summer/fall 2011

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2 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 EinsteinMagazineSummer-Fall2011_11_2_11FINAL—November 30, 2011 5:21 PM

summer/fall 2011 in this issue

features

2 A Message from the Dean

22 AIDS +30 AIDS arises and Einstein responds

34 Of Cells and Centenarians A generous investment by Ira and Ingeborg Rennert 22 funds biomedical research involving stem cells and aging

42 Commencement 2011 In every ending, a new beginning

44 Reunion 2011 Honoring the Class of 1961

34 departments

3 Letters to the Editor

4 Upfront: Collegial Life

14 Upfront: Lab Dish

40 Passionate Pursuits

48 Making a Difference 42 56 Our DNA: Alumni News & Class Notes

64 A Look Back

To enjoy our interactive version of Einstein magazine on your smart- phone, download a mobile reader. We suggest visiting http://scan.mobi on your mobile device. EINSTEIN Summer/Fall 2011 The magazine for alumni, faculty, students, friends and supporters of Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University

Published by A Message from the Dean The Philip and Rita Rosen Department of Communications and Public Affairs Gordon Earle, Associate Dean he cover story of this issue Department of Institutional Advancement of Einstein magazine com- Glenn Miller, Associate Dean memorates the 30th anni- Ira Lipson, Director

versary of the first reports Science and Publications Editor Tof cases of AIDS. The story describes Larry Katzenstein key figures at Einstein and Montefiore Managing Editor who confronted the early stages of the Joan Lippert epidemic at one of its epicenters—the Institutional Advancement Writer Bronx—as well as Einstein investigators Lora Friedman who are responding to the challenges Contributors Kris DiLorenzo that AIDS still poses. Steve Ditlea I vividly recall the excitement at a Karen Gardner press conference in 1984, while I was at Gary Goldenberg the National Institutes of Health, when Creative Director Peter Dama Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler announced the dis- Art Director Lorene Tapellini covery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and predicted that a vac- Designer Jeneffer Gonçalves cine would be available within a couple Illustration of years. Nearly 30 years later, we still Tatyana Starikova Harris lack an effective vaccine—the critical Nancy Reagan—her hand avoiding Digital Imaging requirement for halting the epidemic. physical contact while meeting an HIV- Donna Bruno Still, enormous progress has been made, infected child—spoke volumes. Photography including the advent of highly active But Rubinstein was not alone Jason Torres Photography antiretroviral therapy. among Einstein physicians who distin- Victor Vanzo, East Coast Productions, Inc. When I directed the National guished themselves during that time. Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Peter Selwyn, Kathy Anastos, Ellie Consultants Kidney Diseases, I wasn’t familiar with Schoenbaum and other pioneers did Creative Direction Movement, Inc. key aspects of the history of AIDS. I all they could to stem the tide of the www.brandmovement.com made up for this deficiency in my edu- epidemic. Editorial Oversight cation after coming to Einstein in 2006. Today, Einstein faculty members Hayes Strategies One of my most memorable early continue to work on therapies for www.hayesstrategies.com experiences was a symposium mark- curing AIDS and strategies for prevent- Address correspondence to: ing the 25th anniversary of AIDS that ing it, for the benefit of patients in the Editor, Einstein Magazine featured Arye Rubinstein, M.D., the Bronx and worldwide. Jack and Pearl Resnick Campus 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Belfer 905 Einstein pediatrician who diagnosed one Bronx, NY 10461 of the first cases of pediatric AIDS. A E-mail: [email protected] film documented Rubinstein’s extraor- Website: www.einstein.yu.edu dinary work in caring for children with Copyright © 2011 AIDS, at a time of mounting hysteria Albert Einstein College of Medicine driven by ignorance of how the virus Allen M. Spiegel, M.D. of Yeshiva University was spread. A clip in the film showing The Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean All rights reserved

2 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 LETTERs | from our readers

