SPRING/SUMMER 2020 Columbia The ED Doctor Medicine Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons

The Researcher

HERE FOR NEW YORK

T h e S t a f f e r

The Specialist • FROM• FROM THE THE DEAN DEAN

Dear Readers,

For my last “From the Dean” message for as patients who could go anywhere for their Columbia Medicine, I want to devote this care—is a reminder that a top hospital and space to thanking the groups and individuals a top medical school go hand in hand. Being who have made the medical school so suc- part of a great university is also critical to our cessful these past 14 years. success, especially as the Morningside cam- The growth and progress of these years rep- pus has expanded northward to Manhattan- resent a true team effort of our faculty, staff, ville and a number of our faculty have moved students, and philanthropists, as well as the to its Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Insti- leadership of Columbia University, NewYork- tute, thereby blurring the distinction between

JÖRG MEYER Presbyterian Hospital, and Bassett Healthcare. “uptown” and “downtown.” The greatness of We especially appreciate gifts of almost Columbia reflects on us, and vice versa. $3 billion from alumni, grateful patients, and As I said back in 2006 when my term as faculty since 2006. These gifts, ranging from dean began, “No one wants anything less small amounts to hundreds of millions of dol- than the very best, and I’m proud to become lars, have transformed the medical school part of that commitment.” When I step down and medical center. Together we are doing our from my executive leadership roles at the end best to make the world a healthier place by of June it will be with enormous gratitude for delivering outstanding patient care, conduct- the faculty, staff, students, patients, donors, ing groundbreaking research, educating the and alumni who have trusted me to be the next generation of health care professionals, temporary steward of this great school, and extending our resources into the neighbor- which, hopefully, has become even stronger. hood around us, where we improve the public’s Thank you for joining us to build on the health as well as take care of one patient at greatness of those who preceded us and for a time. Nowhere has our mission been more all you have done to make these past 14 years evident than in our response this year to the so successful. Your continuing excellence and COVID-19 pandemic. Our faculty, staff, and stu- dedication will ensure that our outstanding dents have worked heroically to treat patients; medical school remains among the very most conduct research into diagnosis, treatments, preeminent in the world. and vaccines; and offer our graduates oppor- tunities to enter their training early to make an With best wishes, immediate impact on patient care. Our success is inextricably tied to the success of our hospital partner, NewYork- Presbyterian, and to the greatness of Colum- bia University. Sharing a campus with a truly Lee Goldman, MD, Dean great hospital—for local residents as well [email protected]

ON THE COVER: Planning for the Columbia response to COVID-19 began in January. By mid-March, many of the nonclinical faculty and staff in the medical school started working from home. A few of the many researchers, clinicians, public safety officers, cleaners, and others who reported to work every day are shown on the cover. Read about our COVID-19 response on Page 18. Photos by Jennifer O’Rourke. Vol. 40 No. 1 Spring/Summer 2020 in thisIssue departments features 11 A 14-Year Partnership: ‘Honored and Privileged to be the Temporary Steward’ After 14 years as dean, Lee Goldman reflects on progress that has been made since 2006 in education, research, patient care, and community outreach.

9

3 VP&S News

9 Clinical Advances • F etal Surgery for Congenital 18 Heart Defects

• Hip Specialists Seeing More Hipsters The First 60-Plus Days at the Epicenter of COVID-19 • New Strategy for TIA and Minor Stroke Patients Even before New York’s first COVID-19 patient was transferred to NewYork-Presbyterian in early March, 26 Alumni News & Notes Columbia University, Columbia University Irving Medical • P rofile: Henry Shinefield’48 Center, and the entire NYP system were preparing for the inevitable. The clinical, research, and educational missions 37 In Memoriam since then have been transformed to respond to the most Faculty and alumni who have died challenging health crisis of our time. ColumbiaMedicine Editor’s Note Chairman, Editorial Board Thomas Q. Morris, MD Alumni Professor Emeritus of Clinical Medicine Adding a Fast-Moving Virus to a

Editor Slow-Moving Magazine Production Bonita Eaton Enochs A typical issue of Columbia Medicine involves months of prepara- Science Editor tion: development of assignments; research, interviews, and writing; Susan Conova photography; page layout; proofreading; approvals; printing; and Contributing Writers mailing. This issue was well along in that process when COVID-19 Jeff Ballinger cases started appearing in New York City and at NewYork-Presbyte- Tim Gahr Danny McAlindon rian Hospital. Articles had been approved by sources, and the design Rose Spaziani process had begun. Some photo shoots were completed before the

Alumni News Editor city went into work-at-home and social distancing mode, but other Marianne Wolff, MD photo shoots were cancelled. The editorial staff was deployed to other communications needs, but work continued on the magazine’s design Alumni Writer Julia Hickey so we would be prepared to complete the magazine’s production once the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic had passed. Design and Art Direction We are still in the process of returning to some semblance of normal Eson Chan and are proud to present this belated issue of the magazine. The Editorial Board Lisa Mellman, MD issue includes some of the content planned and completed in Febru- Ryan Blake’20 Stephen E. Novak James Choi’21 Carmen Ortiz-Neu, MD ary but we have added an article that, we hope, conveys the response Ron Drusin, MD Ajay Padaki, MD to the pandemic by Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Bruce Forester, MD Richard Polin, MD NewYork-Presbyterian. In the News section, articles describe how the Oscar Garfein, MD Donald Quest, MD traditions of the graduating class—Super Night, Match Day, and grad- Sankar Ghosh, PhD Alan Schechter, MD Lee Goldman, MD John Schullinger, MD uation—were anything but traditional as members of the Class of 2020 Tom Hickernell, MD Joseph Tenenbaum, MD graduated early to support the clinical front lines of the pandemic. Jay Lefkowitch, MD Jonathan Xu’20 In the next issue, we will shine a light on the COVID-19 research Ashley London’21 efforts that were ongoing during the height of the pandemic and Columbia Medicine is published twice a year for alumni, faculty, continue now in hopes of creating new diagnosis, treatment, and students, and other supporters of the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons. It is published by prevention options. the college and the VP&S Alumni Association through the VP&S With the American epicenter of the pandemic in New York City, Office of Communications. Additional content can be found in the spread of the illness changed daily operations at the medical the online edition at columbiamedicinemagazine.org. school and medical center, upended the daily lives of all clinical and Lee Goldman, MD administrative staff, and altered the graduation memories of the Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine and newly minted members of the Class of 2020. What did not change Chief Executive of Columbia University Irving Medical Center and will not change is the school’s commitment to leadership in Christopher DiFrancesco education, patient care, and research. In all three missions, we Chief Communications Officer showed our city, state, and country during the pandemic that VP&S Address correspondence to: remains among the best medical schools in the world. Columbia Bonita Eaton Enochs, Editor Medicine magazine is proud to be part of the efforts to share our Columbia Medicine successes and to remind you that we are doing our best to make the 630 W. 168th St., Box 153 New York, NY 10032 world a healthier place. 212-305-3900 — Bonita Eaton Enochs, Editor

Email: [email protected]

Join the medical school’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/columbiaps send letters to: Alumni should update their addresses by writing the Bonita Eaton Enochs, Editor Alumni Association at the address above or calling the alumni Columbia Medicine office at 212-305-3498. Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons 630 W. 168th St., Box 153 Faculty and staff should contact their departmental administrators to update their addresses, which are obtained New York, NY 10032 through the Columbia University personnel system. Email: [email protected]

All others with address changes should contact VP&S Communications at 212-305-3900 or [email protected]. 2 ColumbiaMedicine Spring/Summer 2020 News from around the Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons VPS& news

Columbia Names Interim EVP and Dean

olumbia University President Lee Bollinger has named Anil K. Rustgi, MD, director of the Herbert Irving Com- Cprehensive Cancer Center, as interim executive vice presi- dent and dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine, effective July 1, 2020. Shortly after Lee Goldman, MD, EVP, dean, and chief execu- tive of Columbia University Irving Medical Center, announced his plans in May 2019 to step down from his executive roles, President Bollinger named a committee to begin a search for Dr. Goldman’s successor. Dr. Goldman has agreed to serve as a special advisor to Dr. Rustgi and the dean’s office after July 1. “I and the rest of the University administration will be deeply involved and supportive as well, even more so during this difficult time, with the challenges that confront us with COVID-19,” Presi- dent Bollinger said. The search committee, which President Bol- linger chairs, will continue to review candidates for a permanent successor to Dr. Goldman. “I want, again, to take this occasion to thank Lee Goldman, an exceptional leader, physician, investigator, educator, and mentor,” President Bollinger said. “If we use the measure of leadership that the institution is better now than it was at the outset, Lee has done an outstanding job. The several schools—both individually and as a whole—are clearly stronger than ever (even at this moment

of crisis). I and we are deeply grateful to Lee for his remarkable BARBARA ALPER dedication and service these nearly 14 years.” Dr. Rustgi joined VP&S Jan. 1, 2019, as Irving Professor of Dr. Rustgi graduated summa cum laude from Yale College with Medicine, director of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer a bachelor’s degree in molecular biophysics and biochemistry and Center, and associate dean of oncology. At NewYork-Presbyterian/ earned his medical degree at Duke University School of Medicine, CUIMC, he is chief of cancer services. He will retain these titles where he was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha national medical and responsibilities while serving as interim EVP and dean. A lead- honorary society. He completed an internal medicine residency at ing cancer researcher, Dr. Rustgi joined Columbia from the Uni- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and a GI fellowship at Mas- versity of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, where he sachusetts General Hospital. He also served as associate professor spent 20 years as the T. Grier Miller Professor of Medicine and of medicine at Massachusetts General before joining the Univer- Genetics and chief of gastroenterology. He also co-led the Tumor sity of Pennsylvania in 1998. Biology Program. Dr. Rustgi has been elected to the National Academy of Medi- Dr. Rustgi, who has received the prestigious American Cancer Soci- cine, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and the Asso- ety Research Professorship, studies the intrinsic cellular processes and ciation of American Physicians and is a Fellow of the American tumor microenvironment that lead to the development, progression, Association for the Advancement of Science. Previously, he was and metastasis of gastrointestinal cancers, including cancer of the president of the American Gastroenterological Association, edi- esophagus, pancreas, and colon. Using mouse models and 3D culture tor-in-chief of Gastroenterology, and president of the International models, Dr. Rustgi is investigating the role of cancer-causing genes Society of Gastroenterological Carcinogenesis. and tumor suppressor genes in the pathogenesis of GI cancers. He is president of the American Pancreatic Association for 2020.

www.columbiamedicinemagazine.org 3 VPS& news

(Virtual) Match Day 2020

It was a Match Day like no other in VP&S tomarily hosts the Match Day gathering. to find Elliott who had also matched to history. In recent years, Match Day has “Although everyone is disappointed that we CUMC, so everything turned out fine.” been a rite of passage not just because it aren’t able to celebrate in person together, Elliott Antman’74: “Boy, was I glad determines the future for graduating medi- we are really pleased that they are with us to see we matched at CUMC together. cal students, but also because family and for a virtual match celebration today.” I was not sure if my 10-year-old Volvo friends have come together—in Bard Hall At noon, students received their would hold up during potential trips to in recent years—to share the occasion with match letters via email. After the official visit Karen. Now we could ‘walk to work’ food, hugs, and selfies. event, nearly 60 students tuned in for an together; the rest is history for our family!” Martha Stitelman’78: “I remember almost nothing about the match. Being headed for family practice and tied to the New York metro area, I had very few choices, so I threw myself on fate’s mercy, matched at Overlook (without, I think, even a visit there), and it all worked out pretty well in the end. I dimly remember some senior resident telling us that no matter where we matched, if things didn’t work out, we could eventually move on elsewhere, and I have found that good advice for just about every life decision then and since.”

After participants in the 2020 residency match event learned their residency destinations via email at noon, an “after party” on Zoom allowed

This year the rite of passage was moved “after party” on Zoom and shared messages students to share messages of online because of the spread of COVID-19 of congratulations. congratulations with each other. and the widespread cancellation of events that Despite the unusual match event, the tra- bring people together in dangerous proximity. dition of VP&S students matching to stellar On March 20, the 136 members of the residencies held strong. The most popular Elyse Seidner-Joseph’86: “The night before Class of 2020 who participated in the resi- residencies were internal medicine (35 stu- our Match Day, we had a show and a party. dency match were invited to tune in via dents), psychiatry (18), obstetrics & gynecol- Afterwards, a bunch of us drove to an all- Zoom from home for an event co-hosted ogy (10), pediatrics (10), orthopedic surgery, night diner in New Jersey. I went straight by Lisa Mellman, MD, and Jonathan (7), ophthalmology (6), and urology (6). from there to the auditorium in Hammer, Amiel, MD, interim co-vice deans for edu- Columbia Medicine asked a selection of where Dean Lewis handed out envelopes. cation, who offered greetings along with alumni about their Match Day memories. No spouses or parents were there, no pho- Lee Goldman, dean. Karen Antman’74 recalls: “I was terrified. tographs or flowers or balloons. I was “We are all adapting to the rapidly evolv- I was dating a classmate, Elliott Antman, glad to match at my first choice (CPMC in ing changes related to coronavirus, and we and there was no couples match so we could internal medicine) along with several close are extremely proud of our students and easily have ended up 3,000 miles apart. I friends in the class.” how they are managing the many changes,” took my envelope into the ladies room close Peter Budetti’70: “I don’t recall any said Dr. Mellman, who as senior associ- by and opened it in private. I was delighted major ceremony. I remember only a crowd ate dean for students affairs at VP&S cus- to have matched to CUMC! I then went of students milling about in an auditorium/

4 ColumbiaMedicine Spring/Summer 2020 classroom and tearing open their enve- thought it would be cool to have the two of we chose to only try to match in New York. I lopes. Reactions ranged from glee to sul- us together; however, as I recall, my class- was ecstatic to stay and match at Edward S. len withdrawal. Some were delighted and mate was seriously displeased and immedi- Harkness Columbia. Given my dad was an started talking about getting married and ately set out to make a change and find a ophthalmologist there, I had worked in the beginning their careers, others were less different appointment.” lab there since high school and basically it enthusiastic but placated, and a few were Barbara Wirostko’91: “I honestly do not felt like home. Joe had started his residency dismayed. The one reaction that has stuck remember much. I recall getting into P&S in anesthesiology and staying at Columbia with me was from one of my classmates and screaming. This was now 30 years ago. with him, I could not have asked for more. who had matched in exactly the same My husband [Joseph Morelli’90] and I were The quality and caliber of the teaching, pro- position as I had. I was pleased, since the in different years so he matched first. We fessors, clinicians was—and is—one of the internship was exactly what I wanted and I could not do the couples match and as such best in the country.”

