CUMC Celebrates: January–February 2014
CUMC CELEBRATES acknowledges faculty, staff, and students at Columbia University Medical Center who receive major research grants, who earn prestigious honors, who are elected to honorary societies, or who take leadership positions in professional organizations. Celebrates also gratefully acknowledges the gifts made by donors and friends of the medical center and highlights faculty who have appeared in the news recently. If you have an award or honor that you would like to have listed in Celebrates, please fill out this online form. Please note: All federal grants are automatically included, based on institutional data provided by Sponsored Projects Administration. For more information, send an e-mail to the Celebrates editor. Click on the image at right to print this issue.
Research Grants / Awards & Honors / Philanthropic Gifts / CUMC in the News
RESEARCH GRANTS
COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE
Jeremy Mao, DDS, PhD, Center for Craniofacial Regeneration, received $1,450,115 over five years from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research for "Multidisciplinary Training in TMJ Disorders/Pain: Integrating Basic, Translational and Clinical Science" and $2,855,272 over four years from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research for “Pre-clinical Models of Odontic Analogs by Endogenous Stem Cells.”
COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS
Staci Arnold, MD, Pediatrics, received $420,000 over four years from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for “Investigating the Lifelong Cost Benefit of Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation for Children with Sickle Cell Disease.”
R. Graham Barr, MD, DrPH, Medicine, received $3,009,928 over four years from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for “Pulmonary Microvascular Blood Flow and Cor Pulmonale Parvus in Emphysema/COPD.”
Alan Brown, MD, MPH, Psychiatry, received $2,321,666 over three years from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in a competitive renewal for “Prenatal Factors and Risk of Autism in a Finnish National Birth Cohort.”
Kenneth Carpenter, PhD, Psychiatry, and Diana M. Martinez, MD, Psychiatry, received $335,779 over one year from the National Institute on Drug Abuse for “Imaging the Neurobiology of a Behavioral Treatment for Cocaine Dependence.”
Jan Claassen, MD, PhD, Neurology received $259,385 over four years from the James S. McDonnell Foundation for “A Collaborative Study of Recovery of Consciousness After Severe Brain Injury - Phase II.”
Catherine Clelland, MS, PhD, Taub Institute, received $2,148,942 over five years from the National Institute of Mental Health for “Vitamin-D-, PRODH-, and DTNBP1-Induced Hyperprolinemia: Schizophrenia Risk and Treatment.”
Adolfo Ferrando, MD, PhD, Institute for Cancer Genetics, received $800,000 over one year from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for “Clonal Evolution and Chemotherapy Resistance in ALL.”
David Fidock, PhD, Microbiology & Immunology, received $255,609 over one year from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for “Defining the Targets of Broad Intervention Antimalarial Agents” and $297,497 over three years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for “Mapping Drug Resistance Genes in Plasmodium falciparum.”
Richard Francis, MD, PhD, Pathology & Cell Biology, received $420,000 over four years from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for “Effect of G6PD Deficiency on Red Blood Cell Storage.”
Julia Glade Bender, MD, Pediatrics, received $625,000 over five years from Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for “Columbia University Developmental Therapeutics Program: Striving for Excellence.”
Scott Hammer, MD, Medicine, and Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, MPH, ICAP, received $11,163,533 over seven years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in a competitive renewal for "Columbia Partnership for Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials Unit (Columbia Partnership CTU)."
Christopher Henderson, PhD, Pathology & Cell Biology, received $440,000 over two years from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for “Genetic Evaluation of the p53 Cell Death Pathway in Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).”
Wayne Hendrickson, PhD, Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, received $1,229,115 over five years from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences in a competitive renewal for “Structure-Based Antagonism of HIV-1 Envelope Function in Cell Entry.”
Antonio Iavarone, MD, Institute for Cancer Genetics, and Raul Rabadan, PhD, Systems Biology, received $2,318,868 over five years from the National Cancer Institute for “Identification and Modeling of Driver Genetic Modules in Glioblastoma.”
