CUIMC Update - Nov. 16, 2020

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 cumcnews@cumc.columbia.edu. Grants are provided by the Sponsored Projects Administration office.

NEWS

CU Forum Provides COVID-19 Campus Updates for Faculty, Researchers, and Staff 
Faculty and employees are invited to watch this Columbia University forum offering information on spring term planning and campus issues. The forum is being offered at two times: today at 5 p.m. or tomorrow at 2 p.m. Registration is required via one of the links using your Columbia email address, and registrants are invited to send questions or comments for the panel in advance to HRemail@columbia.edu

CUIMC Post-Election Panel Discussion on Nov. 18 
Join your CUIMC colleagues for a moderated panel discussion on Nov. 18 from 2-3:30 p.m. via Zoom to hear three political and election experts discuss the impact of the Nov. 3 election results. Register online for the event.

Frances McDormand To Hold Headline Special Theatrical Reading for CUIMC Community 
Theater of War Productions works with leading film, theater, and television actors to present dramatic readings for front-line medical providers. On Nov. 18 from 7 to 9 p.m., Theater of War will be live with Frances McDormand & Frankie Faison in a special performance for the Columbia community. Read more about the event and how to register

VP&S Faculty Author Report for American Heart Association on Structural Racism
Three VP&S faculty members--Mitchell Elkind, MD; Carlos J. Rodriguez, MD; and Olajide Williams, MD—were co-authors of an American Heart Association review of structural racism in the United States, including the historical context, current state, and potential solutions. Read more.

VP&S Researchers Identify Gene Signature That Predicts Whether Localized Prostate Cancer Is Likely to Spread 
Cory Abate-Shen, PhD, chair of the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics, is senior author of a new paper in Nature Cancer that identifies a genetic signature in prostate cancer that can predict whether the cancer is likely to spread and whether it will respond to anti-androgen therapy. Read more.

New Report on LGBTQAI+ Youth In NYC Foster Care 
Theo Sandfort, PhD, professor of clinical sociomedical sciences (in psychiatry), is the lead researcher on a new report from the City’s Administration for Children’s Services that finds that LGBTQ youth in foster care struggle to find the support they need. Read more.

Children Produce Different Antibody Response to COVID-19, Finds VP&S Study 
Compared with adults, children produce a very different antibody response after infection with the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, suggesting they clear the virus easily, according to a study by VP&S researchers. Read more.

EVENTS

CUIMC Collaborative Forum: Insights for Health Care Professionals, Nov. 18, 2020, 6 p.m., read more.

GRANTS

VAGELOS COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS

Sidney Hankerson, MD, Psychiatry, and Olajide Williams, MD, Neurology, will receive $3,884,515 over five years from the National Institute of Mental Health for “Community-Partnered Approach to Implement Depression Screening in Black Churches.”

Hiral Shah, MD, Neurology, will receive $2,946,052 over five years from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for a subaward of “Growth and Development of Striatal Cerebellum Circuitry in Subjects at Risk for Huntington’s Disease.”

Howard Worman, MD, Medicine, will receive $1,762,525 over five years from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases for “Pathogenesis of Emery-Dreifuss Muscular Dystrophy.”

MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Harriet Nuwagaba-Biribonwoha, PhD, ICAP, will receive $540,212 over five years from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism for a subaward of “Could Long-Acting Medications Facilitate ‘Ending AIDS by 2030’ in Southern Africa? An Allocative Efficiency Analysis.”

AWARDS AND HONORS

VAGELOS COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS

Sonia Y. Angell, MD, Medicine, has been chosen to receive the 2020 Chairman's Award from the American Heart Association.

Vivette D’Agati, MD, Pathology & Cell Biology, has been named the Delafield Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology at CUMC.

SCHOOL OF NURSING 

Jacquelyn Taylor, PhD, the Helen F. Pettit Professor of Nursing and director of the Center for Research on People of Color, was asked to be a member of the National Advisory Council for the National Institute of Nursing Research Strategic Planning workgroup.

COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE

Kyle Sevel, a fourth-year DDS student, was named a recipient of the Dr. David Whiston Leadership Award by the American Dental Association Foundation.