Super Night Tradition Preserved

Since 1978, the eve of Match Day has been a night for costumes, The video chronicles the weeks leading up to Match Day in a series community, and celebration among VP&S students. Founded by the of scenes that parody the match process and the anxieties that come late Michael Kesselbrenner’78, Super Night has traditionally brought with it. Apropos of this Super Night’s place in history, the pair added members of the graduating medical class together the night before a skit featuring COVID-19. In it, Dr. McCormick parodies a mid- the residency match for dinner, skits, performances, and videos. Each March announcement that the university expects no interruptions year’s event features a theme, which ranged in recent years from the to medical education, until an impromptu update arrives via email. Olympics to the Oscars and from superheroes to Super Nintendo. “Okay, so it turns out that nothing will be proceeding as normal!” The Class of 2020 planned a celebration featuring their favorite she says with a clap of her hands. With each successive cut from the childhood cartoons, but as with all other events scheduled for the first email to the podium, Dr. McCormick dons more and more personal half of 2020, Super Night was cancelled. “It was about two weeks in protective equipment (PPE), reaching head-to-toe coverage just as the advance of the event that we found out that Super Night was can- message notes that hoarding PPE is absolutely not necessary. celled,” says Jenna Lanz’20, who was working with classmate Kyle “It made a lot of people laugh,” recalls Mary Raddawi’20, class McCormick to produce the evening’s video. president. “I think students were excited and relieved to have some- “We had maybe 60% of the video done when the event was can- thing to look forward to. It’s a strange time to be graduating. I think celled. At that point, Kyle and I had a meeting to decide, ‘Do we want there’s this extra feeling of eagerness to be helpful, an eagerness to start. to take some time to refocus and maybe present the video at a later At the same time, COVID-19 adds a lot of anxiety to starting residency date closer to graduation?’” she recalls. But amidst the uncertainty on top of the normal Match Day anxiety that we all already feel.” and mounting anxieties of the pandemic, the two decided that some As the video neared its end and faculty members offered recorded traditions are too important to delay. words of congratulations, thanks, and encouragement, Drs. Lanz and “The whole purpose of Super Night is to give us something to do McCormick began receiving grateful messages from their classmates. when we would otherwise be sitting at home, very nervously think- “I felt like I connected with a lot of students I wasn’t able to see ing about our future and what’s going to happen the next day when that night, which was what we wanted to accomplish with sending we get our envelopes,” Dr. Lanz recalls. “We wanted to give the the video out that night, despite not having the event,” Dr. Lanz says. class something that would serve a similar purpose, even though we “It was a total highlight of the year for me, even though I couldn’t be couldn’t be together.” With two weeks until Super Night, the pair with Kyle or any of my fellow medical students watching it. It was decided to hunker down and finish the video. still one of the best memories I’ll have of medical school.” The night before Match Day, the video’s final cut came together as For Dr. McCormick, the virtual Super Night was the perfect pre- the Class of 2020 gathered on Zoom to watch, laugh, and reminisce. lude to Match Day. “Jenna is one of my best friends, and we have The video opened with a mock teaser trailer set to an iconic Disney known each other since first year. We’ve been through a lot of chaos. score. “Coming to your apartment,” the title card read, “with 25 or For me, it was one of the happier things to be able to do this video less of your closest friends.” with her. It was super fun.” — Danny McAlindon

www.columbiamedicinemagazine.org 5 VPS& news

Revisit Day 2020

Letters of acceptance for the VP&S Class of 2024 were sent in early March, and about 130 of those accepted applicants participated in this year’s online Revisit Day. The two-day event offered virtual information and break- out sessions and gave accepted students an opportunity to talk with current students who served as revisit leaders. April 2 started with a welcome session hosted by the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs. An informa- tion session about the P&S Club was followed by small PBS Airs “The Gene” group discussions with revisit leaders. During the revisit Documentary leaders’ sessions, current students were assigned to a small group of accepted applicants who could ask questions Several VP&S faculty members were featured in a new Ken Burns about the student experience, extracurricular activities, documentary based on Siddhartha Mukherjee’s 2016 bestseller, research, curriculum, and other topics of interest to them. “The Gene: An Intimate History.” Those small group discussions also gave accepted students Mr. Burns earlier produced a documentary based on Dr. Mukher- an opportunity to meet other accepted students—their jee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “The Emperor of All Maladies: A future classmates. Biography of Cancer,” published in On April 3, welcome remarks were offered by Lee Gold- 2010. That documentary was a six- man, dean; Anne Armstrong-Coben, MD, senior associate hour series shown on PBS over three dean for admissions; Donald Quest, MD, assistant dean nights in March and April of 2015. for admissions; Lisa Mellman, MD, interim co-vice dean Both documentaries were executive for education and senior associate dean for student affairs; produced by Mr. Burns and directed Jonathan Amiel, MD, interim co-vice dean for education by Columbia journalism alumnus and senior associate dean for curricular affairs; Hilda Barak Goodman. Hutcherson, MD, senior associate dean for diversity and The latest documentary was shown multicultural affairs; and Elizabeth Shane, MD, associate on April 7 and 14. dean of student research. “The Gene: An Intimate History” Breakout sessions were offered on research/scholarly proj- discussed today’s revolution in medi- ects, student support, and clinics/service-learning opportuni- cal science through present-day tales ties. Additional information sessions focused on the Asian of patients and doctors at the fore- Pacific American Medical Student Association, the Black and front of the search for genetic treat- Latino Student Organization, and the First-Generation and ments, interwoven with a compelling history of the discoveries that Low-Income Partnership. made this possible and the ethical challenges raised by the ability “Revisit Day is typically a highlight of our admissions to edit DNA. cycle and important for our recruiting efforts. Year after Dr. Mukherjee is a cancer physician at NewYork-Presbyterian year, we hear from our first-year class that meeting our cur- and a researcher at VP&S, where he is assistant professor of medi- rent VP&S students is what drew them to us as a school. cine. His research focuses on discovering new cancer drugs using They love the community of students and get a sense of innovative biological methods. our prioritization of student wellness and balance as they VP&S faculty members who appear in the documentary, in addi- embark on this journey from student to doctor,” says Dr. tion to Dr. Mukherjee, are Wendy Chung, MD, PhD, the Kennedy Armstrong-Coben. Professor of Pediatrics (in Medicine); David Goldstein, PhD, the John “Although the format was unusual this year, our current E. Borne Professor of Medical and Surgical Research and director of students and faculty truly extended themselves to give these the Institute for Genomic Medicine; Samuel Sternberg, PhD, assistant applicants a sense of who we are to help them make their professor of biochemistry & molecular biophysics; and Nancy Wex- final decisions about our school. Even virtually, the school’s ler, PhD, the Higgins Professor of Neuropsychology. The documen- values and culture remain a strong selling point, and we are tary also lauded the seminal contributions of two other legendary confident that the Class of 2024 will match the excellence Columbians, Erwin Chargaff and Thomas Hunt Morgan. of the classes that preceded it.”

6 ColumbiaMedicine Spring/Summer 2020 Early Graduation for the Class of 2020

Graduation for the Class of 2020 at VP&S was early and nontraditional. When it was over, most gradu- ates did not have the usual breather before the start of residencies. Instead, they reported to NewYork-

Presbyterian Hospital to support the COVID-19 STUDENT SERVICE CORPS OF THE COVID-19 COURTESY front-line workers before beginning their residencies. Members and advisers of the COVID-19 Student Service Corps at an online meeting The virtual ceremony on April 15 brought together 139 graduates for a Zoom celebration. Of the 139, 88 were expected to join workers at NewYork-Pres- Students Start COVID-19 byterian in roles ranging from medical scribes to tele- Volunteer Group health guides. “The challenges you’ve faced here in the last After in-person classes and clinical rotations were suspended for VP&S couple of months are unlike any the classes before students, several decided to form the COVID-19 Student Service Corps, or you have faced,” said Lee Goldman, MD, dean. CSSC, to lend a virtual hand to fellow health professionals. The medical “A number of you have decided to volunteer at students were joined by students from Columbia’s Mailman School of Pub- NewYork-Presbyterian. It’s heartwarming. You’ll lic Health, School of Nursing, and College of Dental Medicine. be joining faculty and staff who have been truly Through service-learning projects, the students are supporting health care heroic, awe-inspiring.” systems, patients, and communities. They staffed a community information Graduates showed off their creative flair with a line and created a task force to organize procurement, donation, and man- musical performance and poetry reading and some ufacturing of personal protective equipment. Student researchers remotely shared brief speeches reflecting on their time in volunteered in CUIMC laboratories that are engaged in COVID-19 projects. medical school and on the current pandemic. The group has released a toolkit for other academic medical centers A more formal graduation ceremony, also con- interested in building their own CSSC chapters. More information is avail- ducted online, was held May 6 ahead of the previ- able by writing to [email protected] or by following the group on ously scheduled May 20 ceremony. Twitter @ColumbiaCSSC and @CSSCNational.

An Epic Launch for a New Medical Record

Less than a week after Columbia launched a new integrated elec- billing and to provide patients with a single integrated record across tronic medical record—Epic—the work that required years of all NewYork-Presbyterian sites, Columbia, and Cornell. The new preparation was summed up in the subject line of a congratulatory medical record promises to improve the continuity of care among email: “Thank you! Live, From New York – It’s Epic.” the institutions. All parts of NYP, Cornell, and Columbia will be The email was sent by Donna Lynne, DrPH, CEO of the faculty fully integrated into Epic by Dec. 31, 2021. practice, ColumbiaDoctors, and chief operating officer of Colum- Once fully implemented, Columbia, Cornell, and NYP patients bia University Irving Medical Center, and George A. “Jack” Cioffi, will join more than 200 million people worldwide who have an MD, president of ColumbiaDoctors. “The moment Epic was fully electronic medical record in Epic. The company, which has been in launched across Columbia in the early hours of Feb. 1,” the email business since 1979, provides electronic medical record software for said, “represented the culmination of countless hours of planning, most of the nation’s leading hospitals and academic medical centers. training, and preparation.” The new system will ensure that physicians and other health care The launch began with more than 60,000 patient charts with professionals have access to patient data where and when they need more charts expected to be added. More than 18,000 health care it to provide care. It gives patients access to a secure portal, called professionals and staff members are using Epic to document inpa- Connect, that allows them to communicate with their physicians tient and ambulatory clinical visits for hospital and professional and office staff and to manage their overall medical record.

www.columbiamedicinemagazine.org 7 VPS& news

Class of 2022 Transitions from Classroom to Clinical Care

Second-year medical students marked Davis, Patricia Ho, Todd Jones, Margaret Richard Greendyk, MD, medicine; Ben- the start of their patient-centered training Kelly-Gross, Andrea Lifrieri, Amber Parker, jamin Kuritzkes, MD, surgery; Rebecca with the Jan. 3 Steven Z. Miller Student Ariel Pourmorady, Maggie Schaedick, and Leeds, MD, primary care; Ruth McCann, Clinician’s Ceremony, the traditional rite Yu Wang. MD, psychiatry; and Sierra Seaman, MD, that helps students shift from classroom obstetrics & gynecology. education to seeing patients in hospital and Teachers who were honored: ambulatory settings. • Stephen Canfield, MD, PhD, associate The ceremony is named for the late Joseph Cornett’22 received the Greg professor of medicine, received the Fun- Steven Z. Miller’84, who founded the Grove Award, which is given to a student damentals Outstanding Teacher Award, first transition ceremony at VP&S. A who is generative and well-liked, has con- which recognizes classroom teaching. national leader in humanism in medicine, tributed to his peers and his school com- Dr. Miller died in a plane crash in 2004. munity, and enjoys the outdoors, reading, • Olajide Williams, MD, associate profes- “I remember the energy and enthusi- and music. Mr. Cornett is a representative sor of neurology, received the Major Clini- asm Steve Miller brought with him every on the Dean’s Advisory Committee and a cal Year Outstanding Teacher Award from day,” said Steven A. Lee-Kong, MD, assis- leader of the Musicians’ Guild and Bard the Class of 2021. tant professor of surgery, who delivered Hall Players. remarks to students from the clinical fac- Other members of the class received Karl • Teaching awards were presented by the ulty. “It’s important to go through every H. Perzin Excellence in Pathology Awards: Class of 2021 to these NewYork-Presbyte- rotation of major clinical year with this Michael Calavano, Lucy Colville, Haley rian residents: Emily Avis, MD, pediatrics; same outlook.”

New Academy Recognizes Community and Public Service

The longstanding commitment VP&S faculty nity health, particularly among residents of The academy joins other VP&S acad- have made to public service in the community Washington Heights and Inwood, other parts emies that recognize the contributions of was formally recognized this year with the of Upper Manhattan, and parts of the Bronx. educators (the Virginia Apgar Academy induction of 21 faculty members into the new Members of the academy will serve as of Medical Educators) and clinicians (the Academy of Community and Public Service. a corps of advisors and mentors who can Academy of Clinical Excellence). VP&S is The academy recognizes faculty whose support colleagues who have an interest in the first medical school in the country to work has promoted and improved commu- community service. establish an academy for community and public service. The Academy of Community and Public Service was created through the new Office of Community Service Programs, which builds upon the medical center’s ongoing community service efforts to improve the health and education of adults and children in local communities. The academy is under the direction of Rafael Lantigua, MD, pro- fessor of medicine at CUMC and associate dean for community service in VP&S.

8 ColumbiaMedicine Spring/Summer 2020 New devices, procedures, guidelines for clinicians Clinicaladvances By Jeff Ballinger

Fetal Surgery for Congenital Heart Defects

ven before they are born, infants hypoplastic left heart syndrome, pulmo- Similarly, an inflatable balloon also can with some congenital heart defects nary atresia, or some forms of hypoplas- open an obstructed pulmonary valve that E may be eligible for surgery with tic left heart syndrome. For these cases, is not working properly in fetuses with a fetal interventions at Columbia. Columbia pediatric cardiologists can mod- condition called pulmonary valve atresia. The Fetal Cardiac Intervention Program, ify the fetal heart with balloons or stents However, the condition is more variable the first of its kind in New York state, opened delivered via a catheter through the womb than its counterpart on the left side of the last year within the fetal cardiac program. and into the fetus. “The goal is to improve heart, and fetal pulmonary balloon valvu- “For most cases of congenital heart outcomes and minimize invasive interven- loplasty is reserved for select patients. defects, fetal interventions are not feasible tions after birth,” says Dr. Levasseur. While balloon valvuloplasty is used to because of anatomical limitations or because The most common fetal cardiac proce- prevent heart damage from developing, the diagnosis was made too late,” says Stéph- dure–aortic balloon valvuloplasty–is used the goal of the third procedure offered by anie Levasseur, MD, assistant professor of for patients with an obstructed aortic valve the team is to improve survival. Fetal atrial pediatrics, who directs the fetal cardiac pro- that causes further heart damage. Physi- septal stent implantation is for patients gram. “The patients are seen by the fetal car- cians expand the valve with an inflatable who have already developed hypoplas- diologist and maternal fetal medicine team to balloon in an effort to prevent the devel- tic left heart syndrome and whose fora- assess candidacy for the procedures.” opment of hypoplastic left heart syndrome, men ovale has closed prematurely. In such Fetal interventions may be an option if when the left side of the heart weakens and patients, birth causes a circulation crisis a patient has aortic stenosis evolving to cannot pump blood properly. and mortality is high even at experienced centers that are prepared to perform imme- diate surgery. Implanting a stent to create an opening between the two atria may increase the odds of survival. “The success of invasive fetal interventions requires the collabora- tion of an experienced, multidisciplinary team,” says Matthew Crystal, MD, asso- ciate professor of pediatrics and direc- tor of the fetal cardiac intervention team at NewYork-Presbyterian. “This includes high-risk obstetrics, fetal and interventional cardiology, and anesthesia, which were well-established at Columbia when we began the program. “As the field progresses, we hope to be able to offer procedures earlier and with greater success,” says Dr. Crystal.

More information is available at www. columbiaobgyn.org/services/fetal-cardiology. Referrals can be requested by calling the Cen- ter for Prenatal Pediatrics at 212-305-3151.

www.columbiamedicinemagazine.org 9 Clinicaladvances

Hip Specialists Seeing More Hipsters

Hip pain typically occurs in the aging age athletes–practicing far more hours per patients ranging from teenagers to weekend patient, but Columbia’s physicians who day and week than their parents did–with warriors in their 30s and 40s. This is the focus on hip injuries and hip preservation many focusing on a single sport,” says Dr. predominant condition among the patients are seeing greater numbers of Gen X and Lynch, who specializes in the nonoperative Columbia orthopedics specialists see. millennial patients. and operative treatment of hip and knee The first treatment effort typically “We’ve seen an explosion of hip injuries in disorders in athletes of all levels. involves the least invasive measures, includ- young adults that’s not related to arthritis,” Dr. Lynch says such intense and narrow ing rest, activity modification, and physi- says T. Sean Lynch, MD, associate profes- training increases the potential for major cal therapy to strengthen the core, lower sor of orthopedic surgery, who oversees the stress on the hips, particularly on the growth back, and hips. Dr. Lynch has overseen Center for Athletic Hip Injuries & Hip Pres- plate of the femoral neck. It is hypoth- the creation of best practice guidelines for ervation at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. esized that the body’s natural reaction is to the management of patients with FAI and One reason for the increase is a better lay bone on the femoral neck adjacent to labral tears. understanding of hip pain in this younger growth plates to offload this stress. This can Jakub Tatka, MD, a U.S. Ski Team phy- and athletic population through the use of cause a condition called femoroacetabular sician, has joined the center. He special- MRIs and ultrasound for injuries that were impingement (FAI), which can cause the hip izes in hip preservation procedures such previously diagnosed as groin or muscle joint to fit like a square peg into a round as periacetabular osteotomy and surgical injuries. Another reason is the growing hole. This incongruent fit can cause injury hip dislocation. trend in sports of young people following to the cartilage and the labrum which can professional-level training regimens. lead to pain and, potentially, osteoarthritis. Appointments can be made by visiting “Many young adult patients with hip Femoroacetabular impingement can occur columbiaortho.org/appointments or calling problems today trained year-round as teen- at any age, but it is typically symptomatic in 212-305-4565.

