| CUMC Celebrates - September 26, 2008 |
This month we mark the 75th anniversary of the Edward S. Harkness Eye Institute. Faculty, patients, and friends have all contributed to the Eye Institute's stellar reputation, starting when it welcomed its first patient, Columbia University President Nicholas Murray Butler, in 1933. But much has changed in 75 years. The Eye Institute opened with about 100 inpatient beds, but now nearly all ophthalmology visits and procedures are done on an outpatient basis. One constant over these 75 years, however, has been the quality of the patient care and success of the faculty's research program. Every leader of the Eye Institute, all of whom simultaneously served as chairs of the Department of Ophthalmology in the College of Physicians & Surgeons, has been a leader in the field, and every generation of scholars has contributed significant advances to treating disorders of sight. Congratulations to the faculty and staff of the Eye Institute, led by the most recent leader in the field, Stanley Chang, whose own research has improved retinal surgery, especially for retinal detachments. He has expanded the faculty practice, attracted generous gifts to endow research programs and professorships, and kept the Department at the forefront of clinical care, research, and teaching.
Lee Goldman, M.D.
Executive Vice President, Health and Biomedical Sciences
AWARDS & HONORS
MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, MPH, professor of clinical epidemiology (Mailman), professor of clinical medicine (P&S), director of Mailman's International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs (ICAP), and chief of infectious diseases at Harlem Hospital Center, was named one of 25 recipients of a MacArthur Fellowship (commonly termed a "genius award") for 2008 by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Her life's work has been devoted to community and international HIV and tuberculosis prevention, care and treatment. MacArthur Fellows, who receive $500,000 over five years with no strings attached, are selected for their creativity, originality, and potential to make important contributions. Dr. El-Sadr has already redefined public health approaches to HIV infection in her innovative, family-centered approaches for the prevention, care and treatment of HIV and tuberculosis. Her work in impoverished and immigrant communities, originally in Harlem and now also in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, has raised the bar on care and health-care delivery for many of the world's sickest and poorest individuals. Under her stellar leadership, some 600 ICAP-supported sites provide care to more than 500,000 people in 14 African and Asian countries, representing, as of late 2007, 10 percent of all individuals and 12 percent of all children receiving antiretroviral therapy in sub-Saharan Africa.
COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS
Carolyn Britton, MD, associate professor of clinical neurology, was installed as the 109th president of the National Medical Association at a ceremony in Atlanta during the association's annual convention in July. Founded in 1895, the National Medical Association represents more than 30,000 African-American physicians and the patients they serve. Dr. Britton has been active in the organization for many years, having served as president-elect and as chair of its neurology and neurosurgery section, finance committee, and board of trustees. She is the first neurologist and one of only a handful of academic physicians to fill this role.
Mitchell Cairo, MD, professor of pediatrics, medicine, and pathology, has been elected to the International Society of Experimental Hematology's board of directors. The Society, now close to 60 years old and with members in 40 countries, is dedicated to the promotion of scientific knowledge in and clinical application of basic hematology, immunology, and cell therapy through research, scholarship, and scientific programming. The Society also publishes Experimental Hematology, a peer-reviewed journal.
David J. Lederer, MD, MS, a Herbert Irving Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine (in Pediatrics), has been selected as a Robert Wood Johnson Physician Faculty Scholar. This honor includes a $300,000 award, which will support his ongoing studies of ethnic and racial differences in the health outcomes of patients with pulmonary fibrosis of unknown origin.
David P. Roye, MD, the St. Giles Foundation Professor of Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery, has been selected as the 2009 American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons Humanitarian of the Year Award winner for his personal commitment to providing high-quality care for children in need, both internationally and nationally, over the course of his career. Dr. Roye will receive his award at the annual meeting of the academy in Las Vegas next year.
COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE
Sidney Eisig, DDS, the George Guttmann Professor of Clinical Craniofacial Surgery, has received two prestigious professional appointments: He will serve as editor of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Section of the Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal, and he will sit on a special committee on outcomes assessment for the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons.
