Adams House Master To Carry Olympic Torch in Calgary

Adams House Master and Harvard Medical School professor Judith S. Palfrey '67 will leave her historic Cambridge abode to carry the 2010 Olympic Flame Tuesday, Jan. 19 across a 300-yard stretch in Calgary, Canada.

Palfrey will join a group of 20 torchbearers selected by the Coca-Cola Company—including Olympic gold medallists Shawn Johnson and Steven Lopez—to run a two-day leg of the Olympic Torch Relay. The relay will last for 106 days as the Olympic Flame makes its way across Canada to Vancouver for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in February.

Palfrey, who is president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, was notified before Christmas of her selection in recognition of her efforts to improve the quality of healthcare for children.

"It's exciting to be a part of the history of the Olympics and to be tied into all the people that have been involved," Palfrey said Monday in a phone interview. "It's one of those things that you never think you're going to do."

According to Coca-Cola spokesperson Helen E. Tarleton, the selection committee was also impressed with Palfrey's commitment to promoting the health and wellness of children as AAP president.

Palfrey is also the principal investigator of Opening Doors, a project directed at improving access to services for children with special health care needs in under-served and low-income communities.

The project, funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, focuses on delivering routine care to children from traditionally under-served communities by using improved developmental screening tools and helps disabled youth participate in sports programs at local YMCAs and high schools.

"We all joked that not many research projects will ever be able to report that one of their principal investigators is representing their cause as an Olympic Torchbearer," said Noelle L. Huntington, who is the research director of Opening Doors as well as a pediatrics instructor at the Medical School. "She is running for children's health and particularly for the health of children who must overcome so many other barriers."

Palfrey's colleagues praised her longstanding passion for helping children with disabilities, and Susan M. Foley, co-principal investigator of Opening Doors affiliated with UMass-Boston, commented that the "symbolism of her carrying the torch is potent."

According to Adams House residents, Palfrey's enthusiasm does not stop at her research, as she and her husband, John G. “Sean” Palfrey '67, are often seen participating in House activities, such as the annual Drag Night.

"Adams House has a very lively and creative spirit that doesn't come from the past, but from the attitude that Sean and Judy Palfrey instill today," said Matthew J. Corriel '05, an Adams House resident tutor.

"It's remarkable how she seems to live three lives and always has the time to be genuinely committed to all of the House members," Corriel said.

CEO of Thailand's Kasikornbank Banthoon Lamsam, who graduated from Harvard Business School in 1977, ran the eighth section of the 2008 Olympic Summer Games torch relay in Bangkok.

—Staff writer Barbara B. Depena can be reached at barbara.b.depena@college.harvard.edu.