| CUMC Celebrates - November 25, 2008 |
NEW INITIATIVES
P&S
P&S has launched a new stem cell initiative to focus additional resources and greater attention on the areas of fundamental and translational stem cell research. Building upon previous efforts, most notably a successful stem cell symposium held earlier this year as well as recent work transforming skin cells from an ALS patient into stem cells and motor neurons, the new initiative reflects an expanded commitment to explore new technologies and approaches to improve the treatment of patients with a wide variety of disabilities and disorders. The initiative will be under the interim leadership of James Goldman, MD, PhD, professor of pathology & cell biology, housed in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, and overseen by Joel Stein, MD, Columbia's newly recruited rehabilitation medicine chair. Immediate future plans include recruiting a permanent director and key scientific personnel, as well as a proposal to rename the department as the Department of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine to reflect its new, expanded role.
Heidi Klingbeil, MD, assistant professor of clinical rehabilitation medicine, has founded and launched a non-profit corporation, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Volunteers International, to provide rehab services in underserved and impoverished areas around the globe. The group embarked on its first medical mission in July, traveling to the Caribbean nation of St. Lucia, where Dr. Klingbeil and her team of volunteers established a basic rehabilitation service at the island's St. Jude Hospital, the primary health care provider for the southern half of the country, and initiated outreach projects to several remote health care clinics and a nursing home.
MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Earlier this year, the Trustees of Columbia University, on behalf of Mailman's program, Averting Maternal Death and Disability, signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Nations Population Fund and UNICEF to establish a formal alliance to work toward improving maternal health services worldwide, particularly in the areas of emergency obstetric and newborn care. Linda P. Fried, MD, MPH, dean of the Mailman School, was the official Columbia representative at the July signing ceremony, held at the Mailman School.
APPOINTMENTS, RECRUITMENTS & PROMOTIONS
P&S
Donald W. Landry, MD, PhD, professor of medicine-nephrology, has been named chair of the Department of Medicine after serving as interim chair. He has been a faculty member in the department since 1985 and has served as director of its Division of Nephrology since 2003. A graduate of P&S, Lafayette College, and Harvard University, Dr. Landry is a physician and organic chemist whose work in translational research has helped advance patient care in more than a dozen medical specialties, resulting in new and improved treatments for heart disease, diabetes, allergies, autoimmune diseases, and addiction, among others.
Amanda Pong, MD, recently joined P&S as assistant professor of neurology and as a staff neurologist at the Columbia University Comprehensive Epilepsy Center. A pediatric neurologist with expertise in childhood refractory epilepsy, Dr. Pong graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University and was active in basic science neurology research at Mount Sinai School of Medicine before entering medical school at the University of Pittsburgh. She trained in general pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego, and pediatric epilepsy at Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School.
AWARDS & HONORS
P&S
LaMont Barlow'10, 2008-09 Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellow, was a winner in the "Clinical/Epidemiology/Health Care" category at the 6th Annual Joint Research Poster Symposium of the American Medical Association's 2008 Medical Student Section interim meeting, held in Orlando earlier this month.
Carlos Cordon-Cardo, MD, PhD, the Chernow Family Professor of Clinical Urological Sciences (in urology) and professor and vice chair of pathology, has been honored with the "Nobility in Science" award by the Sarcoma Foundation of America, recognizing his commitment and contributions to sarcoma research. Dr. Cordon-Cardo has done breakthrough work on mesenchymal stem cells and sarcoma initiation, on tumor suppressor genes and sarcoma progression, and on the development of mouse models for certain sarcoma subtypes, enabling the testing of novel treatments. He will accept his award at the SFA's 2009 fundraising gala next April in New York City, following a scheduled presentation on advances in sarcoma research at the organization's annual educational conference.
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, was profiled in the Oct. 11, 2008, issue of Lancet. The article focused on Dr. Deckelbaum's many initiatives in global health and nutrition, including his work with the Ben Gurion University-Columbia University Medical School for International Health.
Andrew Einstein, MD, PhD, assistant professor of clinical medicine-cardiology and radiology, is the recipient of the 2008 Katz Young Investigator Prize in Cardiology Research. Dr. Einstein was cited for his contributions to advances in cardiac imaging research, in particular his work studying the use of computed tomography angiogram (CTA), a new, non-invasive imaging technique for the assessment of levels of calcium and fatty deposits in the coronary arteries. He was the driving force behind a July 2007 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association reporting that women and younger patients had a greater lifetime risk of cancer associated with radiation exposure from CTA. He is now seeking ways to minimize these risks to patients and practitioners.
