Ruth L. Fischbach, PhD, MPE (CBETR Fellowship Director)

Ruth L. Fischbach is Professor of Bioethics and Director and Co-founder of the Center for Bioethics. She is a faculty member both in the Department of Psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Department of Sociomedical Sciences at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

Prior to arriving at Columbia, Dr. Fischbach served from 1998 to 2001 as Senior Advisor for Biomedical Ethics in the Office of the Director of Extramural Research at the National Institutes of Health. Here she participated in many federal interagency committees designed to protect the rights and promote the welfare of research participants. While at the NIH, she produced Bioethics Resources on the Web, a useful Web site resource for the research community and two guidance documents: Protection of Participants in Behavioral and Social Sciences Research and Research Involving Individuals with Questionable Capacity to Consent: Points to Consider. She received an NIH Award of Merit for her efforts in establishing the Tuskegee Center for Bioethics. Preceding her service at the NIH, from1990 -1998, Dr. Fischbach was a professor at Harvard Medical School where she served as a bioethicist / medical sociologist in the Department of Social Medicine and the Division of Medical Ethics. She developed and directed the Program in the Practice of Scientific Investigation. Earlier, at Washington University School of Medicine from 1983 - 1990, as a professor and Assistant Dean, she headed the Ethics Program and founded the Humanities in Medicine Program.

Her research interests and scholarly publications have focused on decisions around the end of life, autonomy of the elderly, communication between patients and healthcare professionals, domestic violence, pain assessment and management, and the experiences of research participants, particularly as they relate to privacy and informed consent. Her current work focuses on research ethics and contemporary issues in bioethics including: neuroethics, stem cell research, and advances in assisted reproductive technology.

At Columbia, Dr. Fischbach is a member of the Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) Institutional Review Board (IRB), the CUMC Ethics Committee, the Children's Hospital of New York (CHONY) Ethics Committee, the University Stem Cell Consortium, the University’s Stem Cell Oversight Committee, the Ethics, Policy, and Human Rights Core of the HIV Center at Columbia and the NY State Psychiatric Institute, and the Advisory Board for the Center for the Study of Science and Religion. Beyond Columbia, Dr. Fischbach has been elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and to serve as Member-at-Large for Section X of the AAAS. She also serves on the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Medical and Professional Advisory Council and Gold Foundation Honor Society, and the Population Council IRB. Dr. Fischbach is a member of the Board of Directors of PRIM&R (Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research) and the Morris Jumel Mansion in historic Washington Heights.

Paul S. Appelbaum, M.D. is the Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Psychiatry, Medicine and Law, and Director, Division of Psychiatry, Law, and Ethics, Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. He is also an affiliated faculty member at Columbia Law School. Dr. Appelbaum is the author of many articles and books on law and ethics in clinical practice, including four that were awarded the Manfred S. Guttmacher Award from the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law: (with Thomas G. Gutheil, M.D.) The Clinical Handbook of Psychiatry and the Law (3rd ed., 2000); Almost a Revolution: Mental Health Law and the Limits of Change (1994); (with Thomas Grisso, Ph.D.) Assessing Competence to Consent to Treatment: A Guide for Physicians and Other Healthcare Professionals (1998); and (with John Monahan, Ph.D., et. al.) Rethinking Risk Assessment (2001).

Dr. Appelbaum is Past President of the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, and the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society, and serves as Chair of the Council on Psychiatry and Law for the American Psychiatric Association. He was previously Chair of the Commission on Judicial Action for the American Psychiatric Association and a member of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Mental Health and the Law. He is currently a member of the MacArthur Foundation Network on Mandatory Outpatient Treatment. He has received the Isaac Ray Award of the American Psychiatric Association for "outstanding contributions to forensic psychiatry and the psychiatric aspects of jurisprudence," was the Fritz Redlich Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and has been elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Appelbaum is a graduate of Columbia College, received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and completed his residency in psychiatry at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center in Boston.

