Merry Christmas!
“This issue of GUMC Update marks the last of 2020. As many of us wind down for the holiday break, I’d like to again express my deep gratitude for your work over the long difficult months of the past year. For those whose vocation requires that they work through the holidays, including the recipients of our 2020 CARIS Award in the divisision of comparative anatomy announced at our recent community meeting, I am especially grateful for your many important contributions to our campus and our community. 
This weekend came wonderful news that a vaccine to prevent COVID-19 can now move forward, and vaccinations of frontline health care workers can begin. Although as public health officials have emphasized, we still have very difficult winter months ahead and should remain carefully vigilant, the vaccine brings hope that we can begin imagining gathering once again with friends, loved ones and colleagues – a wonderful gift of hope for this holiday season."

Happy Hanukkah! Merry Christmas! 
Edward B. Healton, MD, MPH, Executive Vice President of Health Sciences
GUMC Stories
Georgetown President John J. DeGioia today announced a plan to establish a School of Health and a School of Nursing on the Medical Center campus by July 2022. The schools will build upon the foundation of the current School of Nursing & Health Studies (NHS).
Recognizing their tireless dedication and commitment to excellence in spite of the unprecedented challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, the Division of Comparative Medicine was recently recognized with the C.A.R.I.S. Award.
One Hundred Years Ago, GU Nursing Graduates Praised for Work During Flu Pandemic
The Georgetown nursing graduates of the Class of 1920 were praised for their dedication during the 1918 influenza. A tribute was given “to the graduates for their faithful duties performed during the influenza epidemic when not one of the nurses failed to respond to the call for charity,” a newspaper of the time reported.
News and Announcements
Albert J. Fornace Jr., MD, Molecular Cancer Research Chair at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology, has been named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). The NAI Fellows Program highlights academic inventors who have demonstrated a spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society. The complete list of the NAI Fellows Program Class of 2020 is available here
Research published in PLoS by Jack Hart, MS (G’20), and Caleb McKinney, PhD, assistant dean, graduate and postdoctoral education training and development in BGE, found that 69% of BGE MS program graduates entered the workforce while 28% pursued advanced degrees. The study looked at 1,204 graduates from 15 BGE programs who received their degrees 2014-2018. Learn more here.
The Aspen Institute Selects DC’s Early Childhood Innovation Network For Ascend Impact Fund
The Early Childhood Innovation Network (ECIN), co-led by Georgetown’s Matthew G. Biel, MD, M.Sc., chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and professor at Georgetown University School of Medicine, was selected by The Aspen Institute to receive flexible grant funding to accelerate their work moving children and families with low incomes toward educational success, economic security, and health and well-being.
The ECIN will partner in this work with Baltimore’s Center for Urban Families and the Center for Community Resilience at the George Washington University to facilitate a two-generation learning network across ecosystems to create conditions under which caregivers, especially fathers, are able to support their children’s academic and social-emotional success in remote learning environments necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. 
In appreciation and gratitude for our University community, Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia announced three additional holidays for 2020 - Monday, December 21; Tuesday, December 22; and Wednesday, December 23. For more information, visit the human resources website here.
Looking for a way to spread holiday cheer? Consider supporting the annual holiday toy drive benefiting Mary’s Center, a community health center founded by Maria Gomez (NHS’77). Check out the Amazon wish list here.
To help employees feel their best emotionally while living and working through the pandemic, all U.S.-based benefits-eligible faculty and staff may access free virtual therapy and coaching through One Medical. Click here to learn how to get started and more.
If you missed the December 9 GUMC Virtual Community Meeting, you can catch up by watching the video here
Those approved to be on campus during the winter holidays are expected to continue receiving COVID-19 tests. Beginning the week of December 21 through January 1, Main Campus testing sites will be open. The schedule is now online.
Press Releases
Georgetown Professor Comments on FDA Authorization of Vaccine to Prevent COVID-19
Former FDA Chief Scientist and infectious disease physician Jesse Goodman, MD, MPH, professor of medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center, celebrates and provides a brief perspective on the FDA's emergency use authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Researchers say they’ve identified a way to disrupt a process that promotes the growth of pancreatic cancers — one of the most difficult and deadly cancers to treat. The team, led by scientists at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and including investigators from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, STCube and Fluidigm, published their findings today in the journal Gastroenterology.
GUMC In The News










Politico Pfizer's Up First (Jesse Goodman)




The Washington Post Why health officials are terrified of a pandemic Christmas (Angela Rasmussen) 


The Wall Street Journal FDA Says Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine Is Safe, Effective (Angela Rasmussen)

New York Magazine We Had the Vaccine the Whole Time (Angela Rasmussen)

STAT News AstraZeneca’s confusing vaccine data (Angela Rasmussen)







The Wall Street Journal Covid-19 Vaccine: Should Lawmakers Get Priority? (Daniel Sulmasy)


Calendar of Events
Tuesday, December 15
12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
Online

“How Education Scholarship Gets Made, Scene 1: Reaching Out” is the first session in a series providing a look behind the scenes at education scholarship to provide the knowledge and motivation to become involved in the field. Co-sponsored by UCSF School of Medicine; Georgetown University School of Medicine; Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell; the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences; and George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Register.
Wednesday, December 16
10:00 - 11:00 a.m.
Via Zoom

Learn how to upload your CV, add your personal website information, upload a syllabus, publications and more. Register.
Thursday, December 17
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Via Zoom

Eran Elinav, MD, PhD, professor, department of immunology, Weizmann Institute of Science, presents “Host Micro Biome Interactions in Health and Disease.” Via Zoom.
Friday, December 18
8:00 - 9:00 a.m.
Via Zoom

Maha El Rabbat, PhD, WHO special envoy on COVID-19 and executive director of the Middle East and North Africa Health Policy Forum, presents “Decisive Leadership During Pandemics.” Co-sponsored by the Georgetown University Global Health Initiative and Georgetown Center for Global Health Science and Security. RSVP.
Friday, December 18
10:00 - 11:00 a.m.

Renowned economics professor and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz assesses the economic responses of governments and institutions globally, and examines lessons from the COVID-19 crisis that inform approaches to the mounting challenges associated with global warming. Co-sponsored by Georgetown University Global Economic Challenges (GEC) Network, Université Libre de Bruxelles (Solvay),and the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). RSVP.
Friday, December 18
12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
Via Zoom

Paul Kolm, PhD, associate director in the Department of Biostatistics and Biomedical Informatics at MedStar Health Research Institute, presents “Analyzing Time-to-Event Data.” Register.
Support for Virtual Instruction
See the Instructional Continuity @GU website for information about office hours, web resources, training webinars and other forms of assistance.
Monday - Friday,
8:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.;
Saturday, 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

CETS is offering individual Zoom assistance. Meet with a member of the CETS staff via Zoom (meeting ID: 995-332-8350).
CNDLS Instructional Continuity Virtual Office Hours
Monday - Thursday,
10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.;
Friday, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

CNDLS holds instructional continuity office hours virtually in this Zoom room. Please stop by if you need help or dial 646-558-8656
(meeting ID: 386 980 1070).
After hours, email cndls@georgetown.edu.
Thursday, December 17, January 7 or 14
1:00 - 2:00 p.m.
Via Zoom

Online office hours with UIS EdTech provide faculty and staff with assistance and answers to Canvas questions and assistance with all Canvas needs. Register 12/17, 1/7 or 1/14.
Friday, December 18
12:30 - 1:30 p.m.

Online office hours with UIS EdTech provide faculty and staff with assistance and answers to questions about instructional continuity tools: Panopto, Zoom, Voicethread and Canvas. Register.
Webinar Recordings
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