Profiles
A prescription for good deeds
Dr. Bernard Lown stands in the hallway of the Chestnut Hill home that he and his wife, Louise, have lived in for the past five decades. Filled with framed thank-you notes and photographs, Lown proudly says he’s accumulated good deeds rather than endless objects. “To me the profound moral purpose in life is that when […]
Outer limits of fiction
Jennifer Pelland has prevented genetics from going haywire, built bubble cities to deter solar mutations in the human race, and created future societies dealing with global warming. The 38-year-old science-fiction writer also has been nominated for this year’s Nebula Award, presented by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, for her short story “Captive […]
Drumming to a world beat
Three thousand miles from Los Angeles, a Grammy award sits on a mantel in Mark Walker’s modest Natick home. He received the music industry’s golden gramophone last month for his work on “Funk Tango” with the Paquito D’Rivera Quintet. He’s been a member of the band since 1989. A percussion professor at Berklee College of […]
Over 50 and marketing it
Gene Burnard has designed flight simulators for NASA, processed scientific data for the oil exploration industry, and worked with companies developing radar systems. He’s gone from flying airplanes to jumping out of them. Now the 64-year-old Marlborough resident feeds his need for speed with a Harley-Davidson, and is kept grounded by helping his peers find […]
After loss, a shared strength
Gerald Scandiffio knows that losing a limb is devastating. One of his legs was amputated 17 years ago, and he can tell you what it feels like to lie in a hospital bed staring at a fearful and uncertain future. Photo Gallery The ‘Next Step’ in prosthetics Now, Scandiffio and Arthur Graham, as board-certified prosthetics […]
Confidence in a world unseen
For nearly two decades, Suzi Abu-Jaber has been helping visually impaired children gain the confidence to venture out into the world. Those who are sighted, she says, will observe a task being carried out a thousand times before they attempt it on their own. But for children who cannot see, there’s a disconnect with even […]
Engineering his new life
Michael Barenboym has designed a heart-assist device and a machine that processes bone marrow for use in bone-grafting procedures, and has improved on the no-drip valve mechanisms in toddler sippy cups. “A good mechanical engineer can design anything from an airplane to a child’s toy,” said the 41-year-old Framingham resident. “As long as they know […]
The insights of outsiders
Surviving middle school is difficult enough for the average kid. But if you’re from India and land in an all-white suburb in California in the 1970s, life can be a lot tougher, Mitali Perkins recalled. Or try being the only girl in a baseball league in a small Midwestern town 30 years ago, Karen Day […]
Memories inspire a second act
For nearly half a century, Dr. Irwin E. Thompson spent his days in laboratories and operating rooms, helping people start families through in vitro fertilization. Now retired from medicine, he continues to study life, birth, and nature – through art. “Painting and writing poetry has become a natural way for me to celebrate pivotal moments […]
A business success, naturally
Tori Stuart was destined to run her own business. At the age of 5, she often played secretary and one day told her father: “You’re fired.” By 12 she was selling hand-painted barrettes in boutiques near her childhood home in Westchester County in New York. And while attending Brown University, Stuart and a friend started […]