Neighborhood Fund Kicks Off First Annual Appeal

The season for giving started earlier this year with the Medical Center Neighborhood Fund’s launch of its first annual Kick-Off Breakfast on October 5, 2009 at the Faculty Club. Employees from Columbia University Medical Center, NYPresbyterian Hospital and New York State Psychiatric Institute, including Drs. Lee Goldman, Herbert Pardes and Jeffrey Lieberman, interacted with representatives from community organizations, who had obtained grants from the Neighborhood Fund to help them sustain programs vital to Washington Heights and Inwood residents.

For the past 22 years, employees have generously contributed to the Medical Center Neighborhood Fund, an idea conceived by the late Dr. Donald Tapley, who sought a way to give back to the community that had so enriched his professional life at NYPresbyterian Hospital.

Employee contribution has helped to maintain arts programs in neighborhood schools, shore up dwindling resources at food pantries and provide assistance to an outreach program that offers comprehensive treatment services for substance abusers and those infected with HIV. Testimonials provided by three program coordinators were compelling arguments for the continued need for funding. Long-time site visitor Matt Gold, Director of Occupational Therapy at NYSPI, highlighted the personal growth and fulfillment gained from his participation of more than a decade.

Over $1.5M has been awarded since the Neighborhood Fund’s inception. Last year, more than $75,000 was awarded to 56 community organizations.

Representative Schwartz and Tiberi Establish Congressional Academic Medicine Caucus

United States Representatives Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) and Patrick Tiberi (R-OH) have created the new Congressional Academic Medicine Caucus in the House of Representatives.  Reps. Schwartz and Tiberi will serve as co-chairs of the new bipartisan caucus which will focus on maintaining and strengthening the nation's medical schools and teaching hospitals.  When establishing the new caucus, Reps. Schwartz and Tiberi wrote, "The new caucus will also strive to educate other members on the unique health care, research, and training missions of teaching hospitals and medical schools."

AAMC President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., thanked Reps. Schwartz and Tiberi for "ensuring that academic medicine continues to have a strong voice and the support to continue to provide the best that American medicine has to offer."  Dr. Kirch also stressed the importance of academic medicine saying "academic medicine is where patients, their families and other health care providers turn for hope.  With the establishment of this caucus, the nation's medical schools and teaching hospitals will have a strong voice in Congress and the support they need to continue to provide the high-quality care that all Americans deserve, and pioneer the innovations that transform medicine and improve health.  We look forward to working with Reps. Schwartz and Tiberi and all the members of this important new caucus."

Gov. Paterson Visits Columbia University Medical Center to Announce More than $600 Million in Stimulus Grants for Science and Medical Institutions Statewide

Research Will Promote Innovation to Build the New Economy

NEW YORK (Sept. 22, 2009) – Governor David A. Paterson announced today that Columbia University Medical Center and other New York State universities, medical facilities, businesses and research institutions have been awarded 1,164 research grants worth more than $600 million in competitive stimulus funds available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

“The key to a growing economy is investing in innovation – by turning discoveries into business opportunities,” Gov. Paterson said at a special press conference held at Columbia University Medical Center. “The $605.5 million that institutions all around New York have won will help ensure that New York remains a leader in research as we continue to work with our universities to build bridges from research to application."

Lee Goldman, Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences and Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine at Columbia University, introduces Governor David A. Paterson of New York. Photo credits: Diane Bondareff.

Columbia University Medical Center received about $30 million for medical research, including studies that investigate the causes of Alzheimer’s, the connection between heart disease and depression, new treatments for cancer and AIDS, how adult stem cells in the brain make new neurons, and how prenatal exposure to pollution affects the health of children. In all, Columbia University as a whole was awarded $66.9 million in the package.

Among other projects being funded is a $16 million grant for the Energy Frontier Research Center at Columbia University, matched by 10 percent from the State and by another $250,000 from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, to use nanotechnology and supercomputing in pursuit of advances in solar energy, biofuels, transportation, energy efficiency, electricity storage and transmission, carbon capture and sequestration, and nuclear energy.

Before getting into the crux of the announcement, however, Gov. Paterson related his own personal story about his being treated at the Medical Center, where an ophthalmological appointment as a young child revealed severe sight loss.

“I couldn’t be happier to be back for this announcement today because I was, in effect, reborn at Columbia University Medical Center many years ago," Gov. Paterson said at the start of the conference. “Growing up in Brooklyn with an unknown ophthalmologic problem that was diagnosed – at another facility that will remain nameless – as Tay-Sachs Disease, my parents were told that I probably would live until age 2. And so I was brought to Columbia University Medical Center in early 1955 where they re-adapted the diagnosis to optic atrophy and that it was something that I would be able to go through life with and make something of myself. So coming back here is a great thrill for me.”

Dr. Lee Goldman with Governor David Paterson

Lee Goldman, Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences and Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine at Columbia University, introduced the Governor and kicked off the event, saying: “Government support for biomedical research not only directly leads to the discovery of preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic measures that improve people’s health and quality of life but also generates new jobs in New York State.”

The federal agencies providing these funds include the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy.

David Hirsh, Columbia's Executive Vice President for Research, said: “These grants through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act support basic and applied research programs at Columbia and our fellow New York State institutions that develop applications with the potential to improve the lives of people everywhere. These investments also stimulate the creation of new ideas, new products and new jobs that add value to our local and national economy.”

Dean Goldman and the Governor were joined by elected officials, New York state legislators and representatives from the State’s other top colleges and universities who were part of the announcement. The full press release from the Governor’s office, which lists top institutional awardees is available here: http://www.ny.gov/governor/press/press_0922091.html

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