Molecular Genetics Expert Bernard N. Fields Dead at 56

Adele Lehman Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Bernard N. Fields, a leading virologist who helped direct the nation's AIDS research program, died of pancreatic cancer at his home in West Newton on Tuesday. He was 56.

Fields, chair of the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the Medical School since 1982, was highly regarded by colleagues.

"Bernie Fields was among the foremost virologists of the century," said Harold Varmus, Nobel laureate and director of the National Institute of Health.

"Like many others, he understood the power of new molecular and cellular methods for dissecting viral functions," Varmus told the Harvard Gazette. "But unlike most others, he retained a deep appreciation for the fact that viruses infect whole organisms, not just cells in petri dishes, and that these infection cause human suffering and death."

Born in Brooklyn on March 24, 1938, Fields received his bachelor's degree from Brandeis University in 1958 and his medical degree from the New York University School of Medicine in 1962.

Following a clinical research fellowship at Harvard Medical School, Fields worked in Atlanta for the National Communicable Disease Center, now the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

In 1975, Fields came to Harvard Medical School as a professor of microbiology and molecular genetics and chief of infectious diseases at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He was appointed professor of medicine in 1981. HONORS

CBS Anchor Wallace Honored

Veteran CBS reporter and "60 Minutes" co-anchor Mike Wallace will receive the Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism next month at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

"The first thing that came to my mind was that this is a good opportunity for a free meal," said Wallace's grandson Peter F. Wallace '97, a Crimson editor.

The award, given annually by the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, will be presented at a dinner on Thursday, March 9.

At the ceremony, officials from Harvard's Shorenstein Center will also present the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting as well as several fellowships and research awards.

The six finalists for this year's investigative reporting prize include television and print reporters from across the country. The winner will be chosen by a committee of media experts from both Harvard and outside of the University.