Passing of Mark L. Heaney, MD

Dear CUIMC community: 

It is with profound sadness that we write to inform you of the tragic death yesterday of our beloved friend and colleague, Mark L. Heaney, MD. 

Many people across VP&S and the medical center are struggling today to absorb this awful news and to comprehend the scale of the loss it represents. As an institution, we are dedicated to training physicians, discovering new scientific knowledge, and providing patients with the most advanced and compassionate care. Mark personified every facet of our mission. He was a brilliant clinician, a gifted and devoted teacher, a renowned physician-scientist, and a humanitarian. His contributions to CUIMC were felt widely and by many, and now so is his passing. 

Mark was an extraordinary doctor who pushed forward the frontiers of cancer medicine on multiple fronts. He joined our faculty in 2013 as a member of the Division of Hematology and Oncology within the Department of Medicine, coming to us from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Heaney was internationally recognized for his research in the area of mast cell diseases and histiocytic neoplasms, and he was a leader in employing clinical and translational research for patients with leukemia and rare blood cancers. The clinical practice he successfully developed at Columbia provided the largest patient base for the Division’s groundbreaking clinical trial programs targeting rare diseases. In 2016, Dr. Heaney was named Co-Head of Medical Oncology at NYPH-Lawrence Hospital in the newly opened Lawrence Cancer Center, with a catchment area including underserved communities in the Northern Bronx, Yonkers, Mount Vernon, and New Rochelle. 

Dr. Heaney was chair of Columbia’s Cancer Center Institutional Review Board, the busiest IRB at the University, and he helped develop it into one of the preeminent IRBs in the country for cancer medicine. In this role, he led a dedicated group of faculty colleagues from the Departments of Medicine, Pediatrics, and Radiation Oncology, and the School of Nursing, as well as lay representatives. 

Reflecting his long commitment to graduate medical education, Dr. Heaney took over as director of our Hematology and Medical Oncology Fellowship Program in 2014. The program became the largest fellowship program at NewYork-Presbyterian and one of the most selective hematology and medical oncology programs in the country, with more than 90 percent of fellows taking faculty appointments at leading academic institutions. 

In the tributes to come for Dr. Heaney, there will be fuller accountings of his exceptional professional accomplishments. That is fitting and appropriate. The description of his career provided here is not meant to be the measure of the colleague we have lost, but rather a way to reflect on the laudable qualities of the special man whom so many of us will miss. 

Above all, our thoughts and concerns are directed to Dr. Heaney’s family. We will be supporting them to the full extent we are able. And we must also support each other, pulling together in this difficult time and finding the best in our community. 

Please look after yourselves and do not hesitate to make use of resources available through CopeColumbia, which offers both peer-to-peer and team support. These services can be accessed at 646-774-6311, or copecolumbia@cumc.columbia.edu. You can also directly contact Dr. Lou Baptista, Chief Well-Being Officer, at lb2602@cumc.columbia.edu, or Dr. Laurel Mayer of CopeColumbia at lsm16@cumc.columbia.edu. 

Sincerely, 

Katrina Armstrong, MD 

Donald W. Landry, MD, PhD 

Gary K. Schwartz, MD 

Anil K. Rustgi, MD 

Rudi Odeh-Ramadan, PharmD