Zehra Pradhan, DDS, MDS, assistant clinical professor of dental medicine-orthodontics, received the Thomas M. Graber Award of Special Merit from the American Association of Orthodontists for excellence in orthodontic research. Dr. Pradhan received her award in Denver at the Association's 108th annual session.
APPOINTMENTS, RECRUITMENTS & PROMOTIONS
MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Thomas D'Aunno, PhD, joined the Mailman School in September as professor of health policy & management. A graduate of the University of Michigan's doctoral program in organizational psychology, Dr. D'Aunno has interest and expertise in the organization and management of health care services, organizational change, and performance improvement. He held faculty positions at Michigan, University of Chicago, and, most recently, the international graduate business school INSEAD, where he held the Novartis Chair in Healthcare Management.
Elizabeth Ty Wilde, PhD, joined Mailman's faculty in August as assistant professor of health policy & management. A noted researcher, Dr. Wilde has explored the causes and consequences of quality differences in emergency medical services and investigated racial disparities in special education placements, disciplinary actions, and test scores. She also has studied the impact of female sports participation on alcohol use. She is a graduate of the doctoral program in economics at Princeton University.
COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS
Ronald Drusin, MD, professor of medicine, has been named vice dean for education for P&S. Dr. Drusin will be responsible for the offices of curricular affairs, diversity affairs, and admissions and will oversee the introduction and implementation of a new medical school curriculum in fall 2009. Dr. Drusin previously served as interim senior associate dean for education, leading the task force developing the new P&S curriculum and supervising ongoing renovations to create the new education center on the lower floors of the Hammer Health Sciences Center. A P&S graduate, Dr. Drusin has been affiliated with Columbia since 1973.
Renowned transplant specialist Tomoaki Kato, MD, has been recruited to P&S as a faculty member in surgery and surgical director of liver and intestinal transplantation at NewYork-Presbyterian. Previously the director of pediatric liver and gastrointestinal transplantation and professor of clinical surgery at the University of Miami School of Medicine, Dr. Kato is perhaps best known for leading the first reported removal and re-implantation of six organs to excise a hard-to-reach abdominal tumor. He has pioneered a number of innovative liver and bladder transplant surgeries for children and adults. A native of Tokyo, Dr. Kato received his medical degree from Osaka University Medical School in Japan and his residency training in surgery at Osaka University Hospital and Itami City Hospital in Hyogo, Japan. He completed a clinical fellowship in transplantation at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital where he was appointed to the surgical faculty in 1997 and promoted to full professor in 2007.
Yongjung (Jay) Kim, MD, joined the Department of Orthopedic Surgery as assistant professor of clinical orthopedic surgery on Sept. 1. Dr. Kim just completed a two-year spine/scoliosis fellowship at the Hospital for Special Surgery and was previously a research scholar at Washington University School of Medicine's spinal deformity service (2000-2006). Dr. Kim received his medical degree from Seoul National University, completed an orthopedic residency and a pediatric and adult spine fellowship at Asan Medical Center (Seoul, South Korea), and completed an adult orthopedic fellowship at Innsbruck Hospital in Austria. Before moving to the United States in 2000, Dr. Kim was assistant professor at Pochun JoongMoon University and chief of the spine service at Bundang CHA Hospital (Sungnam City, South Korea).
Bradley Peterson, MD, the Suzanne Crosby Murphy Professor of Child Psychiatry, has been named chief of the Division of Child Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, effective May 1. He succeeds David Shaffer, MD. Dr. Peterson, a graduate of Tulane University and the University of Wisconsin's medical school, is a leading authority on the neuroscience and neuroimaging of pediatric neuropsychiatric disorders. He did his medical internship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, trained in general psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University, and completed research and clinical fellowships in child psychiatry at the Child Study Center of Yale University. Dr. Peterson joined P&S as an associate professor in 2001, serving as the division's co-deputy director and director of neuropsychiatry and founding director of MRI research in the Department of Psychiatry.
