Laurie Hollis Glimcher (born 1951) is an American physician-scientist and former President and CEO of Dana–Farber Cancer Institute.[1] She was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2019.[citation needed] Glimcher has been at the center of controversies related to animal rights activists,[2] excessive corporate payments,[3] and research misconduct.[4] A 2021 investigation by the Boston Globe Spotlight team highlighted Glimcher’s activities on multiple corporate boards, including Bristol Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, and Analog Devices.[5] After this investigation, Glimcher continued to receive compensation on for-profit boards, while doubling her salary to $4 million per year at Dana-Farber.[6] In October 2024, Glimcher stepped down as President and CEO of Dana-Farber.[7]

Laurie Glimcher
Born1951 (age 72–73)
EducationRadcliffe College (BS)
Harvard University (MD)
Spouse(s)
(m. 1973, divorced)

Gregory Petsko
Children3, including Jake Auchincloss
FatherMelvin J. Glimcher
AwardsWilliam B. Coley Award (2012)
Scientific career
FieldsCancer immunotherapy
InstitutionsHarvard Medical School
Dana–Farber Cancer Institute

Education

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Glimcher graduated from the Winsor School, an all-girls private school in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1968.[8] In 1972, she graduated magna cum laude from Radcliffe College, and then graduated cum laude from Harvard Medical School in 1976.[9]

Work

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She joined the board of directors of Bristol-Myers Squibb in 1997 and retired from the board in 2017.[10][11][12] Her research laboratory received funding from Merck & Co for a project focused on developing new therapies for the treatment of osteoporosis in 2008.[13]

From 1991 to 2012, Glimcher was the Irene Heinz Given Professor of Immunology at the Harvard School of Public Health, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.[14] Clinically, she is a specialist in osteoporosis.[9][10]

From 2012 to 2016, Glimcher served as the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College and the Cornell University Provost for Medical Affairs.[15][16]

In February 2016, Laurie Glimcher was named the President and CEO of Dana–Farber Cancer Institute. Glimcher was considered for the position for the Dean of Harvard Medical School but turned the position down in order to become the president of the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute.[17]

At Dana-Farber, Glimcher collaborated on research to find methods of combatting cancer from within the human immune system.[18] The Dana–Farber Cancer Institute is an institution that is affiliated with Harvard, as it currently is one of its teaching hospitals. Glimcher, who was the first female dean of any medical school in New York state, became the first female to lead the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute.[19]

In 2017, she joined the board of GlaxoSmithKline.[20] In 2020, she joined the board of Analog Devices.[21]

Research

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Glimcher's research has focused on the immune system; she is known for early work with T cell differentiation, her discovery that Schnurri-3 regulates osteoblasts which led to a collaboration with Merck & Co., and her discovery of the role played by XBP-1 in lipogenesis and the unfolded protein response.[22][23] Glimcher's role helped discover Schnurri-3 (Shn3 for short) is a large zinc finger protein distantly related to Drosophila. Shn is a potent and essential regulator of adult bone formation.[24] Her research has had implications for understanding asthma, HIV, inflammatory bowel disease, and osteoporosis, and around 2016, on cancer immunotherapy.[25]

Glimcher became interested in immunology during her first year of medical school at Harvard.[26] There she took interest dysregulation in autoimmune diseases and, in her fourth year at Harvard, discovered the protein known as Nk1.1 (see natural killer T cell), which soon became widely recognized across the field of immunology.[26] For this discovery, Glimcher became the first woman to receive the Soma Weiss Award, an honor her father had received 26 years earlier. During this time, Glimcher worked with mentor Bill Paul, who strongly encouraged her to continue her research independently after completing medical school.

Glimcher currently heads her own lab for research in immunology. She has been interested in studying the ties between ER stress system in neurons and immune function and neuro-degeneration.[26] Her past work has involved regulation of immune function and has shifted towards osteobiology with a focus on the bone disease osteoporosis. Her Harvard lab has a three-year contract with Merck for the drug Fosamax, a treatment for osteoporosis.[26] Glimcher's more current research looks to answer the question, “How does the immune system and the ER stress system impact cancer development and progression?”[26]

Awards and memberships

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Glimcher received the L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science in 2014 for her work in the field of immunology and her research regarding the control of immune responses.[27][26] In 2014, she received the Margaret Kripke Legend Award.[28] She received the Steven C. Beering Award in 2015.[29] In 2018, she received the American Association of Immunologists Lifetime Achievement Award.[30]

She has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. She is a member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Association of Immunologists, American Society for Clinical Investigation, American Association of Physicians, and American Association for the Advancement of Science.[15] She was the president of the American Association of Immunologists from 2003 to 2004.[31]

In 2020 she was named the newest member of the Stand Up to Cancer Scientific Advisory Committee.[32]

Family

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Glimcher is the daughter of Geraldine Lee (Bogolub) and Melvin J. Glimcher, who was a pioneer in the development of artificial limbs while the chair of the Massachusetts General Hospital Orthopedics Department. Her family is Jewish.[33]

Glimcher followed in the footsteps of her father by later becoming a full professor at Harvard Medical School at the age of 39; the two became research partners.[18]

