Dean's Status Report: The College of Physicians and Surgeons

Fall 2009

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

As we conclude the first quarter of our 2010 academic year, the impressive upward trajectory of all aspects of the P&S mission has been sustained or even accelerated. Faculty, staff, students, alumni, and our generous donors can share credit for the continuing growth in our clinical and research programs, our superb educational programs, and our success in doing so while remaining fiscally vigilant in a challenging economic environment. We continue on course with our overall strategy of growth and the development of initiatives designed to stimulate still more growth.

This fall we welcome several new senior faculty into our ranks. New department chairs and senior research faculty include: molecular biologist and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Charles Zuker, recruited from the University of California-San Diego; molecular cloning pioneer Tom Maniatis, recruited from Harvard to chair our department of biochemistry & molecular biophysics; cancer imaging expert Larry Schwartz, recruited from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to chair our department of radiology; and transplantation biologist Megan Sykes, recruited from Harvard to direct our Center for Translational Immunology and research for the Transplant Initiative. Senior clinical faculty recruited recently include transplant specialist Tomoaki Kato, MD, professor of surgery and surgical director of liver and intestinal transplantation, and Emile Bacha, MD, chief of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery in our department of surgery. In the education arena, Paulette Bernd, PhD, was recruited to pathology & cell biology as professor and director of the P&S gross anatomy course. A full listing of new appointments can be found by clicking here.

Our new senior faculty – who are joining scores of junior faculty from residencies and fellowships from across the United States and from around the globe – find a campus undergoing notable physical upgrades. A new Teaching and Learning Center opened in August on the two lower levels of the Hammer Health Sciences Center, with 30,000 square feet of much-needed classroom space. The “TLC” also creates a new entrance to the Hammer building from Haven Avenue, opening the possibility of a new gateway to the campus – “Haven Square” – that we hope will soon incorporate a bookstore, sidewalk seating, and street improvements.

This new center is the first space designed and built at CUMC according to the needs of integrated education, rather than the limitations of space. It is timed perfectly with the start of our new medical school curriculum, which emphasizes team-based learning, early clinical experiences, and the ability to pursue a major area of interest. The new curriculum combines the principles of basic science, professionalism, and clinical medicine in a way that encourages teamwork and innovation. Increased flexibility in the post-clinical period will give students an opportunity to explore more fully an area of special interest, culminating in a scholarly project.

Another enhancement to our physical environment will be felt as a result of our revised policy that prohibits smoking both inside and outside our buildings. The policy, which took effect in August, prohibits smoking on all CUMC property and puts our medical center at the forefront of a movement among health care institutions nationwide to address a habit that kills nearly half a million Americans each year. Because we seek to prevent as well as heal, this policy will contribute to the arsenal of our efforts in this arena, including help for smokers who wish to quit.

A bit further from campus but an important new part of our educational mission is a medical school program created between P&S and our upstate clinical affiliate, Bassett Healthcare, a nationally recognized health system based in Cooperstown, New York. Launched in May, the Columbia-Bassett Program will address the severe shortage of rural and primary care physicians by training a new generation of doctors who will be taught to lead health systems that promote both quality of practice and cost-effective delivery of care. Recruitment will begin this fall for the class that will enter in 2010.

Over the summer Andrea Califano, professor of biomedical informatics, agreed to lead a new endeavor to harness our full potential in systems and computational biology by becoming founding director of the Systems Biology Initiative. The Systems Biology Initiative will include the current Columbia Genome Center and the Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics. Dr. Califano, who joined P&S in 2003, currently directs the Center for the Multiscale Analysis of Genomic and Cellular Networks (MAGNet), one of seven NIH-funded National Centers for Biomedical Computing. This new initiative is the fourth multidisciplinary initiative created in the past several years, including the Transplant Initiative, the Cardiovascular Research Initiative, and the Stem Cell Initiative.

We should be particularly proud of our growing federal grant portfolio, including our faculty’s success in obtaining funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Large new grants 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. As of this writing, we are running ahead of our usual 1.3% or so share of the extramural NIH budget. At a time when many of our peer institutions are facing hiring freezes or constraining their growth, we are actively recruiting scientists across the full spectrum of departments and research disciplines.

Our success has been widely noted and led to my hosting a visit by New York State Gov. David A. Paterson. He, my colleague David Hirsh, Columbia’s Executive Vice President for Research; New York State Senator Eric Schneiderman; New York State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick; and representatives from Clarkson University and Stony Brook University, spoke at a press conference also attended by State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell, Assemblyman Rory Lancman, and representatives from five other New York State universities.

In July, the Columbia University Board of Trustees approved new names for two of our departments: The Department of Microbiology is now the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. The new name reflects the department’s broadening scientific emphasis on immunology, which includes cancer biology, infectious diseases, and autoimmune diseases. And the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine is now the Department of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine, reflecting an expanded commitment to exploring new technologies and approaches in regenerative medicine, such as stem cells, to improve the care of patients with disabilities resulting from injury or disease.

Our educational, research, and clinical operations continue to earn top rankings in various mainstream media outlets. In the Chronicle of Higher Education’s most recent ranking of graduate research programs, nine of our departments were in the top 7, with four – Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, Human Nutrition, Pharmacology, and Physiology & Cellular Biophysics – ranking #1. In U.S. News & World Report’s rating of medical schools, our scores continue their strong upward trend with rankings especially elite in peer assessment, student selectivity, and specialty areas such as internal medicine, women's health, AIDS, and drug/alcohol abuse.

Neurology and neuroscience at Columbia also continue to receive top accolades and honors, some of which were highlighted at the centennial celebration of the Neurological Institute with a daylong neuroscience symposium and gala dinner last month. Many of the world’s top neuroscientists and neurologists, including Columbia’s two active winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, discussed some of the most common neurological diseases, including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, stroke, and brain tumors.

Our clinical mission continues to flourish as our faculty practice, which is the largest group practice on the east coast, showed solid growth again last year. The second half of this fiscal year is projected to show even stronger growth because of increased capacity in inpatient beds and operating rooms at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, our clinical partner.

To stimulate further clinical growth, the Dean’s Office is investing heavily in new primary care practices on both the east and west sides of Manhattan under the auspices of the Department of Medicine. A number of other Dean’s Office initiatives are also designed to encourage clinical growth across the entirety of our faculty practice organization. Our new electronic medical record has been successfully implemented in about half of our practices this year and should soon include all of our practice areas.

We are fortunate that, owing to everyone’s hard work, we are fiscally sound with a balanced budget. Although our endowment portfolio suffered with the economic downturn, the performance of Columbia’s endowment is among the best in the country. We surpassed our $1 billion goal for the Defining the Future campaign far ahead of schedule and our philanthropy remains strong, thanks to the many donors who made significant gifts and pledges to P&S during the past year. Their generosity and commitment allow us to continue to provide quality patient care even to the most vulnerable patients, to translate new discoveries, and to train our talented students to become future leaders in medicine.

Our effort to support the P&S faculty remains of paramount importance. The Office of Academic Affairs continues its stellar efforts in creating professional development programs that have drawn both junior and senior faculty members in impressive numbers. The University Trustees and Senate also have supported our faculty development by approving a resolution to extend the tenure clock for health sciences faculty with substantial clinical responsibilities.

I would personally like to congratulate the faculty, students, and staff for their steadfast dedication to continued improvements in our physical spaces, our research capacity, our clinical mission, and our educational programs, which allow us to sustain and enhance our stature as one of the nation’s best centers for health care, education, research, and public service.

Sincerely,
Lee Goldman, M.D.