CUIMC Celebrates 2019-20, Issue 3

CUIMC CELEBRATES acknowledges faculty, staff, and students at Columbia University Irving Medical Center who receive major research grants, who earn prestigious honors, who are elected to honorary societies, or who take leadership positions in professional organizations. Celebrates also gratefully acknowledges the gifts made by donors and friends of the medical center and highlights faculty who have appeared in the news recently. If you have an award or honor that you would like to have listed in Celebrates, please fill out this online form. Please note: All federal grants are automatically included based on institutional data provided by Sponsored Projects Administration. For more information, send an e-mail to the Celebrates editor.

Older issues of CUIMC Celebrates can be found in the archive.

Contents

Research Grants

Awards & Honors

Philanthropic Gifts

CUIMC in the News

RESEARCH GRANTS

New awards of $250,000 and above received through August 2019

VAGELOS COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS

R. Graham Barr, MD, PhD, Medicine, will receive $1,054,227 over four years from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for a subaward of “CT-Based Modeling of Bone Micro Architecture and Fracture-Risk in COPD.”

Gary Brittenham, MD, and Margaret Lee, MD, Pediatrics, will receive $1,996,803 over four years from the Food & Drug Administration for “Daily Vitamin D for Sickle-Cell Respiratory Complications: Phase 2: IND107584 - 11/14/17.”

Angela Christiano, PhD, Dermatology, will receive $812,558 over three years from the Department of Defense for a subaward of “Translating a Stem Cell-Based Therapy for Epidermolysis bullosa into the Clinic.”

Wendy Chung, MD, PhD, Pediatrics, will receive $271,000 over one year from Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy for a subaward of “Screen Newborns in New York State for DMD.”

Michael Compton, MD, Psychiatry, will receive $638,747 over two years from the National Institute of Mental Health for “Reducing Duration of Untreated Psychosis through Early Detection in a Large Jail System.” Dr. Compton also will receive $369,165 over two years from the National Science Foundation for “Minor Charges with Major Impacts: Understanding the Use of Select Misdemeanor Charges among Persons with Social Disadvantage and Serious Mental Illnesses.”

Jeanine D’Armiento, MD, PhD, Medicine, will receive $445,500 over two years from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences for “Role of Lung and Gut Microbiome in Lung Inflammation and Emphysema.”

Piero Dalerba, MD, Pathology & Cell Biology, will receive $1,902,076 over five years from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research for “Dissecting Cell Composition and Drug Sensitivity in Human Adenoid Cystic Carcinomas (ACCs).” Dr. Dalerba also will receive $809,999 over three years from the Army Medical Research and Materiel Command for “Biodegradable Cationic Nanoparticles as a Push Chemo-Drug Carrier and a Pull CFDNA Scavenger Against Breast Cancer Metastasis.”

Richard Deckelbaum, MD, Pediatrics, will receive $462,924 over two years from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for “n-3 Diglyceride Emulsions: Characterization of a Novel Neuroprotectant.”

Lisa Beth Dixon, MD, Psychiatry, will receive $1,172,493 over five years from the National Institute of Mental Health for a subaward of “OnTrackChile for First Episode Psychosis.”

David Fidock, PhD, Microbiology & Immunology, will receive $286,000 over two years from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation for “Programming tRNA Modifications in the Human Malaria Parasite Plasmodium falciparum: A New Paradigm for Artemisinin Resistance in Asian Isolates.”

Joji Fujisaki, MD, PhD, Pediatrics, will receive $1,826,568 over four years from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for “Roles and Therapeutic Potential of CD150high Niche-Associated Regulatory T Cells in Bone Marrow Injury and Engraftment.”

Amin Ghabrial, PhD, Pathology & Cell Biology, will receive $1,343,228 over four years from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences for “Competition and Morphogenesis in Tip Cell-Mediated Branching of Tubular Networks.”

Ali Gharavi, MD, Medicine, will receive $4,720,647 over five years from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for “The Columbia PCC for CureGN: The Cure Glomerulonephropathy Network.”

Yian Gu, MD, PhD, and Nikolaos Scarmeas, MD, Neurology, will receive $767,459 over one year from the National Institute on Aging for “Diet in Relation to Brain and Cognitive Health in a Middle-Aged Multiethnic Population: Nutritional Implications for Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease.”

Gregg Gundersen, PhD, and Howard Worman, MD, Pathology & Cell Biology, will receive $2,121,437 over five years from the National Institute on Aging for “Nucleoskeleton-Cytoskeleton Connections and Cell Polarity in Aging.” Dr. Gundersen also will receive $1,296,000 over four years from National Institute of General Medical Sciences for “Integrin Recycling and Adhesion Formation in Cell Migration.”