She is married to Gregory Petsko, Professor of Neurology in the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, who was director of the Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center and chair of biochemistry at Brandeis University prior to moving to Weill Cornell Medicine, where he became director of the Helen and Robert Appel Alzheimer's Disease Research Institute.[34] Glimcher was previously married to Hugh Auchincloss,[35] who is the top deputy to Dr. Anthony Fauci,[36] and was a chief of Transplant Surgery at Brigham & Women's Hospital,[37] and with whom she had three children, Kalah, Hugh and Jake Auchincloss.[38]

Her daughter, Kalah Auchincloss, J.D., M.P.H., is a senior vice president of regulatory compliance and deputy general counsel for Greenleaf Health and previously was deputy chief of staff for two Food and Drug Administration commissioners.[39]

Her eldest son, Dr. Hugh Glimcher Auchincloss, is also a physician, currently a cardiothoracic surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital.[40] Her younger son, Jake Auchincloss, is currently the Representative for the Massachusetts's 4th congressional district.[36][41][42]

Women's involvement

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Laurie Glimcher has been considered a champion of women's rights in the scientific community by many of her peers.[citation needed] While she was at Harvard, she hired lab technicians with her own research fund to support her postdoctoral fellows after they had babies so that they were allowed to leave by 6.[citation needed] This carried on into Glimcher's involvement with the National Institutes of Health to create a similar postdoc grant program caring for family members.[43]

Glimcher served on the 2005 Larry Summers Task Force for Women in Science and Engineering, where she expressed her disappointment in the rate of progress for women in science.[citation needed] She joined this task force after a controversy was sparked when former Harvard president Larry Summers suggested that women might be able to innately do less in science. Although she was on the Larry Summers committee, Glimcher still believes that there is still more work to be done.[citation needed] She was quoted as saying: "There are not enough women in senior leadership positions, period. It hasn't gotten a heck of a lot better since I was in medical school."[43] After she was appointed to Cornell's medical school she immediately made changes regarding women's rights. She established paid maternity leave, created daycare centers and another postdoc grant program for primary caregivers. Upon arriving at Cornell there were 0 out of 19 clinical department chairs filled by women; as of today there are 2.[43]

NYBC controversy

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In 2015, Glimcher was targeted by animal rights activists over their protest of withdrawal of support for chimpanzees in Liberia by the New York Blood Center where Glimcher had been on the board for two years.[2]

Boston Globe Spotlight report and corporate board controversy

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When Glimcher began work at Dana-Farber, she continued to serve on the board of pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb even though the company was involved in a legal battle with Dana-Farber over patent rights and drug royalties. She subsequently resigned from that position and joined another pharmaceutical board, as a director of GlaxoSmithKline. Glimcher's dual role as Dana-Farber CEO and as director of multiple corporate boards was highlighted in the Boston Globe Spotlight article "Boston’s hospital chiefs moonlight on corporate boards at rates far beyond the national level,"[44] and resulted in multiple calls among Harvard physicians and Boston hospital staff for the prohibition of hospital executives from serving on corporate boards.[45]

