| CUMC Celebrates - February 15, 2008 |
From expanding successful programs to developing new collaborations, our faculty continue to make us proud of our many initiatives locally and globally. Please join me in congratulating everyone involved in these new initiatives as well as faculty and students who have received honors from organizations as diverse as international institutes, alma maters, and newsstand magazines. Of note this month, we welcome Larry Stanberry as chair of pediatrics and we prepare for the arrival this spring of Linda Fried as dean of the Mailman School of Public Health. We have much to celebrate as we share news that provides further evidence of our growing strength.
Lee Goldman, M.D.
Executive Vice President, Health and Biomedical Sciences
The International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs (ICAP) at Mailman, led by Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, MPH, professor of clinical epidemiology and clinical medicine (P&S), has formally expanded into Kenya’s Eastern Province. With funding assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ICAP will focus on extending capacity-building support to 11 healthcare facilities in its first year of regional operations, with the ultimate goal of making comprehensive HIV services available to an estimated 58,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in this impoverished rural area.
COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS
The Medical House Staff Training Program has been designated by the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a regional medicine and public health education center in graduate medical education. Led by program director Nicholas Fiebach, MD, professor of clinical medicine-general medicine, chief resident Caron Jacobson, MD, instructor in clinical medicine-general medicine, and Sherry Glied, PhD, chair and professor of health policy & management at Mailman — and involving the participation of staff physicians from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene — the center will offer an expanded curriculum in health systems and public health for senior residents in internal medicine. A one-day conference on these same topics is also planned for all CUMC house staff in the fall.
Inconjunction with Columbia University Science and Technology Ventures, Gerard Karsenty, MD, PhD, the Paul A. Marks Professor of Genetics & Development, professor of medicine-endocrinology, and chair of genetics & development, has formed a partnership with the Massachusetts-based biotech company Biogen Idec to establish a start-up company called Escoublac. Escoublac will be the first occupant in bi3, Biogen’s Idec Innovation Incubator, and will explore whether Dr. Karsenty’s recent discovery of a new link between bone biology and metabolism can be translated into novel treatments for a number of metabolic diseases and conditions, such as type 2 diabetes and obesity.
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Aging and public health expert Linda Fried, MD, MPH, has been named the next dean of the Mailman School of Public Health, effective this May. She succeeds Allan Rosenfield, MD, who has led the Mailman School so successfully for the past 22 years. Dr. Fried comes to Columbia from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where she has spent the past 25 years of her professional career. She serves as professor of medicine, epidemiology, health policy, and nursing at Johns Hopkins and directs the Center on Aging and Health, the Epidemiology and Biostatistics of Aging program at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology. Dr. Fried is also the co-founder of Experience Corps, an intergenerational service project that pairs elderly volunteers with public school children, serving the health and well-being of both through the process of intensive civic engagement and interaction. She is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including a National Institute on Aging MERIT award, a Kaiser Family Scholarship in General Internal Medicine, the Archstone Award for Excellence in Program Innovation from the American Public Health Association, and membership in the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Fried received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, her medical degree from Rush Medical College, and her master’s in public health from Johns Hopkins.
COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS
Rajeev Dayal, MD, has been appointed assistant professor of clinical surgery. Dr. Dayal received his medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and completed his internship, residency, and a vascular surgery fellowship at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical College. Before joining the Columbia faculty, he was assistant professor of surgery at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Dayal’s clinical and research interests include minimally invasive treatment of peripheral arterial disease, endovenous laser therapy, clinical outcomes of carotid endarterectomy versus stenting, and computer-aided simulation for endovascular training. He will serve as assistant attending surgeon and director of carotid stenting and vascular surgery at NYP.
Michael Goldstein, MD, has joined the Department of Surgery as assistant professor of clinical surgery. Dr. Goldstein received his medical degree from Philadelphia’s Temple University and completed a general surgery residency and two fellowships at CUMC. Before joining Columbia, Dr. Goldstein was assistant professor of surgery and surgical director of the incompatible transplant program in the Division of Transplantation at Weill Cornell. In his new role at CUMC, he will serve as assistant attending surgeon, surgical director for pediatric abdominal transplantation, and associate program director for the medical center’s general surgery residency program. Dr. Goldstein’s clinical and research interests include ischemia/reperfusion injury and regeneration, abdominal organ transplantation, hepatobiliary and dialysis access surgery, and organ preservation.
Jason Moy, MD, MPH, has been appointed instructor in clinical surgery. Dr. Moy received his medical degree from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and an MPH (in molecular epidemiology) from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He completed a surgical research fellowship and his internship and residency training at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich., and a minimal access surgery fellowship at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Moy’s research and clinical specialties include minimally invasive and bariatric surgery.