Lisa Hark, PhD, will receive $3,498,875 over five years from the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion for “Manhattan Vision Screening and Follow-Up Study in Vulnerable Populations.” Dr. Hark and C. Gustavo De Moraes, MD, PhD, Ophthalmology, will receive $1,249,995 over five years from the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion for “Coordinating Center for Community-Based Interventions with Vulnerable Populations.”

Edward Huey, MD, Psychiatry, will receive $2,040,501 over five years from the National Institute of Mental Health for “Using RDoC Negative and Positive Valence Paradigms to Investigate the Mechanisms of Neuropsychiatric Symptoms (NPS) in Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias.”

Chin Hur, MD, Medicine, will receive $354,411 over five years from National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for a subaward of “Implementation of Childhood Obesity Treatment Innovations to Improve Outcomes of Low-Income Children: The Connect for Health II Study.”

Ivaylo Ivanov, PhD, Microbiology & Immunology, will receive $500,000 over five years from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund for “Regulation of Mucosal Infections by Innate Lymphoid Cells.”

Robert Kass, PhD, Pharmacology, will receive $424,440 over three years from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences for a subaward of “Modulation of KCNQ1 Channel Activity.”

Stavroula Kousteni, PhD, Medicine, will receive $3,500,000 over three years from the Celgene Corporation for “Collaboration Program Pathway.”

Suzanne Leal, MS, PhD, Neurology, will receive $2,649,058 over five years from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders for “Innovative Approaches to Elucidate the Genetic Etiology of Age-Related Hearing Impairment and Tinnitus” and $418,000 over one year from the National Human Genome Research Institute for “Computational Tools for Sequence-Based Large-Scale Epidemiology Studies.”

Sandra Lee, PhD, Medical Humanities & Ethics, will receive $450,000 over five years from the National Human Genome Research Institute for “ELSI Biennial Congress.”

Frances Levin, MD, Psychiatry, will receive $321,024 over three years from the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration for a subaward of “2019 Providers Clinical Support System-Medicated Assisted Treatment.”

Jose Luchsinger, MD, Medicine, will receive $23,945,697 over five years from National Institute on Aging for “Metformin in Alzheimer’s Dementia Prevention (MAP).” Dr. Luchsinger and Davangere Devanand, MD, Psychiatry, will receive $821,822 over one year from the National Institute on Aging for “Auditory, Olfactory, and Motor Correlates of in-Vivo AD Neuropathology and Cognitive Decline in Late-Middle Age.”

Nour Makarem, PhD, Medicine, will receive $258,804 over two years from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for “Circadian Pattern of Rest-Activity Rhythms and Blood Pressure and the Underlying Epigenetic Mechanisms.”

J. John Mann, MD, Psychiatry, will receive $647,000 over five years from the National Institute of Mental Health for a subaward of “Inflammatory Biomarkers and Kynurenine Metabolites Tracking Suicidal Ideation and Behavior.”

Steven Marx, MD, Medicine, will receive $2,950,696 over four years from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for “Phosphorylation-Dependent Regulation of Calcium Channels by Macromolecular Complexes.”

Richard Paul Mayeux, MD, Neurology, Gary Miller, PhD, Environmental Health Sciences, Guiseppe Tosto, MD, PhD, Neurology, and Badri Vardarajan, PhD, Neurology, will receive $2,278,418 over one year from the National Institute on Aging for “Genetic Epidemiology and Multi-Omics Analyses in Familial and Sporadic Alzheimer’s Disease Among Secular Caribbean Hispanics and Religious Orders.”

Wendy McKimpson, PhD, Medicine, will receive $524,660 over four years from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for “Gut Cell Plasticity During Diabetes Treatment.”

Adam Mor, MD, PhD, Medicine, will receive $936,845 over one year from NTB Pharma for “Targeting Novel Checkpoint Inhibitors for Cancer Immunotherapies.”

Munemasa Mori, MD, PhD, Medicine, will receive $2,099,724 over four years from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for “Regulatory Mechanisms of Cell Competition in Lung Regeneration.”

Natura Myeku, PhD, Pathology & Cell Biology, will receive $2,812,855 over five years from the National Institute on Aging for “The Role of Synaptic Proteolysis in Alzheimer’s Disease and Therapeutic Implications.”

Karthik Natarajan, PhD, Biomedical Informatics, will receive $851,331 over one year from the Food & Drug Administration and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for a subaward of “Queries and Epidemiologic Studies” and $499,948 over two years from Janssen Research & Development for “Development of Phenotypes for Medical Conditions/Indications.”

Tal Nuriel, PhD, Pathology & Cell Biology, will receive $445,500 over two years from the National Institute on Aging for “Investigating the Effect of APOE4 Expression on AD-relevant Tauopathy.”

Emmanuelle Passegué, PhD, Genetics & Development, will receive $552,594 over one year from the Office of the NIH Director for “Millipore Sigma ImageStream-X Mark II Imaging Cytometer.”

