CUIMC Update - October 10, 2024

October 10, 2024

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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

As a tribute to the enduring impact of Roy and Diana Vagelos on our work to transform human health, the Columbia community came together Tuesday, Oct. 8 at the United Palace theater to honor Dr. Vagelos on his birthday. This issue of the Weekly Update takes a look back at some of the many contributions from Roy and Diana Vagelos that have transformed our medical school and the landscape of American medicine.

Celebrating the Scientific Vision of Roy Vagelos
At the United Palace theater, hundreds of scientists, physicians, employees, and neighbors celebrated the scientific accomplishments of Columbia medical school alumnus Roy Vagelos, MD’54.

Transforming Our Campus
The contributions of Roy and Diana Vagelos have changed the face of our campus, enabling us to create new, state-of-the-art spaces to drive discovery and advance the future of medicine. Learn about the new biomedical research building, which broke ground in May 2024, and the Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center, which opened in 2016.

Doctors Without Debt: Changing the Future of Medical Education
Learn how Roy Vagelos is changing the future of medical education in America in this alumni profile from Columbia Magazine.

Roy and Diana Vagelos Make Historic Gift to Biomedical Science Research and Education
Just this August, Columbia University announced a $400 million gift from Roy and Diana Vagelos to support the Roy and Diana Vagelos Institute for Basic Biomedical Science. 

Students Hear from Roy Vagelos, First-Generation College Student
Members of the VP&S Class of 2025 met with Roy Vagelos, who shared personal experiences from his upbringing and his career success in medicine and business.

Events

Grants

Mailman School of Public Health

  • Allison Aiello and Daniel Belsky, Columbia Aging Center
    $3,509,528 over five years from the National Institute on Aging for "Testing effects of cash transfers on biological aging and risk for Alzheimer’s Disease."
  • Wafaa El-Sadr, ICAP
    $1,584,460 over three years for a subaward from Gilead Sciences for "HPTN 102/Purpose 3."
  • Lauren Houghton, Epidemiology
    $3,373,752 over five years from the National Cancer Institute for "SPECTRUM (Studying PRIDE to Enhance Cancer screening guidelines for TRansgender Users of gender-affirMing hormones)."

Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

  • Kristin Baldwin and Edmund Au, Genetics & Development
    $3,979,150 over five years from the National Institute of Mental Health for "Programs for generating inhibitory interneuron diversity and connectivity."
  • Sachel Shu Li Mok, Medicine
    $3,085,257 over five years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for "The genetic basis of emerging multidrug resistance in Plasmodium falciparum African malaria."
  • Jacqueline Montes, Rehabilitation & Regenerative Medicine
    $2,067,567 over four years from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases for "Establishing Walking-related Digital Biomarkers in Rare Childhood Onset Progressive Neuromuscular Disorders."
  • David Sulzer, Psychiatry
    $2,388,242 over four years from the National Institute on Drug Abuse for "The Dopamine Synapse and Associative Learning."
  • Harris Wang, Systems Biology
    $1,087,625 over five years from CZ Biohub New York for "Cell-corder: A transcriptional diary of immune cells using engineered RNA memory."

Honors

Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

Social Media Snapshot

Columbia Medicine | The #ColumbiaMed community celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month on Haven Plaza with live music, food including empanadas and arepas, and... | Instagram

In the News Highlights

  • As America’s Marijuana Use Grows, So Do the Harms
    Oct 4, 2024
    The New York Times
    Last year, the federal government’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that the rate of cannabis use disorder among people ages 18 to 25 was 16.6%. It has caught up to the rate of alcohol use disorder, 15.1%. “It’s a really significant turning point,” said Deborah Hasin, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University who performed the unique analysis of other data from the survey for The Times.
  • More Women Are Seeking Sterilizations Post-Dobbs, Experts Say
    Oct 2, 2024
    Stateline
    In the months after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to an abortion, there was a spike in the number of women seeking sterilizations to prevent pregnancy, a recent study shows. “It’s probably an indication of women [who] wanted to reduce uncertainty and protect themselves,” said lead author Xiao Xu, an associate professor of reproductive sciences at Columbia University.
  • Hurricanes Contribute to Thousands of Deaths Each Year in the U.S.—Many Times the Reported Number
    Oct 2, 2024
    NPR Online
    This study, and others like it, “cast in sharp relief” the climate impacts on human life in the U.S., says Robbie Parks, an environmental health expert at Columbia University. He led a previous study that found an estimated 18,000 uncounted deaths in the months following hurricane landfalls from 1988 to 2019.