CUIMC Update - February 19, 2025

February 19, 2025

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CUIMC Update is a weekly e-newsletter featuring medical center news and the accomplishments of our faculty, staff, and trainees. Please send your news, honors, and awards to cuimc_update@cumc.columbia.edu. Grants are provided by the Sponsored Projects Administration office.

News

CUIMC Hosts Well-Being Fair for Employees
The second annual Well-Being Fair offered a variety of activities, including Zumba, reiki, awareness through movement, acupuncture, chair massages, aromatherapy, hands-only CPR training, pet therapy, and NARCAN instruction.

50 Haven Ballroom Reopens with New Seating and Dining Space
The Division of Student and Campus Services recently opened the revamped 50 Haven Ballroom, offering year-round seating with a fresh, modern look. The space offers a comfortable indoor spot to unwind, study, or catch up with friends and colleagues.

Sharing "Untold Stories" of Health Care History
The African, Black, and Caribbean Employee Resource Group and Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center hosted an event titled “Untold Stories in Health Equity” with Heather Butts, highlighting overlooked leaders in health care and encouraging participants to document and share other untold stories.

You May Love to Travel—But Does Your Stomach?
Traveler's diarrhea, constipation, and indigestion are all common symptoms for jetsetters. Columbia gastroenterologist Arthur Magun explains how travel can disrupt your digestive health and what you can do to make your trip more pleasant.

AI at VP&S Initiative Kickoff: Monday, Feb. 24
All members of the University are welcome to attend the AI at VP&S Initiative Kickoff, a showcase of AI-driven research, applications, and innovations at VP&S. Learn about the new initiative, experience real-time demonstrations highlighting diverse AI use cases, and connect with potential collaborators, mentors, and colleagues interested in AI. Register and see a list of demos at the event.

Events

Grants

Mailman School of Public Health

  • Yael Hirsch-Moverman, ICAP
    $313,621 over two years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for "Rifapentine in High Doses in Pregnancy with TB (Radiant-Moms) study."
  • Ami Zota, Environmental Health Sciences
    $1,608,091 over four years from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences for "Reframing personal and community report back of consumer products by centering intersectionality."

Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

  • Daria Boccher-Lattimore, Psychiatry
    $4,256,818 over five years from the Health Resources and Services Administration for "Regional AIDS Education and Training Center."
  • Remi Creusot, Medicine
    $2,361,083 over four years from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for "Unraveling the tolerogenic potential of lymph node fibroblastic reticular networks in autoimmune diabetes."
  • Rita Kukafka and Katherine Crew, Biomedical Informatics
    $3,438,069 over five years from the National Cancer Institute for "Integrating Breast Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease Risk to Explore Decision-Making for Chemoprevention Among Racially/Ethnically Diverse Women at High Risk for Breast Cancer."
  • Ryan Moy, Medicine
    $1,379,151 over five years from the Gateway for Cancer Research for "A phase II trial of defactinib and VS-6766 in diffuse gastric cancer."
  • Reuben Robbins, Psychiatry
    $3,293,964 over five years from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development for "Enhancing Novel Research for Inflammation and Cognitive Health among Adolescents and Young Adults Living with Perinatally Acquired HIV and Adversity (ENRICH+)."
  • Badri Vardarajan, Sergievsky Center
    $915,157 over one year from the National Institute on Aging for "Characterizing complex structural variation in Alzheimer’s disease."     

Honors

College of Dental Medicine

Social Media Snapshot

Columbia Medicine | Hear from one of #ColumbiaNursing’s student groups: @columbiabsn as they reflect on the significance of #BlackHistoryMonth, the impact of... | Instagram

In the News Highlights

  • Ask Well: Should Dinner Be the Smallest Meal of the Day?
    Feb 11, 2025
    The New York Times
    For decades, nutrition researchers have focused on what—not when—people eat, so we don’t have many large or long-term studies on the influence of meal timing on health, said Nour Makarem, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. But, she said, the studies that do exist show some consistent links. People who consume a greater percentage of calories in the evening tend to be at higher risk for obesity, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and higher levels of inflammation.
  • RFK Jr. Has Questioned Rising Autism Rates. Here's What Experts Say He Gets Wrong About the Disorder
    Feb 13, 2025
    ABC News Online
    "When autism was first described, it was new to people understanding that there was a condition that included social communication difficulties and restricted and repetitive behavior, and people primarily only recognized it when it was at its most extreme," Dr. Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele, division director in child and adolescent psychiatry at Columbia University, told ABC News.
  • Children With Mild Peanut Allergy May Be Able to Eat Peanut Butter, Trial Shows
    Feb 10, 2025
    NBC News Online
    While it will be necessary to follow children for a longer term to validate the results, “the ability to induce tolerance to a food is incredibly exciting,” said Dr. Joel Brooks, an assistant professor of pediatrics and an associate program director of allergy and immunology at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. “Now these children won’t have to carry an EpiPen with them,” he said.