Serge Przedborski, MD, PhD, Pathology & Cell Biology, will receive $2,000,000 over four years from the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation for “Differential Neuronal Susceptibility as an Avenue Toward Disease-Modifying Therapy for Parkinson” and $445,500 over two years from the National Institute on Aging for “A Transcriptomic Atlas of Immune Cells in a Model of Synucleinopathy.”

Raúl Rabadán, PhD, Biomedical Informatics, and Teresa Palomero Vazquez, PhD, Pathology & Cell Biology, will receive $3,037,494 over five years from the National Cancer Institute for “Single-Cell Characterization of Tumor and Microenvironment Co-Evolution in Peripheral T-Cell Lymphomas.” Dr. Rabadán also will receive $1,000,000 over two years from Stand Up to Cancer for “Identification of Genomic and Immune Factors in High-Risk Populations for Pancreatic Cancer.” Dr. Rabadán, Liam Paninski, PhD, Statistics, and Oliver Hobert, PhD, Systems Biology, will receive $999,993 over three years from the National Science Foundation for “CRCNS Research Proposal: Topological and Dynamical Structures of Brain Development and Sexual-Dimorphism in C. elegans.”

Ran Reshef, MD, Medicine, will receive $2,039,264 over six years from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for “Effector T-Cell Trafficking in Graft-Versus-Host Disease.” Dr. Reshef also will receive $648,000 over two years from the Army Medical Research and Materiel Command for “Glucagon-Like-Peptide 2 (GLP-2) Analogues as a Novel Strategy for Prevention and Treatment of Graft-Versus-Host Disease.”

Lisa Saiman, MD, and Alice Prince, MD, Pediatrics, will receive $1,310,443 over five years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for “Training in Pediatric Infectious Diseases.”

Gary Schwartz, MD, Medicine, and Andrew Lassman, MD, Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Care Center, will receive $5,344,411 over six years from the National Cancer Institute for “Columbia University Minority/Underserved Site NCI Community Oncology Research Program.”

Lawrence Schwartz, MD, Radiology, will receive $349,979 over two years from Bayer for a subaward of “CALGB 80802 and Correlative Substudy CALGB 150902.”

Sagi Shapira, PhD, Microbiology & Immunology, will receive $466,250 over two years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for “Leveraging Experimental and Computational Tools to Define Molecular Functions of Non-Coding RNAs in Innate Immune Responses to Viral Infection.”

Michele Shirasu-Hiza, PhD, Genetics & Development, will receive $1,247,824 over three years from the National Institute on Aging for “Circadian-Regulated Aging Physiologies.”

Stavros Thomopoulos, PhD, Orthopedic Surgery, will receive $413,732 over two years from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases for “Adhesive Materials for Tendon-to-Bone Repair.”

Dennis Vitkup, PhD, Biomedical Informatics, will receive $2,196,805 over five years from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences for “Systems Biology of Protein and Phenotypic Evolution.”

Harris Wang, PhD, Pathology & Cell Biology, will receive $2,158,440 over two years from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency for “A Multimodal Oral Non-viral CRISPR-Cas Medical Countermeasure to Enhance Ionizing Radiation Resilience and Survival.”

Stuart Weisberg, MD, PhD, Pathology & Cell Biology, will receive $827,280 over one year from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for “Tissue Resident Immune Cells in Human Pancreas.”

Priya Wickramaratne, PhD, Psychiatry, and J. John Mann, MD, Psychiatry, will receive $280,361 from the National Institute of Mental Health for “1/4 Leveraging EHR-Linked Biobanks for Deep Phenotyping, Polygenic Risk Score Modeling, and Outcomes Analysis in Psychiatric Disorders.”

S. Zev Williams, MD, PhD, Obstetrics & Gynecology, will receive $3,398,012 over five years from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development for “Nanopore-Based Sequencing of Circulating Placenta-Cell-Type-Specific Extracellular RNA for Real Time Assessment of Human Placenta Development and Function.”

Robert Winchester, MD, Medicine, will receive $300,000 over three years from the American Heart Association for “Identification of Immunological Mechanisms Targeting the Myocardium in Rheumatoid Arthritis.”

Shirley ShiDu Yan, MD, Surgery, will receive $616,208 over one year from the National Institute on Aging for “Glyoxalase-1, Amyloid Pathology, Mitochondrial and Synaptic Injury in AD.”

Guang Yang, PhD, Anesthesiology, will receive $371,311 over five years from the National Institute on Aging for a subaward of “Postoperative Delirium and Alzheimer’s Disease Related Dementias.”

Sunmoo Yoon, PhD, RN, Medicine, will receive $2,844,171 over five years from the National Institute on Aging for “Using Twitter to Enhance the Social Support of Hispanic and Black Dementia Caregivers (Tweet-SS).”

Xin Zhang, PhD, Pathology & Cell Biology, will receive $2,025,000 over five years from the National Eye Institute for “Regulation of FGF Signaling in Lacrimal Gland Development.”

MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Elaine Abrams, MD, ICAP, will receive $26,000,000 over five years from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for “Targeted Programmatic Support Across Countries under the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.”

Charles Branas, PhD, Epidemiology, will receive $4,158,373 over five years from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for “The Columbia Center for Injury Science and Prevention (CCISP).”

Qixuan Chen, PhD, Biostatistics, will receive $417,182 over two years from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences for “Bayesian Exposure-Response Analysis for Immunoassays Data with Measurement Errors.”

Andrea Howard, MD, ICAP, will receive $3,500,004 over five years from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for “Technical Assistance to Central Asian National HIV Programs to Achieve and Sustain HIV Epidemic Control under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)” and $1,849,121 over five years from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for “Global HIV Implementation Science Research Training Grant Renewal.”

W. Ian Lipkin, MD, Epidemiology, will receive $809,995 over three years from the Department of Defense for “Metabolomics in Gulf War Illness: A Systems Biology Approach to Dissecting Mechanisms of Disease.”

Susan Michaels-Strasser, PhD, ICAP, will receive $15,000,000 over five years from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for “Strengthening the Health System Capacity to Implement HIV Prevention Care and Treatment Services in South Africa Under PEPFAR.”

Priya Palta, PhD, Epidemiology, will receive $696,313 over three years from the National Institute on Aging for “Physical Activity and Preservation of Cognitive Function.”

Virginia Rauh, ScD, Population & Family Health, will receive $1,499,570 over three years from the Department of the Army for “Genetic and Environmental Influences on the Pathogenesis of Parkinson’s Disease: Young Adult Brain and Behavioral Risk Indicators.”

Suzue Saito, PhD, ICAP, will receive $975,000 over five years from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for “Support of Strategic Information Activities in the Kingdom of Lesotho under PEPFAR.”

Jeffrey Shaman, PhD, Environmental Health Sciences, will receive $465,467 over one year from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for “Informing Pandemic Influenza Intervention Practice: Coordinated Modeling.”

Rachel Shelton, ScD, Sociomedical Sciences, will receive $1,799,138 over four years from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities for a subaward of “Social Stress Epigenetics and Cardio-Metabolic Health Among Latinos.”

SCHOOL OF NURSING

Kellie Bryant, DNP, will receive $500,000 over two years from the Hearst Foundations for “Hearst Simulation Lab Proposal.”

COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE

Mildred Embree, DMD, PhD, Dental Medicine, will receive $3,584,550 over five years from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research for “Improvement of Animal Models for TMJ Stem Cell-Based Regeneration.”

AWARDS & HONORS

National Academy of Medicine

Three CUIMC faculty members have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine. Considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine, election to the Academy recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service. The three elected this year:

  • Rui Costa, DVM, PhD, Neuroscience
  • Anil K. Rustgi, MD, Medicine
  • Charles Branas, PhD, Epidemiology

2019 Baton Awards

Three CUIMC staff members were given Baton Awards and recognized as team players:

  • Aaron Mendoza, director of user services for CUIMC IT
  • Genia Billote, director of grants management for the School of Nursing
  • Yolanda DeLeon, director of postdoctoral student services at the College of Dental Medicine

Irving Institute/CTO Pilot Awardees

The Irving Institute/Clinical Trials Office Pilot Awards are one-year clinical and translational research grants for junior investigators who have not previously received funding through this program.

  • Aditi Falnikar, PhD, Pathology & Cell Biology, “Evaluation of 7, 8 - Dihydroxyflavone, a BDNF Mimetic, as a Potential Therapeutic Agent”
  • Daniel Freedberg, MD, Medicine, “Dietary Fiber to Prevent Loss of Gastrointestinal Colonization Resistance and Pathogen Colonization in the Intensive Care”
  • Jaime Hook, MD, Medicine, “Novel Mechanisms of Post-Influenza Staphylococcal Lung Injury”
  • Tamar Lubell, MD, Emergency Medicine, “Urinary Tract Infections in Young Children: Testing a Novel, Non-Invasive, Point-of-Care Diagnostic”
  • Lynn Petukhova, PhD, Dermatology, “Initiating Translational Genetic Studies in Hidradenitis Suppurativa”
  • Gissette Reyes-Soffer, MD, Medicine, “The Metabolic Effects of Lipoprotein(a) Isoforms”
  • Jennifer Sumner, PhD, Medicine, “Developing a Biomarker-Based Metric of Biological Age in Youth”
  • Hanrui Zhang, PhD, Medicine, “Discover Novel Regulators of Efferocytosis by Genome-Wide CRISPR Screen in Primary Macrophages”

New York Academy of Medicine Fellows

Several CUIMC faculty members were inducted as fellows into the New York Academy of Medicine at the academy’s annual meeting. Fellows are elected by peers across the medical and health professions.

