Five CUIMC Faculty Elected to AAAS
For their contributions to science, four faculty members of Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and one faculty member of Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health were named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world's largest multidisciplinary scientific society.
AAAS Fellows are selected for their extraordinary achievements in research, teaching, technology, administration, or communicating science to the public.
Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Uttiya Basu
For distinguished contributions to molecular immunology, including mechanisms of immunoglobulin gene diversification, induction of B cell lymphomas, and roles of the RNA exosome in maintaining cellular homeostasis
Uttiya Basu, professor of microbiology and immunology at Columbia’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, received his PhD in molecular biology from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. After finishing his postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School, focusing on molecular immunology, he joined the faculty at Columbia. His research currently focuses on the mechanisms that govern immune cell development during an immune response. For his research he has been awarded NIH Director’s Innovator Award, the Pershing Sohn Cancer Research Prize, and a Leukemia and Lymphoma Scholar award.
Sabrina Diano
For distinguished contributions to the field of neuroscience and metabolism, particularly for illuminating how the neuronal-non-neuronal informational exchange in the mammalian brain senses fuel availability and nutrients
Sabrina Diano, the Robert R. Williams Professor of Nutrition and director of the Institute of Human Nutrition, received her PhD in physiology at the University of Naples “Federico II” and then joined the faculty at Yale University. She was appointed director of Columbia’s Institute of Human Nutrition in 2020. Diano’s studies on nutrient sensing by the brain aim to identify mechanisms that enable brain cells to regulate energy and glucose metabolism in the entire body and how changes in these mechanisms induce the development of metabolic disorders. Diano was also elected this year as a member of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering. Her work is supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Jean Gautier
For distinguished contributions to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms used to sustain cell proliferation and to maintain genome integrity
Jean Gautier, professor of genetics and development in the Institute for Cancer Genetics, received his PhD in developmental biology at the University of Toulouse, France and joined Columbia in 1995. Gautier studies the mechanisms responsible for the maintenance of genome stability and how to exploit the genomic instability of cancer cells to design more effective and precise therapies for cancer patients. He has received the Dr. Harold and Golden Lamport Basic Science Award from Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and his work is supported by the National Cancer Institute.
Robert Klitzman
For groundbreaking research on ethical, legal, and social challenges in medicine, guidance to policymakers and the public, and founding and directing one of the United States' most comprehensive bioethics graduate programs
Robert Klitzman, professor of psychiatry, received his MD at Yale and completed his psychiatric residency at what is now NYP/Weill Cornell. He joined Columbia in 1989. His research has focused on decision-making related to genetic testing, HIV disclosure, reproductive choices among individuals at risk for genetic disorders, Institutional Review Boards, and other critical topics in the field, and he has authored over 190 academic articles and 10 books, including Doctor, Will You Pray for Me?: Medicine, Chaplains and Healing the Whole Person, Designing Babies: How Technology is Changing the Ways We Create Children, and When Doctors Become Patients. Klitzman has received numerous awards for his work, including fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, and the Russell Sage Foundation.
Mailman School of Public Health
Kiros Berhane
For distinguished contributions to the field of environmental biostatistics, advancing understanding of air pollution and health, and commitment to capacity building in public health in sub-Saharan Africa
Kiros Berhane is chair of the Department of Biostatistics and the Cynthia and Robert Citrone-Roslyn and Leslie Goldstein Professor. He received his PhD in biostatistics from the University of Toronto and did postdoctoral research at Johns Hopkins. Prior to joining Columbia in 2020, he was a professor at the University of Southern California for over 20 years. Berhane is a widely published expert on the development of statistical models that analyze complex and correlated data and the application of these models in public health, with a special focus on the health impacts of environmental factors and climate change. He was a Fulbright Scholar in 2016-2017, and is a fellow of the American Statistical Association and an elected member of the International Statistical Institute.