President Ron Liebowitz:
Now whoever it is my distinct honor to present the Alumni
Achievement Award, the highest form of university recognition given to
alumni. Since 1988, this award has been given to Brandeis graduates
who have made distinguished contributions to their professions and
left indelible marks in their chosen fields. Since Brandeis started
the Alumni Achievement Award in 1988, we have honored many alumni who
are currently in their reunion years. I'd like to recognize one of our
previous award recipients today, Alan Alt, class of 71. Where's Alan?
Hello Alan.
[APPLAUSE] Welcome back. In each year we're thrilled to
welcome two more alumni into this amazing community of Alumni
Achievement Award winners. One to a trailblazing scientist whose work
has improved the lives of millions of cancer patients, the other
attorney who currently serves as the Inspector General of the US
Department of Justice.
First, Susan Band Horwitz. Susan Band Horwitz,
PhD, class of 63, is a cancer scientist whose research led to the
development of the drug Taxol using a small molecule derived from the
bark of the Pacific yew tree. That's why Y-E-W. Horwitz helped
determine its mechanism of action or in layman's terms, how a drug
produces a pharmacological effect, a discovery that led to the use of
Taxol as a chemotherapeutic agent to treat cancers of the ovary,
breast, and lung. In 2011, Horwitz received the award for lifetime
achievement in cancer research from the American Association for
Cancer Research, the AACR.
At the time, the AACR CEO Margaret Foti,
said to Horwitz, ''Her remarkable career and pivotal scientific
contributions have influenced our understanding of how cancer drugs
work and how to translate that knowledge into improved strategic
treatments.'' Horwitz is currently a distinguished professor in
Emerita, Department of Molecular Pharmacology, and the rows see
Frankenstein chair in cancer research Emerita at the Albert Einstein
College of Medicine.
We're also thrilled to honor Michael Horwitz for
his work as Inspector General of the US Department of Justice, a role
he's held through the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations. Horwitz
oversees a staff of 500 who have investigated everything from
allegations of misconduct by FBI Director James Comey in the run-up to
the 2016 election to the FBI's inquiry into position Larry Nasser's
sexual abuse of young female gymnasts.
From 2015-20, Horwitz was elected by his fellow inspectors general to serve as chair of the
council of the inspectors general and integrity and efficiency and
organization of all 75 federal inspectors general. This past April,
the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, a non-profit advocacy group that
monitors federal spending called Horwitz, a profile encourage for
being ''Instrumental in documenting the waste fraud and abuse incurred
during the government's response to COVID-19, holding lawmakers
accountable for dubious disbursements.'' Adding that he identified
billions of dollars worth of waste in the coronavirus response effort.
Susan and Michael, please join me on stage.
[APPLAUSE] With admiration and great gratitude on behalf of so many, I present Susan Band
Horwitz, PhD class of 63, with the Alumni Achievement Award, which
reads, "In esteemed biochemist, researcher, and professor who has won
numerous awards and honors, including the American Association for
Cancer Research Lifetime Achievement Award, celebrated for the
development of the anti-tumor drug Taxol used by millions worldwide
for the treatment of gynecological and lung cancers. Congratulations.
[APPLAUSE] [BACKGROUND]
Also with admiration and great gratitude on behalf of many, I present Michael Horwitz, class of 84 with the Alumni Achievement Award, which reads, "Renowned Inspector General at the
United States Department of Justice, charged with detecting and the
touring fraud, abuse, and misconduct within the department at the helm
of ongoing high-profile national investigations and Chair of the
Pandemic Response Accountability Committee and the federal
government's council of the inspectors general on integrity and
efficiency. Congratulations.
[APPLAUSE] Okay. Many of you saw the alumnus who receive these Alumni Achievement Award prior to these two individuals, and it's just remarkable who Brandeis producers, who all
of you represent, is just something that after six years here still astounds me. When I walked down the hall every day in Bernstein Marcus and see the plaques of all the Alumni Achievement Award winners since 1988 is just a remarkable group, and I welcome these two into that
group. They deserve it.
[APPLAUSE] Have these turned out? Yeah. Now we turn to the best part of this event, is to hear from our two Achievement Award winners. I've done this in the past and have enjoyed
it and always start out with the same question. That question is, we'll start with Susan and then go to Michael. That is, what brought
you to Brandeis in the first place? How did you wind up here? Are you
for the PhD, are you for the undergraduate degree?
Susan Band Horwitz:
- Well, I wound up at Brandeis interestingly. I had attended an all-girls very
traditional college, and when I started to think about graduate
school, remember the year was 1958. There are very few women who had
their own laboratories at the time. I visited some very prestigious
schools to look at graduate education. I remember one, I won't name
it, but it was in New Haven.