Felix Raymond Ortega, MD, has joined the wound healing section of the Department of Surgery’s Division of Plastic Surgery as assistant professor of clinical surgery. Dr. Ortega, who will be an assistant attending surgeon at the Allen Pavilion, received his medical degree from Weill Cornell Medical College in 1987 and completed general and plastic surgery residencies at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, respectively. Before joining the faculty at Columbia, Dr. Ortega served as director of advanced wound healing and hyperbaric medicine at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn. He has clinical expertise in reconstructive surgery, aesthetic surgery, and wound healing; his research interests include bioengineered alternative tissues.
Lawrence R. Stanberry, MD, PhD, who joined us this month as chair of the Department of Pediatrics, became the Reuben S. Carpentier Professor of Pediatrics on Feb. 1.
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Mary Gamble, PhD, assistant professor of environmental health sciences, is the first recipient of the Mary Swartz Rose Young Investigator Award, given by the American Society of Nutrition and the Council for Responsible Nutrition. This honor is earmarked for a scientist within the first 10 years of completing postgraduate training and rewards outstanding research on the safety and efficacy of bioactive compounds for human health. The award will be presented to Dr. Gamble in April.
Marian M. Jones, graduate student in sociomedical sciences, received the New York Academy of Medicine’s 2007 Student Essay Prize in the History of Medicine and Public Health. Ms. Jones received her award at a lecture on the history of medicine at the Academy in December. Her winning composition, titled "The Contentious History of Homelessness and Mental Illness in New York City: An Analysis of Interviews," will be submitted to the Journal of Urban Health for review and possible publication.
Marianthi Markatou, PhD, professor of clinical biostatistics, has been elected to the International Statistical Institute, the world’s premier professional association for career statisticians and one of the oldest international scientific societies. Established in 1885, the Institute seeks to develop and improve statistical methods and their application through the promotion of cross-cultural activity and cooperation. It has more than 2,000 elected members who are internationally recognized as leaders in the field of statistics.
Allan Rosenfield, MD, Mailman School dean, DeLamar Professor of Public Health Practice, and professor of obstetrics & gynecology (P&S), received an award of special recognition from the Physicians Forum, a consortium of medical and public health advocacy organizations, at its annual meeting in Washington, D.C. last fall. Dr. Rosenfield was selected for his extraordinary contributions to peace, justice, and public health.
SCHOOL OF NURSING
Suzanne Bakken, DNSc, Alumni Professor of Nursing and professor of biomedical informatics (P&S), will receive the 2008 Helen Nahm Research Lecture Award from the University of California at San Francisco, where she received her master’s and doctoral degrees. The Nahm Research Lecture Award recognizes a UCSF School of Nursing faculty member or graduate who has made an outstanding contribution to nursing science and research. Dr. Bakken also will receive an award for her contributions to nursing research from Arizona State University, her undergraduate alma mater, on the occasion of the ASU School of Nursing’s 50th anniversary.
COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS
One of the finalists in this year’s Intel Science Talent Search, considered by many to be the nation’s most prestigious high school science competition, was mentored at CUMC. Finalist Benjamin Mueller of Great Neck High School, Long Island,worked with scientists at the Functional MRI Research Center to carry out his winning research project. Benjamin’s Intel submission used fMRI to examine the neurological foundations of parental decision-making in rewarding or punishing offspring. Benjamin will compete for a $100,000 Intel scholarship this spring at a symposium in Washington, D.C. Each year, under the leadership of Joy Hirsch, PhD, professor of functional neuroradiology, neuroscience, and psychology, the fMRI center mentors New York-area Intel talent search hopefuls, with staff volunteering their time and expertise. The center also mentored three of this year’s semi-finalists.
David Kimhy, PhD, assistant professor of clinical psychology (in psychiatry), has been named by the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research, an international cognitive therapy and cognitive-behavior therapy research, training, and clinical center, to the institute’s scholars program for 2007-2008. The year-long program offers state-of-the-art training to leaders and especially promising professionals in the field of cognitive therapy. Dr. Kimhy’s work focuses on use of cognitive-behavior therapy with individuals with schizophrenia and psychosis-spectrum disorders.
Adam Margolin, doctoral candidate in biomedical informatics (laboratory of Andrea Califano, PhD, professor of biomedical informatics), was one of only six especially promising young investigators worldwide selected by Genome Technology magazine as a "Next-Generation PI" for its January 2008 issue. Mr. Margolin’s research interests include designing molecular nanocomputers for cancer diagnosis and therapy and developing computational methods for the inference of genetic regulatory networks in cancer cells.
