| CUMC Celebrates - July 25, 2008 |
Lee Goldman, M.D.
Executive Vice President, Health and Biomedical Sciences
COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS
The Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship program at P&S continues to be popular among our own P&S students and students from other medical schools. We are beginning our third grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, which funds clinical research programs at 12 medical schools. This is the eighth year P&S has accepted medical students for a year of clinical research in which they work with leading physician-scientists while taking a year off from medical school. Columbia has the largest contingent of Duke Fellows (23 from P&S and four other medical schools) and had the largest number of applicants (129) among the 12 sites. Donald W. Landry, MD, PhD, professor of medicine-nephrology and interim chair of medicine, directs the program. Three of the students are conducting their research in other countries (Nicaragua, Mozambique, and South Africa) as part of a new Doris Duke international/global health track under the direction of Magdalena Sobieszczyk, MD, MPH, assistant professor of clinical medicine.
Congratulations to the 192 P&S faculty members selected by Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. for this year's list of top New York doctors. The 2008 honorees, representing more than 50 specialties and subspecialties and nearly all of our clinical departments, were announced in the June issue of New York magazine. Of the 1,434 physicians and surgeons named to this list, 22 percent are affiliated with Columbia University as faculty, P&S alumni, or house staff alumni. To see the full roster of names, visit Columbia Affiliates in New York Magazine's Best Doctors 2008.
Leaders from the National Cancer Institute's cancer biomedical informatics grid initiative (caBIG) recognized a team from the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Joint Center for Systems Biology with its Connecting with caBIG Award, "noting the group's significant progress in deploying caBIG technologies across CUMC." The award was presented at the annual meeting of the caBIG program on June 24 in Washington, D.C. The team members honored at the ceremony: Aris Floratos, PhD, executive research director, Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics; Michael Honig, senior database administrator, Joint Center for Systems Biology; Kiran Keshav, lead senior programmer analyst, Joint Center for Systems Biology; Kenneth Smith, senior programmer/analyst, Joint Center for Systems Biology; Tao Su, associate research scientist, Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center; Min You, senior programmer analyst, Joint Center for Systems Biology; and Xiaoqing Zhang, senior programmer analyst, Joint Center for Systems Biology. Individual awards also went to Kiran Keshav and Christine Hung, senior programmer analyst, Joint Center for Systems Biology, for exceptional work and personal efforts on behalf of the caBIG project.
Louis U. Bigliani, MD, the Frank E. Stinchfield Professor and Chair of Orthopedic Surgery, was inducted as the 121st president of the American Orthopaedic Association in early June. During his presidency, Dr. Bigliani will represent the association at meetings in England, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa.
Richard J. Deckelbaum, MD, the Robert R. Williams Professor of Nutrition (in pediatrics), professor of epidemiology (Mailman), and director of the Institute of Human Nutrition, has been appointed to the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine, National Academies of Science.
Michael E. Goldberg, MD, the David Mahoney Professor of Brain and Behavior (in neuroscience, neurology, psychiatry, and ophthalmology), has been chosen as president-elect of the 38,000-member Society for Neuroscience. He will assume his new role at the society's annual meeting in Washington, D.C., this November and will become the organization's president in 2009.
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MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, MPH, professor of epidemiology (Mailman) and clinical medicine (P&S) and director of the International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs, has been named to the World Health Organization's Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Tuberculosis. Dr. El-Sadr is among 20 international TB experts selected to serve on the panel, which will advise WHO on a range of global TB control activities. Dr. El-Sadr began her three-year term in mid-June. In addition, Dr. El-Sadr recently served as moderator of a discussion on global achievements and lessons learned in recent efforts to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission. The event, part of a June 10-11 United Nations General Assembly high-level meeting on HIV/AIDS, was organized and sponsored by WHO, UNICEF, and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.
