CUIMC Update - September 11, 2024

September 11, 2024

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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

Improving the "Quality of the Cure" in Pediatric Cancer
Lewis Silverman, the new director of pediatric hematology, oncology, and stem cell transplantation, is working to minimize the aftereffects of treatment to ensure the highest quality cure possible.

Sterilization Rates Among Women Rose After Supreme Court Abortion Ruling
VP&S research finds that surgical sterilization rates among women increased in the United States after a 2022 Supreme Court ruling overturned the constitutional right to abortion. Study leader Xiao Xu says the findings suggest that the Dobbs ruling may affect contraception choices in certain states. 

Do At-Home Gluten Tests Really Work?
At-home tests can detect recent exposure to gluten, but can the tests improve the health of people with celiac disease? Columbia researchers are launching a clinical trial with recently diagnosed people to find out.

The Benefits of Donating Your Body to Medical Science
Although almost 170 million Americans are registered organ donors, many medical schools, including VP&S, are experiencing a shortage of donated bodies. Donors benefit in many ways, including the knowledge that they will provide an unparalleled training opportunity for future physicians.

Good Posture Can Be a Health Superpower
Posture is more than standing up straight. Columbia physiatrist Scott A. Barbuto explains the fundamentals of good posture and how it can promote health and well-being.

Events

Grants

Mailman School of Public Health

  • Alwyn Cohall, Sociomedical Sciences
    $431,727 over five years for a subaward from the New York State Department of Health for "Advancing Health Equity through Comprehensive Community-Based HIV Ambulatory Care Services: Component B, Centers for Young Adults."
  • Joyce Pressley, Epidemiology
    $270,000 over three years for a subaward from the Department of Transportation for "Integrating Neighborhood Level Data into the Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System (CODES)."

Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

  • Katherine Crew, Medicine
    $2,690,530 over five years from the National Cancer Institute for "CAPRI: Columbia Cancer Research Training Program for Resident Investigators."
  • Joel Gabre, HICCC
    $466,520 over five years for a subaward from the National Cancer Institute for "Pathways of Injury and Repair in Barrett’s Carcinogenesis."
  • Despina Kontos, Radiology
    $385,316 over five years for a subaward from the National Cancer Institute for "Privacy-Aware Federated Learning for Breast Cancer Risk Assessment."
  • Joshua Milner, Pediatrics
    $536,796 over two years from Pharming Healthcare for "High throughput, saturation mutagenesis and flow cytometric-based screen for annotation of PIK3CD and PIK3R1."
  • Samuel Sternberg, Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics
    $774,724 over four years for a subaward from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering for "ePACE: an automated system for high-throughput, closed-loop control of continuous molecular evolution to enable novel therapeutics."
  • Badri Vardarajan, Sergievsky Center
    $411,250 over five years for a subaward from the National Institute on Aging for "Asian Cohort for Alzheimer’s Disease (ACAD)-Core E."

Honors

Mailman School of Public Health

Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

Social Media Snapshot

New Study Links the Keto Diet to Cancer Metastasis

Columbia University Irving Medical Center 
New research by Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center found that the ketogenic (keto) diet — a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet purported to have benefits for people with cancer — may increase the risk of tumor metastasis.

In the News Highlights

  • The 25-Year Fight to Defeat West Nile Virus, One Convoy at a Time
    Sep 5, 2024
    USA TODAY
    “It really was a catalytic event,” Ian Lipkin, now the John Snow Professor of Epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, told USA TODAY. “We watched it march across the United States. But at that time, the question was, how long was that going to take?”
  • Gus Walz Melted Hearts at the DNC, Putting Neurodiversity in the Spotlight
    Aug 22, 2024
    The Washington Post
    Nonverbal learning disability is a neurodevelopmental condition that causes children to have trouble with visual and spatial tasks or with processing nonverbal cues. Prudence Fisher, a professor of clinical psychiatric social work at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, is spearheading an effort to have the condition recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the official handbook of psychiatric illnesses. She also thinks it merits a new, more accurate name: developmental visual-spatial disorder.
  • Here’s How Much Sleep You Need, According to Your Age
    Sep 4, 2024
    TIME
    Babies aged zero to three months sleep 14 to 17 hours out of every 24—partly a function of the newborn’s introduction to the world after three trimesters in the darkness of the womb. “There are a lot of new neural connections forming,” says Dr. Yi Cai, director of sleep surgery at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, “and a lot of new learning going on. Everything’s new, and that’s a prominent driver of sleep needs for that age.”