Brigham and Women's Hospital is a community of physicians, scientists, and physician-scientists. The BWH research faculty members (just like the clinical faculty) are here for you. BWH is internationally known for its clinical, translational, bench and population-based research studies and is a top recipient of research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), with an annual research budget of more than $400 million. BWH is home to the TIMI study group, as well as ongoing landmark epidemiologic population studies including the Nurses' and Physicians' Health Studies and the Women's Health Initiative (see 'BWH Research Milestones' below)
Why Research During Residency?
Curiosity, Critical Thinking, and Humanitarianism define the medical profession and are the driving forces behind research.
When surveyed, Medicine Residents most commonly report the following reasons:
1. Intellectual Curiosity (73%)
2. Career Development (60%) JGIM 2005; 20:366.
What obstacles prevent residents from participating in Research?
Residents nationwide report the following as barriers to getting involved:
1. Lack of Time (79%)
2. Lack of Research Skills (45%)
3. Lack of Research Curriculum (44%)
On average, resident participation in a research project takes ~4x more time (~200 hrs/project) than writing a literature review or preparing a clinical vignette.
In the Categorical Medicine residency:
Your engagement with discovery at BWH will evolve over your years of post-doctoral training:
Internship: Clinical focus, but we will discuss and celebrate your own discoveries.
Junior Residency:
i) Ambulatory elective in Genetics and Molecular Medicine.
ii) Identification of a research preceptor in the context of your research and career goals
iii) Planning elective for academic elective time in the senior year.
Senior Residency:
i) Pursuit of research projects and other paths to discovery during your elective months.
ii) Resident Research report
iii) Resident Research Forum
Other training pathways have also been established for those with more specific career development needs, namely:
1. ABIM Research Residency
2. BWH Hemi-doc pathway
3. Medicine and Genetics pathway
4. Global Health Equity pathway
Research Milestones in BWH History:
2008 The JUPITER trial, conducted by Paul Ridker, MD, identifies that rousivstatin significantly reduces first major cardiovascular events among patients with LDL cholesterol levels < 130 mg/dL (3.36 mmol/L), but who have an enhanced inflammatory reponse as indicated by levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP).
2007 Using data collected from over 24,000 initially healthy American women, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have devised a new Web-based formula called the Reynolds Risk Score that for the first time more accurately predicts risk of heart attack or stroke among women.
2007 Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver have been awarded a $37 million grant from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to lead the most comprehensive study of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) ever undertaken.
2007 Omid Farokhzad, MD, and his team in the Nanomedicine and Biomaterials Lab engineer a cancer smart bomb that not only treats and images metastatic prostate cancer tumor cells in vitro, but also reports back on the delivery success of the chemotherapy.
2007 Researchers in the Division of Aging find a 28 percent decrease in heart failure risk in men who eat whole-grain breakfast cereal seven or more times per week.
2006 BWH launches, in collaboration with the NIH and Amgen, the first Women’s Genome Health Study to find the genetic causes for the development of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and other common health disorders.
2006 A laser eye scanner has been developed at BWH that is 100 percent accurate in detecting Alzheimer’s disease in mice. The laser scans the eye for the protein beta amyloid, which forms on the edge of the eye, potentially decades before lesions form on the brain.
2005 The National Institutes of Health granted the BWH Surgical Planning Laboratory a five-year, $19.2 million grant to lead the National Alliance for Medical Image Computing. The grant is being used for the development of software to extract valuable disease information from imaging data, allowing the power of modern imaging machines to characterize diseases and work together in examining new treatment methods.
2005 BWH researchers are the first to prove that measuring C-reactive protein (CRP) levels is as important as measuring cholesterol at predicting heart attack.
2005 BWH published significant findings from the renowned TIMI (Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction) trials. One study found that statin drugs’ ability to combat levels of C-reactive protein in one’s blood is just as important as the drugs’ role in reducing cholesterol. Also, BWH cardiologists found that the use of a low molecular weight heparin significantly reduced the risk of repeat heart attack or death.
1998 Amid national discourse on the need to reduce errors in medicine, BWH researchers report that the hospital's own computerized drug-order entry system reduces the incidence of serious medication-related errors by 55 percent, setting a new benchmark for the country.
1996 BWH researchers at the helm of the Cholesterol and Recurrent Events (CARE) trial report that cholesterol-lowering statin drugs (pravastatin) significantly lower heart-attack survivors' risk of recurrent heart attack and death.