In conjunction with its 100th anniversary this year, the American Public Health Association's Statistics Section will present Bruce Levin, PhD, professor and chair of biostatistics, with an achievement award at the APHA's annual meeting Oct. 25-29 in San Diego. Dr. Levin will be recognized for his career contributions to the field of public health statistics, including successful efforts to design innovative HIV clinical trials and to advocate for an increased focus on participant safety in behavioral trials, as well as his commitment to the rigorous schooling of public health students in fundamental biostatistical principles.
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COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE
Two members of the laboratory of Panos N. Papapanou, DDS, PhD, received research awards at the July meeting of the International Association for Dental Research in Toronto. Dr. Jan Behle, who recently earned a master of science degree in periodontics, received the Past Presidents' Travel Award for his oral presentation titled "Periodontal Therapy Alters Systemic Inflammatory Mediator Levels." Dr. Moritz Kebschull, postdoctoral fellow, received the IADR/Philips Oral Healthcare Young Investigator Research Award for his research project on the effects of periodontal therapy on gene and protein expression in the vascular endothelium. Dr. Papapanou is professor of dental medicine, chair of the section of oral and diagnostic sciences, and director of the division of periodontics in the College of Dental Medicine.
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GRANTS
COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS
The TJ Martell Foundation for Leukemia, Cancer and AIDS Research has awarded $350,000 to a team of investigators in the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center for ongoing prostate cancer research. Led by Mitchell C. Benson, MD, the George F. Cahill Professor and Chair of Urology, the researchers will build on previous work clarifying the mechanisms and vascular effects of anti-male hormone therapy and the gene known as ProtoCadherin-PC in advanced prostate cancer. Other team members are Cory Abate-Shen, PhD, professor of urology; Carlos Cordon-Cardo, MD, PhD, professor of clinical pathology and vice chairman for experimental oncology; Daniel Petrylak, MD, associate professor of medicine-oncology; and Bernard Weinstein, MD, the Frode Jensen Professor of Medicine (in the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center/Institute of Cancer Research), professor of genetics & development, and professor of environmental health sciences (Mailman).
Allegra I. Broft, MD, assistant professor of clinical psychiatry, has received $887,000 over five years from the National Institute of Mental Health to test the hypothesis that eating disorders and substance abuse share a common neurobiological link. Dr. Broft will use neuroimaging techniques to translate PET studies of dopamine systems in addiction to the study of bulimia nervosa.
Alan S. Brown, MD, MPH, associate professor of clinical psychiatry and clinical epidemiology (Mailman), has been awarded a five-year $618,000 continuation of funding from the National Institute of Mental Health to extend his previous work on prenatal exposures and the risk of developing schizophrenia. Dr. Brown will examine potential correlations between three prenatal micronutrients (vitamins A and B12 and iron) and the development of schizophrenia later in life, investigate whether prenatal factors previously associated with schizophrenia are also evident in bipolar disorder, and study the interplay between maternal diet during pregnancy and genetic mutations as a possible origin of schizophrenia.
Angela Christiano, PhD, the Richard and Mildred Rhodebeck Professor of Dermatology and professor of genetics & development, has received a five-year $1.8 million competitive renewal of funding from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Skin Diseases. Dr. Christiano will extend studies of the hairless gene, focusing specifically on how it regulates cell growth and proliferation in the outermost layer of the skin. Findings may help promote greater understanding of several different skin disorders in which uncontrolled growth is a disease hallmark.
Jonathan Dworkin, PhD, assistant professor of microbiology, has received a five-year $1.6 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to study how bacteria construct their cell walls, the structure that dictates and determines cellular shape. Potential applications of this research include the design of new and exceptionally potent medications, urgently needed in the face of increased microbial resistance to traditional antibiotic drugs.
David Fidock, PhD, associate professor of microbiology and of medicine, has been awarded $2.3 million over four years by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to test new pharmacological approaches against malaria, with the overall goal of identifying treatment regimens that can successfully reduce the emergence of drug-resistant disease. Research will be carried out in conjunction with colleagues at the University of South Florida.