Fay Kastrinos, MD, MPH, Medicine, received $375,529 over four years from the National Cancer Institute for “Validation and Extension of the PREMM Model for Mismatch Repair Genes.”
Jan Kitajewski, PhD, Obstetrics & Gynecology, received $1,552,271 over four years from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for “CLIC Function in Angiogenesis.”
Stavroula Kousteni, PhD, Medicine, received $388,000 over two years from Novo Nordisk A/S for “A Potent Anti-diabetic Hormone Derived from Osteoblasts.”
Suzanne Lentzsch, MD, PhD, Medicine, received $1,670,490 over five years from the National Cancer Institute for “Role of MMP13 in Multiple Myeloma Bone Disease.”
Jose Luchsinger, MD, MPH, Medicine, received $2,086,818 over three years from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute for “Northern-Manhattan Hispanic Caregiver Intervention Effectiveness Study (NHiCE).”
Andrew Marks, MD, Physiology & Cellular Biophysics, received $1,891,929 over five years from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for “Training in Cardiovascular Translational Research.”
David Owens, PhD, Dermatology, received $440,000 over two years from the National Institute on Aging for “A Cellular Basis for Age-related Impaired Tactile Acuity.”
Gabrielle Page-Wilson, MD, Medicine, received $420,000 over four years from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for “Novel Approaches to the Differential Diagnosis and Evaluation of ACTH-dependent Cushing's Syndrome.”
Livio Pellizzoni, PhD, Pathology & Cell Biology, received $440,000 over two years from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for “A Genome-wide Phenotypic Screen for Modifiers of SMN Expression and Function.”
Matthias Quick, PhD, Psychiatry received $300,000 over two years from the National Science Foundation for “Coupling of Sodium and Substrate Fluxes in the Na+/Multivitamin Transporter.”
Adam Ratner, MD, MPH, Pediatrics, received $396,000 over two years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for “Orphan Nuclear Receptors: New Mediators of Defense Against Pore-forming Toxins.”
Rodney J. Rothstein, PhD, Genetics & Development, received $360,000 over two years from the New York State Department of Health for “Developing a New Paradigm to Discover Novel Breast Cancer Drug Targets.”
Simone Sanna-Cherchi, MD, Medicine, received $440,000 over two years from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for “Genetic Diagnosis of Kidney and Urinary Tract Malformations via Copy Number Variations.”
Christian Schindler, MD, PhD, Microbiology & Immunology, received $391,365 over two years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for “Genetic Characterization of the Murine Type I Interferon Locus.”
Sagi Shapira, PhD, Systems Biology, received $2,428,167 over five years from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences for “Quantitative Studies of Influenza Evolution.”
Sameer Sheth, MD, PhD, Neurosurgery, received $282,000 over three years from the Dana Foundation for “Investigating the Role of Medial and Lateral Prefrontal Cortex in Human Decision-Making.”
Lubomir Smilenov, PhD, Center for Radiological Research, received $958,353 over three years from NASA for “The Effect of High LET Radiation on Differentiation and Tumorigenesis in the Human Hematopoietic System: Modeling in vitro and in vivo for Risk Assessment.”
Timothy Cragin Wang, MD, Medicine, received $1,426,616 over five years from the National Cancer Institute in a competitive renewal for “Mouse Models of Gastric Cancer.”
MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Elaine Abrams, MD, ICAP, received $494,995 over two years from UNICEF for “Monitoring, Evaluation & Research Technical Assistance for the Optimizing HIV Treatment Access for Pregnant Women (OHTA) Initiative.”
Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, MPH, ICAP, received $1,236,381 over five years from the National Institutes of Health for “Next Generation (NIMHD Minority Health and Health Disparities International Research Training).”
Sally Findley, PhD, Population & Family Health, and Mary Ann Chiasson, DrPH, Epidemiology, received $399,944 over one year from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for “Profiles of Participation in WIC and other Healthy Living Programs for Preschoolers in New York.”
