| CUMC Celebrates - March 18, 2008 |
Russ Berrie transformed lives during his own lifetime. His company's toys gave children joy, and his generosity as a philanthropist changed the world. Columbia University has been fortunate to be a benefactor of the visionary generosity of Russ Berrie and his wife, Angelica. This year, on what would have been Russ Berrie's 75th birthday, we are pleased to announce another major gift from The Russell Berrie Foundation to the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center. Mr. Berrie, who died in late 2002, made the founding gift to establish Columbia's Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center in 1998. The center's co-directors, Drs. Robin Goland and Rudy Leibel, have built a remarkable legacy to Mr. Berrie. His generosity also is reflected in the Russ Berrie Medical Science Pavilion that houses the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center. Both Mr. Berrie and his mother, for whom the Diabetes Center is named, had diabetes, and his own experiences as a patient motivated him to help create a place where the multiple disciplines involved in research and treatment for diabetes could work together in a commitment that embodies the center's mission: "The Care Until the Cure." We are enormously thankful that Mr. Berrie's family, including his wife, Angelica, and The Russell Berrie Foundation, continue to support our world-class programs in diabetes care and research.
Lee Goldman, M.D.
Executive Vice President, Health and Biomedical Sciences
Advancing its long-standing mission to find a cure for diabetes, the Russell Berrie Foundation and its leader, Angelica Berrie, have made an extraordinary commitment of $21 million to Columbia for the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center. The gift will provide funding for non-reimbursed clinical care, a new professorship, new pilot research, a continuation of the Berrie Program in Cellular Therapies (research efforts aimed at preventing the devastating complications of diabetes), and an endowment. This gift is part of a larger $28 million gift shared by Columbia and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital for patient-centered diabetes-related efforts. The Berrie Foundation's contributions to diabetes research and treatment at CUMC now total nearly $57 million.
The Feldstein Family Foundation has made an additional pledge to support clinical care at the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, bringing its total commitment to $500,000.
Loren Eng and Dinakar Singh have made a gift of $500,000 to the Darryl C. De Vivo Research Fund in Pediatric Neurology. Ms. Eng and Mr. Singh serve on the CUMC Board of Visitors and are co-founders of the Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Foundation.
Henry Lodge, M.D., assistant clinical professor of medicine and a P&S graduate, is working with a number of his grateful patients to fund an endowed MD scholarship in P&S. To date, more than $500,000 has been raised for the Henry S. Lodge, MD Scholarship Fund.
The Paul Marks Scholars Fund at CUMC provides matching funds for academic departments to recruit outstanding young scientists and to retain those who have distinguished themselves as top physician-scientists. Recent commitments to the Paul Marks Scholars Fund include a $1 million commitment from Jack and Susan Rudin and a $100,000 commitment from the Felix & Elizabeth Rohatyn Foundation.
Family and friends of the late Muzzi Mirza have made gifts and pledges totaling more than $2 million in support of the Muzzi Mirza Pancreatic Cancer Prevention Program in the Pancreas Center. The campaign that established the program was led by Mr. Mirza's wife, Susan, and his former business associates, Stephen Berger, Paul Barnett, Douglas Hitchner, William Hopkins, Brian Kwait, and Douglas Rotatori.
P&S Alumni Campaign Honorary Chair Judith Sulzberger'49 has made a gift of $200,000 to the Alumni Campaign through the Sulzberger Foundation. The campaign is vital to upholding the high standards of medical education at Columbia, and will help secure our legacy for future generations of P&S students.
A number of individuals have made commitments to the Michael Cohen, M.D. Clinical Education Fund, which will become the John J. Mack Professorship of Clinical Education as a tribute to both Dr. Cohen and Mr. Mack. The fund has surpassed $1.5 million in gifts and pledges.
SCHOOL OF NURSING
The School of Nursing received the final payment of a gift from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation of $500,000 over two years to support a national certification process for the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree. This gift will provide a critically necessary component to the expansion of the new clinical doctorate by helping to develop a strong and clear certification program that will advance patient care in the United States and abroad, where this degree is being developed.
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Cory Abate-Shen, PhD, has joined P&S as professor and director of research, Department of Urology, and a member in the prostate program of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center. A graduate of Cornell with a doctoral degree in neurobiology, Dr. Abate-Shen was recruited from UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, where she spent the past 15 years of her career, becoming a full professor of neuroscience and cell biology and a division chief in UMDNJ's department of medicine. While at UMDNJ, she founded the prostate program at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey and was its co-director until her appointment at CUMC. Dr. Abate-Shen's research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of homeobox genes in development and cancer. Her work in this area has led to the development of mouse models of prostate cancer that are now widely used to investigate the molecular basis of prostate tumor growth and as pre-clinical models for intervention and therapy. Dr. Abate-Shen is a member of the National Cancer Institute's Board of Scientific Counselors, sits on the editorial board of Molecular and Cellular Biology, serves as associate editor of the journal Cancer Research, and was recently appointed deputy editor of Cancer Prevention Research, a new peer-reviewed scientific publication from the American Association for Cancer Research.