Data manipulation controversy

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In January 2024 Glimcher was among four researchers at Dana-Farber accused of falsifying data in research papers. Images in the papers had been manipulated in a way that suggested deliberate attempts to mislead readers.[46] She has attempted to correct some of the data, however 6 of these papers have been retracted pending outcome of investigation while others are being corrected.[47][48]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Laurie H. Glimcher, MD, named president of Dana–Farber Cancer Institute – Dana–Farber Cancer Institute | Boston, MA". www.dana-farber.org. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  2. ^ a b "Weill Cornell Medicine Dean Accused of Chimp Abandonment". The Cornell Daily Sun. 2015-10-30. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  3. ^ Kowalczyk, Liz; Ryley, Spotlight fellow Sarah L.; Arsenault, Mark (April 3, 2021). "Boston's hospital chiefs moonlight on corporate boards at rates far beyond the national level". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2021-08-08.
  4. ^ "Top Cancer Center Seeks to Retract or Correct Dozens of Studies | News | The New York Times". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
  5. ^ Kowalczyk, Liz; Ryley, Spotlight fellow Sarah L.; Arsenault, Mark (2021-04-03). "Boston's hospital chiefs moonlight on corporate boards at rates far beyond the national level". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2024-08-24.
  6. ^ Kowalczyk, Liz (2024-01-31). "Boston's hospital chiefs have turned away from sitting on outside boards". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2024-08-24.
  7. ^ Edelman, Larry (2024-09-03). "Dana-Farber CEO Laurie Glimcher to step down next month". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2024-10-12.
  8. ^ "Laurie Glimcher '68". Winsor School. 2019-12-02. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  9. ^ a b "Laurie H. Glimcher, MD - Dana–Farber Cancer Institute | Boston, MA". www.dana-farber.org. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  10. ^ a b Hartocollis, Anemona (September 7, 2011). "Harvard Researcher Chosen as New Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College". The New York Times. Retrieved September 9, 2011.
  11. ^ "New Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College Calls for Stronger Ties to Industry". Chronicle of Higher Education. September 8, 2011. Retrieved September 9, 2011.
  12. ^ "BRIEF-Bristol-Myers Squibb Co says Laurie Glimcher notified co that she will retire from board". Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  13. ^ "Harvard Announces Pioneering Collaboration with Merck & Co., Inc. to Advance Osteoporosis Research". Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  14. ^ official p. at Harvard
  15. ^ a b "Bristol-Myers Squibb: Laurie H. Glimcher, M.D." www.bms.com. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  16. ^ Hartocollis, Anemona (2011-09-07). "Laurie H. Glimcher Named Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  17. ^ "Recruited to lead Harvard med, 'fearless' scientist chose Dana-Farber". STAT. 2016-03-01. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  18. ^ a b Bailey, Melissa (March 2016). "Recruited to lead Harvard Med, 'fearless' scientist chose Dana-Farber". Stat News. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  19. ^ "Laurie Glimcher". The Forum at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. 2019-01-17. Retrieved 2020-11-03.
  20. ^ "Cancer expert joins the overhaul at Glaxo - The Times". www.thetimes.co.uk/. July 22, 2017. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
  21. ^ "Dana-Farber CEO joining Analog board - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. August 18, 2020. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  22. ^ Neill, US (1 July 2016). "A conversation with Laurie Glimcher". The Journal of Clinical Investigation. 126 (7): 2392–3. doi:10.1172/jci88964. PMC 4922720. PMID 27367182.
  23. ^ Sedwick, Caitlin (2010-04-19). "Laurie Glimcher: Merging cell biology and immune function". The Journal of Cell Biology. 189 (2): 192–193. doi:10.1083/jcb.1892pi. PMC 2856904. PMID 20404104.
  24. ^ Jones, Dallas C.; Wein, Marc N.; Glimcher, Laurie H. (2007-01-01). "Schnurri-3: A Key Regulator of Postnatal Skeletal Remodeling". In Choi, Yongwon (ed.). Osteoimmunology. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology. Vol. 602. Springer US. pp. 1–13. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-72009-8_1. ISBN 9780387720081. PMID 17966382.
  25. ^ "Recruited to lead Harvard med, 'fearless' scientist chose Dana-Farber". STAT. 2016-03-01. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  26. ^ a b c d e f Sedwick, Caitlin (19 April 2010). "Laurie Glimcher: Merging cell biology and immune function". The Journal of Cell Biology. 189 (2): 192–193. doi:10.1083/jcb.1892pi. PMC 2856904. PMID 20404104.
  27. ^ 16th Annual L’Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science - 2014
  28. ^ "Margaret L. Kripke Legend Award". M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  29. ^ "Steven C. Beering Award | Office of Faculty Affairs and Professional Development". Archived from the original on 2018-07-11. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  30. ^ "Past Recipients". The American Association of Immunologists. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  31. ^ "Laurie Glimcher '68". Winsor School. 2019-12-02. Retrieved 2020-11-03.
  32. ^ "Dr. Laurie Glimcher Named to Stand Up To Cancer Scientific Advisory Committee". Stand Up To Cancer. Retrieved 2020-11-03.
  33. ^ "Israel".
  34. ^ Hartocollis, Anemona (2011-09-07). "Harvard Researcher Chosen as New Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College". New York Times. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  35. ^ "Hugh Auchincloss Jr. Weds Laurie Glimcher". The New York Times. 1973-08-27. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  36. ^ a b DeCosta-Clipa, Nik (July 31, 2020). "Jake Auchincloss suggests he's the frontrunner to replace Joe Kennedy. His opponents are certainly treating him like one". Boston.com. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  37. ^ "Glimcher Helps Women Balance Career, family". Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  38. ^ "Science is in the bones for dad, daughter". Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  39. ^ "Kalah Auchincloss Joins Greenleaf Health as SVP". Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  40. ^ "Recruited to lead Harvard med, 'fearless' scientist chose Dana-Farber". STAT. 2016-03-01. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  41. ^ "Ex-Marine Jake Auchincloss wins crowded Democratic primary in race to fill House seat being vacated by Joe Kennedy III". AP NEWS. 2020-09-04. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  42. ^ Phillips, Lucas (January 3, 2021). "Auchincloss sworn in as Massachusetts' newest US House member - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  43. ^ a b c "Recruited to lead Harvard med, 'fearless' scientist chose Dana-Farber". STAT. 2016-03-01. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  44. ^ Kowalczyk, Liz; Ryley, Spotlight fellow Sarah L.; Arsenault, Mark (April 3, 2021). "Boston's hospital chiefs moonlight on corporate boards at rates far beyond the national level". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2021-08-08.
  45. ^ Kowalczyk, Liz (August 7, 2021). "A group of doctors, medical students seeks to prohibit Boston's hospital chiefs from working on corporate boards". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2021-08-08.
  46. ^ "Top Cancer Center Seeks to Retract or Correct Dozens of Studies | News | The New York Times". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
  47. ^ "Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Researchers Accused of Manipulating Data | News | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2024-01-23.
  48. ^ "Dana-Farber to Retract 6 Papers, Correct 31 Following Data Manipulation Claims | News | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2024-01-23.
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