Tomas Guilarte, PhD, Environmental Health Sciences, received $1,508,000 over five years from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in a competitive renewal for “Peripheral BDZ Receptor Biomarker of Neurotoxicity.”
Amit Kapoor, PhD, Center for Infection & Immunity, received $416,262 over two years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for “Study of Rodent HCV-GBV like Viruses.”
Jessica Justman, MD; Elaine Abrams, MD; and Batya Elul, PhD, all of ICAP, received $5,100,000 over five years from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for “Technical Assistance Services to Countries Supported by the President's Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.”
Matthew Perzanowski, PhD, MPH, Environmental Health Sciences, received $722,378 over three years from the Department of Housing & Urban Development for “Fungal Exposure, Allergy Sensitization and Asthma Among Middle Income Children in NYC.”
Jeffrey Shaman, PhD, Environmental Health Sciences, received $369,771 over three years from the National Science Foundation for “Collaborative Proposal: Combined Influence of Snow cover and ENSO on North African/Mediterranean Temperature and Precipitation.”
AWARDS & HONORS
COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE
The ADEAGies Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the American Dental Education Association, selected the College of Dental Medicine to receive a 2014 William J. Gies Award for outstanding achievement by an academic dental institution in support of dental education. The award recognizes CDM’s Community DentCare program, which provides low- or no-cost dental care to children, adults, and seniors in Northern Manhattan and the Bronx.
Fourth-year student Jose Castillo, CDM '14, was elected student trustee of the Hispanic Dental Association Board of Trustees. As student trustee, Mr. Castillo will represent the students' voice at the national level.
Ronnie Myers, DDS, became chair of the New York State Board of Dentistry on January 1, 2014. The state board for each licensed profession advises and assists the Board of Regents and the State Education Department on matters of professional regulation.
COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS
The P&S medical student section of the AMA is the latest winner of the AMA Medical Student Section's (AMA-MSS) "Event of the Month" award, which showcases recruitment, community service, education, and AMA-MSS National Service Project events coordinated by individual AMA medical student sections. P&S won for its recruitment event, “AMA: From Student to Physician,” held in November.
In December, the neurology department presented P.R.I.D.E. Employee Recognition Awards to three employees for their dedication, professionalism, and excellence: Barbara Almeida, Adult Neurology Clinic Coordinator; Giselle Beltre, NI-3 support staff and Movement Disorders Clinic coordinator; and Greivy Vargas, pre-authorization team member.
Huan Chen, a graduate student in the lab of Lorraine Symington, Microbiology & Immunology, received a 2014 DeLill Nasser Award for Professional Development in Genetics from the Genetics Society of America. The award provides a $1,000 travel grant for early career researchers to attend any meeting, conference, or course that will enhance his or her career.
In February, the director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality named Karina W. Davidson, PhD, Medicine, to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The task force is an independent, volunteer panel of national experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine and makes evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services, including screening.
Neurology resident Charles Esenwa, MD, and child neurology resident Alexis Dallara, MD, have received American Academy of Neurology Institute’s 2014 annual meeting resident scholarships.
During the Student Clinician’s Ceremony in January, several awards were presented to outstanding teachers, clinicians, and students:
- Daniel J. Goldberg, PhD, Pharmacology, received the Fundamentals Outstanding Teaching Award from the Class of 2015 for his innovative and narrative teaching style.
- Noel I. Robin, MD, chair of medicine at Stamford Hospital, received the Major Clinical Year Outstanding Teaching Award from the Class of 2015 for his dedication to students and holistic teaching style.
- The Class of 2015 presented Arnold P. Gold Foundation Resident Teaching Awards to six residents: Samuel Bernard, MD, NYP-Medicine; Brian Block, MD, NYP-Medicine; Maureen Burke, MD, Stamford-Ob/Gyn; Ismar Dizdarevic, St. Luke’s-Orthopedic Surgery; Matthew Pianko, MD, NYP-Medicine; and Emily Vail, MD’10, NYP-Anesthesiology.
