DALLA-FAVERA NAMED IRVING CANCER CENTER DIRECTOR

I am enormously pleased that Riccardo Dalla-Favera, the Percy and Joanne Uris professor of pathology and director of the Institute for Cancer Genetics here at Columbia, has accepted the position of Director of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center. Riccardo's selection followed a thorough and broad committee search. Riccardo's first effort will be to recruit in the areas of medical oncology, surgical oncology and cancer biology. We are, after all, a comprehensive cancer center, a title that applies to only three institutions in New York State and 39 across the country. The Cancer Center will influence departments across the entire university and will have an enormous effect on all relevant disciplines, from biophysics to public health.

ROTHMAN TO HEAD GENOME CENTER

I have asked Jim Rothman, who came to CUMC less than a year ago, to assume leadership of our Judith P.Sulzberger, M.D. Columbia Genome Center. Jim has also been named the Clyde and Helen Wu Professor of Physiology. Jim is a cell biologist who has been recognized with both the Mary Lasker Award and the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize, both harbingers of the Nobel Prize. His current use of high-throughput technologies to screen genomes is informed by his imaginative cellular assays.

NEW DrNP DEGREE WILL ENROLL FOR FALL

The DrNP degree that you've heard about in the past has now been approved by the New York State Board of Regents. It now remains to turn this creative plan from our nursing faculty into a productive reality. More than 800 inquiries have been received for enrollment in the first class in fall 2005. In my view, this program will help transform the delivery of medical care in America.

$17 MILLION GRANT TO FUND TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH

Columbia is one of only five institutions to receive a Specialized Center of Clinically Oriented Research (SCCOR) grant focused on congestive heart failure. This important effort follows results of the REMATCH trial for LVADs. Eric Rose is principal investigator of the $17 million grant award from NHLBI.

BOARD OF VISITORS HOLDS FIRST MEETING

We have formed a Board of Visitors (BOV) consisting of leaders from the corporate, academic and philanthropic communities, to assist in fulfilling our strategic plans for the medical center. An Executive Committee of the BOV meets frequently. P. Roy Vagelos, M.D., who chairs our Defining the Future Capital Campaign, also chairs this group. The full BOV met for the first time in February. David Brenner, Andy Davidson, Andy Marks and I provided an overview of our schools and their missions. My intention is to expand and integrate the individuals in this group into the life of the medical center, based on their expertise and their interests.

BOV members include as follows: Thomas Connolly, Manhattan periodontist, SDOS alum and SDOS capital campaign chair; Richard Elias, P&S alum and chief cardiologist at Miami Heart Research Institute; Loren Eng, founder and president of the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation;. Daniel Federman, professor and former dean, Harvard Medical School; Michael Jaharis, co-founder of Kos Pharmaceuticals; Paul Marks, hematology and human genetics specialist, former dean of P&S, and former president (for 19 years) of Memorial Sloan-Kettering; Allen Mebane, co-founder and retired CEO of UNIFI Inc;

Also, Philip Milstein, principal in Ogden CAP Properties and trustee of Columbia University; Joseph Murphy, investment banker, chairman of Country Bank, and capital campaign chair for the Berrie Center at CUMC; Cecil B. Pickett, president of Schering-Plough Research Institute; Richard Silverman, vice chair at Bank of America; Dinakar Singh, founder and CEO of TPG-Axon Capital and founder and chair of the SMA Foundation; Judith Sulzberger, P&S alum instrumental in founding and developing the Sulzberger Columbia Genome Center; Leonard Tow, former CEO of Citizens Communications; Savio Tung, managing director of Investcorp International, a Columbia engineering alum and a University trustee; Alberto Vilar, generous patron of arts and education programs and active donor at Columbia, where the Neurosurgery Department bears his name. Torsten Wiesel, Nobel prize winner and former president of Rockefeller University; Clyde Wu, P&S alum, Columbia trustee, cardiopulmonary specialist, and donor for many CUMC professorships and research programs in clinical and basic science.