[LAUGHTER] The chemistry department was up on the 10th floor. Well, at the end of the discussion I said to the professor, could you please tell me where the ladies' room? He said,
Ladies' room?
[LAUGHTER] I think there's one in the basement. That was
the end of New Haven.
[LAUGHTER] At other prestigious schools, I was
asked questions like, why do you want to get a PhD in chemistry or
biochemistry? Why don't you get a PhD in zoology and you could work in
a museum? I didn't want to work in a museum, I wanted to work in a
laboratory. Then I read in science that Brandeis was opening a new
department of graduate biochemistry. Rather amazing, it was 1958 and
Brandeis had graduated its first class in 52. But I came over as my
parents lived in Brookline at the time. What astounded me was that
they were two women on the faculty. This was truly amazing. They were
superb scientists. Helen's in an office and Mary Ellen Jones, and they
had been hired by the new chairman; Nate Kaplan and Martin Kamen, and
they were married. They had children. This is how I envisioned my
line, and I said I'm coming. They accepted me and I came. I've never
regretted it. It was a wonderful five years that I spent here. I met
my husband here. I had two children by the time I got my PhD, and I
completely changed my life from a young little girl coming into a
scientist. I learned how to be a scientist. - That's wonderful.
Liebowitz:
[APPLAUSE] - [APPLAUSE] As you just know that the graduate program in
biochemistry started only as a graduate program really was a
trendsetter for that field in the United States, and in fact, our
current provost, Carol Fierke, got her a PhD in biochemistry in 1984.
A similar story in terms of how she wound up here. It's just a
terrific department with a great history. How about you, Michael, how
did you wind up where you are? This a compelling story
Michael Horowitz:
[LAUGHTER] My mom is from Boston area originally, a lot of relatives
in the area, was interested in coming to Boston here for school, went
to a small liberal arts school, loved the campus, loved when I came,
walked around, was looking at Brandeis and Tufts, like combos, Tufts
rejected me, made the decision very easily
[LAUGHTER] and best
decision that ever happened was Tufts rejecting me because it made my
choice the right one. - We will thank Tufts. - Yeah. Loved every
minute of my time here as well, and to what you talked about earlier
and the importance of dialogue and in that discussion, so much of what
I've been able to use in the year since is sitting in small classrooms
with that kind of dialogue and understanding people are coming from a
different perspective and appreciating that, and that's what Brandeis
was about to me.
Liebowitz:
Susan, to follow up on your point about what it was
like not having a woman's room maybe, except in the basement at Yale,
what do you see in terms of now? In terms of the diversity within the
science world and the science educational community, do you see us
moving in the right direction, do you see us with great challenges,
how do you see that in the sciences in particular? -
Horwitz:
Well, in the sciences, I think there's been a tremendous change since 1958.
Unbelievable. There are so many young women who are scientists and
doing a terrific job [NOISE] We still have challenges, but we're
certainly moving in the right direction. We don't have enough women
who are chairs of departments, and that's something that I think is
very important. But I think most organizations in the United States
are trying very hard to recognize women who have made really important
contributions to science. But we still have a long way to go. We, and
I'm talking about Massachusetts like Brandeis, probably in the
forefront, but there are many parts of the United States colleges in
which it's difficult still to be a woman and to proceed in the
sciences. But it has to start in grammar school where women are
encouraged to participate in science courses. I think when that
happens, we met a fantastic scientists.
Liebowitz:
And Michael, you mentioned prior to this afternoon session that you were
surprised to learn that seven of your classmates went to Harvard Law
School following the time of Brandeis, that makes me ask, did you know
when you came to Brandeis that you wanted to go into law, did you
discover this while you're here? Did Louis Brandeis have a influence
on that? - I came here thinking the likelihood, being uninterested in
history of politics as a major, ended up being an economics major.
Took Economics here, loved it and became an economics major, and I
thought law school was always going to be a possibility and turned
during my summers at local DA's offices and other jobs, but having
gone to economics through the economics program, I actually thought a
lot about maybe pursuing an economics postgraduate work, perhaps
Business School. Ultimately, in doing some internships, I decided on
the law career. I was a legal studies minor here, so I had the
opportunity to participate in the legal program here had a couple of
great not only academics but practitioners come in. And I know the
Legal Studies Program has just developed tremendously over the last
several years. It's such a huge benefit to see a practitioner and to
be with a practitioner, particularly in the legal field to understand
what it's really like to be a lawyer. That maybe pursue the legal
career, but part of it was being a lawyer allows you to do so many
different things. You don't have to be actually practicing law.
