Harvard Medical School. Office of the Dean for Academic and Clinical Programs records

S. James Adelstein is the Daniel C. Tosteson University Professor and Professor of Pathology, and the Paul C. Cabot Distinguished Professor of Medical Biophysics at Harvard Medical School. Adelstein served as Executive Dean for Academic Programs at Harvard Medical School from 1978 to 1997. In 2003, the Office of the Executive Dean for Academic Programs became the Office of the Dean for Academic and Clinical Programs at Harvard Medical School.

S. James Adelstein was born in New York, New York, on January 24, 1928. He was graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a B.S and M.S. in 1949, completed his M.D. at the Harvard Medical School in 1953, and received his Ph.D. in biophysics from MIT in 1957.

Dr. Adelstein evidenced an interest in teaching and research early in his career. In his undergraduate years he was a teaching fellow in biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1948-1949), and while in medical school a research assistant in biology (1950-1951). He served his internship and residency at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. From 1954 to 1957, Dr. Adelstein was a fellow of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis in the Department of Biology at MIT and research fellow in medicine at Harvard Medical School (1956-1957). After completion of his Ph.D. in biophysics, he continued his training in internal medicine at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and as a fellow of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (1957-1958). During 1958-1959 he held the Moseley Traveling Fellowship of Harvard University in the Department of Radiotherapeutics at Cambridge University, from which position he moved to the Henry A. and Camillus Christian Fellowship at the Harvard Medical School (1959-1960) at which time he became the chief medical resident at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital.

In 1960 Dr. Adelstein began his work on radiation biophysics as a member of the Department of Anatomy at the Harvard Medical School. Shortly afterward he was appointed the Philip H. Cook Fellow in Radiology, Harvard Medical School (1960-1968). His research in this capacity was focused on radiation-induced changes in biological macromolecules, enzymes, and nucleoproteins. Concurrently, he continued his teaching in radiology and internal medicine at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. With his subsequent appointment in 1968 to Associate Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School he began to build a program in nuclear medicine that brought together education, research, and service, first at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (Brigham and Women's Hospital), then growing to include Children's Hospital, Beth Israel Hospital, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. His commitment to the field of nuclear medicine is evident in his leadership roles as chief of the Nuclear Medicine Services at Children's Hospital (1970-1978), director of the Division of Nuclear Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital (1968-1992), and director of the Joint Program in Nuclear Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Beth Israel Hospital, Children's Hospital, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (1970-). In 1968, Dr. Adelstein began his research at the Shields Warren Radiation Laboratories, Harvard Medical School, this work continuing throughout his career.

Dr. Adelstein's clinical interests have included the diagnosis and experimental treatment of cancer, technology transfer and assessment, and radionuclide dosimetry. His laboratory research has been concerned with the molecular and cellular effects of radiation, especially the consequence of microscopic energy distribution of radionuclide decay particles producing high specific (localized) ionization.

In 1978, Dr. Adelstein joined the administration of the Harvard Medical School as Executive Dean for Academic Programs in the Faculty of Medicine (1978-1997). During his tenure he implemented new procedures for permanent faculty appointments. He assisted Dean Tosteson in setting up the faculty process for examining and changing the medical student curriculum and working on the reorganization of social-science-related faculty units including social medicine, health care policy, ambulatory care, and prevention. While Dean for Academic Programs, Dr. Adelstein was the director of the M.D.-Ph.D. Program at the Harvard Medical School (1978-1982); chairman of the Division of Medical Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University (1978-1979); Paul C. Cabot Professor of Medical Biophysics (1989-1997); and radiologist, Brigham and Women's Hospital (1992-). Although no longer dean, S. James Adelstein remains a member of the Faculty of Medicine as the Daniel C. Tosteson University Professor (1997-). He was also named Paul C. Cabot Distinguished Professor of Medical Biophysics in 2003.

Throughout his scientific career S. James Adelstein has held many major committee assignments. He has been concerned with radiation protection in medicine and served as director and then as vice-president of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements chairing the committees responsible for its research agenda and basic radiation protection criteria. He has also served as director of the Whitaker Health Sciences Fund, and director of the Harvard Community Health Plan Foundation. His interest in the interface of physical sciences and engineering with medicine and life sciences led to his involvement in andco-chair of, with George Benedek, an IOM committee focused on promoting research collaboration (1987-1990). He continued his work with the Institute of Medicine as chairman of the IOM Committee on Biomedical Isotopes (1993-1995).

In addition, Dr. Adelstein has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine, Investigative Radiology, and Radiation Research. He has also been involved with a number of distinguished scientific societies, including the Biophysical Society, the Association for Radiation Research, the Radiation Research Society, the American Chemical Society, the American College of Nuclear Physicians, the Radiologic Society of North America, and the Association of University Radiologists. In 1978 he served as scientific co-chairman of the Second International Congress of Nuclear Medicine and Biology. He has been a member of the Society of Nuclear Medicine since 1968 and, in addition to being a trustee of the organization, has served on several committees including the Scientific Program Committee, Publications Committee, Scientific Affairs Committee, Finance Committee, Committee on Public Health and Efficacy, and Committee on the Future. He served on the American Board of Nuclear Medicine (1972-1978) and as its secretary (1975-1978).

Dr. Adelstein has been the recipient of several awards and honors including Tau Beta Pi (1947); Alpha Omega Alpha (1952); Sigma XI (1957); Quitman Lecturer, Technion Faculty of Medicine, Haifa, Israel (1980); elected fellow, American College of Nuclear Physicians (1981); annual orator, New York Roentgen Society (1982); Herman L. Blumgart Award, Society of Nuclear Medicine (1983); elected member, Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences (1985); Paul Aebersold Award, Society of Nuclear Medicine (1986); elected fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (1987); and Walter Dandy Lecturer, The Johns Hopkins Medical School (1996).