Columbia Health Sciences Update - Special 9-11 Issue

COLUMBIA

HEALTH SCIENCES UPDATE—Special Edition

Highlights in biomedical

and clinical research from Columbia University's Health Sciences Division

Vol. IV, No. 34—August 22, 2002

COLUMBIA HEALTH SCIENCES

UPDATE is a weekly e-mail to the media prepared by the Office of External

Relations at Columbia University Health Sciences providing brief notices

about current research, experts, and events at Columbia Presbyterian Medical

Center.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SEPT. 11 COMMEMORATION

RESOURCE GUIDE

In response to the tragic events of

Sept. 11, 2001, Columbia University Health Sciences faculty, staff, and

students have provided mental health services, conducted research, and

developed emergency preparedness plans to benefit New York and the nation.

Below is a listing of someof the people

engaged in this vital work. If you areworking on astory related to any

of these subjects, we can help you reach the people listed below. Call

the Columbia University Health Sciences Office of External Relations at

212-305-3900 or contact Annie Bayne at as862@columbia.edu,

Leslie Boen at lsb2001@columbia.edu,

or Adar Novak at an2040@columbia.edu.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Psychiatric treatment for NYPD officers—Dr.

Frederic Kass

Law enforcement officers have long been

known to be at high risk for psychological trauma—especially after Sept.

11—and have been reluctant to seek mental health care because of the stigma

attached to it. Working with the New York Police Department, the

Health Initiative for Law Enforcement Officers (HILEO) of Columbia University

and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital has been trying since last year to diminish

that embarrassment by providing free and confidential care for law enforcement

officers through mandatory sessions and a help hotline. Dr. Frederic

Kass, HILEO director and professor of clinical psychiatry in Columbia University

College of Physicians & Surgeons, and colleagues hope this successful

program will be a model for law enforcement agencies in other cities. The

initiative will be the subject of a seminar to be held in New York City

on Sept. 21.

__________________________________________________

Community social and emotional recovery—Dr.

Mindy Fullilove

In response to the events of Sept. 11,

Dr. Mindy Fullilove, professor of clinical psychiatry and public health

at Columbia University, helped establish NYC RECOVERS, an alliance of organizations

engaged in the social and emotional recovery of the New York City metropolitan

area. The alliance has encouraged these groups to plan activities

to

promote strong communities and build relationships between groups that

might not have worked together otherwise. The efforts of NYC RECOVERS

(www.nycrecovers.com) includes a Wellness Campaign for September 2002,

an initiative encouraging city organizations to hold activities before

and after the anniversary of Sept. 11 to help individuals avoid a second

trauma at the anniversary of this tragic event.

___________________________________________________

Post-Sept. 11 environmental health in

NYC—Dr. Regina Santella

Under the direction of Dr. Regina Santella,

professor of public health at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia

University, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has

begun several efforts to study the impact of Sept. 11 on environmental

health in New York City. Some of its efforts include the analysis

of air and dust samples collected near the site of the World Trade Center

(WTC) collapse and the air of Teamsters working in and around debris piles

(in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University researchers). They also

are studying students and teachers at Stuyvesant High School located near

Ground Zero and pregnant women for potential exposure to WTC dust and debris.

The organization also aims to establish an online database of pollution

levels before and after Sept. 11.

__________________________________________________

Victim identification through dental

records—Dr. Robert Miner

It is commonly thought that DNA was primarily

used to identify victims of the World Trade Center attacks. In reality,

a majority of the victims were identified through dental records by a volunteer

dental forensic team who contributed a cumulative 25,000 hours of difficult,

compassionate work. Among them was Dr. Robert Dwight Miner, director

of Columbia's Dental Ethics Programs and associate clinical professor of

dentistry in the department of prosthodontics at Columbia University School

of Dental and Oral Surgery. This massive effort, awarded with a Humanitarian

Award from The New York Academy of Dentistry, brought comfort and closure

to many families of the victims.

________________________________________________________

Environmental health and the youngest

victims—Dr. Frederica Perera

Thousands of pregnant women lived or worked

near Ground Zero at the time of the World Trade Center collapse, causing

concern for fetuses and newborns, who are exceptionally vulnerable to environmental

toxins. Dr. Frederica Perera, director of the Columbia Center for

Children's Environmental Health and professor of environmental health sciences

at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health, and colleagues are conducting

a study of 350 new mothers who were pregnant on Sept. 11 and exposed to

smoke and dust from the WTC. Dr. Perera’s team is following these

women and their babies for two years to determine whether prenatal exposure

to Ground Zero air pollutants adversely affected the children's growth

and development.

For interviews with any of the above

experts or for more information, please contact the Office of External

Relations at 212-305-3900 or contact Annie Bayne at as862@columbia.edu,

Leslie Boen at lsb2001@columbia.edu,

or Adar Novak at an2040@columbia.edu.

___________

ON THE WEB

For more Columbia University Health

Sciences events and activities: Visit our online calendar at cpmc.columbia.edu

Columbia University Health

Sciences press releases—cpmcnet.columbia.edu/news/press_releases

Columbia University Health

Sciences Virtual Tour—vtour.hs.columbia.edu

Columbia University College

of Physicians & Surgeons—cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/ps

Coordinated Doctoral Program

in Basic Sciences—cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/gsas/

Columbia School of Dental

and Oral Surgery—cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/dental

Columbia School of Nursing—cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/nursing

Mailman School of Public

Health at Columbia—cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/sph

Columbia University Programs

in Occupational Therapy—www.ColumbiaOT.org

Columbia Cornell Heart Institute—columbiacornellheart.org

Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center—nbdiabetes.org

Taub Institute for Research

on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain—alzheimercenter.org

Columbia Genome Center—genome4.cpmc.columbia.edu

Institute for Cancer Genetics—ICG.cpmc.columbia.edu

New York State Psychiatric

Institute—nyspi.org

Columbia University Department

of Surgery—columbiasurgery.org

Department of Ophthalmology—cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/eye/

Institute of Human Nutrition—cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/ihn/

Center for Women's Health—cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/cwh

Partnership for Women's Health—partnership.hs.columbia.edu

Columbia University Program

in Physical Therapy—www.columbiaphysicaltherapy.org

Columbia Science and Technology

Ventures—www.stv.columbia.edu

Columbia Interactive—ci.columbia.edu

Columbia-Rockefeller Center

for AIDS Research—cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/CRCFAR/

Charles P. Felton National

Tuberculosis Center at Harlem Hospital—harlemtbcenter.org

Cystic Fibrosis Referral

Center—cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/synergy

Ben Gurion University of

the Negev M.D. Program in International Health and Medicine in collaboration

with Columbia University Health Sciences—cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/bgcu-md/

Rosenthal Center for Complementary

and Alternative Medicine—cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/rosenthal/

NewYork-Prebysterian Hospital—www.nyp.org

NewYork-Presbyterian Cancer

Prevention Program—nypcancer.org/prevention

______________________

LET US HEAR FROM YOU

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_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Prepared by the Office

of External Relations at Columbia University Health Sciences Division

Gerald D. Fischbach, M.D.,

Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences, Dean of the

Faculty of Health Sciences, and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine

Glenn A. Peterson, Associate

Vice President for Communications

Annie Bayne, Director of

Public Relations and Marketing

Robin Eisner, Senior Science

Writer/Editor

Leslie Boen, Communications

Specialist

Adar Novak, Communications

Specialist

Copyright ©2002 Columbia

University Health Sciences Division. All copyright and trademark

rights reserved.

Tags

Frederica Perera, Mindy Fullilove, NYPD, Regina Santella