Aris Floratos, PhD, executive research director, Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, and Andrea Califano, PhD, professor of biomedical informatics, have received a three-year $3.9 million award from the National Cancer Institute to establish and operate a caBIG knowledge center at CUMC. CaBIG centers support the NCI's cancer biomedical informatics grid initiative, conceived and designed as an information network allowing cancer researchers, physicians, and patients to share data and knowledge. The caBIG center at CUMC, one of only five centers in the country, will be managed jointly by the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics.
A. Donald Finck, MD, associate professor of anesthesiology, has been awarded a five-year $917,000 continuation of funding by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences for an ongoing anesthesiology research training program to provide support for four trainees over two years.
Henry N. Ginsberg, MD, the Herbert and Florence Irving Professor of Medicine-Preventative Medicine & Nutrition and director of the Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, has been awarded a four-year $1.6 million renewal of funding from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for continuing studies of how fatty acids regulate liver lipoprotein production, with potential public health implications for the treatment of insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes in particular.
Joshua Gordon, MD, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry, has received a five-year $1.8 million award from the National Institute of Mental Health to study and clarify the neural mechanisms behind increased anxiety in mice deficient in the serotonin 1A receptor, which has been implicated in the regulation of anxiety and development of anxiety disorders.
Nancy S. Green, MD, associate professor of clinical pediatrics and associate dean for clinical research operations, has received a three-year $555,000 grant from the Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, for a new initiative coordinating follow-up care for newborns in Northern Manhattan and Harlem diagnosed with sickle cell anemia and related diseases. The new program will be directed and overseen by Dr. Green and co-principal investigator Mary McCord, MD, MPH, associate clinical professor of pediatrics and of public health.
Barry Honig, PhD, professor of biochemistry & molecular biophysics, has been awarded a five-year $1.1 million grant by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences for a training program in computational biology.
Gloria Huei-Ting Su, PhD, assistant professor of molecular biology in otolaryngology/head and neck surgery and pathology, has received a two-year $398,000 grant from the National Cancer Institute. Using genetically engineered mouse models, Dr. Su will investigate the tumor-suppressive role of the gene known as activin type I receptor B in human pancreatic cancer.
Gerard Karsenty, MD, PhD, the Paul A. Marks Professor of Genetics & Development, professor of medicine, and chair, Department of Genetics & Development, has received a five-year $2.6 million extension of funding from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. Dr. Karsenty will continue his studies of osteocalcin, a hormone released from bone, and its relationship to energy metabolism and weight control.
Anna Lasorella, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics and of pathology & cell biology (in the Institute for Cancer Genetics), has received a five-year $1.7 million award from the National Cancer Institute to test whether defects in the normal turnover process of the N-Myc oncoprotein by the degradatory enzyme known as Ureb1 affect neural stem cells and contribute to the onset of highly malignant pediatric neural tumors such as neuroblastoma. Neural stem cells are the most likely candidate cells of origin for brain cancer in both children and adults. The ultimate goal of these studies is to restore the N-Myc breakdown machinery that is frequently inactivated in neuroblastoma.
H. Thomas Lee, MD, PhD, associate professor of anesthesiology, has been awarded a $96,000 supplement from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences for his two-year study examining the protective and anti-inflammatory effects of volatile anesthetics, the main drugs used in the operating room, in safeguarding against acute renal injury throughout surgery.
Frances R. Levin, MD, professor of clinical psychiatry, has received a five-year $1.6 million extension of funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse for a substance abuse research fellowship program now in its 16th year.
Rudolph Leibel, MD, professor of pediatrics and of medicine and co-director of the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, has received a four-year $1.6 million competitive renewal of funding from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Funds will be dedicated to an ongoing analysis of the molecular functioning of a newly discovered gene (L1, or lisch-like) that may account for some aspects of diabetes susceptibility in humans. Dr. Leibel and colleagues were instrumental in the discovery and identification of L1 earlier this decade.