Letters to the Editor

Winter/spring 2011 around the College of Medicine. The For me, the real high of the eve- magazine also keeps me informed about ning was being on stage and playing EinstThe Magazine for Alumni and Friends of Albert Einstein Collegee of Medicine ofin Yeshiva University research funding and philanthropic the Haydn Quartet no. 104 with three endeavors that contribute to the growth other really good musicians, and being of our institution. Einstein’s community applauded by the very sophisticated efforts and alumni news complete the audience of Einstein faculty and friends picture. Keep up the good work! that had come to see Dali and his work. Rubina Heptulla, M.D. Following the reception, we were Division Chief DE[LIVER]ANCE introduced to Dali. He was grateful that Researchers and Clinicians Team Up Pediatric Endocrinology to Combat the Liver Disease Epidemic we played for him and shook hands with Professor, Pediatrics and Medicine all of us. I was not well schooled in art Albert Einstein College of Medicine Bronx, NY at the time; Dali’s work did not appeal Winter/Spring 2011 to me very much then and is still not Hello, Dali! among my favorites. But what I most vividly recall was how ridiculous his Thanks from a Faculty Member I was one of the student musicians who As a relative newcomer to Einstein, I entertained at a reception for Salvador cape and handlebar moustache looked. In retrospect, of course, I probably very much enjoy reading Einstein maga- Dali hosted by his friend Einstein pro- zine. It’s well illustrated and engaging fessor Helmuth Nathan, M.D., on the should have been in awe of the man. and helps me stay informed about what’s occasion of a show and sale of Dali’s My wife, an artist and admirer of Dali’s going on around campus. Einstein artwork to raise funds for the medical work, certainly thinks so. Sidney Sobel, M.D. ’61, FACR researchers are prolific, and it is difficult school (“A Look Back,” Einstein, Winter/ Clinical Associate Professor of Spring 2011). I played the cello in a for all of us to keep up with the research Radiation Oncology findings that they generate. The maga- chamber music quartet (not visible in the University of Rochester School of zine offers me a convenient way to learn photo you printed), and my recollection Medicine and Dentistry about the achievements of my colleagues of that occasion might surprise you. Rochester, NY

Social Media: Online at Einstein YouTube: Einstein’s YouTube which receives nearly 10,000 visits per Twitter, YouTube and other social media videos have been viewed 52,000 month. Visit www.einstein.yu.edu/video. allow for almost instantaneous contact times! Check out www.youtube. LinkedIn: Einstein maintains a and information exchange. “It’s all about com/user/EinsteinCollegeof Med. corporate profile on LinkedIn. building community,” says Paul Moniz, iTunes: From this platform, Visit www.linkedin.com/ Einstein’s director of communications you can stream and download companies/556031. and marketing. Einstein videos, lectures and RSS: “Really Simple Here’s how and where at Einstein: discussions to your computer or iPod/ Syndication” delivers Web Twitter: Einstein tweets iPad. Visit www.einstein.yu.edu/home/ content directly to your desktop multiple times every day (to mu_itunes.asp. or browser. To get started, visit www. 1,000 followers—and counting)! Einstein Multimedia Page: einstein.yu.edu/home/rss/news.xml. We also participate in Twitter chats. To See all of Einstein’s audiovisual Website: Updated daily, follow Einstein’s Twitter feed, visit content in one place on our easy-to-use website is http://twitter.com/EinsteinMed. Einstein’s dynamic multimedia page, www.einstein.yu.edu.