Robert B. Mellins, MD, professor of pediatrics, was chosen as the keynote speaker for the 10th annual LeNoir-NMA Pediatric Allergy Lecture at the University of California-San Diego. Dr. Mellins gave his address, "Personalized Medicine in an Era of Evidence-Based Medicine," in late January.
COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE
Marvin Baptiste, CDM ’08, is profiled in the February 2008 issue of Ebony magazine as one of 30 young African-American leaders on the rise. Mr. Baptiste was selected for his combination of youth, vision, and experience, which includes serving as president of the Student National Dental Association, student representative for the American Dental Association’s committee on career guidance and diversity, student event coordinator for the National Oral Cancer Walk, and co-founder of AccuOptics LLC.
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Sherry Glied, PhD, chair and professor of health policy & management, received a $189,000 grant from the Commonwealth Fund to address the debate over strategies to expand and improve healthcare coverage and control cost growth in the United States. Dr. Glied will review the experiences of industrialized countries that have universal coverage with both public and private forms of insurance.
Frederica Perera, DrPH, professor of environmental health sciences and director of the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health, received $1.9 million over five years from the National Cancer Institute for a nested case-control study of the molecular epidemiology of lung cancer.
SCHOOL OF NURSING
Leanne M. Currie, RN, DNSc, assistant professor, has been awarded a two-year, $161,000 grant by the National Institute of Mental Health to complete an automated fall and injury risk assessment for inpatient behavioral health units, the first evaluation model developed for use with behavioral health patients. She will develop a list of evidence-based safety measures that can be targeted to specific risk factors and a computer-based prototype to assess risk and document safety. The rate of falls reported in inpatient behavioral health care settings is almost twice that of general hospital units.
The School of Nursing received $85,000 from various sources, including the Dr. Scholl Foundation and the Helena Rubinstein Foundation, for nursing student financial aid. In addition, the school received $15,000 from New Jersey-based Hyde and Watson Foundation for hardware upgrades to SimMan, its patient-simulation computer program for students.
COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS
Carlos Blanco, MD, PhD, associate professor of clinical psychiatry, received a five-year, $618,000 award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to translate randomized controlled trials of specific drug abuse treatments to implementation efforts in wider populations.
Alain Borczuk, MD, associate professor of clinical pathology, has received a one-year, $100,000 grant from the Mesothelioma Applied Research (Meso) Foundation to examine molecular pathways in an aggressive subtype of abdominal malignant mesothelioma (AMM). Dr. Borczuk will attempt to further validate previous research, performed in collaboration with Charles Powell, MD, assistant professor of clinical medicine, and Robert Taub, MD, PhD, Vivian and Seymour Milstein Family Professor of Clinical Medicine, linking prognosis and treatment outcomes in AMM to a particular 31-gene signature. Dr. Borczuk will test one of the genes in this signature as a potential therapeutic and interventional target in aggressive AMM. He is one of only 10 scientists chosen to receive funds from the Meso Foundation this academic year.
Henry M. Colecraft, PhD, associate professor of physiology & cellular biophysics, is recipient of two multiyear, multi-million-dollar grants from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The first, a five-year, $2 million award, will be used to examine the molecular determinants of L-type calcium channel gating, a phenomenon implicated in the regulation of many essential biological functions (including muscle contraction, hormone release, and gene expression). The second, a four-year, $1.5 million grant, will further enable Dr. Colecraft to study the impact of newly discovered crosstalk between high-voltage-activated calcium channels and a key group of proteins (the RGK family of GTPases) on heart functioning.
Katherine Crew, MD, assistant professor of medicine and epidemiology (Mailman), is recipient of a two-year, $80,000grant from the Prevent Cancer Foundation, formerly the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation. Dr. Crew is using her grant money to monitor the progress and biomarkers of 20 women at high risk for breast cancer as they take vitamin D supplements. It is hoped that study results will lead to larger-scale trials for the evaluation of high doses of vitamin D as a preventative agent in breast cancer. Founded in 1985, PCF focuses its philanthropic energies and resources on cancers — including lung, breast, prostate, colorectal, cervical, skin, oral and testicular — that can be prevented through lifestyle changes or detection and treatment in early stages.
Andrew Einstein, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine-cardiology, has received a one-year, $25,000 research grant from the Bethesda, Md.-based Nuclear Cardiology Foundation to study the effects of patient habitus (general physical state, appearance, and characteristics) and breast shielding on radiation dose in coronary CTA, a new, noninvasive imaging technique used to assess levels of calcium and fatty deposits in the coronary arteries. Dr. Einstein will present findings at the American Society for Nuclear Cardiology’s annual meeting in Boston in September.