- The P&S chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society presented an Outstanding Humanism in Patient Care award to Nicole Holuba LaMarca, pediatric nurse practitioner in the Department of Neurology’s Spinal Muscular Atrophy Clinical Research Center and Muscular Dystrophy Association Clinic.
- Samuel C. Porter, P&S’16, received the Greg Grove Memorial Award for his efforts in promoting activities that provide relaxation for busy students.
- Caitlin J. Alexander, P&S’16, received the Karl H. Perzin Excellence in Pathology Award for her accomplishments in pathology.
The Vilcek Foundation named Thomas M. Jessell, PhD, Neuroscience, winner of the 2014 Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science. The prizes honor the contributions of immigrants to American arts and sciences. Dr. Jessell was selected for his pioneering work in discovering the principles of the molecular mechanisms that direct neuronal diversity and circuit assembly in the vertebrate central nervous system.
Ruben Land, BS, a technician in the lab of Stephen Emerson, MD, PhD, HICCC, won an Outstanding Abstract Achievement Award at the American Society of Hematology’s annual meeting in December. Mr. Land was one of two winners in the undergraduate category.
In March, Jonathan T. Lu, MD, PhD, will receive the 2014 Lewis Katz Cardiovascular Research Prize for young investigators. Lewis Katz, entrepreneur and philanthropist, created these prizes in 2006 at CUMC to recognize outstanding contributions in cardiovascular research.
Siddhartha Mukherjee has been selected by the Government of India to receive a Padma Shri award, one of the country’s highest honors for civilians. India-born American physician-scientist Mukherjee is best known for his book, “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer,” which won a Pulitzer Prize in 2011.
Dana Pe’er, PhD, Systems Biology, has been named winner of the 2014 Overton Prize. Awarded by the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) since 2001, the Overton Prize each year recognizes one outstanding early- to mid-career scientist who has already made a significant contribution to the field of computational biology. The award recognizes Dr. Pe'er "for her cutting-edge research that applies computational methods to complex data to understand the organization of molecular networks in cells at a holistic systems level."
Jaime S. Rubin, PhD, director for research development in Medicine, was invited to speak about funding and grantsmanship for medical and graduate students at the Eastern-Atlantic Student Research Forum in February and about research and mentorship in biomedical careers at the National Student Research Forum in April.
Steven L. Spitalnik, MD, Pathology & Cell Biology, received the 2013 Emily Cooley Memorial Award and Lectureship from the American Association of Blood Banks. This award recognizes teaching ability and major scientific contributions in the field of transfusion medicine or cellular therapies.
Melodie Winawer, MD, Neurology, is the recipient of the 2014 Seymour Diamond, MD, Lectureship from the National Headache Foundation. The award recognizes the most significant paper in headache published during the past year ("Evidence for a Shared Genetic Susceptibility to Migraine and Epilepsy," Epilepsia, February 2013).
Four P&S staff members and a student group were presented with 2013 Awards for Excellence at a ceremony in January 2014. The awards have been presented since 2008 to exceptional employees or groups of employees for outstanding performance and contributions to the College of Physicians & Surgeons. The winners:
- Olajide Williams, MD, Neurology, Community Service Award
- Vilmarie Carmona, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Administrative Professional Award
- William Hichak, Dermatology, Officer of Administration Managerial Award
- Gary Johnson, Center for Radiological Research, Officer of Research Award
- LAMBDA Health Alliance, Diversity Award
A study by Jason Wright, MD, Obstetrics & Gynecology, and a study by Adolfo Ferrando, MD, PhD, Institute for Cancer Genetics; Teresa Palomero, PhD, Institute for Cancer Genetics; and Raul Rabadan, PhD, Biomedical Informatics, were included in Clinical Cancer Advances 2013: ASCO’s Annual Report on Progress Against Cancer. The report is an independent annual review of the advances in clinical cancer research that have the greatest potential to improve patients’ survival and quality of life.
MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Mary Bassett, MD (P&S '79), Epidemiology, has been appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio as the new health commissioner for New York City.
David Bell, MD, MPH, was chosen for TheGrio 100, an annual list of leaders in health, politics, the arts, education, pop culture, and science/technology, for his work in adolescent medicine and advocacy for young men to have access to high-quality health care services.
An article by Prakash Gorroochurn, PhD, “Errors of Probability in Historical Context,” was named one of the most memorable writings on mathematics and featured in the anthology “The Best Writing on Mathematics 2013,” published by Princeton University Press.
Joseph Graziano, PhD, received the 2014 Career Achievement Award from the Metal Specialty Section of the Society of Toxicology. He was selected for his NIH-funded research program that examines the health effects of exposure to inorganic arsenic and his work on the development of Succimer, the drug that is now widely used to treat childhood lead poisoning.
SCHOOL OF NURSING
Marlene McHugh, DNP, FNP, DCC, received the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association/American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellow in Palliative Care Nursing Award.
PHILANTHROPIC GIFTS
(November 23–February 13)
COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS
A contribution of $10,000,000 was realized as part of a $20,000,000 bequest to provide professorship support at the Judith P. Sulzberger, M.D., Columbia Genome Center.
A donor made a $5,000,000 contribution toward a transformative $40,000,000 commitment to the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center.
A family made a $5,000,000 contribution to fulfill a $10,000,000 commitment to provide continuing support to the Center for Molecular Cardiology and provide endowed professorship support for the center.
A bequest of $4,498,562 was realized to support the Toni Stabile Osteoporosis Center.
A donor made a contribution of $2,000,000 toward a $20,000,000 commitment to support construction of the new Medical and Graduate Education Building.
A donor made a $2,000,000 contribution to complete a $12,000,000 commitment to the Center for Motor Neuron Biology and Diseases.
A P&S alumnus made a bequest of $1,750,000 to provide scholarship support to the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
An alumnus of the College of Physicians and Surgeons made a bequest of $1,100,000 to provide scholarship support to P&S.
A foundation made a contribution of $1,000,000 toward commitments totaling $6,400,000 to the Department of Psychiatry to advance research on the developing brain and mind at the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology.
A donor made a gift of $875,000 toward a $10,500,000 commitment to advance research into the mechanisms of brain and gut function and the ways they are affected by nurture.
A family foundation made a contribution of $800,000 toward the funding of a professorship in the Department of Medicine and a contribution of $200,000 toward a $400,000 commitment to support a pilot project in health science communications.
A P&S alumnus made a gift of $750,000 to support a Global Health Initiative at the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
A donor made a contribution of $600,000 toward a $3,000,000 commitment to the Department of Psychiatry to advance research on the treatment and prevention of eating disorders.
A couple made a contribution of $600,000 toward a $2,500,000 commitment to the Department of Psychiatry to support a professorship in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
A family foundation made a gift of $500,000 toward a $5,000,000 commitment to support the new Medical and Graduate Education Building.
A contribution of $500,000 was made toward a commitment of $1,500,000 to advance alopecia areata research in the Department of Dermatology.
A donor made a contribution of $500,000 toward a $1,500,000 commitment to provide professorship support to the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain.
A family made a $500,000 contribution toward a $1,500,000 commitment to advance lung transplant research in the Center for Translational Immunology.
An alumnus of the College of Physicians and Surgeons made a $500,000 contribution toward a $1,000,000 commitment to support construction of the new Medical and Graduate Education Building.
A family foundation made a $460,000 contribution toward a $2,625,000 commitment to the Department of Psychiatry to advance care and rehabilitation services at the Lieber Recovery and Rehabilitation Clinic.