1996 BWH researchers discover that exposure to bright light alone resets the human biological clock and successfully alters by several hours a patient's "circadian pacemaker," which keeps the body's internal system in sync with the external light-dark cycle.
1994 BWH researchers at the helm of the national Survival and Ventricular Enlargement (SAVE) trial report that ace inhibitors (captopril) significantly reduce heart-attack survivors' risk of recurrent heart attack and death.
1994 BWH unveils the world's first Intra-Operative Magnetic Resonance Imaging System. This invention, which enables clinicians to take images of the body's interior during surgery, makes it possible to cure patients with brain tumors that previously were considered inoperable.
1993 BWH is selected by the National Institutes of Health as one of 16 Vanguard Centers nationwide to help lead the Women's Health Initiative, the largest clinical trial ever undertaken in American women.
1992 A gene responsible for a severe, early-onset form of hypertension which runs in families is identified at BWH.
1992 BWH researchers discover that a protein (amyloid beta) thought to be an early, causative feature of Alzheimer's disease is also present in healthy individuals, and that patients with Alzheimer's produce too much of this protein or cannot break it down properly.
1991 BWH is acknowledged as having received more citations in scientific papers than any other hospital in the world for the period 1986 through 1990.
1991 BWH undertakes five-year Women’s Health Study, an epidemiological study to assess the affects of beta-carotene, vitamin E, and low-dose aspirin on reducing the risks of cancer and cardiovascular disease in women.
1990 Joseph Murray, MD, receives the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his pioneering role in organ transplantation (see 1954, first successful human organ transplant), and his subsequent work in developing immunosuppressive drugs.
1989 BWH, through the Physicians Heart Study is the first to prove aspirin could prevent a first heart attack.
1986 Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital establish that methotrexate, previously used exclusively as an anti-cancer drug, is effective in treating severe rheumatoid arthritis, leading to FDA approval of this drug for the treatment of arthritis.
1984 BWH researchers launch a series of national clinical studies known as the TIMI trials (Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction), which demonstrate that new "clot busting" (thrombolytic) drugs can save heart muscle and improve patients' chances of surviving a heart attack. The series of 24 trials, eight which are ongoing, has revolutionized the care of heart-attack patients.
1983 The immunosuppressant drug cyclophosphamide is found to be the first effective treatment for progressive multiple sclerosis.
1979 The immunosuppressant drug cyclosporine-A, now standard therapy for organ transplant patients, is first used for the treatment of renal transplant patients (Peter Bent Brigham Hospital).
1976 BWH researchers launch the Nurses' Health Study, enrolling 122,000 women in America's first study of women's health. Launched to explore the link between birth control pills and cancer, the ongoing NHS is examining associations between lifestyle factors (diet, smoking, exercise) and disease.
1973 Non-invasive fetal heart monitoring is developed, enabling clinicians to more safely and accurately detect fetal distress during labor (Boston Hospital for Women).
1963 The Clinical Research enter for Juvenile Arthritis is established, one of the first such clinics in the nation (Robert Breck Brigham Hospital).
1962 A DC electric current is first used to restore normal rhythm to a heart (Peter Bent Brigham Hospital).
1949 Cortisone, a steroid treatment used throughout medicine, is first administered to patients with rheumatoid arthritis (Robert Breck Brigham Hospital).
1949 Carl Walter, MD, invents and perfects a way to collect, store and transfuse blood (Peter Bent Brigham Hospital).
1947 The first artificial kidney machine is developed and perfected for clinical use in the U.S. (Peter Bent Brigham Hospital).
1944 Researchers successfully fertilize a human ovum in a test tube (Free Hospital for Women).
1929 The first polio victim is saved using the newly developed Drinker Respirator (iron lung) at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in collaboration with Children's Hospital Medical Center and the Harvard School of Public Health.
1926 Drs. William Murphy, George Whipple and George Minot discover that liver extracts cure pernicious anemia. In 1934, they share the Nobel Prize for this work (Peter Bent Brigham Hospital).
1897 The differences between rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis are characterized for the first time (Robert Breck Brigham Hospital).
1883 Antiseptic techniques are introduced to ward off infection following childbirth, dramatically reducing the maternal/child death rate (Boston Lying-in).
If you have any questions about research within the BWH Medical Residency program, please contact Dr. Bruce Levy
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