CUIMC Update - March 15, 2021

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

CopeColumbia Hosts Workshop on Persevering During Challenges 
CUIMC faculty and staff are invited to attend CopeColumbia’s first interactive workshop for employees, “I’m (Not) Fine:” Persevering During Persistently Challenging Times, on March 29 at noon. Registration is required. Registrants will receive a confirmation email before the event with instructions for joining. 

“PBS Newshour” Features VP&S Neurologist’s Work on Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy in Communities of Color   
Hip Hop Public Health, an organization founded by Olajide Williams, MD, professor and chief of staff in the Department of Neurology at VP&S, was profiled in a March 10 “PBS Newshour” segment on leveraging the power of music to achieve community immunity. View broadcast. 

Gene Therapy Trial for Age-Related Macular Degeneration Now Open at Columbia 
A clinical trial to test a gene therapy for some patients with dry age-related macular degeneration—a leading cause of blindness in the United States—is underway at VP&S and NewYork-Presbyterian. Read more.

In Professional Athletes, Heart Risk after Mild COVID-19 Is Very Low, Finds VP&S Study 
Results from a large-scale study published in JAMA Cardiology finds a low incidence of inflammatory heart disease among professional athletes testing positive for COVID-19. The study was led by researchers from VP&S in collaboration with the major North American sports leagues and their respective players’ associations. Read more. 

COVID-19 Lockdown Linked to Uptick in Tobacco Use, Finds Mailman Study 
New research led by Daniel Giovenco, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of sociomedical sciences at Mailman, found that as COVID-19 lockdowns were enforced, tobacco use increased. Fears about the virus, job uncertainty, and the psychological effects of isolation were the primary drivers. Read more. 

GRANTS

VAGELOS COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS

Jon Giles, MD, Medicine, will receive $554,780 over one year from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases for “Neuroimaging Measures of Psychological Distress as Predictors of Articular and Arterial Inflammation and Treatment Response in Rheumatoid Arthritis.”

Blandine Laferrere, MD, PhD, Medicine, will receive $3,634,537 over five years from the National Institute on Aging for “TREAT (Time Restricted EATing) to Improve Cardiometabolic Health.”

Matteo Porotto, PhD, and Anne Moscona, MD, Pediatrics, will receive $951,760 over one year from Decoy Therapeutics for “Design of anti-SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein-Derived Fusion Inhibitors to Block Infection and Prevent COVID-19.”

Lori Zeltser, PhD, Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, will receive $2,102,500 over four years from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for “Developmental Programming of Brown Adipose Tissue Sympathetic Tone.”

MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH 

Lisa Rosen-Metsch, PhD, Sociomedical Sciences, will receive $353,962 over one year from the National Institute on Drug Abuse for a subaward of “The Florida Node Alliance of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN 104).”

AWARDS AND HONORS

VAGELOS COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS 

Jeffrey Cohen, PsyD, has been named to Woebot Health's Clinical Diversity Advisory Board.

MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND VAGELOS COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS

Ashwin Vasan, MD, PhD, Population & Family Health (Mailman) and Medicine (VP&S), has been appointed to City & State magazine’s advisory board to help the magazine strengthen its focus on diversity and inclusion. Read more.

SCHOOL OF NURSING

Allison Norful, PhD, RN, was elected as secretary to the executive board of the Eastern Nursing Research Society.

Cindy Veldhuis, PhD, was invited to serve as editorial board member for the Journal of Trauma and Dissociation.

EVENTS

CUIMC Women in Science Lecture Series “Perfectly Imperfect Pathways to Success: The New Norm,” March 16, 4:30 p.m., register here.

School of Nursing General Virtual Information Session, March 17, 3 p.m., register here. 

Racial Justice Outlook: Possibilities of Progress in 2021 and Beyond, March 18, 4 p.m., register here.

CUIMC Women Employee Resource Group Roundtable Conversation on Pandemic's Impact on Women in the Workplace, March 24, 2 p.m., register here.

Interprofessional Education Day Lectures, March 30, 11 a.m., open to the CUIMC community:

• The Politics of Health post-COVID and Black Lives Matter with Daniel E. Dawes, JD, register here.
• Centering Equity with Aletha Maybank, MD, MPH, register here. 

For more events, visit the CUIMC Events listing.