In addition to the Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation, a number of departments, centers, programs, and institutes celebrated major anniversaries in 2008. Among them: the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center (10th), the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies (20th), the Department of Sociomedical Sciences at the MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH (40th), the postdoctoral periodontics program at the COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE (60th), and the Harkness Eye Institute (75th).

Also noteworthy are a number of funding milestones we reached this past year. In the spring, the National Institutes of Health released data showing that CUMC received the most NIH grant funding in both New York City and New York state for fiscal year 2007. In June, CUMC witnessed and celebrated a landmark fundraising achievement: $1 billion in gifts and pledges, a mere five years after the launch of our ambitious Defining the Future campaign. The SCHOOL OF NURSING's Center for Interdisciplinary Research to Reduce Antimicrobial Resistance, led by Elaine Larson, RN, PhD, professor of pharmaceutical and therapeutic research (Nursing) and epidemiology (Mailman), received a total of $10 million over the past two years, $7.7 million in direct awards and another $2.3 million through affiliated grants.

Jeremy Mao, DDS, PhD, professor of dental medicine-orthodontics, led a team of interdisciplinary researchers from the COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE, the University of Wisconsin, and Case Western Reserve University in a breakthrough tissue engineering project. The investigators designed a new way to generate bone and other types of tissues more rapidly, working with a combination of stem cell lines not typically used together for healing. Dr. Mao's research circumnavigates a major roadblock in tissue regeneration and has major implications for, and beyond, oral health care. Earlier in the year, Dr. Mao and colleagues also developed a novel technique -- the use of porous structures as drug delivery systems -- to help integrate host tissue with implants. The new approach, based on a concept that also underscored the development of the drug-eluting stent, has implications for a number of seemingly disparate medical disciplines, from dentistry to orthopedics.

THE MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH was well represented this year by the work of W. Ian Lipkin, MD. Dr. Lipkin, the John Snow Professor of Epidemiology and professor of neurology and pathology (P&S), was a driving force behind two seminal research developments in 2008: In February, Dr. Lipkin and his laboratory were instrumental in discovering and identifying a new arenavirus and linking it to the deaths of three transplant recipients from a single donor in Australia last year. Their work marked the first time that high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies were used to investigate an outbreak of infectious disease. Later in the year, Dr. Lipkin (along with co-corresponding author Mady Hornig, MD, associate professor of epidemiology) published definitive findings showing, via a carefully designed case-control study, no causal relationship between administration of the MMR vaccine and the subsequent appearance of autism, helping to put to rest an assertion that has persisted in the public consciousness for more than a decade.

COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS investigators were also productive throughout the year. Here are just a few of the many noteworthy accomplishments P&S researchers worked on this year:

• In March, Karen Duff, PhD, professor of pathology (in psychiatry and in the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain) published a study in the journal Neuron describing her discovery of a novel molecular pathway in the brain, one that may help explain a well-established link between Alzheimer's and stroke.
• Physicians revealed that a young New Jersey boy was cured of a fatal genetic skin disease using stem cells from a cord blood and bone marrow transplant, a clinical milestone made possible by the basic research contributions of Angela Christiano, PhD, professor of dermatology and genetics & development.
• In a NYC first and major advance for the field of vascular surgery, a team of surgeons led by James McKinsey, MD, associate professor of clinical surgery, fitted a 93-year-old man with an investigational device, a new custom-fitted stent graft, allowing treatment of a complex abdominal aortic aneurysm without major surgery.
• In what was described as the first surgery of its kind in the United States, Marc Bessler, MD, assistant clinical professor of surgery, removed a woman's gallbladder through her uterus without needing to make a single external incision. Later, under Dr. Bessler's leadership, CUMC was the first medical institution to perform a new type of incision-free obesity surgery, a procedure in which the stomach is accessed through the mouth.
• Chris Henderson, PhD, professor of pathology, neurology and neuroscience, co-authored a study, published in Science, depicting a new and compelling technique to transform skin cells from an ALS patient into motor neurons. This research breakthrough, later called the No. 1 scientific advance of 2008 by Time magazine, is a major step toward personalized regenerative medicine in general and a cure for the fatal Lou Gehrig's disease in particular.
• This fall, Gerard Karsenty, MD, PhD, the Paul A. Marks Professor of Genetics & Development and department chair, continued his groundbreaking work in documenting new relationships between the skeletal and endocrine systems, finding that bone growth is controlled in the gut by the mood-influencing chemical serotonin rather than by the skeleton, challenging fundamental assumptions about bone formation and opening up new avenues for the treatment of osteoporosis. Dr. Karsenty's work was published in Cell.