New Strategy for TIA and Minor Stroke Patients

Columbia University Irving Medical Center is among the first cen- improving flow through the emergency department, and saving money. ters in the country–if not the first–to adopt a new approach to eval- Inspired by studies in Europe that show an outpatient approach uate patients with minor stoke in the emergency department. is both safe and cost-effective, faculty in the VP&S and Weill Cor- Common practice in U.S. hospitals is to admit patients with nell neurology and emergency medicine departments collaborated minor stroke or transient ischemic attacks (TIAs), but Columbia with NewYork-Presbyterian to create the outpatient clinic and instead sends many patients home with an appointment for the protocols for deciding which patients are eligible. following day at the new Rapid Access Vascular Evaluation-Neu- The first study of the RAVEN clinic, published last fall in the rology (RAVEN) outpatient clinic. Annals of Emergency Medicine, showed that the approach is a safe People who experience a TIA or minor stroke have a 10% and feasible strategy for select TIA and minor stroke patients. chance of having a major stroke in the next 90 days, so patients The study found no differences in outcomes between RAVEN need to be evaluated for appropriate preventive measures. In the patients and historical published data of patients evaluated as United States, the medical community has not reached a consensus inpatients. An editorial on the study said that if the results were regarding the best evaluation approach for patients who come to confirmed in a larger trial, the approach has “the potential to result the emergency department with TIA and minor strokes. in a change in current clinical practice and practice guidelines.” “Should they be admitted to the hospital and evaluated there In the three years since the clinic opened, Dr. Elkind said patients because of the risk? Or is it safe to send them home to have an continue to report satisfaction with the approach, which shows no evaluation the next day as an outpatient?” says Mitchell S.V. increase in the risk of stroke. Elkind, MD, professor of neurology and epidemiology (in the “Patients with TIA and minor stroke who meet several criteria indi- Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center), who led the creation of the clinic. cating low risk can be safely referred for outpatient evaluation,” he An outpatient approach could have benefits for both patients and says. “This is an example of a study idea borne out of a very common hospitals: reducing patients’ psychological distress and exposure to clinical scenario that we face every day. And we think the approach hospital infections, preserving needed hospital beds for sicker patients, could be adapted for other acute medical conditions.”

10 ColumbiaMedicine Spring/Summer 2020 JÖRG MEYER A 14-YEAR PARTNERSHIP ‘HONORED AND PRIVILEGED TO BE THE TEMPORARY STEWARD’ LEE GOLDMAN, DEAN SINCE 2006, DISCUSSES GOALS REACHED THROUGH COMMITMENT, PARTNERSHIPS, AND INVESTMENTS

SHORTLY AFTER ARRIVING AT COLUMBIA IN 2006 as dean of what has since been renamed the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Lee Goldman sat down with Columbia Medicine and outlined his vision for working with faculty, students, staff, alumni, and other supporters to pursue multiple goals: “have a curriculum that everyone else emulates,” “change the way the place looks,” “make substantial investments in the academic mission,” “build new strengths,” and “aggregate talent.” An interview this year gave Dr. Goldman an opportunity to reflect on his 14 years as “temporary steward” of VP&S. What follows is a condensed version of the conversation. > COLUMBIA MEDICINE: Much of the success during your tenure started with building a financial model that provided financial security.

LEE GOLDMAN: It is very important to emphasize that financial stability is not an end in itself but a means to an end. We are not a publicly traded entity whose success is largely linked to its profit margin, but we have to be prudent and responsible. Our greatness is not based on the size of the margin but rather on how we prioritize our resources. If we always lose money, we cannot make the investments needed for greatness. Financial stability has fueled investments that have stimulated rapid growth in both research and our clinical programs and made us much more attractive to students and philanthropists.

You also have referred to campus improvements as a means to an end. When I started medical school From the moment I Poor facilities are a disincentive for good people to join in 2004, Columbia was already us and, frankly, even for good people to stay. We don’t a powerhouse. Lee’s stellar met Dean Goldman, need fancy facilities, but we do want to have a campus leadership in the past 14 years I knew he would be an that is a draw for students, faculty, patients, and staff has led Columbia Vagelos outstanding leader for who are proud to be here. Many of our buildings are College of Physicians and old, but even they can be appealing if they look good Surgeons to grow and progress our medical school, and function well. Part of the appeal is our historic to, in my honest opinion, the best our campus, and the medical school in the country. position of being among the very first places where a northern Manhattan medical school and a hospital came together to create — Thomas Lo’08 an academic medical center. I am always impressed that President, VP&S community. Lee was if you look at this campus from any direction, the size Alumni Association always cognizant of and scale of the buildings are truly remarkable. Even the persistent health oldest ones have good “bones” so they can be renovated Lee Goldman has been an disparities in the to create first-class offices and laboratories suitable for extraordinary dean. Not only community and the the modern era, and our financial stability has allowed because he moved our school us to do just that. out of a blood-red deficit in role of the institution in a matter of years. Not only improving the quality How have we done in terms of aggregating talent? because he threw open the The real measure of how we are doing is our ability to doors of innovation in our of life and social aggregate talent, to bring terrific people here as trainees, medical curriculum. Not determinants of health faculty, and staff and to mentor them and help them only because he offered to of our neighbors. He build a new Department of succeed. Our people make us a great place, so everything Medical Humanities & Ethics came to be known in our we do is with that goal in mind. We value people and invited me to chair it. But community as a trusted who are or will become local, regional, national, and because he has the rare-to- international leaders in all of our missions. We also value vanishing leadership capacity leader and supporter diversity and inclusion, people from all backgrounds. to birth great visions and then of the community’s We are at the top of our peer group in terms of the make them happen. health agenda. percentage of women faculty, and we are committed — Rita Charon, MD, PhD to assuring that tenure, tenure track, and leadership Professor and Chair, — Rafael Lantigua, MD positions represent our belief in diversity and inclusion. Medical Humanities & Ethics; Director, Office Professor of Medicine; and We owe a great deal to Dr. Anne Taylor, vice dean for Executive Director, Columbia of Community academic affairs, for how she has helped us—she has

Narrative Medicine Service Programs been a real leader here and nationally. JÖRG MEYER

12 ColumbiaMedicine Spring/Summer 2020 How does the concept of a means to an end relate Under Dean Goldman’s leadership we were able to education? to bring our medical school and medical school Early on, we worked on the medical school curriculum, to modernize it, to create a curriculum in which curriculum to the next level. The new education students completed their pre-clerkship requirements building with its state-of-the-art simulation more rapidly and saw patients right from the beginning. center and modular classrooms has provided new, The new curriculum emphasized small groups and incredible opportunities for teaching and learning. created time needed for students to complete a scholarly project. These changes, which made the medical school I felt truly supported as a medical educator. experience more positive, set the stage for similar Thanks to Dean Goldman’s vision, medical students changes in many of our peer schools. are more prepared than ever to practice medicine. And, of course, the scholarship program is a game changer. Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of — Rachel J. Gordon, MD Roy and Diana Vagelos as well as matching gifts from Associate Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at CUMC; numerous alumni, friends, and faculty, we now can Director, Curricular Innovation & Strategic Initiatives; provide all calculated financial need as scholarships and Course Director, Ready 4 Residency without loans. And now we can fully cover the expenses of students who come from families that have less than $125,000 in annual income. These scholarships are making medical school affordable for people who Lee Goldman has been deeply committed to recruiting the most talented previously would not even think about applying. Our and diverse faculty in the history of VP&S. But perhaps more admirable is that he made support of faculty professional development, accommodation hope is that this financial aid will allow our students to for family priorities, and celebration of faculty achievements a benchmark pursue careers in fields such as primary care, pediatrics, of his tenure as dean. and research, where remuneration is lower, because they — Anne Taylor, MD will not be limited by medical school debt. Vice Dean for Academic Affairs

My primary reason for accepting a faculty position at Columbia in 2008 was the exciting new 18-month basic science curriculum implemented by Dr. Goldman. This change allowed me to transform the gross anatomy course into one that emphasizes Julia Iyasere, MD, left, teamwork and small group learning. works with a student in the simulation — Paulette Bernd, PhD center in the Vagelos Professor of Pathology Education Center. & Cell Biology and Director, Clinical Gross Anatomy & Anatomical Donor Program www.columbiamedicinemagazine.org 13 The past 14 years have seen a revolution in structural How does research measure up? biology with the addition of electron microscopy as a An emphasis on research is one of the things that fun- damentally differentiates academic medical centers from tool of molecular structure determination. The dean’s other good hospitals and medical practices. We have made decisive steps to build up a cryo-EM resource facility investments in both basic and clinical research, and our with the help of generous donors have propelled 2019 ranking in Nature Index, an annual calculation of Columbia University to the forefront of structural research citations, is a marker of our success: Last year we were No. 1 in the United States! Another metric is the biology and precision medicine worldwide. growth over the past decade of our National Institutes — Joachim Frank, PhD of Health grants portfolio, which at the conclusion of the last federal fiscal year had the third largest absolute Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics growth of any medical school in the country and the larg- and 2017 Nobel Laureate est percentage growth of any of the top 10 schools. We have had a number of initiatives to expand our research portfolio, including genomic medicine, systems biology, computational biology, immunology, cancer, and stem cell Dean Goldman has shown exemplary support of the research mission and biology. Clinical trials continue to expand and contrib- appreciation for the dedication and accomplishments of the faculty. He has enhanced resources for achieving excellence in fundamental and translational ute to some of the most important medical advances of research, improved the environment through programs for faculty development our time. During the height of this year’s coronavirus and inclusion, and rewarded achievement at all levels. pandemic, we were able to pivot quickly to research that — Donna Farber, PhD approaches COVID-19 from multiple angles. At press George H. Humphreys II Professor of Surgical Sciences (in Surgery) time, that work continues and includes the development and Professor of Microbiology & Immunology of new diagnostic tests, the use of such tests to track the

By any measure—grants, philanthropy, space, practice Soon after moving to volume, education, recruitment— VP&S in early 2020, Dr. Goldman has changed the face the Aaron Diamond of VP&S in a very positive way. AIDS Research Center pivoted to COVID-19 — Thomas Q. Morris, MD research projects. Alumni Professor Emeritus of Clinical Medicine and Interim Dean for Clinical and Educational Affairs, 2000-2001 14 ColumbiaMedicine Spring/Summer 2020 Under Lee’s guidance, ColumbiaDoctors has grown exponentially. His advocacy enabled the Faculty Practice Organization to fulfill its mission ColumbiaDoctors Midtown, of providing centralized services and professional support for our clinical which opened in 2013, is operations throughout the region. It is because of Lee that we’ve been able part of the growth and to enhance the quality of patient care and have ensured a more uniform expansion of clinical patient experience for every person who sees a Columbia doctor. Thanks practices in recent years. to Lee’s visionary leadership, we successfully developed multispecialty practices from Manhattan to northern Westchester. — George A. “Jack” Cioffi, MD Edward S. Harkness Professor, Jean and Richard Deems Professor; early and subsequent spread of the virus, and the iden- Chair, Ophthalmology; and President, ColumbiaDoctors tification of novel therapeutic targets. We are confident our researchers will be at the forefront of innovations in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention that will contribute to a successful response to this pandemic. Strange fate. I got the honor to be Dr. Goldman is a Being a part of a great university has enabled us to recruited twice by Dr. Goldman. share resources and expertise, as well as to recruit and First at UCSF, when he was renowned clinical retain talented faculty and trainees and help catalyze chairman of the Department of epidemiologist and research programs in other schools or campuses. The Medicine, to be one of the first an inspiring mentor. junior faculty recruited to the newly Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute is a multidisci- established stem cell program. It is hard to overstate plinary program that includes many outstanding members Then, in 2017, to take the direction his impact on the of the VP&S faculty. We have a wonderful relationship of the Columbia Stem Cell Initiative with the engineering school, where our faculty work espe- in VP&S. I was always attracted extraordinary growth cially closely with faculty in the Department of Biomedical by Dr. Goldman’s modern vision of clinical research Engineering. The same can be said of precision medicine of the biomedical enterprise and programs across and cancer, which are more and more Columbia-wide joined VP&S to help place stem cell programs and not just based at the medical center. research at the center of it. the schools and — Emmanuelle Passegué, PhD departments at CUIMC. Director, Columbia Stem Cell Patient care? As a member of the Our faculty provide outstanding patient care and have Initiative, and Alumni Professor of Genetics & Development first cohort of faculty expanded programs in Manhattan, with our major facility at 51st Street, as well as other locations. With NewYork- recruited to Columbia Presbyterian, we have also had major expansion in by Dr. Goldman, I feel Westchester County, especially at Lawrence Hospital in As a bioengineer with a lab extremely fortunate Bronxville. The clinical growth has been driven by the at CUIMC and appointments at fact that patients all over the New York metropolitan area the Department of Medicine and honored to serve want to see Columbia doctors, so it is gratifying that we and the College of Dental the institution under Medicine, I benefited from the can connect our terrific doctors with patients to provide intellectually rich and highly his tutelage. Thanks truly exceptional care. This growth is possible only because collaborative environment for to his support and of the wonderful partnership we have with NewYork- translational research. Dean guidance, Columbia has Presbyterian. The hospital has made a huge investment not Goldman deserves a lot of credit only in clinical care but also in key aspects of education for facilitating interactions become an academic and research that underscore our combined ability to be a between CUIMC and engineering powerhouse of top provider of clinical care. Being associated with a highly and for promoting research focused on real clinical needs. perioperative outcomes ranked hospital reflects well on us, and our highly ranked medical school in turn helps the hospital. — Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic , PhD research and injury More recently, our faculty, staff, and even students University Professor; epidemiology. Mikati Foundation Professor have risen—often with true heroism—to face the of Biomedical Engineering COVID-19 pandemic. With NewYork-Presbyterian, we — Guohua Li, MD, DrPH and Medicine; Professor Mieczyslaw Finster have pioneered approaches, such as shared ventilators, of Dental Medicine; and have been leaders in clinical trials, and have achieved Director, Laboratory for Stem Professor of

JENNIFER O’ROURKE remarkable outcomes even in the sickest of patients. Cells and Tissue Engineering Anesthesiology

www.columbiamedicinemagazine.org 15 I have had the opportunity Dean Goldman instilled in How has philanthropy been a means to an end? to witness the evolution me his goal that VP&S Just as the generosity of Roy and Diana Vagelos was of VP&S since 1999 when I a game changer for our students by providing scholar- arrived as a medical student. be “in the top 5, arguably ships, other gifts have been “name” changers. The estate The appearance of the the best.” This challenge of Herbert and Florence Irving provided support for can- school has been markedly cer, translational research, precision medicine, and young enhanced, the resources to us inspired me to faculty scholars, and we joined NewYork-Presbyterian to support research by make that happen in Hospital in renaming the medical center in recognition younger investigators our department. I am have increased, and there of the role the Irvings played in advancing what is one is more transparency in enormously grateful for his of the leading academic medical centers in the nation the promotion process support in making it real. and world. And, of course, the generosity of Roy and for faculty. Diana Vagelos went far beyond creating our scholarship — Mary D’Alton, MD — Richard O. Francis, MD, PhD program. Their gifts also support precision medicine and Assistant Professor of Willard C. Rappleye Professor and basic science research programs. Their total giving to Pathology & Cell Biology Chair, Obstetrics & Gynecology Columbia—$310 million, including the donation they

14 YEARS OF PROGRESS, GROWTH 2006 2008 2010 Lee Goldman becomes Joachim Frank, $50 million gift from the 23rd dean in the 2017 Chemistry Roy and Diana Vagelos history of the Vagelos Nobel Laureate, joins supports construction of College of Physicians VP&S faculty. a new education building. and Surgeons. First students enroll in $54 million NIH grant the Columbia-Bassett and private funding Program, in which create the Irving students begin their Institute for Clinical and studies in New York City Translational Research. then move to Bassett Medical Center to care for patients in a mostly 2007 rural population. New financial and 2009 administrative model 30,000-square-foot is launched to ensure Hammer Teaching and 2011 financial stability. Learning Center opens. Strategic planning process, “2020 The Department of New curriculum is Vision,” begins. Neuroscience is launched with the the first of four incoming Class of new departments 2013, shortening the 2013 established between fundamentals, moving New outpatient facility 2006 and 2020. patient care to the in Midtown opens Emergency Medicine, beginning of medical at 51 W. 51st St. Systems Biology, school, and adding and Medical a scholarly project A new degree, a Humanities & Ethics requirement. three-year PhD-to-MD are the others. degree, is offered.

