, M.D., general medicine/HCA; and Joyce Sackey, M.D., general medicine/HCA, program director for the Visiting Scholar’s program.

- Last month Sackey, who co-founded FAR and directs the AIDS Collaborative Project, hosted a 3-day national workshop for physicians providing HIV care in Ghana. Sackey has been working with the State Department to develop funding for HIV programs in that country. Recently she learned that FAR’s partner non-governmental organization in Ghana, AIDS ALLY, is on the short list of seven organizations whose proposals are being considered for funding from the Global AIDS Fund. AIDS ALLY is headed by former BIDMC Visiting Scholars, Peter Preko, M.D., and George Frimpong, M.D., and was selected from among 250 proposals for final consideration – proof of the difference BIDMC’s outreach efforts are making around the world.

PIC Program Helps Students Gain Work Skills


Above: Maureen Twomey (seated, left) poses
with PIC Program participants (l-r) Angel Yang,
Clinton Lassiter and Evelyn Martinez (seated) .


The Private Industry Council (PIC) Program, founded in 1981, establishes relationships between employers and teenagers in an attempt to provide Boston’s teenagers with summer jobs. The eight-week program encourages teens to stay busy during their summer vacations and helps to provide family income in Boston’s neighborhoods at a time when it is most needed.

This summer, BIDMC hosted nine students from JD O’Bryant High School in Roxbury and Boston Latin Academy in Boston. The students were placed in nine areas, including BeWell!, materials distribution, patient care services, contracting, environmental health and safety, human resources, patient financial services, nursing administration, and radiation therapy, and worked directly with department managers. BIDMC also provided students with two hours per week of training and education. Through their work at BIDMC, the students had the opportunity to gain business skills and discover the career opportunities that lie within the health care field. Students completed the program with the support of managers in the nine areas and PIC Program liaison Maureen Twomey, organizational development and employee relations.




Staff Appointments

Anurag K. Das, M.D., recently joined BIDMC's division of urologic surgery to establish a new Center for Neurourology and Continence. The Center will provide leading-edge urologic care to patients with neurological diseases, as well as treat female urologic issues and male incontinence.

Das is one of a handful of urologic surgeons in the
Northeast specializing in both neurourology and female urology. He is one of the pioneers of sacral neuromodulation, a technique which helps overactive bladder symptoms by improving nerve function, and he performed the first sacral neurostimulator implant in the Northeast. Das completed his internship and residency in general and thoracic surgery at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, where he also received special training in urologic surgery, neurourology,
urodynamics and incontinence. Das will see patients at BIDMC and at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Needham. Referrals: (66)7-5619

Efstathos (Steve) Papavassiliou, M.D., has joined the division of neurosurgery as head of epilepsy and movement disorders surgery. Papavassiliou is a fellowship-trained neurosurgeon with expertise in advanced surgical techniques and treatments for patients with epilepsy and movement disorders, such as Parkinson's Disease, essential tremor and dystonia. He will provide epileptic surgical services to the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program and oversee the Vagus Nerve Implantation program. He also performs depth and surface electrode placement surgery for patients where the site of seizure onset cannot be determined with standard scalp mounted electrodes. His work with deep brain stimulation surgery provides treatment opportunities for patients who do not respond well to medical therapies for movement disorders. Papavassiliou completed his fellowship in functional neurosurgery, movement disorders and epilepsy at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center. Referrals: (63)2-7246

Employees of the Quarter

Three members of BIDMC’s Hotel Services staff have been named “Employees of the Quarter”: Syd Talbot, Service Response Center, was recognized for the way he handles problems and works with callers to find solutions. Co-workers note that he truly understands what it takes to provide quality customer service and always goes about his work in a friendly, upbeat manner. Amos Lamour, environmental services, is well-known for his smile and hardworking style. He delivers outstanding customer service, and is well-respected by fellow employees. Caterina Depina, food services, is quick to help co-workers and customers in the Ullian Dining Area (East Campus). She is constantly on the move to help things run smoothly, and is known for always being willing to lend a hand.



In Memoriam
BIDMC lost a beloved family member when William C. Quist, M.D., Ph.D., passed away suddenly on July 8. Quist was a member of the pathology staff, director of the Autopsy Service and director of the Vascular Surgery Research Laboratory. A renowned surgical and autopsy pathologist, Quist was nationally recognized for contributions in cardiovascular devices and technology. Quist also was an outstanding teacher who taught for many years in the Harvard MIT Pathology course, of which he became associate director. He conceived, created and directed the William J. von Liebig Summer Student Research Training Program at Harvard Medical School, and won accolades from students in the Harvard New Pathway and Harvard MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST).

Donations in Quist’s memory may be made by sending a check made out to:

“HST-MIT-Harvard”
HST Building E25-519
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139

Making a Difference


The National Charity League (NCL) is a philanthropic organization of mothers and daughters (grades 7-12) who work together in community service, education, culture and leadership. Recently members of the Blue Hills Chapter, headed by Cynthia Casey, R.N., PACU, were recognized nationally for supplying waiting rooms at BIDMC’s West Campus PACU and ICU with magazines and books for patients. The group’s members have added interventional radiology to their weekly magazine rounds. Members include (l-r): Catherine Casey, Casey Paschal, Heather Mulford, Becca McAdams and Kim Krezwick.


CareGroup Named “Most Wired”

CareGroup Healthcare Systems has been named one of the nation’s “Most Wired” hospital and healthcare systems in the fifth annual survey and benchmarking study of technologically savvy hospitals conducted by Hospitals & Health Networks, the journal of the American Hospital Association.

The survey and benchmarking study measures the nation’s health care systems on their use of Internet technologies for safety and quality, customer service, disaster readiness, business processes and workforce issues. This is the second time CareGroup has been named to the list.

“We continue to build secure, robust and powerful technology solutions that support our clinical, educational and research users,” said John Halamka, M.D., CareGroup’s chief information officer. “We also continue our passion of sharing lessons learned and we went national with the story of last November’s network outage to enhance the knowledge-base of ‘wired’ organizations everywhere.”

CareGroup has long been a national leader in using Internet technology. PatientSite – a secure interactive Web site that gives patients easy access to their medical records and enables them to communicate with their physicians via the Internet – debuted in April 2000 and has attracted 12,000 patients and 150 clinicians. eTicket, an electronic-based billing system for physicians at BIDMC unveiled in early 2002, is improving accuracy and lightening doctors’ administrative workloads. BIDMC also has a world-class provider order entry (CPOE) system that ensures patient safety and best prescribing practices, and will soon release an advanced ambulatory system, WebOMR, that brings best practices to doctors office practices.