Welcome to Benchmarks, a weekly collection of research news and notes featuring Mass General investigators. With a research community of over 9,500 people that spans more than 30 departments centers and institutes, there’s more news each week that we can get to. Here are a few highlights:

Rueda Named Inaugural Incumbent of VMHF Endowed Chair

Bo Rueda, PhD, the director of the Vincent Center for Reproductive Biology (VCRB), has been named the inaugural incumbent of the Vincent Memorial Hospital Foundation Endowed Chair in Reproductive Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Rueda’s many Mass General leadership contributions include founding the Gynecology Tissue Biorepository.

This growing collection of more than 2,500 patient specimens, both benign and malignant, serves as a precious resource for highly valued pre-clinical studies in which scientists study the cellular and molecular signals that drive gynecologic cancers and other reproductive pathologies.

“Bo, you are a leading scientist, you are a leading researcher and, importantly for Mass General, you are a leader. And your leadership has been critical to the success of the VCRB,” said David E. Walker, chairman of the VMHF Board of Trustees at the Nov. 30 reception held in Dr. Rueda’s honor. Read more.

A Legacy of Compassion: One Doctor’s Commitment to Holistic Care

This profile originally appeared on the Mass General Giving website.

Amy Comander, MD, laughs easily and often, finding humor in every nook and cranny: in ironies, in the workday and in herself.

She’s a mom who revels in the rewards and challenges of motherhood. She’s a daughter who lost her own mom to cancer in 2011, and who has been encouraged and mentored by her physician father.

She’s also a runner who believes endurance runs are good therapy and small adjustments in lifestyle can literally save your life. It’s the very ethic she embraced early in her career and by which she has built her practice.

“Lifestyle medicine is the therapeutic use of evidence-based lifestyle interventions [such as diet, exercise, good sleep habits, etc.] in a clinical setting to treat and prevent lifestyle-related diseases,” she says.

“Cancer remains a complicated disease with no simple, single explanation. But the evidence shows that the interventions of lifestyle medicine can reduce the risk of recurrence of breast cancer and improve outcomes for the long-term.” Read more.

How Kindness Could Boost Your Brain Health This Christmas

Lisa Feldman-Barrett, PhD, an investigator at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Engineering and one of Mass General’s Highly Cited Researchers for 2022, wrote an article for Science Focus about the emotional “body budgeting” that occurs when we interact with others—for better and worse.

“So, here’s the takeaway as we move into the festive season: the best thing for your nervous system is another human. The worst thing for your nervous system is also another human. Close relationships are good for us. We tend to live longer if we have them, and get sick and die earlier if we are socially isolated or persistently feel lonely – possibly years earlier, based on the data. Without outside assistance to manage your body budget, you bear an extra burden.

“With this in mind, it may be helpful to visit even very challenging people during the holidays for the benefit of your future self, so you don’t feel regret later. Regret is a painful emotion that can be a withdrawal from your body budget that may persist for years.”

This or That: What Do You Choose?

In partnership with the Dunn Lab, which is focused on understanding the drivers of both mental illness and wellbeing across the life course, with a goal of translating findings into preventive strategies to promote brain health, we kickstarted a ”This or That” to learn about people’s preferences.

Chocolate? Cheese? Or even more controversial questions like CNY or Simches? Check out the responses below.

Tweets of the Week

This Week in Mass General History

Famous Shakespearean Actor Undergoes Surgery at Mass General

December 19, 1889—Lawrence Barrett, one of the leading American actors of the 19th century, especially noted for his Shakespearean roles, was reported to be undergoing surgery for goiter at Massachusetts General Hospital.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Barrett made his stage debut at age 15 in Detroit and played various leading roles in New York City and Boston. His many roles include Hamlet, Lear, Macbeth, Shylock and Richard III.

New Anesthesia Program Seeks to Reduce the Trauma of Surgery for Children

December 19, 1973—The Santa Cruz Sentinel featured an AP story highlighting a new program developed by the Department of Anesthesia at Mass General to make undergoing surgery a little easier for children.

The program by the hospital’s anesthesia department, as outlined in the MGH News, is designed for youngsters 6 years or under who come for one-day ambulatory surgery.

It allows the parents to accompany the child to a special anesthesia room, which has been warmed with brightly colored murals depicting grassy landscapes and storybook characters.

“As the little girl began to doze, she clutched her father’s finger and Snow White blew her goodnight kisses and Pooh Bear climbed for the honey-laden hive.”

“Susan’s closing eyes caught glimpses of Jack and Jill going up the hill instead of starkly dressed, masked doctors and sterile stainless steel. She was going to surgery, which is never fun. But as the sleep drugs took effect, her thoughts were of her parents and mythical playmates and not the fears of an operating room.”

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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