• Best of the best recognized
  The tradition continued for the ninth year as more than 800 employees were honored with the annual Partners in Excellence (PIE) Awards for their outstanding contributions to the MGH and Partners. The WACC Lobby overflowed at the special ceremony Dec. 1 as 250 individuals and 52 MGH teams were recognized.

• MGH/CNY holiday parties
  MGH employees are cordially invited to celebrate the upcoming Holiday Season with refreshments, music and holiday cheer during the MGH Holiday Parties, hosted by Peter L. Slavin, MD, president of the MGH.

• Helping to prevent flu complications
  With the recent flu shot shortage, the MGH and the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization will be offering the pneumococcal vaccine to help prevent flu complications for certain MGH patients. Posters and flyers about the pneumococcal vaccine were distributed throughout the hospital this week to help educate patients about pneumococcal pneumonia and whether they should ask their health care providers about the vaccination program.

• Charlestown fights back against substance abuse
  From 1999 to 2002, the average annual death rate from substance abuse in Charlestown was nearly 50 percent higher than the rest of Boston. To tackle the problem of substance abuse — particularly heroin and OxyContin — among young people in Charlestown, the community worked with the MGH Charlestown HealthCare Center and the MGH Community Benefits Program to create the Charlestown Substance Abuse Coalition (CSAC).

• MGHers win big
  David Sigilai of the MGH Gillette Center for Women's Cancer, and Mike Stone of MGH Food and Nutrition Services, were the envy of many MGHers when they were revealed as the two grand prize raffle winners of this year's United Way campaign.

• Music of hope
  The Sinikithemba HIV-positive choir brought a message of hope to the hospital when they performed traditional Zulu music in the WACC lobby Nov. 29 in recognition of World AIDS Day. The South African choir, whose Zulu name means, "we give hope," is comprised of 15 HIV-positive members who participate in an AIDS support group in Durban, South Africa.

• Imaging study finds a structural difference in the brains of cocaine addicts
  MGH researchers have identified an unexpected structural difference in the brains of cocaine addicts. In the Nov. 18 issue of Neuron, they describe how a key structure called the amygdala is smaller in cocaine addicts than in healthy volunteers.

• In memoriam: Francis "Hooks" Burr and Allan Goldblatt, MD

• In General

• What's Happening

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