16 ColumbiaMedicine Spring/Summer 2020 provided for the design and construction of the award- winning Vagelos Education Center—has been transfor- mative, particularly when added to the matching funds generated through their giving. Overall, VP&S has raised nearly $3 billion over these past 14 years. The generosity of so many individuals and organiza- tions—and the continuing support of our research by the Lee Goldman is an amazing person. He’s a scholar. NIH, the devotion of our patients, the popularity of our He’s a researcher. And he has made enormous medical school among applicants, the wonderful pool of talent among our faculty and staff, and the devotion contributions to patient health, outcomes, and systems of our alumni—will ensure that this medical school will wherever he’s been. He has contributed to every remain among the very best in the nation and the world aspect of the medical school and the medical center. for many generations to come. It has been an honor and privilege to be the school’s temporary steward through — P. Roy Vagelos’54 these past 14 years. v Chair, Board of Advisors

14 YEARS OF PROGRESS, GROWTH 2014 2017 2019 Virginia Kneeland Haven Plaza, 60,000 Frantz Society square feet of space for Women Faculty on Haven Avenue, opens is established. to provide quality open Columbia University space for the medical Kenneth A. Forde renames its 250-year- center community and the Diversity Alliance is old medical school the surrounding neighborhood. established. Roy and Diana Vagelos College of Physicians For the past decade, and Surgeons. VP&S has had the third 2016 largest absolute increase in NIH grants dollars and Gifts from Florence VP&S, which started the largest percentage and Herbert Irving life in 1767 as the increase in the top 10 lead to renaming the medical faculty of medical schools. medical center as the King’s College (which Columbia University later became Columbia Columbia University Irving Medical Center. University), celebrates its 250th anniversary. Irving Medical Center is named the top health care The award-winning institution for scientific Roy and Diana Vagelos research by the Nature Education Center opens 2018 Index Annual Tables. on Haven Avenue. It VP&S announces a includes five floors of a program that provides simulation center, the scholarships in place 2020 medical school’s first of loans for all students dedicated space for with financial need. Aaron Diamond AIDS simulated learning. Research Center, led by David Ho, moves from Rockefeller University to VP&S.

www.columbiamedicinemagazine.org 17 Marshalling patient care, research, and educational resources, VP&S and all omoaki Kato, MD, is known for per- of Columbia forming surgery no other surgeon typi- University cally attempts. Recruited to Columbia T and NewYork-Presbyterian in 2008, answered he has performed hundreds of liver transplants the call as in adults and children and so-called ex vivo sur- New York City gery, in which he takes organs out of the body, cuts the tumor, and puts the organs back. The became operations typically take hours, and as a mara- the nation’s thon runner, Dr. Kato excels in these marathon surgical procedures. epicenter of His surgical prowess took backstage on COVID-19 May 4, though, when he arrived in a wheelchair to a Department of Surgery concert at NYP and joined the performers in singing “A Whole New By Bonita Eaton Enochs World.” Still hospitalized from COVID-19 at the time, Dr. Kato explained that he was on a ven- tilator for a few weeks and ECMO for another few days. “Thanks to my colleagues and thanks to God, I was able to survive.” Dr. Kato is just one of many COVID-19 patients who have been treated throughout the THE FIRST 60-PLUS DAYS

NYP hospital system. The Columbia and Cornell campuses were the busiest among the 10-hospital NYP system. AT THE In the 60-day period from March 2—when NYP/Columbia admitted its first COVID-19 patient—through April, the number of COVID- 19 cases throughout the large NYP system grew daily until hitting the top of the curve on April 13. From then until mid-May, the number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized at the Colum- Photographs by bia campus dropped by about 60%. Hospitals Jennifer O’Rourke throughout the tri-state area saw similar declines. Columbia and the hospital take pride in their extraordinary response to the crisis that VP&S EPICENTER OF COVID-19 COVID-19

Dean Lee Goldman, MD, called “the most challenging health crisis A new ICU model of care was needed to accommodate the of our lives.” The medical school’s response touched all parts of an increasing number of patients and their long ICU stays (an average academic medical center’s mission: teaching, research, and patient of 14 to 21 days). The new model of care came together within three care. In addition, VP&S implemented programs to ensure the well- weeks. The hospital leadership team that described the effort in a ness and mental health of faculty and staff working on the front New England Journal of Medicine article called the new ICU units lines of patient care as well as those working remotely to support surge ICUs—ICU beds outside of a licensed ICU setting. Teams the ongoing response. of facilities, biomed, and IT specialists constructed surge ICUs in Each of those missions was fully engaged by the time COVID- a cardiac cath lab, operating rooms, and medical-surgical units. 19 appeared at the medical center in early March. Below are just a Ventilator capacity was increased by using OR anesthesia machines few examples of the response as of early May. that would provide necessary invasive ventilation. A number of spe- cialized teams were added to the ICUs. Among them were imaging CLINICAL RESPONSE teams for bedside and portable imaging, proning teams of physi- Planning for the Columbia and NYP response began in January, cal therapists trained to help turn patients in units where the tech- and by February, protocols were in place in clinical practices to ask nique was not routinely performed, and family support liaisons who patients with fever and lower respiratory illness about their travel updated families unable to be with loved ones in the hospital. history. Patients who had traveled to China, Iran, Italy, or South As the number of COVID-19 patients increased, VP&S lead- Korea or had been exposed to someone with confirmed or sus- ership announced that faculty and staff could be redeployed to other areas of the medical center. About 1,200 clinical staff at About 1,200 clinical staff were redeployed to Columbia—many now available because of cancelled elective care, deferred procedures, and consolidation of outpatient practices— work in departments other than their own. were redeployed to work in departments other than their own: This included surgeons and ophthalmologists surgeons in the emergency department, internists in ICUs. Within working in the emergency department and departments, even more faculty were assigned to new roles. Non- clinical staff were redeployed to assist the clinical mission by internists working in ICUs. transporting patients, distributing scrubs, assembling face shields, and answering calls to the Workforce Health and Safety hotline. pected COVID-19 within the previous two to three weeks were iso- By late March, concern over ventilator supply increased. New York lated and separated from other patients, and staff interacting with Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that New York state approved a those patients took appropriate precautions based on guidance protocol developed at Columbia and NYP to use one ventilator for from NYP Infection Prevention and Control and the New York two patients with similar ventilation needs. The protocol was shared City health department. By March 5, travel history had become with other hospitals. The change prompted the Department of Anes- less important in screening patients, as the number of COVID-19 thesiology to create a new role, the physician ventilation specialist, to patients in New York City—the epicenter of the U.S. spread of the monitor ventilator use and augment the role of respiratory therapist. virus—changed every hour. Elective surgery and procedures were deferred and most outpatient ambulatory care was deferred by the time New York City ordered all nonessential workers to stay at home or work remotely on March 22. Deferral of routine or nonurgent care allowed NYP to manage the surge of cases by focusing resources—people, supplies, and space— on emergent care, particularly patients with COVID-19. Closing most outpatient offices prompted an increase in telemedi- cine, and ColumbiaDoctors offered training to facilitate the use of remote visits. At one point, more than 50% of ColumbiaDoctors visits—and 60% of prenatal visits—were done virtually. By March 20, New York City had more than 40% of the nation’s COVID-19 cases. NYP increased its capacity by doubling the number of ICU beds, including creating an 80-bed ICU in an operating suite at NYP/Columbia. This required mapping out the floor plan, chang- ing the wiring in the gas outlets, and making new work spaces. Some hospital space was transformed into a medical/surgical unit, and the conference center at Milstein Heart Hospital became a field hospital. Another field hospital was set up at Columbia’s Baker Athletics Com- plex to accommodate patients recovering from COVID-19.

20 ColumbiaMedicine Spring/Summer 2020 BELOW: COVID-19 survivor Diana Berrent was the first person in New York state to be screened for antibodies that could be used to treat other patients with the disease. COURTESY OF DIANA BERRENT COURTESY

COURTESY OF DIANA BERRENT

An April call by the hospital for volunteers—mostly doctors and laboratories were using a rapid test that could return results in as nurses—drew hundreds of responses. In addition to retired NYP little as four hours, with a test capacity of over 1,000 samples a day and New York City area medical personnel and reinforcements in the entire NYP system. By the end of April, the Columbia lab had from temp agencies, health care workers traveled to New York from processed approximately 20,000 diagnostic tests. the University of California at San Francisco, Cleveland Clinic, Planning for blood tests to look for antibodies began in mid- Intermountain Healthcare in Utah, the University of Arkansas for March, and by early May the Columbia lab was processing upwards Medical Sciences, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, and Cayuga Medi- of 1,000 serological samples a day with typical turnaround time of cal Center at Ithaca, New York, among other places. In all, about approximately 48-72 hours. With additional automation becoming 250 physicians joined the NYP medical staff, including doctors available, the goal in May was a testing turnaround time of less than from peer academic medical centers less affected by COVID-19. 24 hours. Andrew D. Thomas’99 was among the volunteers. He left Min- On April 7, Angela Mills, MD, chair of the Department of Emer- nesota, where he is a hand surgeon, to volunteer in the NYP/ gency Medicine, reported that the number of emergency department Columbia COVID ICU. While in NYC, he stayed in his old room patients had decreased over the previous few weeks, but the patients at Bard Hall (Room 431). In a letter home, he shared what he arriving were sicker, most with COVID-19. In recognizing the New said to a team he led while volunteering in the ICU: “I tell them York Fire Department cheering outside the ED one night, the many something Coach Spencer told me during a Little League prac- food deliveries, thank you signs, and personal protective equipment tice when I was 11. Baseball is a game of inches. Well, so is ICU (PPE) donations, she says, “While this virus has spread around the care. You win because you back up the throw to third every single world, I’ve seen remarkable acts of kindness that, in my opinion, time and run out a ground ball every single time. People survive in have been spreading far more quickly than COVID-19.” ICUs because their ET tubes get suctioned on the hour, every single time, heels are kept off mattress so they don’t ulcerate, every single RESEARCH time. Lines are flushed, sheets are changed, pumps declogged, oral In mid-March, Columbia University announced plans to ramp hygiene carried out. We are playing a mortal game of inches and if down research to reduce the number of people on all campuses. we win, it will be one inch at time.” Research allowed to continue included any research that could be COVID-19 diagnostic test results took five to seven days in early performed remotely, research related to the coronavirus, clinical March because patients’ swabs were required to be sent to the CDC. research that could directly benefit the patients being studied, and That changed when the NYP-CUIMC Clinical Microbiology Labo- the required continuation or winding down of research that would ratory was able to perform the test. By March 16, NYP and CUIMC be lost otherwise.

www.columbiamedicinemagazine.org 21 COVID-19

COVID-19 research ramped up quickly, even before the first As of mid-May, more than 250 COVID-19 research projects patient was admitted to NYP/Columbia. In February, four were underway throughout Columbia University. That includes research teams at Columbia University received a $2.1 million clinical trials. As New York City became the epicenter of the grant to mount an aggressive effort to identify potential antiviral COVID-19 pandemic, Columbia physicians became some of the drugs and antibodies for use against COVID-19. The Columbia first doctors to notice the complications of patients admitted to scientists, led by David Ho, MD, founding scientific director of the hospital. Clinical trials underway at Columbia test different the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, are collaborating with therapies and preventive techniques, including sarilumab and rem- academic researchers in China. desivir for hospitalized patients, and optimal treatments for high Dr. Ho is leading an effort to develop monoclonal antibodies, degrees of clotting seen in patients. Other trials are of recovered molecules that can bind to the surface of the coronavirus and neu- patients to determine long-term effects. tralize the infectivity of the virus. As a first step, antibodies from People who have survived COVID-19 may have antibodies in blood cells of recovered COVID-19 patients are being isolated. their blood plasma that can help current patients, but reliable anti- These virus-neutralizing antibodies will then be engineered to body tests are needed to identify potential plasma donors. “When optimize their potency against the coronavirus. it became clear that it would take several months for commercial W. Ian Lipkin, MD, the John Snow Professor of Epidemiology companies to develop a test for antibodies, we started to develop at the Mailman School of Public Health, professor of neurology our own,” says Eldad Hod, MD, associate professor of pathol- and of pathology & cell biology at VP&S, and director of Mail- ogy & cell biology, who is screening COVID-19 survivors to find man’s Center for Infection and Immunity, leads a research initia- potential plasma donors. tive that uses samples of the live virus to develop rapid and reliable The ELISA antibody test was initially developed in Dr. Ho’s tests to diagnose COVID-19 and identify sources of transmission, lab. Postdocs in the basic science laboratories of Filippo Mancia, particularly in individuals with the infection who have mild dis- PhD, and Oliver Clarke, PhD, stepped in to produce the viral pro- ease or are asymptomatic. The samples are housed in a Biosafety teins needed for clinical use of the test. And dozens of postdocs Level 3 laboratory. organized by Columbia Researchers Against COVID worked long

“It is unprecedented in all of human history to have as abrupt a change in global scientific attention as we’ve had in this very short period of time.”