science at the heart of medicine 3 upfront | Collegial life

Match Day: “Thank You, Einstein” Einstein Profs Help High School Students high school laboratory can offer a bright science-minded Astudent only so much. Fortunately, a number of Einstein professors open the doors of their own labs to local students each summer. Among them: Katalin Susztak, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of medicine (nephrology) and of genetics, mentored Natasha Mathur, now a senior at Dobbs Ferry High School. Natasha researched tubular interstitial kidney fibrosis. She went on to place n Match Day 2011 last March, to Yale–New Haven Hospital, Houston’s second in the health and medicine Brian Nishinaga anxiously Baylor University Medical Center, category at the Westchester Rockland Oopened an envelope that Chicago’s McGaw Medical Center Science Symposium and received would direct his life for the next few of Northwestern University and the the Phillips Award for Exceptional years. He was ecstatic to learn that he University of California Irvine Medical Research in medicine at the was headed for an emergency medicine Center. Westchester Science and Engineering residency at New York–Presbyterian Match Day is conducted annually Fair. Natasha began a new project Hospital, the University Hospital of by the National Resident Matching on kidney disease this summer at Columbia and Cornell—his first choice. Program, which uses computers to weigh Einstein. Brian was among 187 members of applicants’ achievements and geographic Chandan Guha, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., the Albert Einstein College of Medicine preferences against the needs of partici- professor and vice chair in the Class of 2011 who learned where their pating hospitals. With 16,559 U.S. med- department of radiation oncology four years of hard work would lead ical school seniors applying, this year’s at Einstein and Montefiore and them. Forty-three percent of them Match Day was the largest ever and thus professor in Einstein’s department claimed residencies in primary care, the most competitive. Judging from the of pathology, and Alan A. Alfieri, which encompasses internal medicine, happy seniors in the Lubin Dining Hall M.S., principal associate of radiation pediatrics and family medicine. That’s 4 on Match Day, Einstein gave them a oncology, mentored George Epstein, percent higher than the national average valuable edge. then a senior at Dobbs Ferry, on and 3 percent higher than last year. Says Brian Nishinaga, “Einstein ultrasound’s effect on tumor cells. The two next most popular place- trained me to focus as much on the peo- George won the Westchester Academy ments were diagnostic radiology and ple as on the pathology, introduced me of Medicine’s Award for Outstanding emergency medicine, followed by to mentors whom I hope I can be like Research at the Westchester Science obstetrics and gynecology, anesthesiol- 20 years down the road and surrounded and Engineering Fair and placed third ogy, surgery, ophthalmology, orthope- me with peers who pushed me to shoot in the health and medicine category dics and psychiatry. Einstein students for what is ‘best’ instead of settling for at the Westchester Rockland Science matched to prestigious institutions what is ‘better.’ Thank you, Einstein.” Symposium. George is a freshman at in the country near and far—from Cornell University. Montefiore, the University Hospital and on the web Academic Medical Center for Einstein, www.einstein.yu.edu/matchday2011

4 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 Coming Home, Giving Back Juan Robles, M.D. ’11. The 2010–2011 Einstein Annual Report profiled Dr. Robles, who hoped to win a residency in the Bronx. “There’s a great need here,” he says. “I want to meet that need and give back to the community.” The Honduras native came to the Bronx at age 13 speaking no English, but the language barrier didn’t stop him from graduating from South Helping patients in the Bronx holds great meaning for Dr. Robles, who came to Einstein Bronx High School as class valedic- via a long and winding road. torian. He graduated from Cornell University with a bachelor’s degree in biology. After applying unsuccessfully Irene Blanco, responsibilities as director of the lupus to Einstein, he worked on improv- M.D. ’04, M.S. clinic at Montefiore include precept- ing his MCAT scores while earning ’10. “I’ve never ing fellows in the division and collect- a master’s degree in biology at New lived more than ing data for the Einstein lupus cohort. York University and later volunteer- about 20 miles “In these minority patients, both lupus ing at Einstein’s Community Health from where I grew and its kidney damage tend to be more Outreach (ECHO) Clinic as a transla- up in New Jersey,” severe due to a lot of factors,” she says. tor for its many Spanish-speaking cli- says Dr. Blanco. Dr. Blanco spends the rest of her ents. Then he took the MCAT again, After graduating with Einstein’s Class of time at Einstein looking for biomarkers reapplied to Einstein and won a spot in 2004, Dr. Blanco completed an inter- signaling the presence of lupus nephri- the Class of 2011. nal medicine residency at New York– tis (kidney damage). “I want to know if On Match Day, Dr. Robles got Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell there’s something I can easily measure some good news: he’s headed for a resi- Medical Center, returned to Einstein for that tells me there’s a disease process dency in Montefiore Medical Center’s a rheumatology fellowship and entered going on long before signs appear, department of family and social medi- Einstein’s Clinical Research Training because the earlier kidney damage is cine. “It’s exactly what I wanted,” said Program. After earning her master’s treated, the better the outcome,” the new doctor, who became a member degree last year, she extended her she says. of the Gold Humanism Honor Society Einstein stay indefinitely by joining the Last year Dr. Blanco became an last fall. department of medicine as an assistant Einstein Men’s Division Research professor of medicine in the division Scholar. This program helps fund on the web of rheumatology. the career development of Einstein www.einstein.yu.edu/robles2011 Staying local affords Dr. Blanco physician-scientists. These physicians the opportunity to live her dream: with specialized research training “I wanted to work with an under- collaborate with Einstein basic scientists served minority population, which we to translate important laboratory do have in the Bronx,” she says. Her findings into new treatments.

