Internationally known for her research on the mechanisms of birth defects, Patricia Donahoe, MD, professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and director of the pediatric surgical research laboratories at Massachusetts General Hospital, presented the 16th annual Distinguished Women in Medicine and Science Lecture on March 22.

A genetic pathway previously known for its role in embryonic development and cancer has been identified as a target for systemic sclerosis, or scleroderma, therapy. The finding, discovered by medical school researchers, was recently published in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism.