CUIMC Update - July 5, 2023
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
Columbia Surgeons Make History with Domino Heart Valve Transplant in Infants
In a first-of-its-kind “domino” transplant in infants, Columbia cardiac surgeons performed a heart transplant in one baby, then transplanted valves from her old heart into another infant—saving two lives. Making it all happen required the right patients, the right timing, and the teamwork of a multidisciplinary care team from Columbia and NewYork-Presbyterian that included the transplant service team, child life services, nurses, doctors, the perioperative and surgical teams, and more. Read more and watch a video.
Malaria Health Advisory Issued: Columbia Experts Share What You Should Know
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a health advisory following recent cases of malaria in Florida and Texas that were acquired in the United States. Columbia physician Shauna Gunaratne, MD, MPH, an expert in tropical and travel medicine, and microbiologist David Fidock, PhD, share information about malaria, including tips on prevention and how it’s treated. Read more.
Columbia Expert Addresses the Link Between Oral Health and Diseases Outside the Mouth
Long-term research by Columbia oral microbiologist Yiping Han, PhD, who holds an interdisciplinary appointment at VP&S and the College of Dental Medicine, has found that oral bacteria are frequently detected at extra-oral sites where there are infections and inflammation. Han discusses how oral bacteria enters the bloodstream to cause preterm births, stillbirths, and GI inflammation. Read more.
What to Know About Updated Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines, According to a Columbia Ob/Gyn
Regular mammograms are the most important tool in early breast cancer detection, and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recently updated its guidelines, lowering the suggested age for yearly mammograms from 50 to 40. Columbia Ob/Gyn Tal Sarig-Meth, MD, discusses why—and when—it’s important to start testing. Read more.
Vertigo Can Be Treated
About one in 15 adults will experience vertigo at least once in their lifetime. While vertigo can be frightening and disorienting, Justin S. Golub, MD, an ear, nose, and throat specialist at Columbia University, says vertigo is often due to a transient condition called benign paroxysmal positional vertigo that can be diagnosed and treated non-invasively. Read more.
EVENTS
Info Session: One Pass, a New Fitness Benefit for Columbia Employees
July 6, 2 p.m., online
Register here.
ColumbiaDoctors Outreach With Cancer Center and Dentistry
July 11, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Haven Plaza, Haven Avenue between Fort Washington Avenue and 169 Street
Register here.
Film Works Alfresco at Haven Plaza: Inside Out
July 14, 7 p.m., Haven Plaza, Haven Avenue between Fort Washington Avenue and 169 Street
Register here.
ColumbiaDoctors Outreach With Nurse Practitioner Group, Primary Care
July 18, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Haven Plaza, Haven Avenue between Fort Washington Avenue and 169 Street
Register here.
CUIMC Ice Cream Social
July 18, 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., Haven Plaza, Haven Avenue between Fort Washington Avenue and 169 Street
Register here.
Social Media and Kids: Columbia Experts Discuss What's "In the News"
July 18, 6 p.m., online
Register here.
TraineeHub Grantsmanship Series: The Writing and Uses of Specific Aims
July 19, 4 p.m., online
Register here.
GRANTS
MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Gary Miller, PhD, Environmental Health Sciences: $416,742 over three years for a subaward from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for "Pathogenesis of Primary Biliary Cholangitis."
SCHOOL OF NURSING
Tonda Hughes, PhD: $426,556 over five years for a subaward from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism for "A unified protocol to address sexual minority women's minority stress, mental health, and hazardous drinking."
VAGELOS COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS
Matthew Harms, MD, Neurology: $400,000 over one year from the ALS Association for "PREVENT ALS: a multi-site longitudinal study of at-risk ALS mutation carriers."
Steven Kushner, MD, PhD, Psychiatry: $441,895 over five years for a subaward from the National Institute of Mental Health for "An integrative computational interrogation of circuit dysfunction in schizophrenia via neural timescales."
Kenneth Olive, PhD, and Gulam Manji, MD, Medicine: $2,932,868 over five years from the National Cancer Institute for "Targeting cell regulatory states to complement MEK/autophagy inhibition in pancreatic cancer."
Jovana Pavisic, MD, Pediatrics: $250,000 over one year from Team Jack Foundation for "A systems biology approach to defining and targeting subpopulation-specific master regulator dependencies from single-cell RNA-seq in diffuse midline glioma (DMG)."
Stephen Tsang, MD, PhD, Ophthalmology: $1,226,127 over three years from the National Eye Institute for "Identification of the specific risk allele responsible for oxidative stress in ARMS2/HTRA1-related AMD."
Xueling Wu, MD, PhD, Medicine: $603,100 over five years for a subaward from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for "Antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity and HIV-1 mother to child transmission."
HONORS
VAGELOS COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS
Jeffrey Cohen, PsyD, Psychiatry, was a Featured Therapist for June 2023 by the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies.
SOCIAL MEDIA SNAPSHOT
IN THE NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
The New York Times
How to Stop Sweating So Much
Jun 26, 2023 - These topical treatments are typically made of aluminum compounds that “plug the pores of the sweat glands and prevent sweat from coming out,” said Dr. Lyall Gorenstein, a thoracic surgeon and the surgical director of the Center for Hyperhidrosis at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Antiperspirants made of up to 15 percent aluminum chloride are sold over the counter, but doctors can also prescribe stronger prescription formulations, Dr. Gorenstein said.
Associated Press
A Heat Wave in Texas Is Forecast to Spread Scorching Temperatures to the North and East
Jun 26, 2023 - Cecilia Sorensen, a physician and associate professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, said heat-related conditions are becoming a growing public health concern because of the warming climate. “There’s huge issues going on in Texas right now around energy insecurity and the compounding climate crises we’re seeing,” Sorensen said.
Crain's New York Business (Requires a subscription)
Weill Cornell, Columbia, SUNY Downstate Get Nearly $10M to Study Poverty-Driven Cancer Disparities
Jun 27, 2023 - Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health and School of Nursing, and SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University have received a five-year, $9.8 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to study persistent poverty-driven disparities in cancer diagnoses, the schools announced Monday.