PRACTICE PLAN TASK FORCE OUTREACH UNDER WAY

The P&S Faculty Practice Task Force is making good progress in its efforts to develop a new model for faculty practice that will better serve the goals of our clinicians - i.e., to improve their financial security, their work environment, and our patients' care experience, while also better supporting the academic mission of the medical school. An initial document that provides a "picture of the future" has been refined and accepted by the FPO Board of Governance. It now remains to define a roadmap to implement this vision. Site visits to other medical centers are scheduled, and focus groups, department meetings and more informal interviews at P&S are planned. The broader the participation of our faculty, the better the product will be. The Task Force goal is to present a proposal to the clinical faculty by the end of June. www.cfpo.org is the website for faculty to read the documents.

TASK FORCE ON WOMEN DELIVERS REPORT

A faculty-driven Task Force on Women Faculty, formed last year to address faculty development issues at P&S, has delivered its recommendations to me and to the faculty chairs. The well-researched report identified two overriding needs for P&S: an infrastructure for faculty development and improved transparency and accountability for annual reviews of faculty. Rank, salary, and representation on important committees were cited as priority issues. The Task Force's recommendations will be shared more broadly with the faculty in the next month, and I hope to begin getting needed actions under way before the end of the academic year.

COLUMBIA SCHOOL FOLLOW UP

At our March 8 Town Hall meeting some of you had questions regarding policy changes at the Columbia School for which we did not have adequate answers. I'd like to invite you to access schooltaskforce@columbia.edu website, for comments to the University task force. Once the task force has completed its review, Provost Alan Brinkley and his staff member Roxie Smith have agreed to hold a special uptown session for concerned faculty at CUMC. This meeting will be scheduled in the near future. I invite all of you who are concerned to attend and share your concerns.

MANHATTANVILLE PLANS PROGRESSING

Several hundred of you joined us on Feb. 25 for an open house on the planned Columbia expansion into the West Harlem area known as Manhattanville. This rejuvenation could present opportunities for even greater interaction between the medical center and the Morningside campus.The University is working with the community and city government on urban design planning. It is anticipated that the University's proposals will help with economic revitalization. For more information please visit: www.columbiaspectator.com and click "Manhattanville Expansion."

EMPLOYEE, FACULTY HEALTH ASSESSMENT COMING IN APRIL

A new workplace health and wellness effort which I encourage you all to take advantage of will begin in April. In collaboration with the NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, this will bring will provide individuals with immediate personalized feedback about preventive health services to consider and discuss with a health provider. Everyone will be able to enroll in the health risk assessment (HRA) component of the initiative, a voluntary, confidential basic health profile to assess health risk. The HRA will be available mid-April and will take about 15-20 minutes to complete. Look for further information and log on to cumc.columbia.edu in the coming weeks to learn more.

INVIVO TAKES ON NEW FORM, NEW FOCUS

When our campus newsletter, InVivo, was launched in 2001, its goal was to focus on the important research taking place in the schools that composed Columbia University Health Sciences. Much has changed and continues to change since then (including our very name.) There is a great deal besides research that goes on at this campus that is critical to our mission. InVivo will continue to cover the research occurring in our vibrant laboratories, but now you can expect coverage of clinical care, education, policy and the administration - all areas that impact our daily lives at CUMC. And, in addition to broader coverage, InVivo has been redesigned in a lively new format. Look for it on campus and in your mailboxes soon.

SIX AWARDED NAMED PROFESSORSHIPS

I am pleased to announce six new named professorships which were approved by our University Trustees at their March meeting. Sincere congratulations to all.