Actually in this role I'm actually not a lawyer, I don't practice as a
lawyer. I have a general counsel, he does our lawyering for us. He's
got a whole group of lawyers there and they help us out. I've seen so
many of my classmates do so many different things. Its just a
tremendous potential career opener for you as opposed to a door closer
for you, which of course for all of us in undergraduates, we want to
keep our doors open for as long as they can be opened. But that's how
I ended up in law school. But Brandeis, giving me that experience at a
small liberal arts school where you could have that engagement with
professors was just a tremendous experience. -
Liebowitz:
There's something we're trying to maintain here at Brandeis, even as we've grown to 3,600
students, were trying to keep that type of really unique engagement
between students and faculty at a Research 1. Because the research
expectations for faculty here are very high and it's a typical to find
that type of interaction at a Research 1. I mentioned Brandeis's
uniqueness. Susan, I'm curious about one of the things I mentioned
earlier was the way APSAC hired the first group of faculty and that's
one of the reasons we had the biochemistry program emerge as it did in
at the time, not afraid to hire communist sympathizers at the time,
people who no one else would hire. Even though they had great standing
in their professions, he took that risk. Because he took that risk, he
had automatic, immediate success with the faculty in terms of
leadership in their areas. So they built the culture at the time. From
what I understand, and from all the people I've spoken to, and what
I've read, because Brandeis was tiny, small, some faculty members did
not get paid for the first few years and they got IOUs written to them
by the university. They had to band together across disciplines to
really be consequential in the world of science. So you had chemists
working with biologists, working with physicists, working with
mathematicians. Something that's not very typical in higher education.
That culture has sustained itself at Brandeis after all these years.
There is a interdisciplinary type of work within the science division.
As a PhD. student; did you feel that, did you see that, did you
benefit from that, did you recognize that the type of work going on
within the sciences at Brandeis was different?
Horwitz:
Well, I only went to Brandeis, so I really can't compare it to a lot of other places.
[NOISE] But I always felt at Brandeis that I was very welcomed into
any professor's office. If I had a question, and of course, as a
biochemist, we had to study quite a bit of chemistry, which was not
always so simple and easy for me, but I always was welcomed into their
office and to discuss any problems. And my interests at Brandeis was
in enzymes, which involves not only biology, but certainly chemistry
and also some physics. I was able to work and discuss my daily
chemical problems with a whole array of different professors. That's a
marvelous thing. Because today we really understand that we need all
of the sciences working together to do something like to approach
cancer. Cancer is such a complicated disease, and on so many different
levels that you lead many different people with artificial
intelligence, etc, to help us to try to understand this disease and
how we can help people that have the disease. That's really crucial. -
Liebowitz:
We are ahead of our time. Why don't we open it up to the audience now
to see who has any questions to our two award winners today. Questions
raise your hand, don't be shy, it's Brandeis. No one is shy.
Audience member:
- I'm guessing that the two of you may be Jewish in background. Coming in as
Jewish environment, I'm wondering [LAUGHTER] if you had any things to
share about things from the Jewish heritage that may have impacted the
science you did, the approaches you take, the decisions you made, and
if that was also part of things that you may have further expanded in
your learnings in Brandeis? -
Horowitz:
First [LAUGHTER]. - While say, speaking
ofSachar, one of the most memorable parts of my entire four years at
Brandeis was that first week in school in orientation, when he came
and gave his lecture, it connected me to what you said earlier to
1948, and to the history of the school world. His explaining how
important the Jewish heritage was to this university, practicing Jew
so I was connected to the university in that way and to that belief
system, but didn't really appreciate it and frankly wasn't sure I
appreciated in my very first week in school here, what it truly meant
to the university and to the culture of the institution. Having been a
lawyer all these years, having worked for and private practice clients
who were in the science area, if you go into any area with a narrow
mind, you can't be a scientist and invent by going in with your narrow
views on. You have to have that ability and that's the same in what I
do, you have to have that willingness to have openness, to have
dialogue, and that's really what I took away from hearing his speech.
It's really that discussion. It's, these people can't be hired even
though they're the best thinkers in the country, we'll hire them and
we don't care about the controversy that may arise [OVERLAPPING] and
it will arise, and that's so important in what I do. It's sitting with
my team of lawyers, non-lawyers, accountants, auditors, agents, all
the different kinds of professions I have and having those kinds of
discussions, there is not agreement on what evidence necessarily
means, and you get to the truth by having that discussion. That's what
I took away from university.