  • LeWanza M. Harris, MD, MPH, Center for Family & Community Medicine
  • Tonda Hughes, PhD, RN, Nursing
  • Yuna Lee, PhD, MPH, Health Policy & Management
  • Jordan Orange, MD, PhD, Pediatrics
  • Andrew Rundle, PhD, Epidemiology
  • Jingjing Shang, PhD, RN, Nursing

Highly Cited Researchers

Each year the Web of Science Group identifies the world’s most influential researchers, who have multiple highly cited papers that rank in the top 1% of citations in their fields. CUIMC faculty cited this year:

  • Andrea Baccarelli, MD, PhD, Environmental Health Sciences
  • Riccardo Dalla-Favera, MD, Pathology & Cell Biology
  • Charles G. Drake, MD, PhD, Medicine
  • Donna L. Farber, PhD, Microbiology & Immunology
  • Sankar Ghosh, PhD, Microbiology & Immunology
  • David B. Goldstein, PhD, Genetics & Development
  • Rebecca T. Hahn, MD, Medicine
  • Deborah S. Hasin, PhD, Psychiatry
  • Rene Hen, PhD, Psychiatry
  • Ivaylo I. Ivanov, PhD, Microbiology & Immunology
  • Salim S. Abdool Karim, MD, PhD, Epidemiology
  • Katherine M. Keyes, PhD, Epidemiology
  • Susheel K. Kodali, MD, Medicine
  • Bruce Link, PhD, Epidemiology
  • W. Ian Lipkin, MD, Pathology & Cell Biology
  • Mark Olfson, MD, Epidemiology
  • Frederica Perera, PhD, Environmental Health Sciences
  • Ira Tabas, MD, PhD, Medicine
  • Raúl Rabadán, PhD, Systems Biology
  • Naiyer A. Rizvi, MD, Medicine
  • Lawrence S. Shapiro, PhD, Biochemistry
  • Melanie M. Wall, PhD, Psychiatry

VAGELOS COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS

Interdisciplinary Research Initiatives Seed Fund Program

The Interdisciplinary Research Initiatives Seed Fund Program is designed to promote new interdisciplinary/multi-investigator research projects between a clinical department and a basic science department. Funds from this program support activities that advance interdisciplinary, multi-investigator project funding and support the collection of preliminary data.

  • Dietrick Egli, PhD, Pediatrics, “Genome Instability During Beta Cell Proliferation as a Trigger of the Innate Immune System in Type 1 Diabetes”
  • Alice Prince, MD, Pediatrics, “Metabolo-Therapy for Multiply Resistant Pathogens”

Collaborative and Multidisciplinary Pilot Research Pilot Award

The Collaborative and Multidisciplinary Pilot Research Pilot Award (CaMPR) is a two-phase award that provides planning and start-up funds to support the formation of newly configured investigative teams with the aim of addressing a significant health problem at the cellular, individual, or community level.

PHASE II

"Optimizing Tumor-Derived Exosomes as a Biomarker for Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Advanced Solid Tumors”

  • Fatemeh Momen-Heravi, DDS, PhD, Dental Medicine (PI)
  • Codruta Chiuzan, PhD, Biostatistics
  • Mathew Matthen, MD, Medicine
  • Raúl Rabadán, PhD, Biomedical Informatics
  • Alex Rai, PhD, Pathology & Cell Biology
  • Gary Schwartz, MD, Medicine

“Investigating the Dissemination and Implementation of Opioid Education and Naloxone Training on College Campuses”

  • Rachel Shelton, ScD, MPH, Sociomedical Sciences (PI)
  • Melanie Bernitz, MD, Medicine
  • Michael McNeil, EdD, Sociomedical Sciences
  • Edward Nunes, MD, Psychiatry
  • Carrigan Parish, DMD, PhD, Sociomedical Sciences
  • Lisa Rosen-Metsch, PhD, Sociomedical Sciences

PHASE I

“The Gut Microbiota and Immune Function in Stroke in the Young”

  • Amelia Boehme, PhD, Neurology (PI)
  • Barun Mathema, PhD, Epidemiology (Co-PI)
  • Mitch Elkind, MD, Neurology
  • Anne-Catrin Uhlemann, MD, PhD, Infectious Diseases

“Tumor-Derived Exosomes as a Biomarker for Response to Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Head and Neck Cancer”

  • Fatemeh Momen-Heravi, DDS, PhD, Dental Medicine (PI)
  • Mathew Matthen, MD, Medicine (Co-PI)
  • Codruta Chiuzan, PhD, Biostatistics 
  • Alex Rai, PhD, Pathology & Cell Biology
  • Gary Schwartz, MD, Medicine

“An Interdisciplinary Approach to Understanding Disordered Eating Behaviors Among Adolescents and Adults with Celiac Disease”