Several important new educational programs and large-scale research agreements and projects were launched at CUMC this year: A new dental education track was approved for the COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE. The program, created, developed, and forged under the leadership of Roseanna Graham, DDS, MA, assistant professor of clinical dental medicine-restorative dentistry, is a joint collaboration with Columbia University Teachers College. THE MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH signed a Memorandum of Understanding with UNICEF and the UN Population Fund to work together to improve maternal health services worldwide. Mailman also unveiled a new academic program in climate and health through the school's Department of Environmental Health Sciences; Patrick Kinney, ScD, associate professor of environmental health sciences, will serve as director. THE SCHOOL OF NURSING successfully transitioned its Doctorate of Nursing Science program to a Ph.D. degree program, becoming one of only a handful of U.S. nursing schools to offer a fully integrated research and clinically oriented degree program. P&S launched one of its most ambitious stem cell research initiatives to date, spurred by a highly successful stem cell symposium as well as research progress at the university. The initiative, announced in November, will increase resources and attention on fundamental and translational stem cell research at CUMC, seeking to promote interactions among many different scientists and departments. Several new scientists are expected to be recruited over the next 18 months. Two of these scientists will be recruited to new endowed professorships in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, soon to be renamed the Department of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine, pending University Senate and Trustees approval. Joel Stein, MD, the new chair of rehabilitation medicine, who will oversee these new recruitments, says the new researchers and name change reflect the department's new mission.

MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

The Mailman School welcomed a new dean in 2008. Linda P. Fried, MD, MPH, succeeded Allan Rosenfield, MD, in May, joining CUMC after 25 years at Johns Hopkins University. In addition, four faculty were promoted to leadership positions: Amy Fairchild, PhD, MPH, associate professor of sociomedical sciences, was named chair of the Department of Sociomedical Sciences for a two-year term and William Friedewald, MD, clinical professor of biostatistics, epidemiology, and medicine (P&S), was named interim chair of the Department of Epidemiology. Melissa Begg, ScD, professor of clinical biostatistics, and Robyn Gershon, DrPH, professor of clinical sociomedical sciences (in nursing), were named associate deans for interdisciplinary programs and research resources, respectively.


P&S

The College of Physicians & Surgeons recruited a number of key personnel from other institutions in 2008. Joining P&S in top leadership and administrative positions this year were:

• K.S. Clifford Chao, MD: Dr. Chao, previously of the University of Texas/M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, was named chair of radiation oncology in April.
• Martha Hooven: Ms. Hooven joined P&S as vice dean for administration from the University of California San Francisco in January.
• Sankar Ghosh, PhD: Dr. Ghosh assumed his new position as chair of microbiology and the Silverstein and Hutt Family Professor of Microbiology on Dec. 1. He previously served as professor of immunobiology and molecular biophysics & biochemistry at Yale University School of Medicine.
• Hilel Lewis, MD: Dr. Lewis, best known as the founding director of the Cole Eye Institute at the Cleveland Clinic-Lerner College of Medicine, was recruited to P&S and CUMC in early July to lead a new division of international ophthalmology.
• Lawrence R. Stanberry, MD, PhD: Dr. Stanberry joined P&S and CUMC as the new chair of pediatrics in February. He previously served in a similar position at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
• Barbara Stanley, PhD: Dr. Stanley, professor of clinical psychology (in psychiatry), joined the Department of Psychiatry and the New York State Psychiatric Institute as director of the Suicide Intervention Center.
• Joel Stein, MD: Dr. Stein was recruited from Harvard Medical School to lead the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and to oversee Columbia's newest stem cell initiative. He joined the P&S faculty in September.
• Anne L. Taylor, MD: Professor of medicine-cardiology, Dr. Taylor joined us from the University of Minnesota. She is the new vice dean for academic affairs.

Several existing faculty members were named to top leadership posts this year: Alfred Ashford, MD, professor of clinical medicine and director of medicine at Harlem Hospital Center, was appointed senior associate dean for the Harlem Hospital affiliation. Ronald Drusin, MD, professor of clinical medicine and former interim senior associate dean for education, became vice dean for education. Robert S. Kass, PhD, the David Hosack Professor of Pharmacology, Columbia University Alumni Professor of Pharmacology, and chair of the Department of Pharmacology, was named vice dean for research. Bradley Peterson, MD, the Suzanne Crosby Murphy Professor of Child Psychiatry, became chief of the Department of Psychiatry's Division of Child Psychiatry in May. Interim chair of medicine, Donald Landry, MD, PhD, professor of medicine-nephrology, was officially made chair of the Department of Medicine in November. Just this month, we announced the selection of Steven A. Siegelbaum, PhD, professor of neuroscience and pharmacology, as the first permanent chair of the Department of Neuroscience, our newest academic department.

MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

In September, Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, MPH, professor of clinical epidemiology (Mailman) and professor of clinical medicine (P&S), was one of 25 individuals nationwide chosen to receive $500,000 in unsolicited, unrestricted funds through the prestigious MacArthur "Genius Award" Fellowship program. She was also named to the World Health Organization's Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Tuberculosis, beginning a three-year term in mid-June.

P&S

Approximately 200 P&S-affiliated physicians were named to Castle Connolly's roster of top New York doctors for 2008, nearly a quarter of the overall list. Stanley Chang, MD, the Edward S. Harkness Professor of Ophthalmology, K.K. Tse and Ku Teh Ying Professor of Ophthalmology, and chair of ophthalmology, was one of three clinicians recognized in March with Castle Connolly's 2008 National Physician of the Year Award for Clinical Excellence.

Louis U. Bigliani, MD, the Frank E. Stinchfield Professor and Chair of Orthopedic Surgery, was installed in June as the 121st president of the American Orthopaedic Association.

Carolyn Britton, MD, associate professor of clinical neurology, was sworn in over the summer as the 109th president of the National Medical Association.

Paul Gordon, MD, assistant professor of neurology, and Roman Robert Snihurowych, MD, postdoctoral fellow in psychiatry, were awarded Fulbright Scholarships for 2007-2008, adding their names to a list of winners that includes Nobel Prize science laureates.

Thomas M. Jessell, PhD, the Claire Tow Professor of Motor Neuron Disorders in Neuroscience and Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, was presented with an inaugural Kavli Prize in Neuroscience at a ceremony in Oslo, Norway, in September. Dr. Jessell is one of three winners of the Kavli neuroscience award and one of seven overall winners worldwide. The prize is designed to complement Nobel Prizes for scientists who have made extraordinary contributions to the fields of neuroscience, nanoscience, and astrophysics.

In December, newly appointed medicine chair Donald Landry, MD, PhD, professor of medicine-nephrology, was awarded the 2008 Presidential Citizens Medal by George W. Bush for exemplary service to the nation. Dr. Landry also was honored by President Bush with a two-year appointment to the President's Council on Bioethics earlier in the year.

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, received the New York Academy of Medicine's 2008 John Stearns Award for Lifetime Achievement in Medicine.

Mehmet Oz, MD, professor of surgery, vice chair of cardiovascular services in the Department of Surgery, and director of the Cardiovascular Institute at NYPH, this year joined television colleague Oprah Winfrey and a who's who of great scientists, thinkers, innovators, and leaders on the 2008 TIME 100, Time magazine's annual list of the world's most influential people.

Timothy A. Pedley, MD, the Henry & Lucy Moses Professor of Neurology and chair of the Department of Neurology, was installed this fall as president of the American Neurological Association for a two-year term.

David P. Roye Jr., MD, the St. Giles Foundation Professor of Clinical Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery and director of the pediatric orthopedic division of Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, was chosen by Strathmore Ltd. as 2008's "Professional of the Year" in pediatric orthopedics for its annual "Who's Who" list and biographical publication.

Oliver Sacks, MD, professor of neurology and psychiatry, was recognized this fall with a Commander of the British Empire award for his service to the field of medicine. He was honored by Queen Elizabeth II at an investiture ceremony in the United Kingdom.

Myrna Weissman, PhD, professor of psychiatry (P&S) and epidemiology (Mailman), this year was named by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, a leading neuroscience organization, as one of the 10 most important mental health epidemiologists in the nation, citing her contributions to and impact on the fields of public health and public policy. The Dana Alliance is led by William Safire (chair) and two Nobel Prize-winners, James D. Watson and Columbia's Eric Kandel (vice chairs).

COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE

CDM was awarded $1 million by the New York State Health Care Initiatives Pool for upgrades to a school-based CDM clinic and for the purchase of a new mobile dental unit. In the fall, CDM received a letter from the New York State Department of Health announcing plans to award the school $2.8 million for clinic upgrades.

Burton Edelstein, DDS, MPH, professor of clinical dental medicine, chair of the social and behavioral sciences section, and professor of clinical health policy & management (Mailman), was awarded a five-year $1.9 million competitive renewal of funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Services, for a community-based dental partnership program.

MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

David Hoos, MD, MPH, assistant professor of clinical epidemiology, was awarded up to $22 million over five years by the CDC for HIV care, prevention, and treatment programs in Kenya.

The Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health, led by Frederica Perera, DrPH, professor of environmental health sciences, received $10.4 million for a study of childhood asthma.

Regina M. Santella, PhD, professor of environmental health sciences, and the Center for Environmental Health in Northern Manhattan were recipients of five-year $8.7 million funding extension by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Denmark's Ministry of Foreign Affairs awarded $4.5 million over three years to Lynn Freedman, JD, MPH, professor of clinical population and family health, and Helen dePinho, MBBCh, FCCH, MBA, assistant professor of clinical population and family health, for work improving emergency obstetric care in high-risk, high-mortality countries.

