CUIMC Update - September 24, 2025

September 24, 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 Makes Science Come Alive for Curious Kids
Over a thousand elementary school students learned about stem cells, brains, bacteria, and more at CUIMC’s second annual Curious Minds Science Zone, an outdoor extravaganza held Sept. 18 on Haven Plaza. The event was hosted by the VP&S Office of Student Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging in collaboration with the Office of Academic and Community Partnerships and the Stem Cell Initiative.

Michel Sadelain Awarded Inaugural Broermann Medical Innovation Award
Michel Sadelain, director of the Columbia Initiative in Cell Engineering and Therapy, was awarded an inaugural Broermann Medical Innovation Award for his groundbreaking research in the field of CAR-T cell therapy for cancer.

Breaking Down 10 Myths About Bone Marrow Donation for Blood Cancer Awareness Month
Aaron Viny, hematologist and oncologist at CUIMC and the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, and personal survivor of leukemia, shines a light on the lifesaving role of transplants in treating blood cancers and addresses some of the most persistent myths surrounding donation.

Large For-Profit Chains Expand Psychiatric Beds as Public Hospitals Retreat
According to new research from the Mailman School of Public Health and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, inpatient psychiatric care has dramatically shifted to large for-profit chains from general hospitals, which saw a decline in available beds.

A Rising Anesthesiologist
The Rising Star Award is an initiative of the Academy of Clinical Excellence (ACE), established to recognize outstanding residents and fellows in VP&S clinical departments. 2025 Rising Star awardee, AJ Schramm, now assistant professor of anesthesiology, discusses his training, his dedication to his field, and how he supports patients who feel anxious entering the operating room

Final Reminder: Columbia Employee Climate and Engagement Survey Closes Sept. 26

CUIMC employees are invited to complete the Columbia Employee Climate and Engagement Survey. All responses are anonymous and confidential. The survey will remain open until Friday, Sept. 26. 

Events

Grants

Mailman School of Public Health

  • Anne Nigra, Environmental Health Sciences
    $998,805 over five years for a subaward from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities for “Water for Health: Strengthening Tribal Action for Cancer Prevention.”

Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

  • Mohammed AlQuraishi, Systems Biology
    $622,773 over two years from the Michelson Medical Research Foundation for “Design of protein- and peptide-based inhibitors of GnRH and GnRHR.”
  • Anum Glasgow, Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics
    $600,000 over five years for a subaward from the National Science Foundation for “Global Centers: CIRCLE: Center for Innovative Recycling and Circular Economy.” 
  • Arianna Kim, Dermatology
    $422,970 over two years from the National Cancer Institute for “Targeting Tumor-Driven Immune Tolerance to Overcome Resistance to Hedgehog Inhibition.”
  • Joshua Milner, Pediatrics
    $264,862 over three years for a subaward from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences for “Safety and Efficacy of Itacitinib in treatment of JAK/STAT gain of function disorders.”  
  • Megan Sykes and Remi Creusot, Medicine
    $2,385,958 over one year from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for “Understanding thymic epithelial and hematopoietic stem cell-intrinsic immune abnormalities driving T1D in optimized HIS mouse models.” 
  • Nan-Kai Wang, Ophthalmology
    $465,850 over two years from the National Eye Institute for “Molecular Mechanisms Underlying the Effects of SSBP1 Mutation on Vision.” 

Honors

Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

Social Media Snapshot

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In the News Highlights

  • Many Minor Hits Can Damage an Athlete’s Brain
    Sept. 17, 2025
    The New York Times
    The second study, published in the journal Neurology, used M.R.I. scans to observe the brains of 352 (living) amateur soccer players, most of whom were in their 20s. The more frequently a player headed the ball, the more damage they had, and the worse they performed on cognitive tests. Dr. Michael Lipton, a professor of radiology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, who led the research, made clear that despite their lower scores, none of the young adults met a clinical threshold for impairment. “It’s more of a question as to whether this could have implications for the future,” he said. 
  • New NIH Panel Seeks to Reduce 'Preventable' Stillbirths in U.S.
    Sept. 16, 2025
    United Press International
    The consortium will consist of four research centers and a data coordinating center, RTI International. The four research centers are the Center for Stillbirth Prevention at the University of California, San Diego, Columbia University's Stillbirth Research Center, the University of Utah's Stillbirth Research Center, and the Portland-based Oregon Health & Science University's NOURISH Research Center.
  • Why Would Someone Want to Amputate Healthy Limbs?
    Sept. 13, 2025
    BBC Online
    When media began reporting on the case, 3,000 miles away in New York, psychiatrist Dr. Michael First received a Google alert. Dr. First is a professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University, a research psychiatrist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, and was the man who got a condition known as body integrity dysphoria (BID) added to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), a globally recognized system maintained by the World Health Organization (WHO) that classifies diseases and health conditions. Dr. First said much of what he read about Hopper reminded him of his BID patients, although it was not made clear in court whether Hopper had received a diagnosis. 
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