  • Norelle Reilly, MD, Pediatrics (PI)
  • Janet Schebendach, PhD, Neurology (Co-PI)
  • Daniel Freedberg, MD, Medicine
  • Benjamin Lebwohl, MD, Medicine
  • Anne Lee, EdD, Medicine
  • Randi Wolf, PhD, Teachers College

“Planning for the Dissemination and Implementation of Opioid Education and Naloxone Training on College Campuses”

  • Rachel Shelton, ScD, Sociomedical Sciences (PI)
  • Lisa Rosen-Metsch, PhD, Sociomedical Sciences (Co-PI)
  • Melanie Bernitz, MD, Center for Family and Community Medicine
  • Michael McNeil, EdD, Sociomedical Sciences
  • Edward Nunes, MD, Psychiatry
  • Carrigan Parish, DMD, PhD, Sociomedical Sciences

Precision Medicine Pilot Awards

The Precision Medicine Pilot Awards fund multidisciplinary research proposals focused on approaches to tailor medical care (prevention, diagnosis, and/or treatment) to the individual patient.

“Identification of Precision Diagnostic and Therapeutic Targets for Advanced Prostate Cancer Patients Based on Mechanistic RNA Landscape”

  • Howard Lieberman, PhD, Radiation Oncology (PI)
  • Israel Deutsch, MD, Radiation Oncology
  • Richard A. Friedman, PhD, Biomedical Informatics
  • Sven Wenske, MD, Urology

“Application of Multi-Omics Profiling to Predict Adverse Left Ventricular Remodeling and Cardiovascular Events in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy”

  • Yuichi Shimada, MD, Medicine (PI)
  • Matthew Maurer, MD, Medicine
  • Renu Nandakumar, PhD, Medicine
  • Rajesh Soni, PhD, Medicine

“TBX3 as a Novel Regulator of POMC for Therapeutic Targeting”

  • Vidhu Thaker, MD, Pediatrics (PI)
  • Claudia Doege, MD, Pathology & Cell Biology

2019 Presidential Scholars in Society and Neuroscience

The Presidential Scholars in Society and Neuroscience program has announced its fifth cohort of scholars. Two incoming postdoctoral scholars:

  • Raphael Gerraty, PhD, Neuroscience, “Uncertainty in Brains, Minds, and Machines: Using Philosophy and Deep Neural Networks to Understand Probabilistic Perceptual Representation”
  • Matthew Sachs, PhD candidate, Neuroscience, “Mapping the Rich Tapestry of Music-Evoked Emotions”

Translational Therapeutics Accelerator Pilot Award

The Translational Therapeutics Accelerator Pilot Award provides investigators with the resources to position their therapeutic discoveries for commercial value.

“Development of a Novel Beta2-blocker for Treating Pancreatic Cancer”

  • Donald Landry, MD, PhD, Medicine
  • Timothy C. Wang, MD, Medicine

“Programmable Bacteria for Oral Delivery of Tumor-targeted Immunotherapy”

  • Nicholas Arpaia, PhD, Microbiology & Immunology
  • Tal Danino, PhD, Biomedical Engineering

“Inhaled Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor as a Treatment for COPD”

  • Jeanine D’Armiento, MD, PhD, Medicine
  • Adam Gerber, MD, PhD, Anesthesiology

“Validating OncoTreat, a Systems Biology Approach to Predict Drug Sensitivity, in Advanced Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors”

  • Andrea Califano, PhD, Systems Biology 
  • Gary Schwartz, MD, Medicine

“Lx6171: A New Therapeutic for the Highly Disabling Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia”

  • Catherine Clelland, PhD, Pathology & Cell Biology

 “Developing PI3 Kinase Inhibitors for T Cell Lymphoma” 

  • Changchun Deng, MD, PhD, Medicine
  • Jennifer K. Lue, MD, Medicine

“Preclinical Optimization of DNA and mRNA-based Endotope Platforms”

  • Magdalena Bogun, MD, Medicine
  • Remi Creusot, PhD, Medicine

“Drug Based Modulation of Endogenous Fibrocartilage Stem Cells for TMJ Regeneration”

  • Mildred Embree, DMD, PhD, Dental Medicine

“A Novel CRISPR/Cas9 Based Mutation Correction Method for Hemoglobinopathies”

  • Wendy Chung, MD, PhD, Pediatrics
  • Suleyman Ucuncuoglu, PhD, Biological Sciences

Other Honors

Christopher S. Ahmad, MD, Orthopedic Surgery, received the Cutting Edge Award at the sixth annual Westchester Doctors of Distinction awards ceremony.

Sally Amundson, ScD, Radiation Oncology, was elected vice president of the Radiation Research Society.

Alan S. Brown, MD, Psychiatry, received the Lieber Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Schizophrenia Research, an international award given by the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation.

Simon Cheng, MD, PhD, Radiation Oncology, was awarded the American Lung Association July 2019-June 2020 Lung Cancer Discovery Award for his project “Bmi1 Resistance Pathway and Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Lung Cancer.”