Benjamin Roye, MD, MPH, has been named assistant professor of clinical orthopedic surgery, joining the division of pediatric orthopedic surgery as of July 1. A graduate of P&S and the Mailman School of Public Health, Dr. Roye was recruited to Columbia from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where he served as chief of the pediatric orthopedic division. Dr. Roye did his orthopedic surgery residency training at the New York Orthopedic Hospital and completed a fellowship in pediatric orthopedics at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Roye has special clinical expertise in the areas of scoliosis and clubfoot. His research interests include quality-of-life issues for children with musculoskeletal concerns.
Rosemarie Scilipoti has joined P&S as director of student activities and the P&S Club. A graduate of Michigan State University's master's degree program in student affairs administration, Ms. Scilipoti previously worked as an academic adviser and residence hall director at Stony Brook University. As an intern at NYU, she oversaw planning of orientation for incoming medical students.
Peter Tang, MD, MPH, has been recruited to P&S as assistant professor of clinical orthopedic surgery, joining the Department of Orthopedic Surgery's hand surgery service. A graduate of Harvard University and Weill-Cornell Medical College, Dr. Tang completed orthopedic residency training and a hand surgery fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE
Thomas J. Cangialosi, DDS, director of the Division of Orthodontics and chair of the Section of Growth and Development, has been appointed the first Leuman M. Waugh Professor of Clinical Orthodontics, effective Sept. 1. An internationally recognized expert in surgical orthodontics, Dr. Cangialosi has been a CDM faculty member since 1975 and a tenured professor since 1993. Dr. Cangialosi has held numerous administrative positions with the College, acting as assistant dean for student affairs, associate dean for student/postdoctoral education, and associate dean for advanced and postdoctoral education. He received his dental degree from Georgetown University and is a graduate of the orthodontics certificate program at CDM.
GRANTS
SCHOOL OF NURSING
A special note of congratulations to the Center for Interdisciplinary Research to Reduce Antimicrobial Resistance, led by Elaine Larson, PhD, professor of pharmaceutical and therapeutic research (Nursing) and epidemiology (Mailman), for its stellar track record of funding success over the past two years. In 2007 and 2008, the center received $7.7 million in direct awards and an additional $2.3 million in funds through affiliated grants. Patricia Stone, PhD, MPH, associate professor of nursing, has been awarded $362,000 by the Blue Shield of California Foundation to examine the growing and changing roles of infection control practitioners in acute care settings, particularly in light of recent increases in healthcare-related infections in hospitals and the community. Dr. Stone and her team are also part of a multicenter collaboration receiving more than $400,000 in funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative and from the VA's Health Services Research and Development Service. Funds will be used to study how nurse staffing, skills, and experience translate to the quality and efficiency of care delivery in the long-term care setting.
MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Hari K. Bhat, PhD, associate professor of environmental health sciences, has received a $30,000 supplement from the National Cancer Institute for an ongoing study of the role of oxidative stress in estrogen-induced breast cancer, bringing the project's current level of funding to $579,000.
Janice L. Cooper, PhD, assistant professor of clinical health policy & management, has been awarded $82,000 by the California Endowment to disseminate a report examining policies that impact the delivery of mental health services to needy children and families living in California. Data from more than 700 respondents, including youth and their family members, were collected over a three-year period. The target audience of the report is policy-makers and other state leaders.
Leslie L. Davidson, MD, professor of clinical epidemiology (Mailman) and clinical pediatrics (P&S), is the recipient of an additional $346,000 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse for her study of the effects of regional, social, environmental, economic, and health-related issues on neurodevelopmentally disabled children in South Africa. This supplement brings the funding total for the last four years of the study to $2.4 million.