Glen Gillen, EdD, OTR, FAOTA, associate professor of clinical occupational therapy, has been named a distinguished lecturer by the University of Illinois College of Applied Health Sciences for 2008-2009. This honor recognizes Dr. Gillen's many accomplishments in the field of neurorehabilitation.
Kelli Harding, MD, assistant professor of clinical psychiatry, has been named to a two-year term on the Association of American Medical Colleges' board of directors. Dr. Harding previously served as chair of the AAMC's organization of resident representatives (2007-2008).
Hua V. Lin, PhD, associate research scientist in medicine-endocrinology, is the recipient of the 2008 Naomi Berrie Young Investigator Award for exceptional achievement in diabetes research. Dr. Lin investigates how the central nervous system and peripheral organs regulate glucose metabolism and energy balance. She received her award, which includes $100,000 in research funding, at a ceremony at the Russ Berrie Medical Science Pavilion this month.
Howard Kaufman, MD, the Edwin C. and Anne K. Weiskopf Associate Professor of Surgery, has been named to the board of directors of the American Cancer Society's eastern division. Dr. Kaufman is involved in treating patients with melanoma and conducts translational research in cancer vaccines and tumor immunology.
Seymour Lieberman, PhD, professor emeritus of biochemistry and special lecturer in obstetrics & gynecology, has been chosen to receive the Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research's Gregory Pincus Medal, given to honor the highest achievements in the field of endocrinology. Dr. Lieberman will receive his award at an upcoming ceremony in Manhattan. Affiliated with the University of Massachusetts Medical School, the Worcester Foundation is a research center best known for pioneering work in contraception and in vitro fertilization.
Richard Mayeux, MD, MS, the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Professor of Neurology, Psychiatry and Epidemiology, director of the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, and co-director of the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, has received this year's John Stearns Award for Lifetime Achievement in Medicine from the New York Academy of Medicine. Dr. Mayeux received the award, intended to honor extraordinary achievement in multiple areas over a professional lifetime, at the annual meeting of the Fellows of the Academy this month.
Stephen Nicholas, MD, professor of clinical pediatrics and professor of clinical population & family health (Mailman), was honored with two awards this month. He received the Latino Trendsetter Award from Defining Trends magazine at the United Nations and was celebrated as a "2008 Local Hero" by Bank of America for the International Family AIDS Program, which he founded at Columbia in 1999.
Steven Williams'09, 2007-08 Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellow, was the recipient of two awards this year. At the annual meeting of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, held in April, Mr. Williams received the association's "Best Research Poster" award. Three months later, he was a second-place winner in the Rabb-Venerable research competition in the ophthalmology section of the National Medical Association's annual convention, held this year in Atlanta.
Richard Younge, MD, MPH, assistant professor of clinical medicine, Center for Family and Community Medicine, was honored with a May and Samuel Rudin Visiting Scholarship from the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education of the City University of New York. The Sophie Davis School's goal is to increase access to medical school among young people from inner city neighborhoods and prepare students for primary care practice in underserved areas.
COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE
Stella Efstratiadis, DDS, professor of dental medicine-orthodontics, was the keynote speaker at the 10th annual Orthodontic Pan-Hellenic Congress of the Greek Orthodontic Association for Study and Research, held in Athens in September. Dr. Efstratiadis' lecture was titled "Orthodontic Diagnosis and Treatment Evaluation in the Digital Era."
MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Three Mailman faculty members, Robert Fullilove, EdD, professor of clinical sociomedical sciences and associate dean of community and minority affairs; Mindy Thompson Fullilove, MD, professor of clinical sociomedical sciences; and Lourdes Hernandez-Cordero, DrPH, assistant professor of clinical sociomedical sciences, are part of a team selected by French President Nicholas Sarkozy to participate in a new urban planning initiative, Le Grand Pari. The three will explore some of the key population centers in Paris and its surrounding areas to assess the spaces, places, and people throughout the city. The team was one of only 10 groups chosen for the project. Robert Fullilove also was selected by the Ryan White CARE Network to receive the Commissioner's Distinguished Service Award of the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute. He was cited for his contributions in the HIV/AIDS field.
