Cancer investigators honored

Angelika Amon of MIT and Dr. Todd R. Golub of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute will receive the 2007 Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. The prize recognizes contributions to understanding the treatment of cancer made by scientists under the age of 45.

Amon studies how chromosomes segregate during cell division and Golub uses genomic approaches to classify subtypes of cancer. They will share a $150,000 prize with the third winner, Gregory J. Hannon of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, who studies the biology and RNA interference.

ELIZABETH COONEY

Massachusetts General Hospital has landed on two lists of best places to work. One is the Working Mother magazine's 100 Best Companies, which considers compensation, child-care and flexibility programs, and leave policies.

The other list is AARP's ranking of Best Employers for Workers Over 50, where it came in 10th. The AARP considered recruiting practices; opportunities for development; and work options, such as flexible scheduling, job sharing, and phased retirement, in addition to health and retiree benefits.

ELIZABETH COONEY

It was more than 30 years ago, but Dr. Katharine Treadway vividly remembers answering her first "code" call to revive a hospital patient.

The resuscitation attempt failed, and in the New England Journal of Medicine she recalls what it felt like, as a freshly minted intern, to simply walk away from a life that had just ended.

"We learned to bury our fear of death in an avalanche of knowledge," she wrote. "And for good reason. We could not do what we do - take responsibility for the lives of our patients - if we were aware, minute to minute, of the true significance of what we were actually doing."

The journal published Treadway's essay to spark an online discussion about private rituals doctors observe - but rarely share with others - whenever a patient dies. Treadway, a Harvard Medical School faculty member and primary care doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital, says aloud: "May choirs of angels greet thee at thy coming."

White Coat Notes interviewed Treadway on the topic last week: What do you hope to hear in the forum? What I hope is people will in fact share some of their experiences and write what it was like to be at a code the first time, or other experiences. I hope doing that is just the beginning of 'Well, gee, if I write into the New England Journal, maybe I can talk to the doctor I share an office with.' I really believe that we're all hungry for this. What do you teach students about emotions? I try to get them to recognize early how powerful they will become in the lives of their patients. I don't mean this in a hierarchical way. I mean when someone is ill, the emotional need that is there is so profound, if they don't recognize how powerful they are, they won't know how to use this in a positive fashion. What about situations like the code call? When you focus so intently on the problem you are trying to solve, [it's] easy to forget about the person. I want them to remember to experience the experience and be aware of what's taking place, not just the task. How about your own work? I love being a doctor. To me it's the combination of the intellectual demands and the fascination of how our bodies work, mixed with dealing with people and all of the interactions that take place in this human drama.

ELIZABETH COONEY

Short White Coat is a blog written by second-year Harvard medical student Ishani Ganguli.

We've been practicing elements of the neurological exam on our classmates for a few weeks now, but last week was our first chance to test our skills on actual patients.

My charge at Massachusetts General Hospital, Mr. B, had wisps of white hair and a permanently flexed hand that made him look much older than his 52 years. A stroke had paralyzed his right side and he now lived alone with visits from a nurse. Mr. B was gracious though confused, and eager to chat.

I began the exam, shining a light into his eyes while taking quick glances back at my notes. I wiggled my fingers to test his peripheral vision and made him say ahhhh, marveling at the deviated "punching bag" at the back of his throat that signaled damage in a particular nerve. But he tired quickly, I felt badly about making him uncomfortable, and after a series of botched attempts to test my increasingly alarmed patient's hearing with a tuning fork, I found myself rushing through the rest of the exam. Near the end of the allotted time, I decided that my second attempt to take his blood pressure would be my last.

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