Genetics: Commoner in Brain Coronates Cortex Neurobiology: The Fruit Fly Fight Club Immunology: Remote-control Immunity Up Close Public Health: Young HIV Patients Respond Well to Multidrug Care AAMC Awards: Federman Receives Flexner HMS Professor Distinguished for Teaching Leadership: Former Harvard Provost to Head Institute of Medicine Whole Genes Delivered to Cells Study Finds Genetic Link to Bone Density Comprehensive Set of Photoreceptor Genes Identified Proceedings of the HMS Faculty Council Celebration Applauds New Policy Leaders HMS Academy Invites Membership Applications Seifter Named Cannon Society Associate Master Nikon Imaging Center Opens MD-PhD Retreat Honors and Advances Healing and History on the Navajo Reservation Front Page

AAMC AWARDS Federman Receives Flexner Daniel Federman, senior dean for alumni relations and clinical teaching, was recognized on Nov. 3 with the Abraham Flexner Award for Distinguished Service to Medical Education at the Association of American Medical College's 112th annual meeting, in Washington, D.C. Daniel Federman The Flexner award, the AAMC's highest honor, was established in 1958 to recognize extraordinary individual contributions to medical schools and to the medical education community as a whole. The award is named after Abraham Flexner, an educational reformer whose 1910 "Flexner Report" is widely credited with establishing standards of quality in medical education. Federman, who is also the Carl W. Walter distinguished professor of medicine and medical education, was cited for his involvement in shaping medical education at HMS for more than 20 years. During his tenure as dean for medical education, he was instrumental in implementing the New Pathway, the Medical School's innovative curriculum of problem-based learning. He was also commended for instituting the Resident as Teacher Program, which recognizes the important role of house staff in the education of students in core clerkships. As director of the Office of Alumni Affairs, Federman has led efforts to increase scholarship funding to lower the debt HMS students are faced with upon graduation. A graduate of Harvard College and HMS, Federman has been at Harvard for most of his distinguished career, the exceptions being a year spent as a visiting professor at the University of London and four years as chair of the Department of Medicine at Stanford.   HMS Professor Distinguished for Teaching At the annual meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) in November, Steven Weinberger, HMS professor of medicine and faculty associate dean for education at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, was recognized for his outstanding work in medical education. He was one of four recipients of the Alpha Omega Alpha Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award, established by the medical honor society in honor of its longtime executive secretary. Steven Weinberger Weinberger was recognized as an engaging teacher of students, house staff, and faculty. Since beginning his career at HMS in 1978, he has served as director of the Core Medicine II Clerkship and chair of the Harvard-wide Medicine Clerkship Committee, a position he has held since 1995. This year he was a founding member of the Academy at HMS, a community of scholars with demonstrated abilities, commitment, and leadership in medical education. Weinberger also is the designer of two innovative electives at HMS: an interinstitutional pulmonary clinical elective and an advanced biomedical sciences course, "Everything You Wanted to Know from Core Medicine but Were Afraid to Ask." His textbook Principles of Pulmonary Medicine is considered by some to be among the best learning tools in medical education. This year, Weinberger codirected the AAMC's Millennium Conference on the Clinical Education of Medical Students. It convened education leaders from 11 medical schools to develop strategies for improving clinical education. Among Weinberger's awards is the Preclinical Teaching Award he received last spring from the HMS graduating class of 2001.