CUIMC Update - Jan. 4, 2022

January 4, 2022

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

Today: Campus Update Forum
Columbia’s next Campus Update Forum for faculty, researchers, and staff will be held today, Tuesday, Jan. 4, at 4 p.m. on Zoom. The session will include updates on COVID-19 plans for spring 2022, and the campus work environment. Register here.

Anthony Ferrante Jr. Named to New Research Role at Diabetes Center
Anthony W. Ferrante Jr., MD, PhD, a longtime faculty member at Columbia, has been appointed associate director of research at the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center. Read more.

Columbia Mental Health Expert To Become NYC Health Commissioner
NYC Mayor Eric Adams named Ashwin Vasan, MD, PhD, assistant professor of clinical population and family health at Mailman and medicine at VP&S, to be commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, effective March 2022. Read more.

New Video: CUIMC Community Shares Gratitude
CUIMC employees participated in a year-end video to express what they are grateful for. Practicing gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships. View video.

New VP&S Research: Babies Born During Pandemic’s First Year Score Slightly Lower on a Developmental Screening Test
Babies born during the pandemic’s first year—even to moms who did not have COVID during pregnancy—scored slightly lower on a screening test of social and motor skills compared to pre-pandemic babies. Read more.

Columbia Medicine Magazine Reports on Cancer Center at 50
Fifty years after the National Cancer Act served as a catalyst for the growth and expansion of cancer research and care at Columbia, the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center spans six schools and 35 departments across Columbia and is a source of some of the most important cancer research of our time. Read more and view the fall/winter 2021 issue of Columbia Medicine magazine.

GRANTS

VAGELOS COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS

Katharina Schultebraucks, PhD, Emergency Medicine, will receive $3,539,268 over five years from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for “Early Signs: digital phenotyping to identify digital biomarkers for predicting burnout and cognitive functioning in ED clinicians.”

MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Andrew Rundle, DrPH, Epidemiology, will receive $2,645,973 over four years from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism for “Identifying alcohol-related and built environment factors that can be modified to prevent pedestrian road traffic deaths” and $538,088 over five years from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for a subaward of “Elucidating Genetic and Environmental Second Hits in Racial and Ethnic Minorities with APOL1 High-Risk Genotypes.”

COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE AND VAGELOS COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS

Fatemeh Momen-Heravi, DDS, PhD, Dental Medicine, and Alison Taylor, PhD, Pathology & Cell Biology, will receive $445,500 over two years from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research for “Identifying Molecular Subtypes of Head and Neck Cancer in Patients with African Ancestry.”

AWARDS AND HONORS

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IRVING MEDICAL CENTER

Several Columbia University Irving Medical Center faculty members have received grants through two Provost Office programs that recognize efforts to contribute to diversity and anti-racism goals. Read more.

EVENTS

Stress Management and Self Care, Jan. 11, noon, register here.

Bold Conversations on Race for Healing & Reshaping Our Medical Center Community Series: Honoring the Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Jan. 13, 3 p.m., register here.