Henry Ginsberg, MD, is Irving Professor of Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, where he also serves as Principal Investigator of the CTSA and Director of the Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research at NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Ginsberg conducts research related to the regulation of the levels and metabolism of apolipoprotein B-containing lipoproteins, the lipoproteins carrying triglycerides and the bulk of cholesterol in blood. These include the atherogenic very low density and low density lipoproteins. Dr. Ginsberg has a particular emphasis on the pathophysiology of hypertriglyceridemia and the dyslipidemia associated with insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus. Research is conducted at three levels: tissue culture using both human and rat hepatoma cells, transgenic mice, and human clinical studies. In cultured cells, Dr. Ginsberg and his associates have described the role of lipid substrate availability in determining if newly synthesized a of degradation and lipoprotein assembly of apoB. His group has characterized the role of the proteasome in the degradation of apoB.

In clinical studies, Dr. Ginsberg is investigating postprandial hyperlipidemia as a risk factor in patients with diabetes. He is also part of a group at Columbia that will be studying the role of glycemic, lipid and blood pressure control in the prevention of cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes. The latter, named the ACCORD trial, is a 10-year trial with 10,000 patients at 6 sites across the United States. Dr. Ginsberg also has a long record of research into the effects of diet on lipid and lipoprotein metabolism in humans, and has conducted numerous controlled feeding studies in humans.

John Lorenz, MD is Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Columbia University Physician and Surgeons. His research interests are developmental renal and fluid and electrolyte physiology, long-term newborn intensive care outcomes and decision making in the NICU. Dr. Lorenz clinical specialties are fluid and electrolyte (F&E) management, thermal management, hyperbilirubinemia, and biomedical ethics.

Kenneth Prager, MD is Professor of Clinical Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Director, Clinical Ethics and Chairman of the Medical Ethics Committee of Columbia University Medical Center. He spent two years practicing general medicine on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota after his medical internship. Dr. Prager held clandestine medical clinics in the Soviet Union during a visit in 1986, and later set up the first U.S. - Soviet medical student exchange program between Columbia P&S and the First Moscow Medical Academy. In addition to his pulmonary practice, Dr. Prager is heavily involved in teaching pulmonology and medical ethics to medical students, house officers and nurses. His writings on medicine and medical ethics have appeared on the Op-Ed pages of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal as well as in medical journals and textbooks. He lectures extensively on medical ethics. Dr. Prager is on the admissions committee of, and is a regular guest lecturer for, the Ben Gurion University MD Program in International Health and Medicine in collaboration with Columbia University Health Sciences. He is on the Board of Directors of the American Council on Science and Health.

CBETR FELLOWSHIP CORE FACULTY

Elaine Abrams, MD is Professor of Pediatrics and Public Health, with home department in Pediatrics, Harlem Hospital and joint appointment in Epidemiology MSPH. She is the director of the MTCT-Plus Initiative, a care and treatment program for HIV-infected women and their families in resource constrained settings. Currently, there are 13 programs at 42 sites in nine countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Thailand. Dr. Abrams is also a member of the leadership group of ICAP, the International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs, where she is responsible for the development and implementation of pediatric and perinatal prevention initiatives. Within this context, Dr. Abrams is supporting the development of Centers of Excellence in Pediatric and Family Care in several African countries. Dr. Abrams has been an active investigator in the field of maternal-infant HIV transmission and the natural history of HIV disease in infants and children since the recognition of the epidemic in the United States. She has developed a comprehensive research and care program for woman and children with HIV infection in Central Harlem, the Family Care Center; has been actively involved in the development of national and local policies for care and treatment; and has conducted multiple clinical trials of antiretroviral agents and other associated medications. She has been an investigator in a longstanding study examining risk factors for perinatal transmission and is now the principal investigator of a multi-site follow-up study. Dr. Abrams has an active clinical practice and continues to provide care for a large group of HIV-infected children and their families.

Michelle Sondra Ballan, PhD is Assistant Professor of Social Work at Columbia University. Her work focuses on clinical and educational interventions for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families, specifically related to sexual development and behavior. Her research also addresses program and practice issues pertaining to sexual offenders with disabilities. She is also interested in ethical issues in sexuality research involving vulnerable populations.