Faith Lamb-Parker, PhD, assistant clinical professor of population and family health, served as scientific director for Head Start's ninth national research conference, held this summer in Washington, D.C. The conferences are designed to identify and disseminate the latest research findings relevant to low-income families and to foster partnerships among researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers.
Todd Ogden, PhD, associate professor of biostatistics (in psychiatry, P&S), recently received the H.O. Hartley Award from Texas A&M University. The Hartley Award is given annually to a former Texas A&M statistics student for distinguished service to the discipline.
Frederica Perera, DrPH, professor of environmental health sciences and director of the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health, was honored in October by the Children's Environmental Health Network for advancing the protection of children from environmental hazards, as well as her pioneering work in developing molecular epidemiology as a tool to evaluate the health effects of environmental exposure.
Irwin Redlener, MD, clinical professor of population and family health and director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, was selected as one of 10 commissioners of the new National Commission on Children and Disasters. The commission is charged with assessing the nation's ability to establish and protect the needs of children in the planning for, response to, and recovery from large-scale disasters. Dr. Redlener, who was nominated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was sworn in last month.
Allan Rosenfield, MD, former dean of the Mailman School, was honored posthumously by the Center for the Advancement of Women with its first lifetime achievement award, recognizing his lifelong commitment to women's health issues. The tribute was held at the center's fifth annual "Changing the Landscape for Women Benefit" in late October. Dr. Rosenfield died Oct. 12.
GRANTS
P&S
Julian Abrams, MD, assistant professor of clinical medicine-digestive & liver diseases, has received a five-year $677,000 career development award from the National Cancer Institute. Funds will be dedicated to the examination and possible confirmation of smoking as a risk factor for lung metastasis and alcohol as a protective mechanism against liver metastasis in esophageal cancer. Dr. Abrams also will study the relationship of smoking and alcohol use to site-specific metastatic risk in the disease process, looking specifically at the impact of these lifestyle factors on the primary tumor and the point of origin for cancerous spread.
Marc Arkovitz, MD, adjunct assistant professor of surgery, and Wendy Chung, MD, PhD, assistant professor of pediatrics, are the recipients of $2.8 million over five years from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to identify novel genes for both congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) and diaphragm development, as well as characterizing new syndromes associated with CDH. These findings are expected to help improve genetic diagnostic methods and provide more accurate clinical prognostic information for patients and families with CDH, a common birth defect constituting 8 percent of all such neonatal abnormalities.
Angela Christiano, PhD, the Richard and Mildred Rhodebeck Professor of Dermatology and professor of genetics & development, has been awarded $2.4 million over five years by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases to conduct genome-wide association studies of alopecia areata, the autoimmune skin disease that affects nearly 2 percent of the U.S. population and results in hair loss on the scalp and elsewhere on the body.
Lorraine N. Clark, PhD, assistant professor of clinical pathology, has received $1.4 million over four years from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to conduct a molecular genetic analysis of lysosomal storage disorder genes in Parkinson's disease, clarifying their role in genetic susceptibility to the illness. Earlier studies have suggested a link between mutations in the glucocerebrosidase gene and Parkinson's.
David H. Figurski, PhD, professor of microbiology, has received a five-year $2 million renewal of funding from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, helping extend an ongoing study of genes that govern infection in periodontal and likely numerous other types of bacteria. Goals are to understand how two key genes work to control infection and to find chemicals that block their activity, with the hope of developing supportive therapies for infection.
Michio Hirano, MD, associate professor of neurology, has received a $100,000 supplement from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, providing additional funds for an ongoing study of how coenzyme Q10 deficiency develops at the molecular level and causes disease. Low levels of coenzyme Q10, essential for cellular metabolism, have been implicated in a variety of conditions, including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and a number of inherited neurological disorders. This brings the study's first-year NICHHD funding total to $411,000.
John R. Hogg, PhD, postdoctoral research scientist, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, has been awarded $101,000 over two years by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to study how HIV messenger RNAs are assembled with proteins and exported in the disease process. It is expected that new human proteins necessary for viral gene expression and infectivity -- and novel targets for therapeutic intervention -- will be identified.
Shailendra Joshi, MD, assistant professor of clinical anesthesiology, has received a five-year $1.8 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to test the use of novel optical technologies and new techniques of intra-arterial drug delivery to improve chemotherapy outcomes in patients with primary or secondary malignant brain tumors.