A donor made a $462,500 contribution toward a $1,500,000 commitment to the Division of Endocrinology to advance research in osteoporosis and other bone diseases.
A donor made contributions totaling $400,000 to the Department of Psychiatry to support the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology Parent-Infant Project.
An anonymous donor made a gift of $370,000 to the Department of Neurosurgery to advance low-grade glioma research.
A bequest of $349,202 was realized to provide scholarship support to the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
A donor made a gift of $335,805 to the Department of Psychiatry to support a fellowship in Developmental Neuropsychiatry.
A couple made a $325,000 contribution in support of the College of Physicians and Surgeons’ fourth annual Crown Awards Gala.
A gift of $300,651 will provide scholarship support at the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
An anonymous donor made a $300,000 gift to support the Global Mental Health Program at Columbia University Medical Center.
A family foundation made a $270,000 commitment to the Department of Medicine to advance research on fractures at the Toni Stabile Osteoporosis Center.
A foundation made a contribution of $250,000 toward a $2,000,000 commitment to support Kavli scholars in the Kavli Institute for Brain Science.
An alumnus of P&S and Columbia University made a $250,000 contribution toward a $1,000,000 commitment to support construction of the new Medical and Graduate Education Building.
A donor made a contribution of $239,986 toward a $1,500,000 commitment to provide professorship support to the Department of Pediatrics.
A foundation made a contribution of $225,000 to support the Chairman’s Frontier Fund in the Department of Psychiatry.
The Simmons Mesothelioma Foundation made a contribution of $200,000 toward a $3,150,000 commitment to the Department of Medicine to advance research on malignant mesothelioma.
A contribution of $200,000 was made toward a $1,000,000 commitment to support research and clinical care at the Weinberg Family Cerebral Palsy Center.
A donor made a $200,000 commitment to the Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics to advance Alzheimer’s disease research.
An anonymous donor made a $175,000 contribution to advance research at the Department of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine.
A donor made a gift of $175,000 to advance translational research at the Steven and Vivienne Segal Family Biobank at the Center for Translational Immunology.
A couple made a contribution of $172,500 toward a $1,380,000 commitment to the Department of Ophthalmology to advance research on latent retina dystrophy.
A bequest of $159,730 was realized to support the Chairman’s Frontier Fund in the Department of Psychiatry.
An anonymous donor made a gift of $155,000 to advance research at the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain.
A family foundation made a gift of $150,000 to support the renovation of the John Wheeler Library in the Department of Ophthalmology’s Eye Institute building.
A bequest of $129,594 was realized to provide unrestricted support for priority programs that are vital to the medical center’s success.
A donor made a $125,000 commitment to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology to advance research on metabolic diseases in women.
A P&S alumnus made a contribution of $100,000 toward a $500,000 commitment to provide scholarship support to the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
A donor made a $100,000 commitment to the Department of Surgery to advance research on neuroendocrine tumors.
A P&S alumnus made a gift of $100,000 to support the Scholarly Projects Program at the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
A foundation made a contribution of $100,000 to the Department of Medicine to support a professorship in obesity research.
A contribution of $100,000 was made to advance research at the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain.
A donor made a $100,000 commitment to the Department of Pediatrics to support the James R. Malm, MD, Professorship Fund.
A donor made a gift of $100,000 to advance patient care, education, and outreach programs for type 1 diabetes at the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia University Medical Center.
A donor made a $100,000 contribution in support of the College of Physicians and Surgeons’ fourth annual Crown Awards Gala.
A couple made a $100,000 gift to support the fourth annual Crown Awards Gala.
A Columbia University alumnus and faculty member made a gift of $100,000 to support the Chairman’s Frontier Fund in the Department of Psychiatry.
A private foundation made a gift of $100,000 to support the Crown Awards Gala.
A donor made a $100,000 gift to advance research in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
A donor made a $100,000 contribution to advance research in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
A couple made a contribution of $100,000 toward a $1,000,000 commitment to support construction of the new Medical and Graduate Education Building.