John W. Rowe, MD, professor of health policy and management, received $3.9 million from the MacArthur Foundation for a new national research network on aging, established to address 21st century demographic and life expectancy changes.

SCHOOL OF NURSING

Mary Byrne, PhD, the Stone Foundation and Elise D. Fish Professor in Clinical Health Care for the Underserved, received a four-year $1.6 million competitive renewal of funding from the National Institute of Nursing Research for a study of maternal and child outcomes after co-participation in a prison nursery program and re-entry into the community.

Elaine Larson, RN, PhD, professor of pharmaceutical and therapeutic research (Nursing) and epidemiology (Mailman), received a two-year $596,000 cooperative agreement from the CDC for a study of the use of automated surveillance to prevent the spread of MRSA.

The School of Nursing received $560,000 over four years from the Jonas Nursing Scholars Program for educational and professional development and received 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 degree.

P&S

The Russell Berrie Foundation gave $21 million to the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center for diabetes research and clinical care programs, along with a $7 million donation to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia, to establish a new center of excellence focusing on the cardiovascular complications of diabetes.

Riccardo Dalla-Favera, MD, professor of pathology and of genetics & development and director of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, received a five-year $19.8 million funding continuation from the National Cancer Institute for cancer center programs, administration, research, and facilities.

Karina Davidson, PhD, the Irving Associate Professor of Behavioral Medicine (in medicine and psychiatry), was awarded $12.4 million over five years by the National Heart, Lung, & Blood Institute for a study of depression and heart disease.

The NYC-based Carmel Hill Fund Education Program made an $11.3 million commitment to the Department of Psychiatry's TeenScreen, a school-based program to identify and help young people at risk for serious mental illness.

The HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies marked its 20th anniversary year with a five-year $10 million funding continuation from the National Institute of Mental Health.

Ann Marie Schmidt, MD, the Gerald and Janet Carrus Professor of Surgical Sciences, was awarded a five-year $8 million grant by the National Institute on Aging to study the impact of aging on ischemia risk.

Olveen Carrasquillo, MD, associate professor of clinical medicine-general medicine (P&S) and health policy & management (Mailman), was granted a five-year $8 million extension of funding by the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities for CHUM, the Columbia Center for the Health of Urban Minorities.

The Diabetes and Endocrinology Research Center and its director, Domenico Accili, MD, professor of medicine-endocrinology, received a $6.5 million funding extension from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Cory Abate-Shen, PhD, professor of urology, was granted $4.8 million in funding over four years from the National Cancer Institute to develop a mouse model of androgen-independent prostate cancer.

Lisa Saiman, MD, MPH, professor of clinical pediatrics, received a five-year $4.6 million award from the National Institute of Nursing Research for research aimed at improving antimicrobial prescribing practices in the neonatal intensive care unit.

The Louis & Gloria Flanzer Charitable Trust made a $4.2 million commitment to the Department of Ophthalmology for the establishment and naming of a new vision care facility.

Aris Floratos, PhD, executive research director, Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, and Andrea Califano, PhD, professor of biomedical informatics, were awarded a three-year $3.9 million award by the National Cancer Institute for a center supporting the NCI's cancer biomedical informatics grid.

Alfred Gelhorn, MD, a noted oncologist who held positions in medicine, pharmacology, and physiology and served as director of the Institute of Cancer Research at P&S before leaving to become dean at the University of Pennsylvania medical school.

George Goldman, MD, director of the Columbia University Psychoanalytic Training and Research Center at P&S from 1961 to 1971

Malcolm Meistrell, DDS, longtime faculty member at the COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE

Jane Morse, MD, a member of the P&S Department of Medicine faculty for more than 45 years and a widely respected physician-scientist best known for her work on pulmonary hypertension

Michael Lesch, MD, professor of medicine at P&S and cardiologist at affiliate St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center

Samuel Pritz, DDS, a 1933 graduate of the COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE who returned in the 1990s to teach after decades in private practice

Allan Rosenfield, MD, dean of the MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH from 1986 until his retirement this year and a tireless advocate for women's reproductive health and rights across the globe

Steven Scrivani, DDS, a faculty member in the COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE

I. Bernard Weinstein, MD, a P&S faculty member since the 1960s and later also affiliated with the MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, who was one of the founding fathers of molecular epidemiology and former director of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center

Robert Weiss, MD, a former dean of Columbia's public health school, a member of the P&S psychiatry faculty, and an authority in social psychiatry

Michael S. Yuan, DDS, associate professor of clinical dental medicine and Glenda Garvey Teaching Academy member, who died of lung cancer at age 48 after winning awards as an educator of both CDM and P&S students