Michael Bowdish, MD, was appointed to the faculty as instructor in clinical surgery. Dr. Bowdish is a graduate of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and completed a medical internship, residency, and cardiothoracic surgery research fellowship at the University of Southern California Medical Center/Keck School of Medicine and a cardiothoracic surgery residency at CUMC. He is completing an advanced fellowship in adult cardiac surgery at Columbia, focusing on mechanical circulatory assist devices and aortic surgery. Dr. Bowdish's clinical specialties and research interests include heart transplantation, heart failure and the use of ventricular-assist devices, and acute and chronic rejection in cardiac and lung transplantation.
E. Sander Connolly Jr., MD, has been named the Bennett M. Stein Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery (with tenure), effective March 1. Dr. Connolly, the surgical director of the Neuro-Intensive Care Unit, is a noted authority on the treatment and surgical management of acute cerebrovascular emergencies.
Arthur G. Palmer III, PhD, acting chairman of the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, has been appointed the Robert Wood Johnson, Jr. Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, with tenure and as long as he holds his current chairmanship position, effective Feb. 1. Dr. Palmer's areas of research interest include the use of computational methods and nuclear magnetic resonance and optical spectroscopy to probe enzyme dynamics, protein-DNA interactions, and protein-RNA interactions.
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Elaine Larson, PhD, professor of pharmaceutical and therapeutic research (Nursing) and epidemiology (Mailman), has been chosen to receive a 2008 GE Healthcare-AACN Pioneering Spirit Award by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses. The award recognizes groundbreaking contributions that significantly influence the practice of acute and critical care nursing. The award will be presented in Chicago during the May 5 opening session of the association's annual teaching institute and critical care exposition.
COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS
The first grant recipients for the new Louis V. Gerstner Jr. Scholars Program have been announced. Howard Fine, MD, Helen & Martin Kimmel Assistant Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology; Kara Gross, MD, postdoctoral fellow in pediatrics; Igor Matushansky, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine-oncology; and Adam Ratner, MD, MPH, assistant professor of pediatrics and microbiology, will each receive stipends of $60,000 annually for up to three years to undertake research projects designed specifically to bring new treatments to patients. Dr. Fine will construct and test a high-precision surgical robot for retinal endovascular surgery. Dr. Gross will examine the use of anti-inflammatory neuropeptides for the treatment of intestinal inflammatory disease in adults and children. Dr. Ratner will work to develop novel strategies for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis in pregnant women and prevention of its single most significant potential consequence in pregnancy, preterm birth. Dr. Matushansky will pursue work on solid tumor differentiation therapy, a type of treatment that provides an opportunity for changing the underlying biology of the cancer by modifying it to a tumor with a better prognosis, for sarcomas, cancers that have proven resistant to current medications. The Gerstner Scholars Program was established last year by the New Jersey-based Louis V. Gerstner Jr. Foundation, which is headed by its namesake, a former IBM chairman.
Michael D. Gershon, MD, professor of anatomy & cell biology, has been awarded the 2008 Masters Award for Sustained Achievement in Digestive Science from the American Gastroenterological Association Institute (in conjunction with PriCare, a unit of Ortho-McNeil Inc., and Eisai Pharmaceuticals). This honor recognizes scientists and physicians with a record of academic leadership who have made significant and sustained contributions to gastrointestinal disease research. Dr. Gershon will receive his award this May at a ceremony in San Diego during Digestive Diseases Week. Dr. Gershon also has been inducted as a fellow of the American Gastroenterological Association, recognizing his professional achievement in gastroenterology research and practice.
Antonio Iavarone, MD, associate professor of neurology and pathology (in the Institute for Cancer Genetics), has been appointed by the Department of Health and Human Services to a four-year term on the Center for Scientific Review's Biology and Cellular Signaling and Regulatory Systems Study Section, effective July 1. Dr. Iavarone was selected on the basis of his demonstrated professional competence and achievement, as evidenced by the quality of his research accomplishments, significant citations in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and related honors and activities.