Petra Kaufmann, MD, assistant professor of neurology, has been awarded a $40,000 supplement by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to support her ongoing clinical trial of high-dose coenzyme Q10 as a therapeutic agent in the treatment of ALS. Funds are earmarked for the collection of biomaterial and data for repository banking. The supplement brings fiscal year 2008 funding for this project, slated to conclude in March 2009, to just under $454,000.
Rose Lai, MD, assistant professor of neurology, has received a five-year $678,000 grant from the National Cancer Institute to conduct a pilot study of the association between statin therapy and the risk of malignant gliomas, a particularly lethal group of brain tumors. The study also will assess the modifying effect of pharmacogenetics in the potential statin-malignant glioma relationship.
H. Thomas Lee, MD, PhD, associate professor of anesthesiology, has been awarded a four-year $1.3 million extension of funding by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to further his studies of the use of volatile anesthetics throughout surgery to protect against acute kidney injury.
Frances R. Levin, MD, the Kennedy-Leavy Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, is the recipient of a three-year $1 million award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to conduct a clinical trial of a newly developed active cocaine vaccine across six test sites. Project collaborators are Baylor College of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, the University of Cincinnati, and the University of Pennsylvania.
Joanne Macdonald, PhD, associate research scientist in medicine-nephrology, Division of Clinical Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics, is the recipient of a new three-year $548,000 grant from the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Computer & Information Science and Engineering. Dr. Macdonald will use her award for a project designed to make molecular computation practical and feasible for biodetection applications.
Michael Shelanski, MD, PhD, the Delafield Professor of Pathology & Cell Biology, chair of the Department of Pathology, and co-director of the Taub Institute on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, has been awarded a $159,000 supplement by the National Institute on Aging to support the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Columbia, bringing the center's two-year NIA funding total to $4.5 million.
Steven A. Siegelbaum, PhD, professor of neuroscience and pharmacology, is the recipient of a four-year $1.3 million extension of funding from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Funds will be dedicated to a project examining the molecular basis for how the HCN1 ion channel, a key regulator of neuronal activity that is important for regulating learning and memory, is trafficked to the surface membrane of neurons. Because alterations in HCN1 trafficking following an initial seizure are thought to contribute to development of epilepsy, these studies may suggest new therapeutic approaches to treating neurological disease.
Samuel Silverstein, MD, the John C. Dalton Professor of Physiology & Cellular Biophysics and of Medicine and director of Columbia's summer research program for science teachers, has been awarded a $473,000 four-year grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to support a collaboration among the science teacher outreach programs at Columbia, National Jewish Medical and Research Center-University of Colorado, Stanford University, and the University of Texas-Southwestern Medical Center. The goals of the collaboration are to prepare high school science teachers to incorporate basic principles of immunology into high school life science instruction and to assess the impact of this training on teacher and student interest and achievement in science.
Janet Sparrow, PhD, the Anthony Donn Professor of Ophthalmic Science (in ophthalmology and pathology) and professor of pathology, has been granted a five-year $2 million competing continuation from the National Eye Institute to further studies of the impact of lipofuscin pigment accumulation on retinal pigment epithelial cells. Build-up of this substance in the eyes is a major risk factor for the development of macular degeneration.
Catherine Todd, MD, MPH, assistant professor of clinical obstetrics & gynecology, has received $104,000 in continued annual funding from the NIH's Fogarty International Center to conduct baseline studies and pilot an intervention to implement blood-borne infection testing and improved maternal and child health counseling among obstetric patients in Kabul, Afghanistan. The project will conclude in August 2009.
Debra J. Wolgemuth, PhD, professor of genetics & development, has been awarded $1.3 million over four years by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to clarify the role and function of a protein known as BRDT in sperm development. Dr. Wolgemuth's work is expected to yield important insights into the potential malfunctioning of human BRDT in cases of unexplained infertility in men and may provide a new and novel target for male contraception.
Ai Yamamoto, PhD, assistant professor of neurology, has received a five-year $1.8 award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to study macroautophagy in the brain. Defects in macroautophagy, a poorly understood process that helps cells get rid of proteins that no longer function, have been implicated in Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and many lysosomal storage diseases. Findings are expected to clarify how this important degradation pathway differentially impacts neurodegeneration and its many disease states.