Abby J. Fyer, MD, professor of clinical psychiatry, has received a four-year, $906,000 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health for a genome-wide association study of early-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder. Results are expected to guide future molecular strategies to identify genes involved in the development of OCD.
Michio Hirano, MD, associate professor of neurology, has been awarded $1 million over five years by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to undertake study of how coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) deficiency develops and causes diseases at the molecular level. Low levels of CoQ10, which is essential for cellular metabolism, have been noted and implicated in a variety of conditions (including inherited neurological disorders, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes).
Guohua Li, MD, DrPH, M. Finster Professor of Anesthesiology and Epidemiology (Mailman), has received $1.1 million over four years from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to complete a long-term assessment of the safety benefits of mandatory alcohol testing programs in aviation and the commercial trucking industry.
Carlos Jose Rodriguez, MD, MPH, assistant professor of clinical medicine-cardiology and epidemiology (Mailman), has been named a fellow of the Columbia University Diversity Faculty Award Program. He will use the funds to study ambulatory blood pressure, psychosocial stress, and left ventricular mass in Hispanics.
James E. Rothman, PhD, Clyde’56 and Helen Wu Professor of Physiology (Chemical Biology), and director of the Judith P. Sulzberger MD Columbia Genome Center, has been awarded $500,000 by the National Center for Research Resources for the purchase of a massively parallel DNA sequencer for the Columbia University community. A single sequencing run on this instrument can achieve the equivalent of more than 100 runs on each of Columbia’s currently available sequencers, dramatically expanding the scope of scientific research programs. The new sequencer will be housed at the Genome Center.
Janet Sparrow, PhD,Anthony Donn Professor of Ophthalmic Science (in Ophthalmology and Pathology) and professor of pathology, has received a $75,000 senior scientific investigator award by the Research to Prevent Blindness Foundation, the world’s leading voluntary health organization supporting eye research, to probe the environmental causes of age-related macular degeneration. Dr. Sparrow is one of 155 investigators given this honor since the award’s establishment in 1987.
Debra J. Wolgemuth, PhD, professor of genetics & development, has received an $86,000 supplement to an existing grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development through the INDO-US collaborative studies program. Funds will support further investigation into the function of the A-type cyclin class of cell cycle regulators in the development of the male germ line in mammals.
CUMC
New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Lt. Gov. David A. Paterson announced last month that the Empire State Stem Cell Board will grant CUMC $2.5 million to support stem cell research initiatives across the medical center. This award will support close to 70 Columbia stem-cell biologists and several core facilities involved in work with adult, embryonic, and other forms of stem cells. The Empire State Stem Cell Board was created by Gov. Spitzer and the New York legislature to oversee and allocate the $600 million in funds designated for stem cell research statewide this year.
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The School of Nursing received a gift of $100,000 from Mary Dickey Lindsay ’45, part of her generous ongoing support of the school’s Campaign Building Fund.
COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS
The Goldthwaite Foundation has pledged $1 million to support research in colorectal cancer through the Laparoscopic Oncology and Physiology Laboratory in the Department of Surgery.
Thomas L. Kempner Jr. has made an additional gift of $150,000 to the Thomas Kempner and Katheryn Patterson Fund for Osteoporosis and Metabolic Bone Disease, which will support research, personnel and equipment. The Kempners’ prior gifts made possible the purchase of a state-of-the-art Scanco bone scanner and the establishment of a bone biomarker laboratory.
Columbia benefactors and long-time CUMC supporters Donna and Harvey Sorkin contributed $200,000 to further research in the Pediatric Tumor Biology Laboratory.
The St. Giles Foundation has pledged a $1 million gift to found the St. Giles Comprehensive Sickle Cell-Thalassemia Program at Columbia University, with the goal of establishing a national model for the care of patients with sickle-cell disease, thalassemia, and other hemoglobinopathies. The St. Giles Program will be directed by Gary Brittenham, MD, James A. Wolff Professor of Pediatrics and director of pediatric hematology, and Robert DeBellis, MD, associate clinical professor of medicine-hematology/oncology.
COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE
Henry Nahoum, DDS, has made a gift of $100,000 to establish a fund to support a fellowship in orthodontics for training in the area of craniofacial anomalies.
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Masthead photos: (from L.: Carlos Rodriguez, Leanne Currie, Lawrence Stanberry, Marvin Baptiste)
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