Ronald Bayer, PhD, is Professor of Public Health at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. He serves as Co-Director of the Program in the History of Medicine and Public Health. His work on the ethics of public health has centered on AIDS, and he has studied tuberculosis policy and tobacco regulations in liberal democracies. He has recently been elected to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences and is the principal investigator of an NIH funded study on the Ethics of Surveillance in Computer Databases.

John F. Ennever M.D., Ph.D. is the Medical Director of the Clinical Trials Office at the Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) in New York and Director of the Regulatory Knowledge and Support resource in the Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research.   He is a member of both the Institutional Review Board and the Privacy Board at CUMC.  Dr. Ennever’s principal role within the Irving Institute is to facilitate the conduct of clinical research by helping investigators understand and comply with all the regulatory requirements that govern the conduct of human subject research.   This is done through a combination of consultation, education, and training.  In addition, he is the author of two manuals that address how to complete IRB and HIPAA submissions at the medical center.

Rev. Tim Fauvell is the Chief Chaplain of CHONY: The Children's Hospital of New York. His duties include administering all pastoral care services at CHONY, with responsibility for the religious and spiritual welfare of all patients, their families, and hospital employees. His duties also include supervising all clinical pastoral care interns and residents, and providing ethical, moral, and religious consultaion to administration, medical, nursing and other staff as requested. Rev. Fauvell's career includes working with The Gay Men's Health Crisis, BroadwayCares/ Equity Fights AIDS, and numerous other nationally-recognized community outreach programs. Rev. Fauvell has lectured nationally, and has led Grand Rounds at CHONY on topics including AIDS/HIV Prevention, Family Brereavement, and Children and Families: Issues Surrounding Illness, Death and Dying. In addition to being a certified chaplain and pastoral counselor, Rev. Fauvell holds Diplomat status in CPSP (The Clinical Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy Certification Group). Rev. Fauvell is a graduate of New York's Union Theological Seminary and is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ.

Mindy Fullilove, MD, is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and a research psychiatrist at New York State Psychiatric Institute. Dr. Fullilove has conducted research on AIDS and other epidemics of poor communities, with a special interest in the relationship between the collapse of communities and decline in health.

Evelyn C. Granieri, MD, MPH, MsEd, is Chief of the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Aging at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Granieri’s areas of interest include care and communication at the end-of-life, improving geriatrics and gerontology education for all medical trainees, and nutrition in older adults. Dr. Granieri was the recipient of the 2003 Humanism in Medicine Faculty Award from the Gold Foundation and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and is a member of the Administrative Board of the Council of Academic Societies of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), representing geriatrics.

Robert Klitzman, MD, is Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Mailman School of Public Health. He co-founded, and for several years co-directed the Center for Bioethics, and is the Director of the Ethics, Policy and Human Rights Core of the HIV Center, and a member of the Division of Psychiatry, Law and Ethics in the Department of Psychiatry.  He has extensively studied and published on ethical, social, and psychological issues in medicine and psychiatry, including issues of research ethics in both the United States and the developing world, neuroethics, assisted reproductive technologies, stem cells, privacy and disclosure of genetic and other medical information, stigma and discrimination related to illness, medical education, and doctor-patient communication. His books include: A Year-Long Night: Tales of a Medical Internship; In a House of Dreams and Glass: Becoming A Psychiatrist; Being Positive: The Lives of Men and Women with HIV; The Trembling Mountain: A Personal Account of Kuru, Cannibals, and Mad Cow Disease; Mortal Secrets: Truth and Lies in the Age of AIDS; and most recently, When Doctors Become Patients.  He was recently named a gubernatorial appointee to the New York State Stem Cell Commission, and has been the Principal Investigator of numerous grants, including R01s from the National Human Genome Research Institute.  He has received several awards for his work, including a Burroughs-Wellcome Fellowship (for Future Leaders in Psychiatry from the American Psychiatric Association), an Aaron Diamond Foundation Fellowship, a Picker-Commonwealth Scholar Award, a Visiting Scholar Award at the Russell Sage Foundation, Fellowships at Yaddo, and a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Residence.