Horwitz:
Well, I think being open-minded and asking questions, re-reading the same thing every week and then interpreting it. I think that scientists have to have an open mind.
You can't decide what the experimental results are going to be before
you do the experiment. That's why you do the experiment and sometimes
you're amazed with the results because it's not what you had expected.
I think the whole idea of questioning, always questioning what is the
truth, what is important is really very meaningful in being a good
scientist.
Horowitz:
- We just say we did the Pfizer review a couple of years
ago, for the folks who remember that and found all sorts of problems
with the FBI and how they handled that Pfizer. We started that review,
and this is true for Pfizer warrants that they're applied for, they're
like 20 people at the Justice Department in the FBI who signed them,
all the way up to the FBI director and the Deputy Attorney General,
and we were told, you're not going to find any problems with that.
Look at how many eyes were on that, look at how many people handled
it, and yet there we were at the end of it. It's the same thing. If
you're told at the start you're going to know the outcome, you're
never going to figure it actually out.
Liebowitz:
- I think it's appropriate for
the President to answer that question too because being at this
institution with the history and with the culture that it has, it has
imbued in, as I said, the culture of the faculty starting from the
the beginning was not only critical thinking and criticism, but something
that I think is very important to the Jewish tradition, which is the
ability to self-criticize, and to look inward and boy, you feel it as
a president or provost or a dean, you get that criticism all the time.
I talked to my colleagues, other presidents, and they complain about
this or that going on in their campus and I just say to myself, you
have no idea. [LAUGHTER] The idea of use tend to be self-critical.
It's all the time. You could be hitting grand slam home runs every
inning and yet, somehow you only hit it 380 feet instead of 400 feet.
In other words, in a way, it's a double-edged sword. It keeps you on
your toes and make sure that you're doing the right thing, it makes
sure that you don't miss what 20 other people missed but I'd say it's
a double-edged sword in that sense. Other questions. One more, we have
time for one more with Patsy. We do. Yeah, one more question, please
don't be shy, in the back. -
Audience member:
I think it's more of a statement than a question. I'm going to give you the perspective from a non-Jew who attended Brandeis Class of '57. I think I experienced what I would
call reverse discrimination because I was a non-Jew. If I, a non-Jewish candidate, were applying to Brandeis with the same qualifications, I got in and he didn't. We had a majority of females
in the class. I was a male, that was a non-Jew. Two strikes for me,
not against me. The Jewish traditions I was familiar with. I grew up
in Suffolk Square in Malden, Massachusetts in the Jewish neighborhood
and I knew Jews from the time I was in elementary school and before. I
found that the acceptance that I received at Brandeis, academically, I
had difficulty the first couple of semesters. I got through high
school very easy. I didn't have to do a lot of work and I breezed
through the classes. I expected to breathe through Brandeis. I get hit
by a hurricane [LAUGHTER] my first semester. It was only because of
Brandeis that I remained in a university. I had been accepted at BU
and had it been at BU, they would have thrown me out the first
semester. But Brandeis, being small, took care of its own. I did learn
from Brandeis that whatever I did in life, I had to give back. It's
difficult to explain but excuse me, I get emotional but I was taught
that you don't just take, you have to give back and that started at
Brandeis and I have tried to do that my entire life. I want to thank
Brandeis for doing that for me. Thank you. [APPLAUSE]
Liebowitz:
- Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Thank you very much. I have to say that, when I speak to
before the pandemic and speaking in cities in large audiences in large
groups, people come up and give similar stories to what you just said,
just in terms of what Brandeis meant for them. Very similar stories
and I can give you a few of those very reminiscent of what you've just
said, so thank you. Well, Susan and Mike, I want to thank you for both
your professional achievements for making Brandeis so proud and most
of all for spending time coming here today and spending time with us,
really appreciate it. You've done wonderful things in your career with
more to come. Even as a marathon, I know it will be more things to
come with your wisdom, the wisdom that you showed us today, I'm sure
will be of great value to futures. If I would have had more time, I
would ask you what advice you both would give to our students of
today, but we can talk about that later and I can convey it for you.
But in any case, thank you very much for being here. - Thank you.
[APPLAUSE] - I want to thank you also for coming back for alumni
weekend and for coming and spending time with us here today. As I said
before, Patsy and her crew and all people and advancement are doing
our best to think about getting alumni involved. The future of
Brandeis really does depend on support from alumni. Again, not just
financial support, but emotional support and giving back in ways that
go beyond finances. Thank you all for coming back. Thank you all for
being connected and we'll see you hopefully later this evening. Thank
you. [APPLAUSE] Thank you, guys.