This week, the CUMC community – along with honored guests and luminaries from the worlds of academia, health care, and health care philanthropy – will salute the career of Michael Katz, MD, the Reuben S. Carpentier Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics, professor emeritus of public health (Mailman), former chairman of pediatrics, and senior vice president for research and global programs at the March of Dimes. Dr. Katz will be honored Friday in a day-long symposium, held in conjunction with his 80th birthday, focusing on issues and advances in the prevention of birth defects and infant infectious disease.
Marianne Legato, MD, professor emeritus of clinical medicine, has been chosen as honorary chairwoman and a keynote speaker for the 3rd International Conference in Gender-Specific Medicine, sponsored by the Karolinska Institute and scheduled for this fall in Sweden. She also delivered a keynote address at the 1st International Conference on Gender-Specific Medicine, held last month in Japan.
Godwin D. Ogedegbe, MD, assistant professor of medicine-general medicine, was honored March 7 with the Clinician-Investigator of the Year Award from the Society of General Internal Medicine's Mid-Atlantic Chapter.
Timothy A. Pedley, MD, Henry and Lucy Moses Professor of Neurology and chairman of neurology, has been appointed to a four-year term on the national advisory council of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Members of NIH national advisory councils advise the NINDS on policy and procedures affecting extramural research programs and assist in the review of grant applications.
COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE
Nhuuyen Chuc Cung '10, has been named a 2007-2008 dental student scholar by the American Dental Association Foundation. Winners are selected on the basis of demonstrated academic achievement and financial need and receive a one-year $2,500 scholarship award.
MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Nigeria's Kaduna State Government and the Kaduna Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS honored ICAP-Nigeria, the Nigeria country program of the International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs at Mailman, with its "Heroes Award." ICAP-Nigeria was cited for its many nationwide activities that support antiretroviral treatment programs for Nigeria's substantial HIV-positive population, including infrastructure and human resource development, capacity building, and technical assistance for 12 HIV/AIDS health care sites. These ICAP-supported facilities have provided HIV services to more than 13,000 people and HIV testing services to more than 14,000 pregnant women. The ICAP-Nigeria program is led by Bolanle Oyeledun, MD, MPH, MSc, associate research scientist.
CUMC
Ross A. Frommer, deputy vice president of government & community affairs, has completed two years of service as chair of the Association of American Medical Colleges Government Relations Representatives Group.
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Cory Abate-Shen, PhD, professor of urology, has received a four-year, $4.8 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to model androgen-independent prostate cancer in mutant mice. Androgen-independent disease is an aggressive and metastatic form of prostate cancer, often seen in end-stage patients, and highly resistant to traditional treatments. The goals of the research are to delineate the underlying molecular pathways of androgen-independent disease and open up avenues for new and more effective therapeutic options for patients with advanced prostate cancer.
Julian Abrams, MD, MS, assistant professor of clinical medicine-digestive & liver diseases, has been awarded $300,000 over three years by the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute. Dr. Abrams will study cigarette smoke exposure as a risk factor for lung metastasis in patients with esophageal cancer. The grant is renewable for up to five years and a total of $500,000.
Robert C. Basner, MD, associate professor of clinical medicine-pulmonary, allergy & critical care, is recipient of a two-year, $50,000 clinical management research award from the ALS Association's Will Rogers Respiratory Institute Grant Program. Dr. Basner will prospectively compare the standard prescription and use of nocturnal non-invasive positive pressure ventilation with polysomnography-directed nocturnal non-invasive positive pressure ventilation (P-NIV) for respiratory insufficiency in ALS patients. He will test the hypothesis that the use of P-NIV at night will improve daytime respiratory function, enhance quality of life, and extend survival.
Olveen Carrasquillo, MD, associate professor of clinical medicine-general medicine (P&S) and health policy & management (Mailman), has received a five-year, $8 million extension of funding from the NIH's National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities for the Columbia Center for Health of Urban Minorities (CHUM), which Dr. Carrasquillo directs. Since its inception five years ago, CHUM has conducted and supported research, training, education, and community partnerships aimed at improving the health of Latinos and African-Americans in northern Manhattan. Building on these successful efforts, Dr. Carrasquillo now plans to develop CHUM into a multidisciplinary center of excellence focused on three research projects in the community priority areas of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Jose A. Luchsinger, MD, Florence Irving Assistant Professor of Medicine (P&S) and Epidemiology (Mailman), and Godwin D. Ogedegbe, MD, assistant professor of medicine-general medicine, will lead two of these initiatives.
Eric A. Fertuck, PhD, assistant professor of clinical psychology, has received a five-year, $887,000 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to study the social neuroscience underlying borderline personality disorder. Using fMRI and other neuroscience tools, Dr. Fertuck will map intense distress reactions associated with perceived threats to interpersonal relationships, a well-documented phenomenon in borderline personality disorder, to their related neural circuits and structures.