Jay Yang, MD, PhD, professor of anesthesiology, has been awarded $1.3 million over four years by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to study the molecular mechanisms underlying septic shock, with the goal of reversing the immune cell death and subsequent lack of immunity that both characterize the disease and lead to a high mortality rate.
SCHOOL OF NURSING
Elaine Larson, RN, PhD, professor of pharmaceutical and therapeutic research (Nursing) and epidemiology (Mailman), recently received a two-year $596,000 cooperative agreement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Funds will be dedicated to a study of the impact of an automated surveillance system on the monitoring of and compliance with isolation precautions to prevent the spread of MRSA. Dr. Larson's application was the only one funded from among 25 applications.
MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, MPH, professor of clinical epidemiology and medicine (P&S) and director of the International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs (ICAP), has received $1.6 million over five years from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to extend a "Prevention of Mother-to-Child-Transmission-Plus" program in Nigeria.
Lynn Freedman, JD, MPH, professor of clinical population and family health and director of the Averting Maternal Death and Disability Program, and Helen dePinho, MBBCh, FCCH, MBA, assistant professor of clinical population and family health, have been awarded approximately $4.5 million over three years by Denmark's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to catalyze policy and program change in support of an increased role for mid-level providers in delivering emergency obstetric care at scale in high-mortality countries.
Janlori Goldman, JD, research scientist in sociomedical sciences, received $60,000 from the North Carolina-based Research Triangle Institute as part of a project on health information privacy and security. The award is funded through a subcontract with Health Research Inc.
David Hoos, MD, associate professor of clinical epidemiology, is the recipient of $735,000 from USAID to strengthen the malaria diagnostic capacity of laboratories in the Oromiya region of Ethiopia.
W. Ian Lipkin, MD, the John Snow Professor of Epidemiology, professor of neurology (P&S), and pathology (P&S), and director of the Center for Infection and Immunity, and Thomas Briese, PhD, associate professor of clinical epidemiology, Center for Infection and Immunity, have received $3.8 million over two years from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to determine the causes of pediatric pneumonia in Gambia and South Africa, using molecular tools for viral and microbial surveillance and discovery.
Jo Phelan, PhD, associate professor of sociomedical sciences, has been granted $185,000 by the National Science Foundation for a collaborative research project looking at stigma and status.
James Phillips, PhD, professor of clinical population and family health, has been awarded $2.8 million over two-and-a-half years by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Phillips will develop, test, and implement a comprehensive information system for a group of district health managers, sub-district service providers, and community health workers in Ghana.
GIFTS & PLEDGES
P&S
Two anonymous P&S alumni have each committed $1 million to the P&S Alumni Campaign's Legacy Challenge Fund. The new initiative designated for scholarships provides one matching dollar for every three committed through a planned gift to create a named scholarship in honor of the Challenge donor.
An anonymous alumnus of P&S has made a bequest to endow a professorship in the Department of Pediatrics.
The Carmel Hill Fund has made a commitment of $11,250,000 to the Department of Psychiatry in support of the Columbia University TeenScreen program. The program helps young people and their parents through the early identification of mental health problems, such as depression.
The Jerome L. Greene Foundation has pledged $1.3 million to the Department of Medicine to help establish an endowed professorship to honor Dr. Jerry Gliklich's outstanding contributions to cardiology at Columbia.
The G. Harold & Leila Y. Mathers Charitable Foundation has made a commitment of $2.4 million to support basic research in the Department of Neuroscience.
The Parkinson's Disease Foundation has pledged $2.69 million to the Department of Neurology to support Parkinson's disease research.
The Edward John and Patricia Rosenwald Foundation has made a commitment of $250,000 to support the Department of Psychiatry.
Strongheart Realty Inc. has pledged $2.5 million to establish the Sudhir Choudhrie Professorship of Cardiology in the Department of Medicine.
SCHOOL OF NURSING
An anonymous graduate has made a gift of $100,000 to establish a challenge match to encourage support for the School of Nursing's Annual Fund.
The Lincoln Fund will renew its commitment of $50,000 to the school's scholarship program.
>Top
212-305-3900
Banner photos from left: Amanda Pong, Stella Efstratiadis, Robert Fullilove, and the Columbia School of Nursing
Previous issues
View newsletter on the web
http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/celebrates/