science at the heart of medicine 5 Study Public Health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine

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Or earn an 11-credit Public Health Certificate that can be completed over the summer and fall.

Applications now being accepted for summer 2012. To learn more, visit our website: http://www.einstein. yu.edu/centers/public-health-sciences

Public Health Education Programs Center for Public Health Sciences E-mail: [email protected]

All classes are held on the Jack and Pearl Resnick campus in the6 enortheastinstein : WBronx,inter/spring NY 2 011 upfront | Collegial life

Bongo Therapy When it comes to enhancing the quality of life for cancer patients, a drum circle can’t be beat. “Join us for an afternoon of drum- ming fun as you lose yourself in exciting African, Caribbean and Latin rhythms!” read the flyer from the Bronx Oncology Living Daily program, directed by Alyson B. Moadel, Ph.D., associate pro- fessor of clinical epidemiology & popu- lation health and of clinical medicine. Each month in Lubin Dining Hall, Bronx cancer patients get together for a percussion Soon thereafter, some two dozen cancer discussion at the Bronx Oncology Living Daily (BOLD) drum circle. survivors and family members formed a circle in the Evelyn & Joseph I. Lubin The stimulation, the positive energy…” says Dr. Moadel. Medical students Student Activities Center and proceeded “It gets you into a zone that is very Chelsea McGuire and Doug Tremblay to bang on bongos, shake shakers and beneficial for us cancer survivors.” have volunteered to lead the rhythmic jingle tambourines along with two “Chemotherapy is stressful. Coming proceedings. professional percussionists. The circle’s to meet other people in the same situa- The program is funded by the participants have hammered out some tion is a wonderful release.” Entertainment Industry Foundation– rave reviews: The group was so enthusiastic that Revlon Run/Walk & New York Yankee “That drum circle was wonderful! the drum circle is now a monthly event, Stadium Community Fund.

Mentoring: Pass It On! development awards from the NIH, two Everyone knows that students need three-year Doris Duke Awards, three good mentors, but so do junior faculty four-year Robert Wood Johnson career members. development awards, and two Einstein/ Julia H. Arnsten, M.D., M.P.H., Montefiore Clinical & Translational professor of medicine (division chief, Science Awards. general internal medicine) and mentor “When somebody in the group gets a extraordinaire, is helping junior col- grant, people feel they’ve contributed to leagues get papers published and win each other’s success,” says Dr. Arnsten. grants and career development awards. Recent awardees include Chinazo Julia H. Arnsten, M.D., M.P.H., left, excels Arrayed on the walls of the division’s at mentoring junior colleagues. O. Cunningham, M.D., M.S., for conference room are faculty journal expanding treatment options for HIV- submissions in various stages, from Dr. Arnsten encourages her staff to run infected drug users; Shadi Nahvi, M.D., proposal to manuscript to published the meetings—the sign of a true mentor. M.S., for work on smoking cessation; article. Dr. Arnsten’s group of “mentees” Since Dr. Arnsten began her men- Joanna L. Starrels, M.D., for research meets there once a week for an hour toring effort in 2004, her group has on chronic pain; Sarita Shah, M.D., for and a half—reporting on progress and published articles in leading journals, work on TB transmission; James C. M. receiving constructive criticism from her including the Journal of the American Brust, M.D., for a treatment program and from each other. A second weekly Medical Association, Archives of Internal for TB and HIV co-infection; and Neel meeting is devoted to winning grants Medicine and Annals of Internal Medicine. R. Gandhi, M.D., for research on drug- from the NIH and private foundations. And they’ve garnered six career resistant TB.