Lloyd A. Greene, PhD, professor of pathology, has been awarded a five-year, $2.6 million extension of funding from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to study and further clarify the molecular mechanisms of neuron death. The project, now in its second decade, focuses on the roles of transcription-dependent events in two specific regulatory pathways (the "cell cycle" and "JNK" pathways) and how they relate to the deprivation of neurotrophic factors, proteins that promote neuron survival, in conditions related to normal development, illness, and trauma. End goals are to elucidate how the nervous system forms and identify targets for intervention in stroke, traumatic injury, and neurodegenerative disease.
Dawn Hershman, MD, Florence Irving Assistant Professor of Medicine (P&S) and Epidemiology (Mailman) and co-director of the breast cancer program in the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, has received a three-year, $698,000 grant from the American Cancer Society to study racial, ethnic, and age-related variations in care and survival among patients receiving adjuvant breast cancer therapies.
Daniel Kass, MD, instructor in clinical medicine-pulmonary, allergy, and critical care medicine, has been awarded a one-year, $50,000 research grant by the American Lung Association of the City of New York. Dr. Kass will clarify the role of the gene known as cytokine receptor-like factor I (CRLF1) in the development of pulmonary fibrosis.
Elisa Konofagou, PhD, assistant professor of radiology and biomedical engineering, and Kathie-Ann Joseph, MD, MPH, assistant professor of surgery, have received a two-year, $419,000 exploratory and development grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering to investigate a novel and non-invasive method of detecting and removing breast tumors. The new technique, harmonic motion imaging, provides measurements of locally generated mechanical responses and inherent mechanical properties of tissues and allows for the direct measurement of tissue hardness. The resulting image contains unique localized information on the amount of deformation in and around the tumor and differentiates the tumor according to its distinct mechanical properties. Collaborators on this project include Thomas Ludwig, PhD, assistant professor of clinical pathology; Eliza Pile-Spellman, MD, associate clinical professor of radiology; and Roger Vaughan, DrPH, associate clinical professor of biostatistics (Mailman).
Nina Patel, MD, assistant professor of clinical medicine-pulmonary, allergy, and critical care, has received a one-year, $25,000 research grant from the New York-based Stony Wold-Herbert Fund to examine aggregate gene activity and create a global picture of cellular function in pulmonary hypertension related to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, scarring of the lungs where the cause is not known.
Claudia Schmauss, MD, associate professor of psychiatry, has been awarded a four-year, $1.2 million grant by the National Institute of Mental Health to study the relationship between early life stress and post-transcriptional modification (RNA editing) of a serotonin receptor known as serotonin 2C and to determine if this phenomenon can be reversed with antidepressant treatment and/or environmental enrichment. Previous research demonstrated that RNA editing of this receptor can lead to the biochemical changes and neuronal gene expression that are hallmarks of adult-onset depression. Dr. Schmauss also has received $225,000 over three years from the Palm Beach, Fla.-based Whitehall Foundation, allowing the continuation of her previous work on serotonin 2C RNA editing in suicide victims. Building upon earlier findings suggesting that the serotonin 2C receptor undergoes greater levels of RNA editing in suicide victims than in the general population, she will examine how RNA editing decreases serotonin 2C activity, how levels of RNA editing are regulated, and whether SSRI drugs other than Prozac can prevent modification.
Ira Tabas, MD, PhD, Richard J. Stock Professor of Medicine-Molecular Medicine and vice chairman of research, Department of Medicine, has received a five-year, $403,000 extension of funding from the National Heart, Blood, and Lung Institute to continue his studies of the molecular mechanisms of macrophage programmed cell death, or apoptosis, an important cellular process leading to heart disease. Dr. Tabas will build upon his previous studies linking macrophage death in vulnerable plaques to a signaling pathway called the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR). The UPR, which is activated in advanced atherosclerotic lesions, is triggered by stress in the endoplasmic reticulum, the network of cellular membranes responsible for the production of the protein and lipid components of most of the cell's organelles.
Hana Totary-Jain, PhD, postdoctoral research scientist in physiology & cellular biophysics, has been granted $157,000 over three years by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to examine the use of the drug rapamycin as a "molecular probe" to dissect pathways that govern vascular smooth muscle (VSMC) growth and migration. VSMC proliferation and migration contribute significantly to coronary artery disease and are the major causes of repeat narrowing of the coronary artery after stenting and accelerated disease of the arteries following cardiac transplantation.