COURTESY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF RADIOLOGY

22 ColumbiaMedicine Spring/Summer 2020 shifts into the evening hours to collect hundreds of patient blood samples that were needed to validate the tests. “These are difficult assays to develop,” Dr. Hod says. “Other substances in blood samples can interfere, and we had to develop quality control agents so testing is the same from day to day. It was 24/7 for a couple of weeks to get this up in the right way.” By April 14, Columbia’s assay had received approval from the New York State Department of Health and the first tests were pro- cessed. By the end of April, the assay had been semi-automated and nearly 500 tests are run each day to measure the prevalence of the disease and screen for convalescent plasma donors. Other research has been conducted on how the virus affects the heart. In March, two teams of Columbia cardiologists published some of the first U.S.-based reviews about the effect of COVID-19 on the heart. “There were reports coming out of China about non- respiratory manifestations, and the cardiovascular manifestations were among the most important,” says Sahil Parikh, MD, associ- ate professor of medicine and director of endovascular services in Columbia’s Division of Cardiology, who led one of the reviews about COVID-19 and the heart. A study published in May that reviewed 28 heart transplant patients diagnosed with COVID-19 showed the fatality rate at Columbia researchers learn about each other’s COVID research 25%. “Recipients of heart transplant are at high risk for severe through a weekly COVID symposium, and a centralized and search- complications from coronavirus disease 2019 infection; manage- able database of COVID-related activities at Columbia, the Colum- ment of this population is complex and should take place in a bia COVID Hub, helps to coordinate efforts and avoid duplication transplant center,” the authors wrote. among researchers. Columbia physicians in other fields, including palliative care, Much of the COVID-related research relies on the efforts of organ transplantation, obstetrics, and neurology, also shared their Columbia’s COVID Biobank, which has enrolled almost 800 experiences in journal articles. patients and stored blood and tissue samples collected during their Curtailing all but COVID-19 and other essential research medical care. “When a researcher asks a question like ‘How many allowed researchers to pivot to projects focused on the pandemic. patients who had COVID-19 had renal failure?’ our biobank can Kenneth Olive, PhD, associate professor of medicine, brought provide the samples for this cohort,” says Jennifer Williamson, asso- ciate vice dean for research policy and scientific strategy at VP&S. “We can help the researcher get access to the data they need.” “It is unprecedented in all of human David Goldstein, PhD, director of Columbia’s Institute for history to have as abrupt a change in Genomic Medicine, called the global attention on COVID-19 global scientific attention as we’ve had inspiring. “One thing that I have been really struck by is just how in this very short period of time.” much of the global scientific community has turned its attention to work on this problem. It is unprecedented in all of human history to have as abrupt a change in global scientific attention as we’ve had in together a team of volunteers—students, postdocs, staff scientists, this very short period of time. And that is what gives me certainty. I and administrative staff—to assist with the surging COVID-19 don’t know exactly when—I don’t know if it’s one year, two years, response. More than 700 volunteers signed up and worked more three years—but we are going to be in a dramatically better position than 1,500 hours at NYP hospitals, helped process more than in the fight against this virus in a relatively short period of time.” 20,000 samples in the biorepository, processed nearly 2,000 sam- ples in the precision genomics lab, and assisted in the serology lab. EDUCATION Clinical trials are testing existing drugs, while other research lab- By mid-March, all classes throughout Columbia were moved oratories look for entirely new compounds that will work against online, including those at VP&S, and medical student clerkships the new coronavirus and coronaviruses that may emerge in the and clinical electives were suspended. Students in Bard Hall were future. “Over the past two decades we’ve seen the emergence of required to move to reduce the density in residential housing, par- three deadly coronaviruses: SARS, MERS, and now SARS-CoV-2,” ticularly given the hall’s shared bathrooms and showers. says Dr. Ho. “We believe it is likely that new coronaviruses will Fourth-year medical students graduated early—on April 15—to emerge in the future.” give them an opportunity to volunteer at NYP before beginning

www.columbiamedicinemagazine.org 23 COURTESY OF ADEDEJI ADENIYI’23 FOR “MASK ON, MARCH ON!” CAMPAIGN

their residencies. Of the 139 graduates, 88 chose to support the ries of front-line workers through photos and words of affirma- work of front-line workers at NYP. tion. Kendall Sarson’22 is art director. In addition to attending online classes, medical students at all And Sandro Luna’22 created a free posture and activity coach levels kept busy with service-learning projects. Several joined nurs- app, called ergo/. “After graduating from Stanford in 2018, I ing, dental, and public health students to create the COVID-19 wrote down the idea but put it on hold after moving to New York for med school. With the move to online classes and more people working from home on their personal devices, I brought the idea “ Protective equipment goes beyond masks, to life and was able to finish it in addition to helping where I gloves, and gowns to include doing our best to can in supporting our front-line workers.” The app is available on take care of ourselves and those around us.” Apple’s App Store. Plans are underway to return medical students to campus for clinical education as soon as training and clinical sites can assure Student Service Corps to lend a virtual hand to the COVID-19 adequate provisions for teaching, including capacity for didactic effort through remote service-learning. Students staffed a com- teaching, appropriate case mix, adequate PPE, and supervision. munity information line, created a task force to organize collec- tion of PPE, and volunteered remotely with laboratories engaged PLANNING FOR RECOVERY in COVID-19 projects. The group also released a toolkit to help When the number of new cases of COVID-19 started to decline, other academic medical centers create their own chapters. Columbia, CUIMC, and NYP began planning for recovery of all Another group of students launched a GoFundMe campaign medical center functions. Columbia’s task force made initial rec- called “Mask On, March On!” that raised money for PPE. The ommendations in May for returning students, faculty, and staff to students delivered more than 10,000 pieces of PPE to several hos- campuses and resuming research. pitals in COVID-19 hotspots in New York City. The pandemic’s intangible challenges include the mental health The Musicians’ Guild lent musical support by moving its “Musi- effects produced by front-line patient care, remote work, and cal Mondays” online. The now weekly concerts feature live and upended educational routines. To respond, the Department of Psy- pre-recorded musical pieces performed by students, faculty, and chiatry partnered with ColumbiaDoctors to develop CopeColumbia, staff. The mission is to deliver musical respite and comfort during which provides resources that include individual counseling sessions, the COVID-19 pandemic to the CUIMC community at large, say peer support groups, guided meditations, town hall meetings, sug- first-year VP&S students and co-leaders of the Guild Erika Mitsui, gested reading, and other tools for managing stress, fear, and anxiety. Brandon Vilarello, and Huey Shih. The need for CopeColumbia was underscored in late April Vibhu Krishna’21 is founder and creative director of a website when Lorna Breen, MD, assistant professor of emergency medi- and Instagram campaign called Faces of the Frontline to share sto- cine since 2004 and site director of the Allen Hospital Emergency

24 ColumbiaMedicine Spring/Summer 2020 Department since 2011, died by suicide. She had treated patients host response, and should combination approaches be used to tar- since the beginning of the pandemic. “Protective equipment goes get this pathogen? What determines rapidity of disease progression? beyond masks, gloves, and gowns to include doing our best to What is the optimal time to intervene?” says Magdalena Sobieszc- take care of ourselves and those around us,” said Dr. Goldman zyk, MD, associate professor of medicine and chief of infectious dis- in announcing her death. “The loss of Dr. Breen should reinforce eases, who has been overseeing COVID-19 clinical trials at VP&S. our collective appreciation for each other, our recognition of the As New York and Columbia were recording lower numbers of emotional as well as physical toll of this crisis, and the need to take COVID-19 cases, doctors in April were faced with another mystery: care of ourselves and of one another.” children who were admitted with a constellation of symptoms related Several projects are underway to document the response to the to—but different from—the COVID-19 disease seen in adults. It pandemic at the medical center and beyond. Researchers at Mail- opened a new chapter of COVID-19 patient care and research. man and VP&S have launched an initiative called the COVID-19 Among the unanswered questions in COVID-19: How long will Healthcare Personnel Study to survey tens of thousands of employ- immunity last? Can convalescent plasma effectively and safely ees on the front lines of care throughout New York state—from treat the disease? Can convalescent plasma be used to prevent the doctors and nurses to hospital food service workers—to document disease? Do the nature and intensity of immune responses cor- the challenges and stresses they have faced and to assess serious respond to how sick and persistent physical or mental health issues. In another study, people were? How many researchers in the Department of Medical Humanities & Ethics at people were infected but More information on the VP&S will seek to identify respondents who report high levels of were asymptomatic? Columbia response to COVID-19 moral distress, a response that arises when a person is forced to Mitchell Elkind, MD, can be found online at the take actions that challenge or violate core ethical beliefs. professor of neurology, Coronavirus Resource Center at told the Washington Post, www.cuimc.columbia.edu/ WHAT WE STILL DON’T KNOW “The virus can attack a coronavirus-resource-center. Physicians and researchers agree that much more remains to be learned lot of different parts of about COVID-19. With no standard treatment and no vaccine avail- the body, and we don’t able, front-line medical workers treat the symptoms while learning understand why it causes some problems for some people, different from their patients. As the pandemic progressed, the list of symptoms problems for others—and no problems at all for a large proportion.” grew and doctors discovered new ways the coronavirus attacks the “We don’t know why there are so many disease presentations body, from inflammatory reactions to blood clots to kidney failure. or what factors determine those different types of disease,” says With the course of the disease so unpredictable and so many unan- Angela Rasmussen, PhD, a virologist at Mailman’s Center for swered questions, clinical trials take on new importance. “We still Infection and Immunity. “Bottom line, this virus is just so new have a lot of unanswered questions: Should we target the virus or the that there’s a lot we don’t know.” v

www.columbiamedicinemagazine.org 25 Alumni By Marianne Wolff’52, Alumni Editor, News&n o t e s and Bonita Eaton Enochs, Editor

1962 professional degree programs, Sherman Bull is a new member of and chair of the Department the board of directors of Staying of Public Health and Family Put in New Canaan, a Connecti- Medicine. Before joining Tufts, cut nonprofit that helps seniors he was a pioneer in the develop- live safely in their homes while ment of managed care in New remaining actively engaged in the England, serving as CEO of the community, even as they age and Tufts Health Plan for 17 years. cope with decreased mobility. Harris will continue on a part- time basis with the University See Page 30 for a reminiscence Advancement office at Tufts, by Norbert Hirschhorn. fundraising for the university Tom Delbanco’65 Ronald St. John’65 and the medical school. 1964 Harris Berman, dean of the See the 1994 class note about the first primary care practice cas. Subsequently, he worked in Tufts University School of Medi- Jonathan Rosand for mention of and teaching programs at an Canada’s Department of Health cine for 10 years, has retired. He J. Philip Kistler. academic health center and in and was appointed as the first is now dean emeritus, professor 1979 developed and led Har- director-general for the Federal 1965 vard Medical School’s Faculty Centre for Emergency Prepared- Tom Delbanco received the John Development and Fellowship ness and Response. During his Phillips Memorial Award from Program, which has prepared tenure, he was the federal manager the American College of Physi- more than 300 general internists of the SARS epidemic in Canada. cians in April during the college’s for academic careers. Tom and a After retirement, he co-founded convocation ceremony in Los colleague created OpenNotes, a Sitata, an internet/web-based com- Angeles, where the ACP hosted movement that urges clinicians to pany that provides international its annual scientific conference. invite patients to read the notes travelers with accurate up-to-date The award recognizes outstand- they write and to contribute to health and safety information to ing lifetime work in clinical their medical records. help them remain healthy and medicine that has been innovative safe while traveling. He consults and/or had a regional or national See Alumni in Print to read frequently with the World Health impact. Tom is the John F. Keane about a book written by Organization on the management Harris Berman’64 & Family Professor of Medicine Anthony Horan. Anthony retired of emergency responses to infec- at Harvard Medical School and in 2018 from a solo private tious disease outbreaks. of medicine, and professor of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical practice of urology in Delano, public health and community Center. He is one of the founders California. His highest academic 1975 medicine. He also served Tufts as of the Society of General Internal rank was associate clinical pro- See Alumni in Print to read vice dean of the medical school, Medicine, which he also served fessor of urology at UCSF at the about a book written by David C. dean of public health and as president. He created one of Fresno VA hospital. He retired Aron. Dave, who graduated from the VA in 2002. He is working on a medical-scientific biography of his grandfather, send your news via mail, fax, John Rogers Jr., an 1892 gradu- or email: ate of P&S. Ronald St. John, who also has Mail: Columbia Medicine Editor Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons an MPH, began his public health 630 W. 168th St., Box 153 career at the Centers for Disease New York, NY 10032 Control and Prevention, followed by 10 years with the World Health Fax: 212-305-4521 Organization, where he was Email: [email protected] responsible for infectious disease David C. Aron’75 control programs in the Ameri-

26 ColumbiaMedicine Spring/Summer 2020 Read the latest e-newsletter for alumni at www.columbiamedicinemagazine.org/webextras from Columbia College in 1971, See Alumni in Print to read “genetically humanized immune is professor of medicine and about a book written by David S. system” mouse that was used epidemiology and biostatistics at Younger. David is the author of to develop a treatment for the Case Western Reserve Uni- several medical textbooks and Ebola and is now being used versity School of Medicine and more than 200 peer-reviewed to develop a treatment for the an adjunct professor of organi- articles, book chapters, and COVID-19 coronavirus. At the zational behavior at the Weath- abstracts. He donated copies dinner in November, George erhead School of Management. of his 2015 textbook, “Motor pledged $10 million to create He also is director of clinical Disorders, 3rd edition,” to the a Beginner’s Mind Institute at program research and evaluation VP&S Alumni Association for Columbia, with the goal of at the Louis Stokes Cleveland distribution to medical students. fighting back against increasing VA Medical Center. polarization and divisiveness Calvin Roberts’78 1987 in society by inspiring students 1977 George D. Yancopoulos, to approach new people as Gary A. Shangold has been senior vice president and chief who also earned a PhD in well as new challenges with a named chief medical officer medical officer for eye care at 1986, received the Alexander Beginner’s Mind—lacking in of Enteris BioPharma. Gary Bausch Health Companies and Hamilton Medal, the highest preconceptions and biases. has held positions in the clinical professor of ophthalmol- honor given to a member of the biopharmaceutical industry for ogy at Weill Cornell Medical Col- Columbia College community 1989 nearly 30 years. He also is CEO lege. Throughout his career as an for distinguished service and Judith Hellman received the of InteguRx Therapeutics, a ophthalmologist, Cal performed accomplishment. George, a 1980 2019 Excellence in Research company he founded to develop more than 10,000 cataract surger- Columbia College graduate, Award from the American Soci- ies and 5,000 refractive and other corneal surgeries. He co-founded a specialty pharmaceuticals com- pany, led the development and commercialization of pharmaceu- ticals, and is a frequent industry lecturer and author.

1981 See Alumni in Print to read about a book co-written by Angela Diaz, who earned a PhD in 2016. George D. Yancopoulos’87, Angela is the Jean C. and James right, with James Valentini, Gary A. Shangold’77 Columbia College dean Judith Hellman’89 W. Crystal Professor in Adoles- cent Health in pediatrics and transdermal pharmaceutical environmental medicine and pub- received the honor in November ety of Anesthesiologists. She products, and president of lic health at the Icahn School of at the 72nd annual Alexander was recognized for her research Convivotech, a consultancy to Medicine at Mount Sinai. She is Hamilton Award Dinner held developments regarding sepsis life sciences companies. Gary also director of the Mount Sinai in the rotunda of Low Library. and other forms of inflammatory also served on the faculties of the Adolescent Health Center. George, co-founder, president, critical illness. Judith is the Wil- University of Chicago medical and chief scientific officer of liam L. Young, MD, professor school, Massachusetts General Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, and vice chair for research in the Hospital, and Harvard medical was recognized for his biotech Department of Anesthesia and school. He has served as president leadership. He is the principal Perioperative Care at the Univer- of the American Academy of inventor of several important sity of California San Francisco. Pharmaceutical Physicians and new medicines, including the chair of the Association of leading treatment for age- Jose A. Rodriguez was among Clinical Research Professionals. related macular degeneration 96 fellows inducted into the New and diabetic eye disease as York Academy of Medicine at its 1978 well as the leading biologic annual meeting in November. Jose Calvin Roberts has been treatment for asthma and other is an attending orthopedic surgeon appointed president and CEO atopic/allergic conditions, at the Hospital for Special Surgery of Lighthouse Guild, effective Angela Diaz’81 and he is also the principal in New York City. He also main- April 1, 2020. Cal had been inventor of the VelocImmune tains an active research program.