Jeffrey N. Bruce was named the Edgar M. Housepian Professor of Neurological Surgery Research at the NYPH at the CUMC, with stated term, Faculty of Medicine

Ira Jay Goldberg was appointed the Dickinson W. Richards, Jr. Professor of Medicine, with tenure, Faculty of Medicine

Jeffrey A. Lieberman was named the Lieber Professor of Psychiatry, with tenure, Faculty of Medicine

Alfred I. Neugut was appointed the Myron M. Studner Professor of Cancer Research in the Department of Medicine at NYPH at the CUMC, with stated term, Faculty of Medicine

Serge Przedborski was appointed the William Black Professorship of Neurology, (a new named professorship) Faculty of Medicine, with tenure

James E. Rothman was named the Clyde '56 and Helen Wu Professor of Physiology (Chemical Biology) (a new named professorship) in the Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine, with tenure

HONORS & APPOINTMENTS

Barbara Andoh, D.D.S., assistant professor at SDOS, received the NYSDAC Minority Faculty Development Award of $20,000 a year for her two years of doctoral studies at the Mailman School of Public Health.

David R. Bickers, M.D., chair of Dermatology, has been elected President of the American Board of Dermatology, the key standard-setting group for the specialty. He was also granted honorary membership in the American Academy of Dermatology at the group's annual meeting in February.

Mercy Davidson, a Ph.D. researcher in neurology's H. Houston Merritt Research Center, has been elected to a second term in the University Senate, representing the Research Officers Constituency.

Gwen Nichols, M.D., assistant professor of clinical medicine, has received the 2004 Humanism in Medicine Award from the AAMC, nominated as a role model by Organization of Student Representatives, here at Columbia.

Elizabeth Panzer, SDOS'07, received the Horace Wells Club Trust for the second year in a row. The Horace Wells Club, named for Dr. Horace Wells, the discoverer of anesthesia, is committed to supporting dental education for Connecticut residents. Dr. Panzer, a lifelong resident of Ridgefield, CT, plans to return there to practice.

Kael Rogers, SDOS'07, was awarded the 2005 Minority Dental Student Scholarship from the American Dental Association (ADA). The annual scholarship is based on academic performance and financial need to minority students identified as being underrepresented in dental school enrollment. Proctor & Gamble, Oral B Laboratories and John O. Butler Co. Brock Goodman, SDOS'07 also received an ADA Scholarship.

David Sayah, an M.D./Ph.D. student, has been awarded one of the most prestigious awards for student researchers in the nation -- the Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award, which recognizes outstanding achievement during graduate studies in the biological sciences.

Richard K. Scher, M.D., was granted honorary membership in the American Academy of Dermatology at the group's annual meeting in February.

Leslie W. Seldin, D.D.S., SDOS '66, associate clinical professor of dentistry received the New York State Dental Association (NYSDA) Jarvie-Burkhart award, the organization's highest honor, in recognition of outstanding service to mankind through dentistry.

Ezra Susser, M.D, Dr.Ph., the Anna Cheskis Gelman & Murray Charles Gelman Professor of Epidemiology and Chairman of the Department of Epidemiology, delivered the prestigious annual Robins/Guze Lecture at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Susser discussion spoke about the search for the causes of schizophrenia.

Aaron R. Turkish, M.D. a pediatric fellow in gastroenterology, has been chosen to receive the American Liver Foundation's Shherlock Clinical and Translational Research Award. His award of $150,000 per year for two years will be payable to the Department of Pediatrics and the University.

Ronald J. Wapner, M.D., will join the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology in May. Dr. Wapner will join the department as the Division Chief of Maternal Fetal Medicine and will be appointed a professor. Currently the Professor and Chairman of Ob/Gyn at Drexel University College of Medicine and Director of Reproductive Genetics, Dr. Wapner is a renowned expert in prenatal diagnostic and screening techniques. He was a leading investigator in the FASTER trial, a groundbreaking study on first trimester screening for Down's Syndrome.

Katayoun Yaraghi, SDOS'07, received the American Dental Education Association/Listerine Preventive Dentistry Scholarship. Yaraghi will receive the award at the 2005 ADEA Annual Session and Exhibition in Baltimore on March 6. The $2,500 scholarship will be used toward Yaraghi's SDOS tuition.