Sally E. Findley, PhD, professor of clinical population & family health and clinical sociomedical sciences, has been awarded $2.1 million over five years from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to evaluate the impact of new modifications to the Women, Infants, and Children program, the USDA's special supplemental nutrition program, on the prevention of early childhood obesity. With collaborators at the New York State Department of Health and the New York City-based nonprofit organization Public Health Solutions, Dr. Findley's team will assess changes in the uptake of the federal program's recommendations and their effect on diet and activity levels for children under age 5.
David Hoos, MD, MPH, assistant professor of clinical epidemiology, has been awarded up to $22 million over five years by the CDC's National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STDs, and TB Prevention to support the implementation and expansion of high-quality HIV care, prevention, and treatment programs and activities in Kenya.
Frederica Perera, DrPH, professor of environmental health sciences and director of the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health, has been awarded an additional $42,000 by the National Cancer Institute to support her investigation into the molecular epidemiology of lung cancer begun earlier this year. This increase brings the project's first-year funding total to $448,000.
Victoria Raveis, PhD, associate professor of clinical sociomedical sciences, has received $84,000 in supplemental funding from the National Cancer Institute to support a training program for low-income individuals caring for older relatives recovering from cancer. The cumulative total for year four of this five-year project is $638,000.
COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS
John Ausiello, MD, postdoctoral clinical fellow in medicine-endocrinology, has received a one-year $10,000 research grant from the Endocrine Fellows Foundation to complete a comparative study of the effects of two types of growth hormone therapy on cardiovascular risk factors in adults with growth hormone deficiencies.
Nicole Barbarich-Marsteller, PhD, assistant professor of clinical neurobiology (in psychiatry), has been awarded $810,000 over five years by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Funds will be used to build upon previous research linking food restriction to the reinforcing effects of psychostimulant drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine. Dr. Barbarich-Marsteller will explore how food restriction in rats alters the behavioral and neurochemical response to psychostimulants during adolescence, the most common time of onset for both eating disorders and drug use, and will investigate whether effects are dependent upon sex. Studies are expected to shed greater light on the relationship between eating disorders and substance abuse and are designed to fill critical gaps in scientific understanding of adolescent reward mechanisms and vulnerability to addiction and addictive behaviors.
R. Graham Barr, MD, assistant professor of medicine-general medicine and of epidemiology (Mailman) and a former Irving Assistant Professor of Medicine, has received a four-year $3.1 million award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to study pulmonary vascular changes and endothelium dysfunction in early chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), with the goal of defining the exact nature of their relationship to the loss of lung function in COPD. Findings may lead to the application of drug and stem cell therapies as treatments for COPD, currently the fourth leading cause of death in the United States.
Andrea Califano, PhD, professor of biomedical informatics, has received a $231,000 supplement from the National Cancer Institute to support ongoing work with the National Center for the Multi-Scale Analysis of Genomic and Cellular Networks at Columbia. The center's work focuses on mapping the complex genetic and molecular interactions that fuel cellular processes, using a variety of genome-wide computational approaches. The supplement brings the NCI funding total for the fourth and fifth years of this project, which is slated to conclude in 2010, to $7.2 million.
Olveen Carrasquillo, MD, MPH, associate professor of clinical medicine and of health policy & management (Mailman), and Melissa Stockwell, MD, MPH, assistant professor of clinical pediatrics and of population & family health (Mailman), have been awarded two grants, $1.6 million and $640,000, by the Health Resources and Services Administration (Department of Health and Human Services). These three-year awards will support postdoctoral fellowships and faculty development in health disparities and community-based research for trainees in general medicine, general pediatrics, and family medicine. Dr. Carrasquillo is also the recipient of a four-year $2.6 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for the Northern Manhattan Healthy Heart Initiative, a project designed to ascertain the effectiveness of community health interventions in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease in Caribbean Hispanics living in upper Manhattan.
Fred Chang, MD, PhD, professor of microbiology, has received a four-year $938,000 award from the Ellison Medical Foundation's Senior Scholar Awards in Aging program to study the aging process and the fate of damaged proteins in fission yeast.