www.columbiamedicinemagazine.org 27 Alumni On the COVID-19 Front Lines in Singapore News&n o t e s Poh Lian Lim, a 1991 graduate, directs the High Level Isolation Unit of the National Centre for Infectious Diseases and is a senior Brian Toolan joined DuPage consultant in the Communicable Disease Division of the Ministry Medical Group in Illinois as an of Health in Singapore. During this year’s COVID-19 outbreak, orthopedic foot and ankle sur- she has been involved in direct patient care and the development geon. He also is on the medical of clinical, research, and public health protocols. staff of Silver Cross Hospital, She also was in Singapore during the SARS outbreak. “In Edward Hospital, and Advocate 2003, I had just moved from Seattle to Singapore as a young Christ Medical Center. infectious disease attending physician. I was diagnosing SARS cases and managing critically 1990 + 1991 ill cases in the ICU at Tan Joseph Morelli’90 and Barbara Tock Seng Hospital, which Wirostko’91 completed residen- was Ground Zero for the cies at Columbia, he in anesthe- outbreak. Because we were Dineo Khabele’94 siology, she in ophthalmology. caught in the first wave, we After the loss of their oldest son had no diagnostic testing for in a car accident in 2014, they recently starting the first gyneco- the first six to eight weeks. started a nonprofit that awards logic oncology fellowship in the We had to make decisions scholarships to young adults state of Kansas. about whether someone had with learning challenges, such as SARS based on the clinical dyslexia. Since 2014 they have Jonathan Rosand has been presentation and the epide- received hundreds of applications elected to the Columbia Univer- miologic risk factors. When from around the country and have sity Board of Trustees. Jonathan you discover a new pathogen Poh Lian Lim’91 awarded over $150,000 to 77 stu- holds the J.P. Kistler Endowed or virus in an outbreak, dents in 23 states. The nonprofit’s Chair in Neurology and is a it is a bit like an astronomer scholarship is recognized by many faculty member in the Center for discovering a new black hole, star, or planet; there is so much to organizations as one of only a few Genomic Medicine at Massachu- discover about the new virus, but you don’t have the luxury of scholarships that support young setts General Hospital, where he time—or complete facts.” adults who have learning chal- is appointed professor of neurol- Alumni writer Julia Hickey interviewed Dr. Lim about Singapore’s lenges. Barbara writes: “Upwards ogy at Harvard, and associate response to the new coronavirus and her advice for physicians. of 20% of the population can member of the Broad Institute of Read the full Q&A—and all other COVID-19 news articles—in the struggle with dyslexia and often MIT and Harvard. (His endowed CUIMC Newsroom at https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news. it can go undiagnosed. It is a very chair honors J. Philip Kistler, a common cause of anxiety and 1964 VP&S graduate who was depression and also for young director of the Mass General people failing out of school.” Bar- stroke service from 1978 to 2004 Accelerating Genetic Discovery tors of brain health, discover and bara was invited to give a TedX and is now professor of neurol- for Cerebrovascular Disease. develop the interventions that talk in Montana last year about ogy, emeritus, at Harvard.) Jona- After establishing Mass General’s can prevent brain disease, and her son Joseph’s story and strug- than is a critical care and vascular Division of Neurocritical Care, convene a borderless community gle. Learn more about the project neurologist with expertise in the Jonathan stepped down as chief of knowledge and tools essential at www.morelli.foundation. genetics of complex diseases. to establish the Henry and Alli- for implementing and integrating The focus of his research is dis- son McCance Center for Brain these indicators and interventions 1994 covering the role of genetics in Health. The mission of the center into primary care. Dineo Khabele has been named cerebrovascular disease and using is to identify and study the indica- head of the Department of those discoveries to speed up the 2009 Obstetrics & Gynecology at development of new treatments. See Alumni in Print to read about Washington University School Jonathan has served as program a book written by Jacob M. of Medicine in St. Louis. “Her director for Harvard’s clinical Appel. Jacob teaches bioethics at research on the pathobiology training programs in stroke and the Icahn School of Medicine at of ovarian cancer and molecu- neurocritical care and is principal Mount Sinai, where he is director lar targets for novel therapies investigator of the NIH investiga- of ethics education in psychiatry has the potential to help many tor training program Recovery and a member of the Institu- women with this devastating and Restoration of Central Ner- tional Review Board. He is also disease,” says David Perlmut- vous System Health and Func- an attending psychiatrist in the ter, executive vice chancellor for tion After Injury. He founded Mount Sinai Healthcare System. medical affairs. Dineo has been the International Stroke Genet- Jacob is the subject of a 46-minute

an active mentor and teacher ics Consortium and launched Jonathan Rosand’94 documentary titled “Jacob” that is for young physician-scientists, the NIH-funded Platform for streaming on Amazon Prime.

28 ColumbiaMedicine Spring/Summer 2020 alumni in print By Tim Gahr

The Rise and Fall of the Prostate accessible to a nonmedical audience. Unlike sion, anxiety, forgetfulness, attention Cancer Scam (Revised and other books on complexity in medicine, issues, fatigue, or even chronic pain—but Expanded Third Edition) which tend to focus on one aspect of man- many have a hard time figuring out what’s Anthony Horan’65 aging patients, this book deals with the mul- causing their problems and what can be On the Write Path Publishing, 2019 tifaceted roles of a physician, exploring the done about them. Dr. Younger aims to elements of patient care that make medicine provide relief to patients and families In the early 1970s, urologists had pros- both a science and an art. who are frustrated, scared, or confused tate cancer screening just about right: no about their brain health. Based on his own screening, no radiation, and no radical research, Dr. Younger’s book examines surgery. By the 1980s, Dr. Horan writes, Preventing Child Trafficking: how common brain health symptoms con- radical surgery was revived without new A Public Health Approach nect to changes in the immune system, evidence, and an unproven new blood test Jonathan Todres, JD, and particularly bacterial, viral, and parasitic was introduced. This revised edition of Angela Diaz’81/PhD’16 infections. He also looks at how traumatic Dr. Horan’s book delves into why these Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019 stress (physical or emotional) and genet- changes were implemented and why more ics affect health, noting that a change in recent recommendations have concluded Child trafficking is a critical issue that personality, behavior, and emotional state that they were ineffective or even harm- demands an effective, comprehensive might be the first sign of a health problem ful. “Dr. Horan’s book, written with verve response, from the national level down to elsewhere in the body. and passion, presents a compelling view the local. But it’s unclear whether current of the prostate cancer story,” writes Dr. strategies and tools used to combat this Laurence Klotz. exploitation have succeeded in reducing the Who Says You’re Dead? prevalence of trafficking. In their new book, Jacob M. Appel’09 Dr. Diaz and Mr. Todres (a Columbia Law Algonquin Books, 2019 Complex Systems in Medicine: School graduate) explore how the public A Hedgehog’s Tale of Complexity health field can play a role in identifying, Dr. Appel has written a timely, thought- in Clinical Practice, Research, preventing, and responding to child traffick- provoking book about some of the most Education, and Management ing. The authors use their years of experi- challenging—and shocking—medical David C. Aron’75 ence to recommend how professionals and ethics dilemmas doctors have faced. Springer International Publishing, 2020 organizations can take action to find and The book presents scenarios to the help at-risk and trafficked children. readers, allowing them to put themselves Dr. Aron’s book explores how knowledge of in the doctor’s role, before revealing complex systems can be applied to four key what happened in the real-life cases on roles in academic medicine: clinical practice, The Autoimmune Brain which the scenarios are based. Covering education, research, and administration. David S. Younger’81 everything from fertility to end-of-life Written conversationally, and including Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2019 issues, Dr. Appel’s book is a compelling illustrative anecdotes from the author, the read for anyone looking to better book aims to be a valuable resource for Millions of people experience issues understand the complex ethical decisions medical professionals while still remaining related to brain health—including depres- that underlie modern medicine.

www.columbiamedicinemagazine.org 29 Alumni News&n o t e s

Return to Bard Hall By Norbert Hirschhorn’62

lumni remember Bard Hall as a lovely art deco recluses while in medical school. Except for a lightweight building, 11 stories high, erected in 1932. wood armoire and matching chest of drawers, nothing A Inside the doorway is the bronze floor plaque seems to have changed. The same hard levers opening dedicated to Samuel Bard, founder of the medical school the same iron-clad awning windows; the same clanking, in 1767. Beautiful wrought iron gates (a gift from the paint-chipped radiator; the same kind of plain wood- Class of 1953) guard the entrance. Visitors are now frame bed, hard pillow, polyester sheets, and coverlet. requested to enter next door through Tower One, a resi- Outside, the long corridor carpet looked as I remem- dential hall that doubles as a kidney dialysis center. bered it although I was assured it had been renewed 10 I was a guest in Bard Hall last fall, renting a vacant years ago. Eighty percent of freshman are now required dorm room while researching my diaries that are archived to live in Bard Hall to “promote class bonding.” The rest at the medical center’s library in preparation for writing take up rooms in residential towers along Haven Avenue my memoir. Compared with any Airbnb, the price was or live off campus.

Dr. Hirschhorn in right, even if the room was somewhat austere, not to My room had a spectacular view of the Hudson River, front of Bard Hall say monkish. I shouldn’t have been surprised; we were with morning sunrise glinting off the columnar high-rise condominiums on the Palisades. It was one of the few rooms without a sink, but, as before, all residents use com- mon toilets and shower rooms. The taps, ceramic sinks, tiles, and shower heads are possibly antique. It might cost too much to retrofit the building but one would hate to lose it to another high-rise. Perhaps it should be listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The fourth and ninth floors are for women only, the seventh just for men. The rest are what is now termed “gender inclusive.” A new gymnasium has taken the place of the old bas- ketball court where some of us played volleyball. The swimming pool is still there. I once worked as a lifeguard for pocket money and the attendant was surprised to hear this. He didn’t think the pool was that old. We used to take all our meals in what is now the Ball- room, cliques of classmates at round tables. Now, buffet suppers are served there only on Mondays and Thurs- days. I asked some students where they eat at other times. They mentioned a couple of fast food grills nearby; two take-out hole-in-the-wall Chinese eateries; a Thai restau- rant; pizza and pasta at Famous Famiglia; a McDonald’s;

JENNIFER O’ROURKE and a decent hospital cafeteria. Fresh food and produce

30 ColumbiaMedicine Spring/Summer 2020 At the curved entrance to Haven Avenue, and for a full city block, a new pedestrian space has been cre- ated. The entrance from Fort Washington Avenue is set off with white, color-decorated concrete cubes, and a grassy patch rises in front of the Neurological Institute. Columbia Medicine describes it as “a public outdoor plaza shared by the medical center community and our Washington Heights neighbors.” In the past, the medi- cal center had an uneasy co-existence with a neighbor-

are available at Super Foodtown at 160th and Broad- way; the nearby Gristedes grocery store closed for good while I was visiting. Coming out of Bard Hall today is like flying out of Kansas into the Land of Oz. Take a look at the map from about 1965 compared with the present map. Decades of wealthy benefactors have created a fabulous biomedical research complex, spreading out and rising high. Build- ings are now named after their donors. Who among the young would know of our medical professor Dana W. Atchley? His namesake pavilion is now the Herbert Irving hood that includes the mammoth Armory, which now CAMPUS MAPS: Pavilion. If you graduated before 2017 your diploma houses the New Balance Track and Field Center and a current, above, and from time Dr. read Columbia University College of Physicians and Sur- small homeless shelter. In the 1980s, Washington Heights Hirschhorn was geons. Now it’s Columbia University Vagelos College of was a retail center for the cocaine trade, and Broadway on campus, top Physicians and Surgeons (after Roy Vagelos, president a border Columbia people seldom crossed. The medical and CEO of Merck). Out of the munificent $250 mil- center has now made the crossing itself, with buildings lion gift from Diana and P. Roy Vagelos’54, $150 million on St. Nicholas Avenue and further east. is being used to provide scholarships for students who In a remarkable coalition of town-gown and govern- would otherwise go into long-term debt to get through ment, the Mary Woodard Lasker Biomedical Research school. The scholarship funding is important. My tuition Building preserves the Audubon Ballroom next door was $1,500 a year, which is about 13,000 in today’s dol- where, in 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated. The lars, but tuition now far exceeds that. Columbia property is neighbor to the expanded Mal- Just south of Bard Hall is the New York State Psychi- colm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educa- atric Institute’s Kolb Research Building. Lawrence Kolb tional Center, which is intended to “harness the legacies was one of my professors in psychiatry when the insti- of its namesakes to continue the worldwide movement tute occupied what is now the Mailman School of Public to advance human rights, social justice, and education.” Health. Same building, totally revamped. I had worked Gaudeamus igitur. We were young. I was happy to return there for room and board in my last year at P&S as a even if just this once. I still remember all my classmates and psychiatric attendant on a locked ward. Several young can call up a face to each name. The list of the 39 classmates staff in the Mailman communications office were amazed who have passed—one-third of our class—is available in to hear that I might have bunked down in their space. the online version of this article. Ave atque vale.

www.columbiamedicinemagazine.org 31 Alumni News&n o t e s

Wu Family China Center for Health Initiatives Frontiers in Biomedicine 3: 2019 Joint Symposium By Julia Hickey

he willow-lined shore of Hangzhou’s tranquil West Lake, delivered a remote video presentation about the use of exome/ which has inspired centuries of Chinese painters and poets, genome sequencing to diagnose newborns with birth defects as a way T was the setting for top American and Chinese minds in to improve survival rates. She also introduced the SPARK study for medicine last fall during a joint symposium titled “Frontiers in Autism, an online cohort of more than 200,000 subjects who have Biomedicine 3.” The Wu Family China Center for Health Initiatives provided saliva samples for DNA data that are freely accessible. Wei at VP&S brought together 23 speakers from VP&S and the Wu, vice director of the endocrinology department of Children’s Zhejiang University School of Medicine (ZUSM) and more than 90 Hospital at ZUSM, introduced the 2016 to 2020 PERIODIC Study audience members in Hangzhou, China, for a series of presentations (PrevalEnce for Obesity and Diabetes in Children), which uses a on cutting-edge biomedical research. urine sugar test to identify Chinese schoolchildren who are at a high Shared interests emerged among the American and Chinese risk of developing diabetes. Each subject is monitored via a QR investigators: genomic surgery using CRISPR technology; precision code assigned by the WeChat smartphone app. medicine and development of therapeutic targets for various Edward Guo, PhD, the Stanley Dicker Professor of Biomedical cancers; and mechanisms and treatments of nonalcoholic fatty liver Engineering at Columbia’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering disease and type 2 diabetes. Indeed, obesity and related chronic and Applied Science, mapped differences in the bone structures of diseases, long-established as American afflictions, are dramatically Caucasians and Chinese patients and showed that Chinese have rising in China. As well, Chinese patients experience higher odds of lower bone fracture rates. He has developed a mobile medical co-morbidities for a given BMI, compared with Caucasians, after imaging unit in an RV in China to drive across the Chinese standardizing for age and sex, according to a presentation by Dr. countryside for his “Silk Road” musculoskeletal genetic research. Shankuan Zhu, director of nutrition and food hygiene at Zhejiang Susan Rosenthal, PhD, professor of medical psychology (in University’s School of Public Health. pediatrics and psychiatry) at VP&S, discussed leadership methods The symposium was the third of its kind, following joint symposia for addressing burnout in medical workplaces by identifying that between VP&S and ZUSM at Columbia in New York City in 2018 workers reach sustainable “flow” when challenges are matched to and at the Zheijiang School of Medicine campus in Hangzhou, China, their skill level. Paul Lee, MD, the Misook Doolittle Professor of in 2017. These symposia were made possible by the endowment to Medicine at CUMC, also addressed American medical culture by VP&S of funds from the late Clyde Wu’56 and Helen Wu to create the outlining the impact of restrictions on resident duty hours and the Wu Family China Center, which builds on their legacy of support for subsequent development of hospitalism as the fastest-rising medical collaborations between Chinese and American doctors and biomedical specialty in the United States. researchers. Dr. David Wu (Dr. and Mrs. Wu’s son) and his wife, Dr. A highlight of the symposium was the announcement of the Bernadine Wu, represented the family at the symposium. David Ho, winner of the 2019 Wu Family China Center Pilot Award, which MD, the Clyde and Helen Wu Professor of Medicine, director of the funds Chinese postdoctoral medical students to complete research Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, and director of the Wu Family at VP&S for one year. Utpal Pajvani, MD, PhD, the Herbert Irving China Center at VP&S, presented Columbia’s opening remarks. Associate Professor of Medicine at VP&S, and Dr. Chengfu Xu, A few presentations addressed the technological potential for associate professor of gastroenterology at the First Affiliated large-scale studies across populations. Wendy Chung, MD, PhD, Hospital, ZUSM, will receive support for a collaborative project, the Kennedy Family Professor of Pediatrics (in Medicine) at VP&S, “Nanoparticle notch inhibitors for treatment of type 2 diabetes.”

