Yale Bulletin and Calendar

October 15, 2004|Volume 33, Number 7

Pictured at a plaque dedication ceremony celebrating the partnership between the medical school and Bristol-Myers Squibb are (left to right) company officers John Damonti, Peter Dolan and Francis Cuss with President Richard H. Levin and School of Medicine Dean Robert J. Alpern.

Yale's ongoing partnership with
Bristol-Myers Squibb is celebrated at event

More than 30 years ago, a 1945 Yale College graduate with a degree in English initiated a partnership between the company he headed and the medical school at his alma mater. The late Richard L. Gelb, then chief executive officer of Bristol-Myers, began an educational and scientific collaboration with the School of Medicine that still endures.

In late September, Yale faculty and officers and officials from the company -- now called Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) -- gathered at the medical school to commemorate the ongoing partnership. The event began with a scientific symposium. Dr. Pasko Rakic, the Dorys McConnell Duberg Professor of Neuroscience and chair of the Department of Neurobiology, spoke on "The Logistics of Brain Development." Robert Zaczek, director of biochemical pharmacology at BMS, spoke on "Evolution in Neuroscience Drug Discovery: Empirical to Molecular Approaches."

The symposium preceded the dedication of a plaque in the Sterling Hall of Medicine and a reception in the Medical Historical Library, where representatives of Yale and BMS praised Gelb's initiative.

"He believed strongly that scientific collaborations across institutional and disciplinary lines were absolutely essential if we wanted to make any progress against some of the stubborn scourges like cancer, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, etc.," said Peter R. Dolan, chair and chief executive officer of BMS. "Most importantly, he followed up and took specific actions."

The first major grant was awarded in 1972 to Dr. Leon E. Rosenberg, who chaired the new Department of Human Genetics and later became dean of the medical school. Over the next three decades, BMS grants supported research in cancer, genetics, neuroscience and virology, as well as a new experiment in graduate education. In 1996 Bristol-Myers Squibb and Yale worked together to create the Combined Program in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences, known as BBS. Under this new structure, students selected an area of study but were free to pursue studies and research, and to rotate through laboratories in up to 12 departments.

"I can't overstate how important this program has been for Yale," said Dr. Robert J. Alpern, current dean of Yale's medical school. "It allowed the transformation of our graduate education program into one that was innovative and it encouraged interaction between students and faculty across the campus."

Also in the 1990s, BMS developed a compound whose antiviral properties were discovered in Yale pharmacology laboratories by William H. Prusoff and his colleague, the late Tai-Shun Lin. The drug, known commercially as Zerit, became a staple of the AIDS cocktail. In 2001, in response to a request from Doctors Without Borders, the company and Yale revised their patent agreement to make the drug available throughout Africa at a 30-fold discount.

More recently Bristol-Myers Squibb has turned to Dr. Michael H. Merson, dean of public health, and director of Yale's Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS, for help in monitoring and evaluating the BMS Foundation's Secure the Future initiative, a five-year, $115 million program to help governments and communities in southern and western Africa develop strategies for addressing the HIV/AIDS crisis.

The School of Nursing has also joined in the partnership. In 2002 the school launched the Program for the Advancement of Wound Care, with support from the BMS Foundation and the company's ConvaTec subsidiary. In the first academic program of its kind for wound care, Yale researchers are developing evidence for the best protocols and care for chronic wounds, an unmet need in the older adult population.

President Richard C. Levin praised the ongoing collaboration and the shared vision that lies behind it. "Both Yale and Bristol-Myers Squibb have a strong belief in the power of bold, vigorous science to improve human health and well-being," he said.

-- By John Curtis, Yale Medicine magazine

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