Angela Christiano, PhD, the Richard and Mildred Rhodebeck Professor of Dermatology and professor of genetics & development, has been awarded $264,000 in supplemental funding by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Skin Diseases, further supporting her ongoing studies of the hairless gene. This increase brings the project's three-year NIH funding total to over $1.3 million.
Stephanie Cosentino, PhD, assistant professor of neuropsychology (in neurology, the Sergievsky Center, and the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain), is the recipient of a five-year $742,000 grant funded by the Paul B. Beeson Foundation and awarded through the National Institute on Aging. Dr. Cosentino will investigate and measure awareness of memory deficits among patients in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Findings are expected to have significant ramifications for research and treatment, particularly with regard to decision-making capacity in early Alzheimer's, and also may help advance the diagnosis and treatment of mild cognitive impairment, a condition characterized by memory loss and often thought to precede Alzheimer's.
Riccardo Dalla-Favera, MD, professor of pathology and of genetics & development and director of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been awarded a five-year $19.8 million continuation of funding from the National Cancer Institute to support program administration and core facilities for basic, clinical, and population science research in the cancer center.
William Dauer, MD, assistant professor of neurology and of pharmacology (in the Center for Parkinson's Disease and Other Movement Disorders), has received a $966,000 award over three years from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Dr. Dauer will work to develop additional insights into the molecular mechanisms that cause Parkinson's disease-related neurodegeneration, through studies of LRRK2, a recently described protein with novel signaling activities.
Gilbert Di Paolo, PhD, assistant professor of pathology & cell biology, has received a five-year $1.7 million award from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to examine, via mouse models, the contributions of the gene known as SYNJ to the neurophysiological and behavioral deficits evident in Down syndrome.
Michael Drew, PhD, postdoctoral research scientist in psychiatry, has received a five-year $927,000 award from the National Institute of Mental Health. Using contextual fear conditioning as a model system and targeted irradiation and genetic manipulation as tools, Dr. Drew will analyze how adult-born neurons contribute to the acquisition, retention, and retrieval of memories, with potential implications for the basic understanding of the biology of memory and the treatment of emotional disorders.
Joachim Frank, PhD, professor of biochemistry & molecular biophysics, has received $426,000 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences for ongoing studies of the mechanism of protein synthesis. Using electron microscopy and image processing, Dr. Frank will work to obtain three-dimensional images of the ribosome. This phase of Dr. Frank's research will conclude in March 2010.
Margaret Haney, PhD, associate professor of clinical psychiatry, has been awarded $2.2 million over four years by the National Institute on Drug Abuse to study the interaction of cocaine-related cues and cocaine exposure with genetic mutations in the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4). This research will assess whether a genetic vulnerability increases the likelihood of renewed cocaine self-administration and abuse. She also will test the use of modafinil, a psychostimulant currently approved for the treatment of narcolepsy, as a potential countermeasure against relapse in cocaine abusers varying in their DRD4 genotype.
Deborah Hasin, PhD, professor of clinical epidemiology (in psychiatry), has received a five-year $793,000 funding continuation from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to extend her epidemiological studies of alcohol use disorders. Dr. Hasin's ongoing research includes work in the nature and course of alcoholism, the relationship of alcohol and substance disorders to the presence and effects of psychiatric illness, the interacting role of genes and environment as causes of alcohol and substance abuse disorders, and technologically enhanced interventions for HIV-infected heavy drinkers.
Rui Jiang, MD, associate research scientist in medicine-general medicine, has received a $50,000 research grant from the New York City chapter of the American Lung Association to support a study of the impact of cured meat intake on levels of 3-nitrotyrosine, a compound indicating oxidative stress, and on lung function and density.
