CUIMC Update - April 16, 2025
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
Virginia Kneeland Frantz Society Honors Anne Taylor
During her talk, “A Century of Women at VP&S: Historical Perspectives,” Anne L. Taylor lauded the contributions of the first women trailblazers at VP&S.
Columbia Scientists Win Canada Gairdner Award for Fundamental Research
Columbia developmental biologists Gary Struhl and Iva Greenwald each received the Canada Gairdner International Award for research that helped yield critical insights on how cells communicate with their neighbors during animal development.
Bronx Middle Schoolers Visit School of Nursing
Students in Nursing’s Anesthesia Program introduced South Bronx middle schoolers to careers in nursing and nurse anesthesia and gave them hands-on experience performing CPR, using a stethoscope, and taking a pulse.
Meet the Patients Who Received Life-Changing Treatments
Patients are the heart of everything that happens at an academic medical center. At Columbia, we are thankful to the patients who entrust their care to us, and we celebrate their successes, including these stories.
Events
- The Role of Health Workers in Humanitarian Response
April 17, noon
Online - Situational Awareness
April 18, 11 a.m.
Online - Leveraging Science and Social Inclusion for Sustainable Development
April 18, 11:30 a.m.
Allan Rosenfield Building, 722 W 168th Street, Hess Commons - Saturday Science: Science and the City - Celebrating Earth Day
April 19, 1 p.m.
Jerome L. Greene Science Center, 605 West 129th Street - Can the Patient Speak? On the Possibility of Narrative Harm
April 21, 1 p.m.
Presbyterian Building, 622 W. 168th St., Floor 8, Room 107 (Atchley-Loeb Conference Room) - Disability Etiquette and Awareness Workshop
April 23, noon
Vagelos Education Center, 104 Haven Ave., Room 401 - Public Safety’s Ride Your Bike to Campus Day
April 24
Haven Plaza, Haven Avenue between Fort Washington Avenue and 169th Street - Quarterly All ERG Meeting
April 30, 11 a.m.
Hammer Health Sciences Center, 701 W. 168th St., Room 401 - The Exit Interview: Final Reflections with Dean Linda P. Fried
May 5, 11:30 a.m.
Allan Rosenfield Building, 722 W. 168 St., 8th Floor Auditorium - "I Heard There Was A Secret Chord: Music As Medicine," a Conversation with Dr. Daniel Levitin
- May 7, 6 p.m.
Online
Grants
College of Dental Medicine
- James Fine
$300,000 over two years from ZimVie for "2024-26 Fellowship."
Mailman School of Public Health
- Moise Desvarieux, George Hripcsak, and Richard Paul Mayeux, Epidemiology
$5,387,159 over one year from the National Institute on Aging for "Multi-morbidity 3-City Alzheimer’s Disease EHR Study (M3AD Study)." - Susan Michaels-Strasser, ICAP
$4,547,544 over one year from the Ministry of Health – Sierra Leone for "Sierra Leone MOH MedEd Imaging Initiative."
Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
- Matteo Porotto, Pediatrics
$1,422,472 over two years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for "Fusion inhibitors that block host-to-host transmission of SARS-CoV-2." - Scott Small, Taub Institute
$472,364 over two years from the Alzheimer's Association for "Understanding the neurodegenerative atrophy of Alzheimer’s Disease." - Robert Wechsler-Reya, HICCC
$500,000 over one year from Team Jack Foundation for "Development of a Brain-Restricted MYC Inhibitor for Medulloblastoma."
Honors
Mailman School of Public Health
- Daniel W. Belsky, Epidemiology
Received the American Federation for Aging Research Vincent Cristofalo Rising Star Award in Aging Research.
Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
- Jennifer Bain, Neurology
Received a 2025 A.B. Baker Teacher Recognition Award for her dedication to mentoring and educating the next generation of child neurologists. - Kathryn Holroyd, Neurology
Awarded the 2025 American Academy of Neurology Neuro-infectious Disease Award for her impactful research. - Michel Sadelain, CICET
Will receive an honorary doctor of science degree from the University of Alberta. - David Seres, Medicine
Named Distinguished Fellow of the American Society for Nutrition, the society’s highest lifetime achievement recognition. - Jay Vyas, Medicine
Received the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine Distinguished University Medical Educator Award from the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine.
Social Media Snapshot
In the News Highlights
Eye on America: How Far-UVC Light Could Be Key in Curbing the Next Airborne Pandemic
Apr 8, 2025
CBS News (video)
Far-UVC light is a form of ultraviolet light that can kill viruses and bacteria in the air without harming humans. Researchers say it could be instrumental in stopping the spread of illnesses like the flu and possibly future pandemics. Dr. Jon LaPook has more.
David Brenner, interviewed for this story, is director of the Center for Radiological Research at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.
America Is Backsliding Toward Its Most Polluted Era
Apr 9, 2025
The Atlantic
When I called Marianthi-Anna Kioumourtzoglou, an epidemiologist at Columbia University, she had just learned that the Trump administration had canceled her grant to study how impacts of climate change, including air pollution, alter cognitive function in aging people. (Earlier this year, too, she was dismissed from her appointment to the EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, along with the rest of the panel.) Even so, the basics on air pollution have been studied enough that Kioumourtzoglou knows how current rollbacks will affect Americans: There will be “more heart attacks, more respiratory adverse health outcomes for sure,” she told me.
The Return of the Dire Wolf
Apr 7, 2025
TIME
Nearly 30 years after Dolly the sheep was cloned, the technology still produces problems in cloned animals, such as large birth size, organ defects, premature aging, and immune-system problems. What’s more, cloning can be hard on the surrogate mother that gestates the cloned embryo. “There’s a risk of death. There’s a risk of side effects that are severe,” says Robert Klitzman, professor of psychiatry and director of the bioethics master's program at Columbia University. “There’s a lot of suffering involved in that. There are going to be miscarriages.”