32 ColumbiaMedicine Spring/Summer 2020 Henry Shinefield, 96, at home in New York City, holds a photograph of himself as a child

• ALUMNI PROFILE

Henry Shinefield’48: Disease Detective

By Julia Hickey JULIA HICKEY

enry Shinefield’s first “Eureka!” moment corresponding blame would bounce around the family took place in the newborn nursery at what for months or even years. “The kind of horror that His now NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell. went on you can’t believe. People sold houses in order The discovery, to be exact, was in the nasal mucosa of to get rid of the bug,” he said. But little did he know, newborn babies. 60 years ago, that staph bacteria in its various strains It was 1960, and a virulent strain of staphylococcus would become a lifelong fascination and foe. aureus (“staph”) bacteria called 80/81 was spreading For the babies of Weill Cornell, it became clear that a through hospital nurseries worldwide, invisibly cling- nurse with 80/81 lodged in her nose was the initial colo- ing to babies who acted as sleeper cells for their house- nizer. She was removed from the nursery, but Dr. Shine- holds. Weeks or months after leaving the hospital, the field was on to something: When infants were handled babies developed serious symptoms of staphylococcal by the infected nurse within the first 24 hours of life, disease, which in turn sickened their caregivers: moth- some contracted 80/81 (22%). But when she cared for ers with breast cellulitis, fathers with septicemia, sib- babies on their second day of life, none became infected. lings with meningitis, grandparents with pneumonia. They did, however, test positive for other strains of The bug was resistant to penicillin, the main antibiotic staph, which were apparently harmless. used at the time. Once 80/81 settled into someone’s Dr. Shinefield developed a term as well as a hypoth- nose or belly button—its preferred digs—it was nearly esis—“bacterial interference”—to suggest that staph impossible to evict. bacteria might compete for terrain. Once one settles in, Dr. Shinefield, a young pediatrician, had been it may prevent others from colonizing or thriving. He invited to Weill Cornell to get to the bottom of this found a particular staph in the noses of all the healthy epidemic. He had already served during the Korean babies: strain 502A, belonging to another nurse. The War in the inaugural cohort of the Epidemic Intelli- babies she held within 24 hours of birth did not get gence Service (EIS) of the U.S. Public Health Service, sick, and they did not infect their families. So he stud- a band of disease detectives who work to investigate ied 502A, ruling out associated diseases and ensuring and prevent outbreaks. He later spent five years mak- it could be killed with penicillin. ing house calls as “le doctore” to the largely Italian What came next would not be so easy in today’s population in north New Jersey and would go on to medical landscape: After speaking with the babies’ par- orchestrate large-scale trials to approve vaccines for ents, Dr. Shinefield and his colleagues tested the hypoth- children across the globe. He knew that our skin, ori- esis by inoculating 502a into the babies’ noses. And it fices, and entrails were always crawling with bacteria worked. Babies with 502A were drastically less likely to and that many bugs were harmless. Even some bad be colonized by 80/81 than babies in a control group. bugs were content to cohabitate with us, never activat- “It was a little audacious,” says Paul Planet, MD, ing their fullest wrath. PhD, who revisited Dr. Shinefield’s pioneering work in “There were many bugs that we got involved with bacterial interference in a 2019 paper co-authored by and we made some bets with,” says 96-year-old Dr. Dr. Shinefield. In the 1960s, medicine was focused on Shinefield as if narrating film noir, “and let me tell you, destroying pathogens in the clinical setting, not har- 80/81 was a bad bug.” The bacteria, abscesses, and nessing their powers. Dr. Shinefield soon took 502A

www.columbiamedicinemagazine.org 33 Alumni News&n o t e s

on the road, and 80/81 began to disappear from nurs- in the country and soon opened a practice in the front ery wards across the country and the world. half of their home. His mother sewed clothing with “I’ve been very lucky. In research, you can be very the WPA and his father became a middle-man in tex- good at what you are doing and it won’t work, and tiles and paid back every loan for his defunct silk mill, it’s not your fault. Or if you are lucky, things will turn despite their having been discharged in bankruptcy. out,” he says. “I think a positive attitude is part of success in gen- By 1971, 4,000 newborns across the country had eral,” Dr. Shinefield says. “My father told me, ‘You can been successfully inoculated with 502A. But as the epi- do whatever you want, but the one thing you must not do demic caused by 80/81 waned, so did the interest in bac- is you can’t hurt anybody.’ I have never forgotten that.” terial interference—at least for the next several decades. Another favorite story from his childhood: “People would tell my brother, Maurice, ‘Your family is quite The School of Life poor.’ He would get indignant. He would say, ‘Some- “My father got off the boat and the first thing he did times we were short on cash, but we were never poor. was kiss the ground and say, ‘America, I love you,’” We were wealthy with love.’” is a story Dr. Shinefield re-tells as vividly as if he were At the age of 16, he was invited to a party with a there on Ellis Island in 1906 to see it. His parents were “well-to-do young lady” but was contemplating can- Jews who fled Ukraine in their celing because he didn’t have a proper jacket. His early 20s. They settled in Pat- brother, Michael, gave him all his money, a total of erson, New Jersey, then known $17. “I ran out and bought the most wonderful green as America’s “Silk City,” and jacket you could possibly imagine and went to the opened a small mill. party with pride,” Dr. Shinefield said. Born in 1923, Henry was the He attended Columbia College and later VP&S, grad- fourth child and baby of the uating in 1948 with plans to join his brother in pediatric family by more than a decade. practice, but not before his residencies and military ser- He was initially thought to vice taught him to think like an epidemiologist. be a tumor in the belly of his As the only unmarried resident in his division at Duke 40-year-old mother, until the University in 1949, he was sent in the heat of July to tumor was found to have a a polio outbreak in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where, heartbeat. His sister, Terri, stripped down to his undershirt, he and a nurse carried who was 17 years older, taught out the Sister Kenny method of using moist, hot blan- him to sing and tap dance kets on children’s legs to ease their spasms. Polio is an and paired him up with a girl inflammation of the spinal cord that can cause disabil- named Jane Pritchard to per- ity, paralysis, or death, and any sign of a limp or cough form at variety shows, confer- could send mothers into terror. When a boy was set to ences, and parties by the age receive a midnight tracheostomy for suspected respira- of 6. (Seventy years later he tory failure but instead coughed up an intestinal worm, and a colleague were stopped “it was all smiles” for once, he reminisces. Henry Shinefield, on a New Orleans sidewalk by a boy tap dancing “You are not a hero each time,” he says of the losses. pictured here for change. Dr. Shinefield handed over a dime before His message for anti-vaxxers: “You haven’t seen what in his uniform in 1951, was swaying into his own soft-shoe routine. “You should I’ve seen. Because if you have seen what I’ve seen, you one of the first have seen the look on the boy’s face,” he said.) wouldn’t say you don’t believe in vaccines. Vaccination 20 members of the Epidemic Young Henry also helped his father in the mill, run- is the cardinal item we have for disease prevention.” Intelligence ning his hands across silk skeins to pick off the imper- As one of the first 20 EIS officers in the nation, he Service of the fections until 1938 and the fallout from the Great was sent on a 10-hour prop flight to California. After U.S. Public Health Service. Depression brought the 20 looms to a halt. noticing that a pregnant woman infected with West- “I was in the house when the telephone company ern equine encephalomyelitis (who later gave birth to man came in and he took our phone out of our house infected twins) was known to sleep in a Bakersfield because we couldn’t pay a $2.50 bill,” he said. Despite backyard, he chased down the neighboring chickens the hardships, the Shinefields remained positive. The to test their blood. He found that they were asymp- eldest brother, Maurice, was completing medical school tomatic carriers of the disease, which is transmitted to become one of the first board-certified pediatricians through mosquitoes.

34 ColumbiaMedicine Spring/Summer 2020 While investigating cases of hepatitis in the coal min- ing town of Harlan, Kentucky, he learned to cover the official insignia on his car to avoid the ire of moonshin- ers with squirrel guns. But when Dr. Shinefield eventu- ally returned to New Jersey for 14-hour days of pediatric house calls with his brother, those tables would be turned: He couldn’t get out of Italian patients’ homes without ravioli, bread, cannolis, or, from Mafiosos, promises they would take care of any “problems” he had. “Well, thank you very much. I am not sure I’ll need anything like that!” he said. “It was an exciting time.”

Thinking Big In 1985, Dr. Shinefield was chief of pediatrics at Kaiser Permanente Medical Group in San Francisco, where he was on staff from 1965 to 2005. Started in California in the 1940s by ship-builder Henry Kaiser to care for his thousands of employees and their families, Kaiser Permanente is now a pre-paid, nonprofit health plan with more than 12 million members in several states. Dr. Shinefield encountered the nascent medical group in 1950, when he visited a clinic that was “lit- erally medical offices over a drug store” in San Fran- cisco. Later, large hospitals were built that contracted with doctors to coordinate all aspects of patients’ care. “Whatever was needed and how it was needed—pre- scriptions, drugs, procedures—was all done by the physicians. What Kaiser Permanente had was a tree that was planted in earth, not sand, and it was going to grow,” Dr. Shinefield said, adding that he believes this is the best model for American medical care. At a pediatrics meeting, Dr. Shinefield met a scien- tist named David Smith, who founded the laboratory Praxis Biologics and developed a vaccine against Hae- mophilus influenzae (Hib) that was tested and used in Finland. In the United States, the vaccine was only “This wasn’t like a little pimple on the nose. This A 1990 photo temporarily approved by the FDA on the condition was something significant,” Dr. Shinefield says. It also shows Henry Shinefield and that a large phase 4 clinical trial be conducted. revealed the importance—in fact, the necessity—of such patients while Dr. Shinefield’s second “Eureka!” was the realization a large sample set to approve vaccines. So Dr. Shine- serving as chief of pediatrics that the full Kaiser Permanente tree, with its research field and his colleague, Dr. Steve Black, developed the at Kaiser talents, technology, and well-monitored patient popu- Kaiser Permanente Vaccine Study Center, which was Permanente. lation—like a full flowering of leaves—could be used soon flooded with requests. They worked with Praxis for large-scale vaccine trials. to complete phase 3 and 4 trials for new and improved From June 30, 1985, to May 31, 1987, 120,000 chil- vaccines for Hib and pneumococcus and with several dren at Kaiser Permanente were immunized in a con- companies to study vaccines for acellular pertussis trolled study, and four became ill with Hib meningitis (DTaP); adult pertussis (Tdap); measles, mumps, and during the first week following immunization. This rubella (MMR); nasal influenza; rotavirus; papilloma- was 6.4 times greater than could be expected when virus (HPV); hepatitis; and varicella. They also col- compared with a matched control group (p=0.001) laborated with the CDC to create the Vaccine Safety and revealed what the small Finnish study had missed: Data Link, an electronic health data project to monitor The vaccine was not safe. adverse events following immunization.

www.columbiamedicinemagazine.org 35 Alumni News&n o t e s

Dr. Shinefield and Dr. Black traveled around the Case in point: When a four-mile walk caused a small globe with their vaccine work. “A lot of the world blood blister on his heel, a strain of staph settled in was opened up to me because of medicine, because of and bloomed into necrotizing fasciitis. what we did,” he said. “What I learned in medicine: “He would have died within hours,” Jackie remem- Humanity is more alike than diverse. The aims and bers the doctors telling her that day in 2001 when his ideas and hopes are similar, and people are more simi- painful symptoms emerged in full force. He had six lar than dissimilar. It’s amazing.” surgeries to save his foot and his life. “Staph got even with me,” he quips. But in addi- tion to the irony that the man who once eliminated a strain of staph from hospital nurseries was almost killed by staph, he also focuses on the science. “What the factors were to make the bug invade the blood- stream under those circumstances, whether it was the heat of the foot or exactly what turned it on, well, we don’t know.” Staph has evaded all attempts so far to submit to a vaccine, because it unpredictably cloaks and times its ability to become virulent. Just what causes staph strains to sometimes co-exist with, harm, or even protect their hosts through bacterial interference is a lifelong question that Dr. Shinefield is hoping a new generation of scientists will answer. Some of them are his three co-authors of a 2019 paper published in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal titled “Revisiting Bacterial Interference in the Age of Methicillin-resis- tant Staphylococcus aureus.” Paul Planet, a co-author, is working with new genetic techniques to examine how the nurse’s staph strain 502a in 1963 caused bacterial interference. “If Jackie and Henry Ultimately, the FDA gave full approval for Hib it could have been done in 1963, he would have done Shinefield in 2006 and pneumococcal vaccines that are used worldwide. it,” says Dr. Planet. “Now we’ve finally caught up to These two vaccines have effectively eliminated the the place where we can test Dr. Shinefield’s thinking.” most prominent causes of infant and childhood bacte- Because antibiotic-resistant staph bacteria are on rial meningitis. The pneumococcal vaccine is also rec- the rise, the days when it will fully evade treatment are ommended for use in adults. on the horizon. Science also offers new understanding “This for me was the epitome of career success,” Dr. of the immune system and a renewed interest in the Shinefield says. concept of a microbiome for protection, and Dr. Shine- But when talking about success, he always pivots to field is hoping for the day that bacterial interference the personal, adding that the best thing to ever happen to can be put to practical clinical use. him was meeting his wife, psychologist Jackie Shinefield. “To be alive to see that be reconsidered now, after The two were introduced in 1981 and ran up a $3,000 the early stuff we did: That’s what’s really exciting for bicoastal telephone bill in the course of their long-dis- me.” In fact, everything seems to be exciting to Dr. tance courtship. “The phone bill is getting crazy,” he Shinefield, who exudes gratitude. He is in the habit joked with her. “We have to get married now.” of signing all his correspondence—with everyone from his wife to Dr. Planet to the president of the National “Love, Henry” Academy of Medicine—with “Love, Henry.” “Nature abhors a vacuum, of any kind, and there is And he’s not hungry for credit. “I am happy. I am always something to fill it.” the fourth author. I have published 260 papers. I don’t Over Earl Grey tea in New York City, Dr. Shinefield need any more papers. And, let me tell you, they don’t is describing the invisible wilderness of bacteria and have a committee up in heaven to evaluate all this, and organisms that compete to live in and upon us. so I am not concerned about that,” he said.

