Return Engagement

Elaine Chao

U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao returned to Hopkins Hospital on Jan. 6 to see the fruits of the $3 million Department of Labor grant that is funding Project REACH, the jobs training program for incumbent workers.

Joined by Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, Chao addressed the crowd that packed Weinberg Auditorium after meeting with program participants. “Project REACH has been a tremendously inspiring project that has helped so many incumbent workers,” she said. “I am delighted to return to get an update.”

Chao first visited the hospital when she announced the grant nearly two years ago. Since then, hundreds of Health System employees have completed the training programs that prepare them for higher paying jobs while giving them time off work to attend classes.
Chao devoted much of her talk to promoting President Bush’s economic policies, but broke from her prepared remarks to extol Hopkins’ caregivers. “You take care of our loved ones, our neighbors and families,” she said. “I want to tell you how valuable and treasured you are to us.”

Docs of the Decade

According to the January/February issue of Science Watch, the bimonthly newsletter published by Thomson Scientific, the five most frequently cited oncology researchers of the past decade, 1995-2005, are all from the Kimmel Cancer Center. They are Bert Vogelstein, Kenneth Kinzler, James Herman, Stephen Baylin and David Sidransky.

With 27,148 citations, Vogelstein and Kinzler (27,785 citations) also ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, among the decade’s most-cited authors in the all-encompassing category of clinical medicine. They were topped by two scientists from Harvard and one from the University of Miami.

But it was in the subfield of oncology that Hopkins really scored. Noted Science Watch: “The Kimmel Cancer Center solidifies its stance as a research powerhouse in the field of oncology with its researchers accounting for all of the top five.”