Elaine Larson, RN, PhD, FAAN, CIC is the Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Pharmaceutical and Therapeutic Research, Columbia University School of Nursing and Professor of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. She is a former Dean, Georgetown University School of Nursing, and Associate Director of Nursing, Georgetown Hospital. Dr. Larson has been a member of the Board of Directors, National Foundation for Infectious Diseases and the Report Review Committee, National Academy of Sciences. She is the Director of the NIH-funded Center for Interdisciplinary Research to Prevent Antimicrobial Resistance. Dr. Larson has been Editor of the American Journal of Infection Control since 1994 and has published more than 200 journal articles, four books and a number of book chapters in the areas of infection prevention, epidemiology, and clinical research

Carol B. Liebman, JD is a Clinical Professor at Columbia Law School where she is the Director of the Columbia Law School Mediation Clinic. She also teaches negotiation and professional ethics. She has mediated cases involving discrimination, medical malpractice, family issues, public agencies, community disputes, business conflicts, and educational institutions, and is a nationally recognized speaker and trainer in conflict resolution. Carol Liebman has designed and presented mediation training for a variety of groups, including the Certification Program in Bioethics of the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University and Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine; New York’s First Department, Appellate Division, Attorney Disciplinary Committee; the Association of the Bar of the City of New York; and high school students, parents, and teachers, and taught about negotiation and mediation in Vietnam and Israel, China and Brazil. She is the author, with Nancy Dubler, of Bioethics Mediation: A Guide to Shaping Shared Solutions, published by the United Hospital Fund, and is also a member of New York City’s Civilian Complaint Review Board.

Barron H. Lerner, MD, PhD, is the Angelica Berrie-Gold Foundation Associate Professor of Medicine and Public Health at the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons and the Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Lerner received his MD from Columbia in 1986 and his PhD in history from the University of Washington in 1996. His book, The Breast Cancer Wars: Hope, Fear and the Pursuit of a Cure in Twentieth-Century America, published by Oxford University Press, received the William H. Welch Medal of the American Association for the History of Medicine and was named one of the 26 most notable books of 2001 by the American Library Association. Dr. Lerner has published extensively in scholarly journals and regularly contributes essays to the Science Times section of The New York Times. He has also appeared on several National Public Radio programs, including “Fresh Air,” “Science Friday” and “All Things Considered.” Dr. Lerner’s latest book, When Illness Goes Public: Celebrity Patients and How We Look at Medicine, was published by the Johns Hopkins University Press in November 2006. In addition to his research, Dr. Lerner practices internal medicine and teaches medical ethics and the history of medicine at Columbia University Medical Center.

John D. Loike, PhD serves as Director for Special Programs for the Center for Bioethics and is the Co-Director for Graduate Studies in the Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is also an Advisory Board member of the Columbia University Center for the Study of Science and Religion, creator and faculty editor of the Columbia University Journal of Bioethics, and course instructor for Crossroads in Bioethics, a course for undergraduates offered each spring at Columbia College. Dr. Loike’s areas of interest in bioethics include stem cells, cloning, neuroethics, bioterrorism, and the interface of science and religion. He has co-organized several national and international conferences on genetics and Bioethics, and he is the founding co-director of BIOCEP (BIOethical Cross-cultural Education Program), a two-week intensive summer internship program designed to promote educational and cultural exchange in medical ethics (medical tourism, emerging infections, stem cell research, reproductive medicine, etc.) with students from Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand.

Jeremy Simon, MD, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at the College of Physicians & Surgeons and an attending physician in the Emergency Department of New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia. He serves on the Columbia University Medical Center Ethics Committee and Institutional Review Board, as well as the ethics committee of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. His interests extend to both medical ethics and general philosophy of medicine (metaphysics and epistemology) and particularly to the intersection of these fields.

David Strauss, MD is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Director of the Office of Human Subjects Research in Psychiatry at Columbia, and Chairman of the Institutional Review Board at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. He is co-director of the Ethics, Public Policy and Human Rights Core of an NIH funded HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies, and recipient of two NIH grants on research ethics training and enhancement of human subjects oversight for psychiatric research. Dr. Strauss consults and teaches on a range of topics related to research ethics and regulatory compliance. He is currently a member of an NIH Research Ethics study section and the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Human Research Protections (SACHRP) for which he is also co-chairing a subcommittee on research protections for individuals with impaired decision-making abilities.