HST, he said, presents information in lecture format as opposed to small discussion groups.

According to Dr. Roger G. Mark, assistant professor of medicine and co-director of HST, the Division resembles a graduate program and offers students three distinct benefits: the presence of mentors in research, flexible programming, and some financing for research conducted during the graduate years.

Kerrihard's project emphasizes social and behavioral issues, as opposed to technical or clinical issues, involved in the wish to die in terminally ill patients.

"We wonder if suicide cannot also be a rational response to a difficult situation," Kerrihard said.

The team has recently completed a pilot study and will start collecting additional data from patients at Beth Israel. Studies employ an hour-long interview in which the patient discusses his or her thoughts on death in addition to questionnaires and psychiatric assessments.

Kerrihard has found that most terminally ill patients, specifically those with AIDS and advanced cancers, consider suicide at some point during their illness and that those who do are often characterized as having high levels of depression, hopelessness, suicidal tendencies and social isolation.

By determining the origin of suicidal tendencies, Kerrihard says researchers can begin to design treatment.

Heidi L. Wald is taking a biochemically oriented tack in studying retinal blood flow in diabetic patients.

Diabetes mellitus, a disease characterized by the body's inability to make an essential blood sugar, insulin, is complicated by cell dysfunction, particularly in the retina. Wald's research examines the blood flow in the retina in the early stages of diabetes, before any retinal disease has developed.

Although experiments are still ongoing, there is some evidence of decreased blood flow in the retinas of diabetic