Three members of the Department of Medicine have been awarded 2008 seed grants by the American Medical Association Foundation: Hong Van Tieu, MD, postdoctoral clinical fellow in medicine-infectious diseases; Elaine Wan, MD, postdoctoral residency fellow in medicine; and Judy Wang, P&S '09. Drs. Tieu and Wan and Ms. Wang are among only 47 individuals nationwide chosen for AMA Foundation seed grants this year. Dr. Tieu will examine male circumcision as a preventative measure against HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases in Thailand, focusing on both its prevalence and its acceptability among Thai high-risk heterosexual men. Dr. Wan will study the effects of cigarette smoke on the vascular endothelium, the thin layer of cells covering the interior of blood vessels, in both habitual smokers and healthy non-smokers chronically exposed to secondhand smoke. Ms. Wang, a Doris Duke fellow, will evaluate levels of gastrin, a hormone that stimulates stomach acid secretion, in esophageal adenocarcinoma, one of the deadliest, most intractable, and fastest growing cancers worldwide, and its precursor condition, Barrett's esophagus.
MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Barbara Barlow, MD, professor of surgery in epidemiology and at Harlem Hospital (P&S), has been awarded a total of $827,000 by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for the Injury Free Coalition for Kids, an organization she directs. Grants will help provide administrative support and technical assistance and direction for the program. Dr. Barlow also received a $354,000 grant from the Allstate Foundation for a national safe playground building project ("Little Hands Safe Playgrounds") and $245,000 in funds from the New York City School Construction Authority to install playgrounds at three public schools in Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.
Alwyn Cohall, MD, associate professor of clinical public health (in sociomedical sciences and population & family health) and clinical pediatrics (P&S), has received $300,000 from the New York City-based Robin Hood Foundation to expand and continue the mobile health program of Project STAY, an organization he directs. Project STAY's mobile health team initiative provides health education, screening for sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV counseling/testing services to high-risk youth in community settings throughout New York City. Since its establishment in 1988, the Robin Hood Foundation has targeted poverty in New York City by finding and funding the best and most effective programs for the poor and partnering with them to maximize results.
Charles DiMaggio, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of clinical epidemiology, received $80,500 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to study changes in substance abuse patterns following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Results will lead to recommendations for emergency management practitioners and policymakers in preparing and mobilizing their communities for disasters or terrorist events; they also will help behavioral health researchers and practitioners in identifying risk, vulnerability, and protective and resiliency factors when planning community-wide health interventions following terrorist attacks and natural disasters.
William Friedewald, MD, clinical professor of biostatistics, epidemiology, and medicine (P&S), has received $1.1 million in supplemental funds from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to support the data coordinating center of an ongoing clinical trials network evaluating the effectiveness of the compound citicoline in acute traumatic brain injury. The center's activities include coordination of multiple clinical trial sites, data management, quality control initiatives, and analytical and statistical support.
Jane Knitzer, EdD, clinical professor of population and family health and director, National Center for Children in Poverty, has received a number of grants, including $1.25 million over two years from the Atlantic Philanthropies, an international foundation focused on the critical social problems related to aging, disadvantaged children and youth, population health, and reconciliation and human rights, to research and document best practices among U.S. states in developing comprehensive preventive healthcare programs for disadvantaged youth; $1.2 million over three years from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to develop tools and strategies to improve early school success for young children; and $356,000 from the Netherlands-based Bernard van Leer Foundation to implement strategies for the advancement of social inclusion and respect for diversity in early childhood education.
John W. Rowe, MD, professor of health policy and management, has received a $3.9 million grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to fund the first three years of the National Research Network on an Aging Society, an interdisciplinary group of U.S. and European scholars formed to address critical life expectancy changes and demographic shifts of the early 21st century. Chaired by Dr. Rowe, the network will conduct research studies and convene groups of opinion leaders to develop policy recommendations and suggest strategies that will enable society to meet the challenges and opportunities associated with the demographic transition, as well as to alleviate aging-related stresses on its key social, financial, political, and medical institutions.
John Santelli, MD, MPH, Harriet and Robert H. Heilbrunn Professor of Clinical Population and Family Health and chairman of population and family health, recently received a renewal of fellowship funding, in the amount of $40,000, from the Guttmacher Institute, a non-profit organization focused on sexual and reproductive health research, policy analysis, and public education. During his nearly four years as a senior fellow with the institute, he has served in a broad advisory capacity, focusing on adolescent issues, sexuality education, contraception, abortion, policy and legal issues, research methodology, and research management. Dr. Santelli also received a $100,000 grant from the California-based William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to continue work with Guttmacher investigators on ways to improve measurements of contraceptive use and pregnancy risk.
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Masthead photos: (from L.: Russ and Angelica Berrie at the 1997 opening of the Russ Berrie Medical Science Pavilion; Russ Berrie)
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