Association of American Physicians Honors Four Columbia Physician-Scientists

The Association of American Physicians has elected four faculty of Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons to its membership: Adam Bass, MD; Catherine Schevon, MD, PhD; Robert Schwabe, MD, PhD; and Olajide Williams, MD.

The association is an honorary medical society founded in 1885 to advance scientific and practical medicine. Election is an honor extended to physicians who are making important discoveries in basic or translational biomedical research. Election is limited to 70 physicians each year.

Read more about the Columbia honorees:

Adam Bass, MD

Adam Bass, MD, the Herbert and Florence Irving Professor of Medicine, is founding director of the Center for Precision Cancer Medicine and director of gastrointestinal oncology at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center. Bass studies the genomics of gastrointestinal cancers, with the goal of better understanding cancer development and creating more effective therapeutics for patients.

Catherine Schevon, MD, PhD

Catherine Schevon, MD, PhD, associate professor of neurology, specializes in epilepsy and seizure disorders. Schevon’s research aims to improve the clinical process of seizure localization, which is critical to providing effective treatment, by linking the cellular processes that occur during seizures with their expressions on microelectrode and EEG recordings.

Robert Schwabe, MD, PhD

Robert Schwabe, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, directs the Columbia University Digestive and Liver Diseases Research Center. Schwabe’s research uses mouse models, patient samples, and novel systems biology approaches to understand how fibrosis and cancer develop in the chronically injured liver, with the goal of creating novel treatments for fatty liver, fibrosis, and cancer.

Olajide Williams, MD

Olajide Williams, MD, professor and chief of staff in the Department of Neurology is co-director of the Columbia Wellness Center where he leads health initiatives such as the Community Health Worker program. Williams’s research focuses on stroke disparities, community-based behavioral interventions, and implementation science, and he is devoted to addressing disparities in health care and diversity and inclusion in academic medicine. He also is founder and chair of Hip Hop Public Health, which creates multimedia curricular public health promotion resources aimed at engaging young people in the health of their communities.