Jennifer Manly, PhD, associate professor of neuropsychology (in neurology, the Sergievsky Center, and the Taub Institute), has received a $75,000 supplement from the National Institute on Aging for an ongoing study, now in its second year, of the genetic epidemiology of Alzheimer's disease in the African-American population. With this increase, funding for the remaining three years of the four-year study now stands at $4.5 million.
Michael M. Myers, PhD, professor of clinical psychiatry, has received a five-year $1.4 million competitive renewal of funding from the National Institute of Mental Health for a postdoctoral training program in developmental neuroscience and behavior. The program trains both MD and PhD candidates in areas of study that probe the emergence of abnormal neural functioning and its behavioral consequences throughout the lifespan.
The New York Academy of Medicine has awarded Thomas Nguyen, MD, PhD, postdoctoral clinical fellow in medicine-cardiology, a one-year $60,000 Glorney-Raisbeck Fellowship in Cardiovascular Diseases. Under the mentorship of Andrew Marks, MD, professor and chair of physiology and cellular biophysics, Dr. Nguyen will work to identify novel cellular signaling pathways and therapeutic targets for the vascular problems of diabetes.
Sharon E. Oberfield, MD, professor of pediatrics, has received a $28,000 supplement for a training program in pediatric endocrinology. This funding increase brings the four-year funding total for this project, now in its third year, to $185,000.
David M. Owens, PhD, the Florence Irving Assistant Professor of Epithelial Cell Biology (in dermatology), has received a two-year $397,000 grant from the National Cancer Institute to identify molecules that stimulate the process of cancerous growth and pinpoint critical interactions between immune and metastatic cancer cells in squamous cell carcinoma. The research could help introduce new targets to advance clinical treatment of this common type of non-melanoma skin cancer, known for its tendency to spread.
Rodney Rothstein, PhD, professor of genetics & development, has received a $28,000 supplement to an existing MERIT award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Dr. Rothstein is using MERIT funds to probe the molecular mechanisms behind the recognition and repair of DNA damage in yeast through novel genetic and cell biology approaches. The increase in funding brings the project's yearly total to $562,000.
Carol M. Troy, MD, PhD, associate professor of clinical pathology, has received a one-year $346,000 grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for an ongoing study of the regulation of neuronal cell death induced by the protein beta amyloid. Beta amyloid has been considered key to the onset and advancement of Alzheimer's disease.
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MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Ryan T. Demmer, PhD, MPH, associate research scientist in epidemiology, has received funds from the first phase of an $895,000 "Pathway to Independence" career development award from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. The award will support two years of postdoctoral training followed by three years of independent research to explore associations between periodontal infection (gum disease) and type 2 diabetes risk factor progression. Moise Desvarieux, MD, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology, will serve as Dr. Demmer's faculty sponsor during the postdoctoral training period.
Helen Maria Lekas, PhD, assistant professor of clinical sociomedical sciences, and Karolynn Siegel, PhD, professor of sociomedical sciences, have been awarded $2 million over four years by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Drs. Lekas and Siegel will undertake a qualitative study of pregnancy-related issues in couples with mixed HIV status, specifically investigating participants' desire for pregnancy, their contraceptive and sexual behaviors, their understanding of the HIV transmission risks associated with conception, and their risk-management strategies.
Michael Parides, PhD, associate professor of biostatistics, has received $2.2 million in supplemental funding from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for the data coordination center of an NIH-sponsored cardiothoracic surgery interventions network. The network will provide a critical framework for proof-of-concept trials of novel surgical and minimally invasive cardiothoracic procedures at academic medical centers nationwide. The supplement increases Dr. Parides' grant total to $25.3 million over five years.
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Banner photos from left: Frances Levin, Bruce Levin, and the incoming class of the Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship program
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