CUIMC Update - February 5, 2025

February 5, 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

Enid’s Story: Cystic Fibrosis Clinical Trial Offers Hope
Through a trial offered at Columbia, a patient who is ineligible for existing treatments is the first to receive an experimental gene therapy.

Dennis Mitchell Named Interim Dean of College of Dental Medicine
Dennis Mitchell, professor of dental medicine and senior vice provost for faculty advancement, has been appointed the interim dean of the College of Dental Medicine, effective Feb. 1.

CUIMC Gives Back with Community Drives
The Office of Academic and Community Partnerships has organized several campus-wide drives and volunteer initiatives supporting the local community, including food, clothing, and toy drives, as well as a day of service.

Nutritionist-Approved Super Bowl Recipes
Drawing on her clinical expertise, Columbia nutritionist Jamie Leskowitz shares healthy tips and twists on classic Super Bowl foods.

New Advanced Standing Students in the College of Dental Medicine Receive Their White Coats
Fifteen internationally trained dentists, all of whom hope to practice in the United States, donned white coats in a ceremony held on Jan. 27.

Events

Grants

Mailman School of Public Health

  • Julie Herbstman, Environmental Health Sciences
    $273,827 over four years for a subaward from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences for "Translating Research to Action & Knowledge (TRAK) Portal: a web-based platform for report-back of research results."
  • W. Ian Lipkin, Center for Infection and Immunity
    $9,374,871 over five years from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for "Center for Solutions for ME/CFS."
  • Adina Zeki Al Hazzouri, Epidemiology
    $4,123,214 over five years from the National Institute on Aging for "A Multilevel Investigation of Migration and Dementia Risk Among Mexican Americans."

School of Nursing

  • Rebecca Schnall
    $2,992,618 over five years from the National Cancer Institute for "Implementation of Screen, Treat, and Triage for Women Living with HIV in La Romana (iSTAR)."

Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

  • Eric Greene, Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics: $1,193,156 over five years for a subaward from the National Cancer Institute for "Structure and function of RAD51 paralog tumor suppressor complexes in genome maintenance."
  • Jonathan Javitch, Psychiatry: $2,000,000 over five years from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for "Revealing the molecular determinants and fidelity of GPCR signaling in health and disease."
  • Stephanie Lovinsky-Desir, Pediatrics: $753,018 over one year from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for "Early Life Predictors of Airway to Lung Dysanapsis."
  • Natura Myeku, Taub Institute: $1,524,790 over two years from the National Institute on Aging for "The Role of Immunoproteasome Function in Alzheimer's Disease and Aging."
  • Marta Olah, Neurology: $730,715 over two years from the National Institute on Aging for "Interrogation of a human microglia phenotype associated with Alzheimer's disease."
  • Sarah Rossetti, Biomedical Informatics: $2,498,450 over five years from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology for "Scalable, Shareable, and Computable Clinical Knowledge for AI-Based Processing of Hospital-Based Nursing Data."
  • Jennifer Small Saunders, Medicine: $1,480,500 over three years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for "Epigenetic drivers of quiescence in artemisinin-resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria."
  • Tamara Sussman and Cristiane Duarte, Psychiatry: $820,321 over two years from the National Institute on Drug Abuse for "Structural Racism, Neurocognition in Reward Related Decision Making and Substance Use Risk."
  • Clarissa Waites, Pathology & Cell Biology: $552,260 over one year from the National Institute on Aging for "Uncovering stress-induced mechanisms of Tau pathology in Alzheimer's disease."
  • Jianlong Wang, Medicine: $1,433,618 over five years for a subaward from the National Cancer Institute for "Therapeutic value and mechanistic action of PSPC1 in AML."

Honors

Mailman School of Public Health

School of Nursing

Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

Social Media Snapshot

Columbia University Irving Medical Center 

Last week, Katrina A. Armstrong, interim president, Columbia University, joined hashtag#ColumbiaMed faculty and staff for a virtual event in observance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day: Bridges of Solidarity: What We Can Learn about Jewish-Muslim Relations in North Africa During the Holocaust. The event was hosted by the CUIMC Jewish Cultural Employee Resource group.

"As we come together to carry these memories forward, we both honor those lives that were lost [during the Holocaust], and the belief that we must never forget. We must never become desensitized to those atrocities. We know that this day and this moment to come together and remember the Holocaust has never been more important.”

In the News Highlights

  • The Scientific Fight Over Whether Aging Is a Disease
    Jan 27, 2025
    The Wall Street Journal
    Advanced age often carries overlooked positive social and emotional changes, says Dr. John Rowe, a geriatrician and professor of health policy and aging at Columbia University, such as better problem-solving skills and emotional stability. “They adapt better to various kinds of stresses,” says Rowe. “That’s not a disease.”
  • This Type of Meningitis Is Fast and Deadly. Here's What to Know.
    Jan 31, 2025
    USA TODAY
    "The most worrisome part of bacterial meningitis is the lethality of the disease and the rapidity of its onset," explains Dr. Jatin Vyas, a professor of medicine in the infectious disease division at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. "Patients can go from being well to very sick within hours."
  • N.I.H. Trials and Essential Hiring May Continue, Acting Director Says
    Jan 29, 2025
    The New York Times
    Last week’s cancellation of grant review and award meetings cast a shadow on the future of research projects, said Gary W. Miller, vice dean for research strategy and innovation at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.