36 ColumbiaMedicine Spring/Summer 2020 in memoriam

John A. Downey Paul A. Marks Margaret Morgan Lawrence’40

FACULTY returned to Columbia in 1956 medical students, a professorship, William Johnson, MD, former John A. Downey, MD, the Simon after postdoc training at the NIH and a scholars program for junior associate professor of neurology, Baruch Professor Emeritus of and began his research career by faculty in the basic sciences. died Jan. 30, 2020. See more Physical Medicine and Rehabili- studying globin genes and geneti- in Alumni In Memoriam, Class tation, died Oct. 24, 2019. Dr. cally determined anemias and of 1967. Downey chaired what is now the thalassemias. In 1967, he became OTHER FACULTY Department of Rehabilitation founding chair of the Depart- DEATHS Margaret Morgan Lawrence, & Regenerative Medicine from ment of Human Genetics. He was Philip Brandt, PhD, professor MD, retired associate clinical 1974 to 1991. He was elected to appointed dean of the Faculty of emeritus of anatomy & cell professor of psychiatry, died the National Academy of Medi- Medicine in 1970, “a job I took biology, died Feb. 17, 2020. Dec. 4, 2019. See more in Alumni cine (formerly the Institute of with trepidation,” he told Colum- In Memoriam, Class of 1940. Medicine) in 1991. bia Medicine in an interview for Louis Z. Cooper, MD, professor Dr. Downey completed a the Spring 2012 issue, “since I emeritus of pediatrics, died physical medicine and rehabilita- always considered myself a scien- Oct. 3, 2019. ALUMNI tion residency at Columbia in tist first.” In 1973 he became vice 1940 the mid-1950s and returned to president of health sciences and Ralph Dell, MD, professor Margaret Morgan Lawrence, join the faculty in 1963. director of the Cancer Research emeritus of pediatrics, died a renowned pediatrician and A pioneer in his field, Dr. Center, which he helped found Feb. 11, 2020. child psychiatrist who was Downey conducted research in 1972 as principal investigator the sole black graduate in the on temperature regulation in on an application for National Joan Edelstein, MA, retired Class of 1940 and the third spinal cord injury. As chair, he Cancer Institute funding. It is now associate professor of clinical black woman to attend VP&S, expanded the department and the Herbert Irving Comprehensive physical therapy and director died Dec. 4, 2019, at age 105. made clinical services available Cancer Center. He was the Frode of the Programs in Physical Born in Harlem and raised beyond the campus to reach Jensen Professor of Medicine Therapy from 1991 to 2001, in segregated Mississippi, she patients across the region. when he left Columbia in 1980 to died in December 2019. was the first African American become president and CEO of the female psychoanalyst in the Paul A. Marks, MD, dean of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Yale Enson, MD, retired United States and the first black Faculty of Medicine and Vice Center, a position he held until professor of clinical medicine, female physician certified by the President for Health Sciences retiring in 1999. died Feb. 19, 2020. American Board of Pediatrics. In at Columbia in the 1970s and His career, which spanned more addition to her MD, she earned president emeritus of Memorial than 50 years, was recognized Frieda Feldman, MD, professor a master’s degree in public health Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, with an honorary degree from emeritus of radiology (in orthope- from Columbia in 1943. In 1949, died April 28, 2020. Columbia in 2000. In 1991, Presi- dic surgery), died Jan. 12, 2020. she and her husband established Dr. Marks received his under- dent George H.W. Bush awarded a progressive, racially integrated graduate and medical degrees Dr. Marks with the National Dorothy Dole Johnson, PhD, cooperative community called from Columbia. He graduated Medal of Science. In addition to retired assistant professor of Skyview Acres in Rockland first in his medical school class in his scientific and leadership legacy anatomy, died Nov. 23, 2019. County, where she lived for 1949 and completed a residency at Columbia, Dr. Marks gener- See more in Alumni In Memo- almost 70 years before moving to in medicine at Columbia. He ously sponsored a scholarship for riam, Class of 1949. Boston. Known for her empathy

www.columbiamedicinemagazine.org 37 in memoriam

Richard Storer Ward’45 M. Jay Goodkind’53

toward children, she coordinated Columbia. He retired from Emory medicine at Robert Packer Hos- After receiving his MD degree, the work of school psychologists in 1986 and from private practice pital and Guthrie Clinic in Sayre, he interned at Bellevue Hospital across Rockland’s nine school in 2017 at the age of 97. Dr. Ward Pennsylvania. He was licensed and served with the U.S. Pub- districts. She served 21 years studied Chinese, played soccer as a surgeon and practiced for lic Health Service in Bethesda, as chief of the Developmental and baseball, and loved classical 10 years before completing Maryland. He later practiced Psychiatry Service for Infants and music. He is survived by his wife, a residency in psychiatry. He medicine at Philadelphia General Children at Harlem Hospital and Adele, his stepson, daughter, son, practiced psychiatry in Illinois, Hospital and was the chief of as an associate clinical professor and two grandchildren. New York, New Jersey, and cardiology at Mercer Medical of psychiatry at Columbia until Pennsylvania. He retired from Center in Trenton, which later retiring in 1984. She continued 1949 PhD practice in December 1993. Dr. became Capital Health System. to see patients until she was 90. Dorothy Dole Johnson, assistant Gent enjoyed music, studying After retiring from medicine in Dr. Lawrence is survived by three professor of anatomy at VP&S scripture, and fishing. He was a 1994, Dr. Goodkind pursued his children, six grandchildren, and until her retirement in 1961, long time member and volunteer love for black and white photog- four great-grandchildren. died Nov. 23, 2019. She was at the Hanover First Church of raphy. He sang with the Men- 100. She was co-editor of the God. He is survived by four chil- delssohn Club of Philadelphia 1945 13th and 14th editions of “Bai- dren and several grandchildren and belonged to the Frederick Richard “Rick” Storer Ward, ley’s Textbook of Histology” and great-grandchildren. Delius Society. He is survived by a child psychiatrist and and was a member of the Ameri- his spouse, Vincent, two chil- psychoanalyst who taught at can Association of Anatomists Anthony J. Smith, an orthopedic dren, and four grandchildren. VP&S until 1970, died Dec. 1, and the American Association surgeon, died Feb 9, 2020, at 2019, at age 99. He was born in for the Advancement of Science. age 92. Dr. Smith completed his George Douglas “Doug” Rich- Lebanon, where his father was She served as an alumni trustee orthopedic training in New York ards, who operated a private a pediatric surgeon and dean of of Bates College, her undergrad- City in 1957 and practiced in the general medical practice for 37 the medical school at American uate alma mater. She was a long- Coos Bay, Oregon, area for 35 years in Mattituck, New York, University in Beirut. Educated time member of the Universalist years. He founded the Millicoma died Oct. 17, 2019. He was 91. in the United States at Deerfield Church of West Hartford. Fol- Orthopedic Clinic in 1972 and, Other physicians in his family Academy and Amherst, after lowing retirement, she devoted following his retirement in 1991, include his father, grandfather, VP&S he interned at Babies herself to family, gardening, and started Tioga Orthopedic Services. brother, and a son. He worked Hospital and finished pediatric numerous volunteer causes. She He enjoyed the arts and the out- at hospitals in Riverhead and training as head resident at is survived by a son and two doors. Dr. Smith is survived by Greenport. After medical school, Bellevue Hospital. He completed daughters-in-law. his wife, Del, two children, three he served as a captain in the U.S. psychiatry training at Columbia grandchildren, and two siblings. Army and commanded a MASH and joined the faculty. In 1960, 1952 unit in Korea. He loved rowing Dr. Ward moved to Atlanta, Donald H. Gent, a psychiatrist, 1953 and played the accordion. He where he laid the foundation died Oct. 7, 2019. He was 92. M. Jay Goodkind, who taught volunteered with the Mattituck for what is now the Emory He served in the U.S. Army dur- cardiology as a faculty member Fire Department and organiza- Psychoanalytic Institute. He ing World War II before medical of both Yale University and tions supporting mental health flew weekly for 10 years to school. He completed his intern- the University of Pennsylvania, and people with blindness. He is New York City to teach at ship and residency in internal died Oct. 23, 2019. He was 91. survived by his wife, Jean, four

38 ColumbiaMedicine Spring/Summer 2020 Joseph Stocks’55 Thomas J. McDonagh’57 William Phelps Arend’64

children, eight grandchildren, residency at Massachusetts Gen- co-founded Southwest Immuno- in the mid-1940s then traveled and four great-grandchildren. eral Hospital. Dr. Stocks later diagnostics, a laboratory where around the desert of the American opened a pediatric practice in he served as president and CEO southwest for several years before 1954 PhD Waterville, Maine. After com- until the age of 85. Dr. Radwin’s beginning medical school. He was William Cooper, who earned his pleting a pathology residency longtime hobby was fine wood- a charter and life member of the degree in anatomy, died Dec. 28, at Maine Medical Center, he working. He is survived by three Arizona Academy of Family Prac- 2019, in Hilton Head, South became chief of its pathology children and seven grandchildren. tice in Phoenix. Dr. Timmons was Carolina. Following service in department. He later worked as in private practice for 30 years the U.S. Navy as a pharmacist’s medical director at the North- 1957 before joining Honeywell Aero- mate, he taught anatomy at the east Regional Red Cross Blood Thomas J. McDonagh, a retired space to begin a second career University of Puerto Rico and Program. He taught pathology vice president of occupational in occupational medicine. He at VP&S in the 1950s. He then at the University of Vermont health at Exxon Corp., died was FAA-certified as an aviation joined the University of Colo- and Tufts University. Dr. Stocks Nov. 19, 2019. He was 87. After medical examiner and performed rado, where he was a teacher, played the piano every day. He is medical school, he completed a many pilot physicals. Dr. Tim- researcher, and administrator. He survived by his wife, Betty, four fellowship in gastroenterology. mons retired in 2014 at the age of invented the “Cooper Dish” and children, and five grandchildren. 87. He was an avid photographer created many videos and pub- 1958 and sang in his church choir. He is lications in medical and science 1956 Thomas M. Shea, retired medical survived by his wife, Donna, three education. He also developed and Howard Martin Radwin, who was director for AT&T and Telcordia children, two stepchildren, five operated multidisciplinary labo- passionate about access to and (Bellcore), died Nov. 27, 2019. grandchildren, two great-grand- ratories. He later worked for the development of kidney transplant He was 88. He served as a lieu- children, and three brothers. National Library of Medicine and services, died Sept. 25, 2019, in tenant in the U.S. Navy aboard was a consultant. He is survived Austin, Texas. He was 88. He the USS Tanner before beginning 1964 by his wife, Linda, two sons, six was a clinical associate in the medical school. After briefly William Phelps Arend, professor grandchildren, and two great- surgery service at the National practicing medicine in Ohio, he emeritus at the University of grandchildren. Cancer Institute then completed a launched a long career in corpo- Colorado and former head residency in pediatric urology at rate medicine in New York and of its rheumatology division, 1955 Tulane University-Charity Hospi- New Jersey, which allowed for died Jan. 14, 2020. He was Joseph “Joe” F. Stocks, a pedia- tal in New Orleans. Dr. Radwin more time to enjoy his growing 82. Dedicated to research, trician and pathologist, died was the first chair of urology at family. He also was president of teaching, and patient care, he Nov. 6, 2019. He was 90. He the University of Texas Health the American Heart Association was a pioneer investigator of the interned at Bassett Hospital in Science Center at San Antonio chapter of Somerset County, New underlying biologic mechanisms Cooperstown and served two and chief of urology at Bexar Jersey. He is survived by four of rheumatoid arthritis. In the years in the U.S. Air Force deliv- County Hospital, where he also children and five grandchildren. 1980s, he discovered an anti- ering babies at Westover Air led the kidney transplant pro- inflammatory protein called Force Base in Chicopee, Mas- gram. He was an early proponent Richard Timmons, a practitioner interleukin-1 receptor antagonist sachusetts. He completed a resi- that computers and, later, the of family and occupational medi- that led to a new commercial drug dency in medicine at the Maine internet would facilitate databases cine, died Dec. 3, 2019. He was to treat arthritis and other diseases Medical Center and a pediatric for organ donation. In 1988, he 92. He served in the U.S. Navy and a better understanding of

www.columbiamedicinemagazine.org 39 in memoriam

Justine M. Meehan-Carr’77

autoimmune and inflammatory decrease postoperative infections University of Medicine and Den- chief medical officer for Steward diseases. He was an editor of the following total joint replacement. tistry of New Jersey) in 1992. As Heath Care, one of the earliest Arthritis & Rheumatism Journal He also recognized that certain a molecular neurogeneticist, he accountable care organizations and received numerous honors types of bacterial infections are made significant contributions to under Obamacare, died Dec. 10, for his research achievements, accompanied by deposition of a the understanding of neurodegen- 2019, after a long fight with leu- including a Guggenheim biofilm that reduces the suscep- erative and neurodevelopmental kemia. She was 71. She received a Foundation Fellowship, a tibility of the infecting organism diseases and disorders and was master’s degree in psychology at Pinnacles in Inventorship to antibiotic levels. Dr. Schurman part of the team that identified Columbia before earning her MD. Lifetime Achievement Award had a strong interest in implant the first gene for Parkinson’s dis- She completed house staff training from CU Innovations, a VP&S mechanics and mechanical ease. At the time of his death, Dr. at Columbia and Massachusetts Alumni Association Gold Medal loading and contributed to the Johnson was involved in three General Hospital before complet- for Outstanding Achievement definition of the research area of studies on autism. He was active ing a hematology fellowship at in Medical Research, and cellular mechanotransduction. He in church life and was fluent in at what is now Beth Israel Deacon- the American College of also created a postsurgical data- least six languages. He is survived ess Medical Center, where she Rheumatology Gold Medal base that was an early template by his wife, Sandra, two sons, remained for 27 years. In 2008, Award. He loved the outdoors for current programs enabling three grandchildren, and a brother. she left Beth Israel Deaconess to and was a passionate advocate for evaluation of new devices and continue her focus on health care the environment. He is survived surgical techniques over time. Dr. 1971 quality in the transformation of by his wife, Ann Elizabeth, two Schurman was an avid golfer and Alfred DeCiutiis, a retired oncol- Caritas Christi Health Care into sons, and two grandchildren. caretaker of Bernese Mountain ogist, died Nov. 9, 2018, in his Steward Health Care. She retired Dogs. He also read extensively home as one of three casualties of in 2016 and took a position on 1965 about the history of medicine. the Woolsey Fire south of Agoura the Steward board as the system David J. Schurman, professor Hills in California. He was 73. grew to 36 hospitals across the emeritus of orthopedic surgery at 1967 Dr. DeCiutiis founded the Ital- United States, with others in Stanford University and a vision- William “Bill” G. Johnson, profes- ian American Medical Associa- Europe. Following her appoint- ary researcher, died April 2, sor of neurology at the Robert tion in Los Angeles. Starting in ment by President George W. 2018. He was 77. He served in Wood Johnson Medical School 1981, he hosted cable television Bush, Justine served 10 years on the medical service in the Air of Rutgers University and former shows, working as medical edi- the National Committee on Vital Force and completed residency associate professor at VP&S, died tor of Cable Health Network and Health Statistics, an HHS at UCLA. Following an NIH Jan. 30, 2020, from complications and Lifetime Network. For his advisory committee. She chaired postdoctoral fellowship, he joined following a stroke. He was 77. 2001 reunion questionnaire, he the committee and its Quality Stanford in 1973. During his Following residency at New York complimented his classmates for Committee. She also served on early studies on musculoskeletal Hospital, he served in the U.S. “their integrity, ability, humanity, the boards of Network For Excel- infection, he pioneered an assay Public Health Service at the NIH. character, tempered radicalism, lence in Health Innovation and technique to quantify bacterial In 1975 he joined Columbia as and fierce goal orientation.” the Sarita Kennedy East charitable contamination in tissues. This assistant professor of neurology. foundation. She loved sailing, formed the groundwork for He became professor of neurology 1977 the Patriots, and Ireland. She is worldwide studies regarding the at Robert Wood Johnson Medi- Justine M. Meehan-Carr, a hema- survived by her husband, Dan use of prophylactic antibiotics to cal School at Rutgers (formerly tologist who became founding Carr’76, and three children.

40 ColumbiaMedicine Spring/Summer 2020 PLAN NOW TO MAKE MORE POSSIBLE

May your generosity inspire generations. Many of our alumni and friends like these have included Columbia University Irving Medical Center in their future plans by including their school or department as beneficiary in their will, retirement plan, trust, or other planned gift.

Join them in shaping Columbia’s future. Contact us to share your gift intentions or to explore ways to give, and let us recognize you for your commitment.

212.304.7508 • [email protected] www.giving.cuimc.columbia.edu/ways-give/planned-giving Vagelos College of Non-Profit Org. Physicians and Surgeons U.S. Postage Paid New York, NY 630 West 168th Street PERMIT NO. 3593 New York, NY 10032

Photofinish

JENNIFER O’ROURKE

rchives & Special Collections in the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Documenting Library has launched an initiative, “Documenting the Experience of COVID-19 A COVID-19,” to collect materials that tell the story of COVID-19 at VP&S, the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and beyond. for Future “As part of our mission to document the history of the medical center, we have created this initiative to enable students, faculty, staff, and alumni to contribute Generations narratives, images, videos, URLs, and other digital materials that tell their stories of living through the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Stephen E. Novak, head of Archives & Special Collections. “Instead of waiting for these documents to come to us many years later, we hope to capture this historic moment while it’s happening so we can provide an important body of records for future generations.”

The initiative can be found at https://library.cumc.columbia.edu/CUIMC_COVID-19_Stories.