CUIMC Update - August 21, 2024

August 21, 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

Leadership Transitions at CUIMC
With Minouche Shafik's decision to step down as president of Columbia University on Aug. 14, several VP&S leaders have taken on interim and expanded roles. Katrina Armstrong, CEO of CUIMC, has agreed to serve as interim president of Columbia University, and James McKiernan, senior vice dean for clinical affairs at VP&S and CEO of ColumbiaDoctors, will serve as interim dean of VP&S.

White Coat Ceremonies Welcome Medical, Dental Students
Incoming students at VP&S and the College of Dental Medicine donned their white coats for the first time, a significant milestone in their educational journeys.

Take a Campus Tour with Two CUIMC Leaders
Diana Mejia, vice president for student and campus services, and Sandra Harris, vice president for community affairs & partnership engagement, share their favorite spots on the CUIMC campus and in the community.

Introducing PRAM: A Mental Health Program for New Parents
A pilot program from the Department of Psychiatry for Columbia University medical plan participants offers rapid access to mental health care for new parents and pregnant people. 

Virginia Apgar’s Legacy Continues, 50 Years After Her Death
This year, we revisit some of the many ways Apgar made her mark on the world, including publishing the Apgar Score in the 1950s to assess newborn health, a public health advance still used around the world and credited with saving millions of lives.

Columbia to Establish David Koch Jr. Glomerular Kidney Center
The new David Koch Jr. Glomerular Kidney Center, established with a gift from the David Koch Jr. Foundation, will advance clinical research, physician education and training, and care for patients with glomerular diseases, which impair the kidney’s filters. 

Events

Grants

Mailman School of Public Health

  • Silvia Martins, Epidemiology
    $324,949 over five years for a subaward from the National Institute on Drug Abuse for "The Impact of Community Infrastructure Reinvestment Programs on Opioid Misuse and Opioid Overdose."

Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

  • Julian Agin-Liebes, Neurology
    $352,516 over one year from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research for "PBMC Consortium Phase 4 (Neutrophils and PBMC Biomarker Activities)."
  • Giovanni Ferrari, Surgery
    $3,838,135 over five years from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for "In vivo enhanced biocompatibility of modified biomaterials for mitral valve surgery."
  • Krystalyn Hudson, Pathology & Cell Biology
    $2,418,372 over five years for a subaward from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for "Basic and Translational Mechanisms of Alloimmunization to RBC Transfusion."
  • Jeffrey Miller, Psychiatry
    $736,987 over three years for a subaward from the Hope For Depression Research Foundation for "Novel Mechanisms of Antidepressant Action."
  • Michael Shen, Medicine
    $650,000 over two years from the Prostate Cancer Foundation for "Modulation of anti-androgen response by NSD2 in castration-resistant prostate cancer."
  • Elizabeth Clarice Verna, Surgery
    $616,875 over five years for a subaward from the National Institute on Aging for "The spectrum of cognitive impairment including Alzheimer's disease and related dementias after liver transplantation: from the Multi-Center Functional Assessment in Liver Transplantation (FrAILT) Study."
  • Jason Zucker, Medicine
    $753,468 over one year from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for "Doxy4STICare - Doxycycline for Sexually Transmitted Infections: a Comprehensive Assessment of Antimicrobial Resistance and Engagement."

Honors

Columbia University Irving Medical Center

  • Francesca Bartolini, Pathology & Cell Biology at VP&S; Rolando Perez-Lorenzo, Dermatology at VP&S; Safa Elkefi, Nursing; and Xiao Zhao, Medicine at VP&S, were named 2024 Velocity Fellows.

College of Dental Medicine

School of Nursing

Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

  • David A. Fidock, Microbiology & Immunology
    Received the Alice & C.C. Wang Award in Molecular Parasitology from the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
  • The Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research has announced four new Herbert and Florence Irving Scholars for the 2024-2027 cohort: Barry Fine, Medicine; Gamze Gürsoy, Biomedical Informatics; Claudia Lugo-Candelas, Psychiatry; and Meghna S. Trivedi, Medicine.
  • The Center for Sleep Medicine
    Recognized by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine for maintaining AASM accreditation for 15 continuous years.

Social Media Snapshot

Columbia University | This #NationalWellnessMonth, veg out at the Farmers’ Market at @ColumbiaMed’s Haven Plaza. Alongside its plentiful locally locally grown... | Instagram

In the News Highlights

  • Seeking Calm, Columbia University Asks a Doctor to Lead
    Aug 15, 2024
    The New York Times
    Now Dr. Katrina Armstrong is tasked with leading another community through the aftermath of a different kind of trauma, as Columbia grapples with the consequences of protests, accusations of antisemitism, an unwelcome turn in the global spotlight, and now the resignation of its president, Nemat Shafik. 
  • Research Shows Our Bodies Go Through Rapid Changes in Our 40s and Our 60s
    Aug 14, 2024
    NBC News Online
    The new study “is an important step forward,” said Dr. Lori Zeltser, a professor of pathology and cell biology at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. While we don’t know what the consequences of those metabolic changes are yet, “right now, we have to acknowledge that we metabolize food differently in our 40s, and that is something really new.”
  • Robots and AI Are Aiming to Make IVF Cheaper
    Aug 13, 2024
    Bloomberg
    Some clinics have also begun experimenting with AI and robotics on a smaller scale, like Columbia University Fertility Center, which plans to soon debut a robot called APRIL that preps the dishes where embryos are grown. Columbia’s studies, as well as others, suggest that AI and robotic systems are at least as good at manual tasks as human embryologists, if not better.