A donor made a gift of $100,000 to support our campus revitalization initiative.
A donor made a $100,000 contribution toward a three-year commitment of $300,000 to support an annual Clinical Retina Fellowship in the Department of Ophthalmology.
A foundation made a gift of $100,000 to support young scholars in the Department of Ophthalmology.
A foundation made a $100,000 gift to the Department of Ophthalmology to advance high-frequency ultrasound technology for early diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders.
SCHOOL OF NURSING
The Louis and Rachel Rudin Foundation awarded the School of Nursing a $200,000 grant for scholarships. Of this amount, $80,000 is directed for undergraduate scholarships, $80,000 for students with a special interest in oncology, and $40,000 for a postdoctoral fellowship in palliative and end-of-life care.
An alumnus of the School of Nursing and her family made a donation of $175,000 to support the scholarship fund, the student travel fund, and the new School of Nursing Building.
An alumnus of the School of Nursing made a gift for $150,000 to name a space on the first floor in the new School of Nursing Building.
MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
An anonymous donor made a gift of $1,938,099 to support autism spectrum disorder research at the Center for Infection and Immunity.
The Hess Foundation made a contribution of $500,000 to fulfill its $2,500,000 commitment to endow the Leon Hess Professorship in Environmental Health Sciences.
An anonymous donor made a contribution of $250,000 toward a $2,500,000 commitment to the Allan Rosenfield Scholars in Sexual and Reproductive Health Scholarship Fund.
The Tow Foundation made a gift of $225,000 to support the conference “The Public Health Approach to Incarceration: Opportunities for Action,” scheduled for June 4–5, 2014, at the Mailman School of Public Health.
A donor made a gift of $200,000 to support research in the Department of Health Policy and Management.
CUMC IN THE NEWS
November 2013–January 2014
NATURE NEUROSCIENCE Ground Zero in Alzheimer’s Disease – January 28 In a technical tour de force, Scott Small, MD, Neurology, and Karen Duff, PhD, Psychiatry, report an elegant set of imaging and histology experiments in several mouse models, as well as human patients, that provide convergent evidence that the lateral entorhinal cortex is specifically targeted by Alzheimer's disease pathology.
MEDPAGETODAY Fever Risk Rises When Vaccines Given Together – January 6 The risk of fever on the day of or day after the shot was almost threefold higher when flu and pneumococcal vaccines were given together, according to Melissa Stockwell, MD, of Columbia University in New York City, and colleagues.
NBC NEWS Mold, Mice and Zip Codes: Inside the Childhood Asthma Epidemic - January 3 In New York, poor neighborhoods tend to be crisscrossed by major roads clogged with diesel-powered vehicles that spew particles into the air that can trigger or exacerbate asthma, said Matt Perzanowski, an associate professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.
REUTERS VIDEO Researchers Breathe Life Into Hopes for Lab-grown Lungs - December 22 Scientists in New York have successfully turned human stem cells into functional lung and airway cells for the first time. It's a breakthrough the researchers at Columbia University believe could eventually lead to the creation of lab-made lungs, using a patient's own cells.
NEW YORK TIMES The Case for Tolerating E-Cigarettes - December 8 In an op-ed, Amy L. Fairchild, PhD, Sociomedical Sciences, and James Colgrove, PhD, Sociomedical Sciences, recommend tolerating e-cigarettes as a means to help smokers quit tobacco. But because the long-term health effects of e-cigarettes are unknown, Daniel Seidman, PhD, Psychiatry, director of Smoking Cessation Services at CUMC, responded in a letter that it is difficult to justify recommending them.
ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION Joint Commission Guidelines for Preventing Bloodstream Infections Emphasize Role of Nurses – December 5 Patricia Stone, PhD, MPH, RN, a principal investigator for an INQRI-funded study on the impact of nurse staffing, skill mix, and experience on quality and costs in long-term care, contributed to the new guidelines.
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