Donald W. Landry, MD, professor of medicine-nephrology, chief of the experimental therapeutics and nephrology divisions in the Department of Medicine, and interim chair of medicine, has received a five-year $695,000 grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to develop cocaine esterase, the most effective protein known to researchers for degrading cocaine, as a possible treatment for addiction by accelerating the clearance of cocaine from the bloodstream. The work, part of a larger $2.5 million award, will be carried out with colleagues from the University of Kentucky and the University of Michigan.
Cathy Lee Mendelsohn, PhD, associate professor of urologic sciences (in urology, the Institute of Human Nutrition, and pathology), is the recipient of a five-year $2.1 million award from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Using mouse models, Dr. Mendelsohn will study the cellular and genetic underpinnings of normal urinary tract formation, working to identify defects in the process that can lead to serious malformations at birth. Urinary tract structural abnormalities are a major cause of end-stage renal disease in infants.
Bismruta Misra, MD, postdoctoral clinical fellow in medicine-endocrinology, has been awarded a one-year $7,500 research grant by the Endocrine Fellows Foundation. Funds will be used to characterize and document the prevalence of asymptomatic normocalcemic hyperparathyroidism, a disease state of excess production of parathyroid hormone but normal calcium levels. Dr. Misra also received a $1,000 young investigator award from the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, helping fund a study of the impact of renal function on the relationship between parathyroid hormone and vitamin D.
Andrew Moran, MD, MPH, instructor in clinical medicine, has received $650,000 over five years from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to design a computer cardiovascular disease prediction model for China, producing epidemiologic projections of the future impact of heart disease and stroke on a national scale and simulating public health policy preventative measures and interventions. The goal is to translate Chinese-specific forecasting models into computer modeling paradigms for other economically developing nations.
Alfred I. Neugut, MD, PhD, the Myron M. Studner Professor of Cancer Research in Medicine and professor of epidemiology (Mailman), has been awarded a five-year, $2.1 million competitive renewal of funding by the National Cancer Institute for CUMC's training program in cancer epidemiology, biostatistics, and environmental sciences, now in its third decade.
Thomas Nickolas, MD, assistant professor of clinical medicine-nephrology, is the recipient of a five-year $821,000 award from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Dr. Nickolas will use advanced imaging techniques to assess bone quality and strength in people across all stages of chronic kidney disease. Previous research has found that the incidence of osteoporosis and osteoporosis-related fractures is considerably higher in patients with early-stage chronic kidney disease than in the general population.
Charles Powell, MD, assistant professor of clinical medicine-allergy, pulmonary & critical care (and a former Florence Irving Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine), has received a $50,000 grant from the Lung Cancer Research Foundation to study the effects of changes in chromosome 7q on the ability of lung cancer cells to become invasive and metastasize. The work will be done in collaboration with Alain Borczuk, MD, associate professor of clinical pathology, Brynn Levy, MSc., PhD, associate professor of clinical pathology, and Joshua Sonett, MD, professor of surgery.
Lisa Saiman, MD, MPH, professor of clinical pediatrics, is the recipient of a five-year $4.6 million grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research for a multi-center project designed to improve antimicrobial prescribing practices in the neonatal intensive care unit. Research sites include Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian, Weill-Cornell Medical Center, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and Christiana Health Systems of Newark, Del.
Judith Sluimer, PhD, postdoctoral research scientist in medicine-molecular medicine (in the lab of Ira Tabas, MD, PhD, vice chairman of research in the Department of Medicine and professor of medicine and of anatomy & cell biology), is the recipient of an $8,000 visiting fellowship award from the International Atherosclerosis Society. Funds will be used to further Dr. Sluimer's research on endoplasmic reticulum stress, macrophage self-digestion, and programmed cell death.
Mark Underwood, PhD, professor of clinical psychiatry, has received a five-year $2.2 million continuation of funding from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to extend his studies on serotonin-related changes in the brainstems of alcoholics, with critical importance for scientific understanding of how serotonin is affected by alcoholism and how serotonin deficits can contribute to the onset and maintenance of the disease.
