Benchmarks is your weekly dose of news and notes about the Mass General Research Community. With a community of over 9,500 researchers, there’s more news that we can cover.

In this issue:

• Warner Named Director of Epidemiology for New Cancer Clinic
• Tan-McGrory Discusses Equity in Health Care Organizations
• Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder Linked to Job Loss and Reduced Income
• Tweets of the Week (and Last Week)
• This Week (and Last Week) in Mass General History
• Transplanted Cow’s Rib Helps Blacksmith with Back Injury Walk Again
• A Healthy Body Reduces the Risks of Whiplash

Warner Named Director of Epidemiology for New Cancer Clinic

Erica Warner, ScD, MPH, has been named the inaugural Director of Epidemiology for the Cancer Early Detection and Diagnostics Clinic.

Warner and team will help patients with a higher risk for cancer due to a number of medical, familial, occupational and social factors get faster and easier access to cancer care and expedited screening.

Warner is an assistant investigator at Mass General, where she conducts epidemiological research on cancer in the Mongan Institute’s Clinical Translational Epidemiology Unit, and an assistant professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Tan-McGrory Discusses Equity in Health Care Organizations

Aswita Tan-McGrory, MBA, MSPH, director of the Disparities Solution Center and administrative director for research for the Department of Medicine at Mass General, was recently interviewed by Harvard Online.

Tan-McGrory, who recently co-taught a course for Harvard called Reducing Racial Disparities in Health Care, discussed her career; what led her to this work and how she believes health care leaders can improve equity in their organizations.

“There is this myth in America, especially in immigrant communities, that if you work hard enough you will rise to the top,” says Tan-McGroy “This completely discounts the impact of early childhood trauma, social determinants of health, or structural and interpersonal racism on a person’s ability to be successful or healthy.“ Read more.

Diagnosis with Rare Disorder Linked to Job Loss and Reduced Income

Farrah Mateen, MD, PhD, associate director of the Multiple Sclerosis & Neuromyelitis Optica Unit in the Department of Neurology, was featured on Neurology Live to discuss a new study identifying a troubling trend of unemployment and job loss in patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD).

NMOSD, also known as Devic disease, is a chronic disorder of the brain and spinal cord dominated by inflammation of the optic nerve and inflammation of the spinal cord. The disease is characterized by relapses, followed by periods of some recovery.

In a global survey of NMOSD patients, Mateen and team found that 58% of patients had lost a job due to symptoms of the disease, and 65% reported a reduction in work hours after diagnosis.

The study highlights the need for employers to work hand-in-hand with this patient group to lessen the economic burden of the disease, the team writes. Learn more.

Tweets of the Week (and Last Week)

This Week (and Last Week) in Mass General History

Transplanted Cow’s Rib Helps Blacksmith with Back Injury Walk Again

February 25, 1922—An article in the Herald Democrat of Colorado Springs had an update on Edward (“Spider Bill”) Cosgrove, who had injured his spine after being kicked by a horse and was suffering from partial paralysis.

In what is believed to be a first-of-its-kind operation, Mass General surgeons removed 14 inches of Cosgrove’s spine and substituted a cow’s rib of equal length. The rib had been boiled for 45 hours, then chilled and filed into shape as Cosgrove watched, according to reports.

After recovering, Cosgrove can now hobble about with the aid of crutches, and within a short time expects to be walking again, the newspaper reports.

A Healthy Body Reduces the Risks of Whiplash

March 3, 1985—Mass General orthopedist Stanley Paris, MD, is quoted in an article on whiplash from the Santa Cruz Sentinel:

Whiplash is popular term for a sprain that tears muscle fibers and stretches ligaments in the neck, or cervical area can also result from a fall on an icy street or from any other unexpected tug that snaps the head back and forth. No matter what causes it, there are ways to keep whiplash from becoming a long-lasting problem.

A healthy body may be your best aid in preventing serious consequences from whiplash, says Dr. Stanley Paris, an orthopedic specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

If a person of normal weight who is in good physical condition has a car accident that produces whiplash, he or she “will be injured less, and will heal faster,” says Paris. That’s because the stronger and more resilient muscles are the better they resist damage. Read more.

About the Mass General Research Institute
Research at Massachusetts General Hospital is interwoven through more than 30 different departments, centers and institutes. Our research includes fundamental, lab-based science; clinical trials to test new drugs, devices and diagnostic tools; and community and population-based research to improve health outcomes across populations and eliminate disparities in care.
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