Edward J. Ciaccio, PhD, Medicine, was selected as a keynote speaker for the Biomedical Engineering and Instrumentation Summit, BEIS-2020.

Serge Cremers, PhD, PharmD, Pathology & Cell Biology, will be editor-in-chief of the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

Donna Farber, PhD, Microbiology & Immunology, was elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Maryjane Farr, MD, Medicine, was elected to a four-year leadership term at United Network for Organ Sharing for all solid organ transplants in Region 9. After serving two years as associate councilor, she will serve as councilor for two years, which includes a seat on the Board of Directors for UNOS.

Wing Fu, PhD, Physical Therapy, has been elected vice chair of the Clinical Reasoning Curricula and Assessment Consortium under the American Council of Academic Physical Therapy.

Susan J. Hsiao, MD, PhD, Pathology & Cell Biology, was elected to the Solid Tumors Clinical Practice Committee of the Association for Molecular Pathology.

Krystalyn Hudson, PhD, Pathology & Cell Biology, received the 2019 National Blood Foundation Award for Innovative Research.

Ivalyo Ivanov, PhD, Microbiology & Immunology, won a Burroughs Wellcome Fund 2019 Investigator in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease award for his proposal “Regulation of Mucosal Infections by Innate Lymphoid Cells.”

Brynn Levy, PhD, Pathology & Cell Biology, has been elected to the board of directors of the ACMG Foundation for Genetic and Genomic Medicine.

Trang Nguyen, PhD, a postdoctoral research scientist in the lab of Markus Siegelin, MD, Pathology & Cell Biology, was among the six postdoctoral researchers selected nationwide to receive a basic research fellowship from the American Brain Tumor Association.

Sharon Oberfield, MD, Pediatric Endocrinology, has been named president-elect for the Pediatric Endocrine Society.

Vincent Racaniello, PhD, Microbiology & Immunology, won the 2019 American Society for Microbiology Award for Education.

Gary Schwartz, MD, Medicine, received the American Cancer Society’s Eugene D. O’Kelly Award for leadership in the field of translational research.

Antonia R. Sepulveda, MD, PhD, Pathology & Cell Biology, was elected president-elect of the Association for Molecular Pathology.

Jen Small-Saunders, MD, PhD, Medicine, received a Doris Duke Physician Scientist Fellowship.

Kazuhiko Takeuchi, MD, PhD, postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Kazuhiko Yamada, MD, PhD, Surgery, was honored with the TTS-IXA Scientific Congress Award for a presentation “B4 and CMAH KO Pigs May Express New Antigenic Specificities That Cause Delayed Vascular Xenograft Rejection in Pig-to-Baboon Kidney Transplantation” ahead of the International Xenotransplantation Association’s 15th Congress in Munich, Germany.

Syed Tasnim Raza, MD, Surgery, delivered the S. Amjad Hussain Annual Lecture in Medicine at the University of Toledo.

Wendy Vargas, MD, Neurology, received the Mujeres Destacada’s 2019 Award from El Diario New York.

Michael Weiner, MD, Pediatrics, was honored at the Israel Cancer Research Fund Tower of Hope Gala at the Pierre Hotel in New York. 

Nancy S. Wexler, PhD, Neurology, received the Academy Medal for Distinguished Contributions in Biomedical Science from the New York Academy of Medicine in recognition of her contributions to the discovery of the location of the gene that causes Huntington’s disease and her ongoing work to find treatments for the disease.

MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, MPH, MPA, Epidemiology, gave a plenary talk titled “Bringing precision to the global HIV response” at the 12th Netherlands Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Epidemiology, Prevention, and Treatment.

Linda P. Fried, MD, MPH, Dean, is the newly appointed co-chair of the National Academy of Medicine’s 2019-2020 International Commission on a Global Roadmap for Healthy Longevity. This international, multidisciplinary initiative comprised of leaders from foundations, business, government, and academia will make strategic recommendations from the realms of public health, science, and technology in a report due in late 2020.

Denise B. Kandel, PhD, Sociomedical Sciences, received the 2019 Rema Lapouse Award for Achievement in Epidemiology, Mental Health, and Applied Public Health Statistics from the American Public Health Association.

L.H. Lumey, MD, PhD, Epidemiology, and Mailman students Shumin Rui, MS, Biostatistics, and Chihua Li, MPH, Epidemiology, were honored at the American Heart Association’s Hypertension Scientific Sessions 2019 Conference for having the nation’s highest ranked accepted abstract.

Kavita Sivaramakrishnan, PhD, Sociomedical Sciences, delivered a keynote address based on her book “As the World Ages: Rethinking a Demographic Crisis” at North-West University in South Africa.

Michael S. Sparer, JD, PhD, Health Policy & Management, was named the keynote speaker for the 2019 Duncan Clark Lecture at the New York Academy of Medicine.