Yongliang Zhao, PhD, assistant professor of radiation oncology, has been awarded $1.3 million over four years by the National Cancer Institute to test the hypothesis that beta-induced transforming growth factor (TGFBI), a gene previously linked to a variety of diseases (among them, schizophrenia and corneal dystrophies, a group of potentially blinding eye disorders characterized by abnormal thickness of the cornea), possesses significant anti-tumor function and properties. Findings are expected to have an impact on current understanding of the functional role of TGFBI loss in the development of human cancers.
CUMC
Columbia will receive more than $200,000 in one-year planning grants for stem cell research from the Empire State Stem Cell Board. Researchers at CUMC and Columbia's Morningside campus will use the funding to support technologies needed to work with unique stem cell lines and to support resource sharing and collaborations among laboratories working on related topics and disease areas. The grants, part of $2 million in planning grants for New York institutions to strengthen the state's capacity for stem cell research, are the second round of grants awarded to Columbia this year.
The Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library has been awarded a $13,000 technology innovation award from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Middle Atlantic Region. Funds from the grant will be used to install a network of flash screens in public areas around CUMC for the purpose of displaying and publicizing information about library resources, events, and programming. Screens will be placed at the library in Harlem Hospital, the New York State Psychiatric Institute library, the Allen Pavilion, and the Russell A. Hibbs Memorial Library of New York Orthopedic Hospital.
GIFTS AND PLEDGES
SCHOOL OF NURSING
The Hastings Foundation has made a commitment of $50,000 to endow the Harold W. and S. Wilhelmina Shipley Scholarship Fund at the School of Nursing. The School of Nursing has received a $267,000 bequest from the estate of Regina A. Driscoll. Funds will be directed to the school's campaign for building support. Ms. Driscoll was an alumna of the Class of 1940.
COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS
EBI, L.P. has made a gift of $100,000 to fund research in the Division of Pediatric Orthopedics. The gift will educate orthopedic surgeons in the treatment of pediatric trauma and spine disorders.
The Einhorn Family Charitable Trust has made a commitment of $1.2 million to support the CUMC Brain-Gut Initiative, a multi-disciplinary research program that examines the neurobiological basis of nurture and focuses on developing new treatments for childhood developmental disorders.
The Eye Surgery Fund has made a contribution of $255,000 to advance research at the Edward S. Harkness Eye Institute at the Department of Ophthalmology.
The Louis & Gloria Flanzer Charitable Trust made a commitment of $4.2 million to the Department of Ophthalmology to establish the new Gloria & Louis Flanzer Vision Care Center facility.
Philip H. Geier Jr., a Columbia benefactor, has made a commitment of $500,000 to establish the Philip H. Geier Jr. Clinical Research Program in the Center for Advanced Cardiac Care in the Division of Cardiology.
Richard Hatch has made a gift of $111,000 to P&S through the Margaret Milliken Hatch Charitable Trust, in support of research on inflammatory bowel disease.
Columbia benefactors Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Irving have made a generous gift to support construction of a new educational training center at the Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research.
The Kaplen Foundation has made a gift of $250,000 to the Department of Ophthalmology to support Edward S. Harkness Eye Institute research on age-related macular degeneration.
Mr. and Mrs. Arthur T. Shorin and Mr. and Mrs. Scott Silverstein have established the Shorin-Silverstein Family Scholars Program in Cardiology with a commitment of $500,000. Their gift will provide support for two junior faculty members each year who are engaged in clinical and research activities principally in the area of heart failure and transplantation. Zo's Fund for Life has committed $300,000 to the Glomerular Disease Center to continue research, patient care, and educational activities.
COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE
The College of Dental Medicine has received a bequest of $500,000 from the estate of Harold M. Levine, D.D.S., a 1936 graduate.
Biomet 3I has made a pledge of $250,000 to fund dean's initiatives in the College of Dental Medicine.
Banner photos from left: Tomaoki Kato, Thomas Cangialosi, Sally E. Findley, and Olveen Carrasquillo
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