SCHOOL OF NURSING

Kenrick Cato, PhD, Wilhelmina Manzano, MA, Wanda Montalvo, PhD, and Arlene Smaldone, PhD, were inducted as Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing.

Marlene E. McHugh, DNP, was awarded the Nursing Practice Award by the American Nurses Association-New York.

Wanda Montalvo, PhD, will receive the Nurse of the Year Award from the National Hispanic Nurses Association’s New York Chapter.

Allison A. Norful, PhD, was elected to the advisory board as a member-at-large of AcademyHealth’s Interdisciplinary Research Group on Nursing Issues.

Rebecca Schnall, PhD, Jianfang Liu, PhD, and Nancy Reame, PhD, were awarded second place from the North American Menopause Society for their poster titled “An Ecological Momentary Assessment to Compare HIV vs Reproductive Health Symptoms in Women of Differing Menopause Stages Living with HIV (WLHIV).”

Laura Starbird, PhD, was selected as an awardee for the NIH Loan Repayment Program in Clinical Research by the National Institute of Nursing Research. NIH will pay up to $50,000 toward student loans for Dr. Starbird’s commitment to research.

Cindy Veldhuis, PhD, was appointed to the Science Committee of Division 44, the Society for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, of the American Psychological Association.

PHILANTHROPIC GIFTS

Gifts received through Oct. 28, 2019

VAGELOS COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS

A donor made a $2,500,000 contribution to establish a professorship in the Seymour, Paul and Gloria Milstein Division of Cardiology.

A donor made a $1,000,000 commitment to support construction of The Grove at Haven Plaza.

A donor made a $500,000 commitment to provide support for the Nurture Science Program in the Department of Pediatrics.

A donor made a $495,000 contribution to the Nurture Science Program in the Department of Pediatrics to advance imaging and holding therapy in the NICU.

A donor made a $490,000 commitment to the Division of Endocrinology to advance research in early-onset osteoporosis.

A family made a $425,000 commitment to provide fellowship support to the Department of Neurology.

A family made a $400,000 commitment to advance clinical care and research in the Seymour, Paul and Gloria Milstein Division of Cardiology.

A donor made a contribution of $380,000 to advance research at the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain.

A donor made a $153,786 commitment to support the Department of Ophthalmology’s work treating impoverished children with vision problems.

A family foundation made a $138,600 contribution to the Department of Psychiatry to support a fellowship in women’s mental health.

A donor made a $115,000 contribution to advance research and care in the Department of Urology.

A donor made a $100,000 contribution to advance research at the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

A donor made a $100,000 contribution to the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons to support the 10th Anniversary Crown Awards Gala.

A corporation made a $100,000 contribution to the Department of Neurology to advance research in TK2-related Mitochondrial Depletion Syndrome.

A donor made a $100,000 gift to advance research in the Seymour, Paul and Gloria Milstein Division of Cardiology.

A college made a $100,000 contribution to provide unrestricted support to the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

CUIMC IN THE NEWS

The Brain Benefits of Reading and Writing

New York Times | November 19, 2019

The analysis, in Neurology, controlled for sex, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and other dementia risk factors. “Early life exposures and early life social opportunities have an impact on later life,” said the senior author, Jennifer J. Manly, a professor of neuropsychology at Columbia. “That’s the underlying theme here. There’s a life course of exposures and engagements and opportunities that lead to a healthy brain later in life.”

What Science Tells Us About Preventing Dementia

The Wall Street Journal - November 17, 2019

Yaakov Stern, a professor at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons who has written about these studies and the impact of education on dementia, recommends maintaining “educational and mentally stimulating activities throughout life.” This fosters growth of new neurons and may slow the rate at which certain regions of the brain shrink with age. It also promotes cognitive reserve, he says.                                                    

Poverty Impacts Access to Health Care. These Women Are Trying to Change That.

The New York Times - November 19, 2019

When Diana Hernández was growing up in federally subsidized housing in the Bronx, she and her family grew vegetables in a community garden. “There was something about working with the land and doing that as a family and as neighbors, and then sharing,” Dr. Hernández said. “It wasn’t just about us as a family, it was also about the community that was built around the garden.” That idea of pairing community-building and healthy activities stuck with her. Now an assistant professor of sociomedical sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, she sees health care as part of a larger picture: If people’s housing is unhealthy, they will be, too.

As Suicides Rise, More Attention Turns to the People Left Behind

The Wall Street Journal - December 2, 2019

There’s a growing recognition among clinicians that people who have lost a loved one to suicide are at higher risk of what is known as complicated grief, a “persistent, intense yearning for or preoccupation with the person who died” that impairs functioning, says Katherine Shear, a professor of psychiatry and the director of the Center for Complicated Grief at the Columbia University School of Social Work in New York.

Visit the CUIMC Newsroom for more news and features.