science at the heart of medicine 7 upfront | Collegial life

“I Pledge Allegiance to the Lab …” Davidoff Education Day For graduate students, choosing grad students who had completed or his keynote talk to Einstein which laboratory to work in is one their coursework and their rotations faculty at the eighth annual of the most important decisions through three or four laboratories FDavidoff Education Day last May, they’ll ever make. It’s where they’ll gathered together for the inaugural the dean of the new Hofstra University do the thesis research that culmi- Declaration Celebration. School of Medicine chose the topic nates in their doctoral degrees. “This event is important for recog- “Building a New Medical School: A Einstein students have made this nizing our Ph.D. students, who have Chance to Design Curriculum from decision without much ado. But this committed their futures to research,” Scratch.” The speaker, Lawrence G. year, the members of the Einstein says Mr. Kahn. Keynote speaker Julie Smith, M.D., challenged his audience Board of Overseers Student Affairs Secombe, Ph.D., assistant professor of with the question: “If every physician Committee, chaired by Nathan genetics, offered encouraging words knows that students remember nothing Kahn, decided that some fanfare about life in the labs. The event was from class and everything from treating was in order. So in June, amidst supported by gifts from a number of patients, why do we persist in teaching bouquets of blue and white helium Einstein Ph.D. alumni. any other way?” balloons in the Mary and Karl on the web Davidoff Education Day honors Leo Robbins Auditorium, 54 first-year www.einstein.yu.edu/declaration2011 M. Davidoff, a distinguished neuro- surgeon who was a founding Einstein faculty member and the first chair of general surgery. It is intended to improve faculty teaching and increase the effectiveness of the curriculum. Mary Y. Lee, M.D., M.S., associate provost at Tufts University, delivered the closing speech, “Teaching and Learning with Technology: Can It Really Make a Difference?” Her talk described the new knowledge-management system that Einstein would soon install. Faculty members who are excellent Left, the group had special T-shirts printed up bearing words of Albert Einstein: “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” Right, Julie teachers and take an interest in their Secombe, Ph.D., gave the keynote address. students are tapped for membership in the Davidoff Society, established in 1976 with 12 charter members. Today the membership numbers 240. Davidoff Education Day is sponsored by the Einstein education and faculty support committee and the office of faculty development.

8 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 Sculpting Around The College of Medicine’s namesake is with us in more than spirit; Albert Einstein’s likeness looks upon us from a number of pedestals across the campus.

Sculptor: Emil Seletz (1907–1999) Sculptor: Helmuth Nathan Location: Jack and Pearl Resnick (1901–1979) Campus inner courtyard Location: Siegfried and Irma While in medical school in the Ullmann Research Center for Health Sciences lobby early 1900s, Emil Seletz took a Helmuth Nathan, M.D., trip to Washington, DC, and was born and educated in became enthralled by a bust of Germany. On arriving at Abraham Lincoln in the Capitol Einstein as a professor of rotunda. Soon he was sculpting surgery and founding faculty heads himself. During a distin- member in 1955, he was guished career as a California already a widely published neurosurgeon, Dr. Seletz found time to indulge his passion researcher and accomplished painter, sculptor and graphic for sculpture, creating more than 40 busts of Lincoln, as well artist. In 1973, Dr. Nathan was appointed professor and as Einstein, Beethoven, Ben-Gurion, surgeons and patients. chair of the newly created department of the history of

Sculptor: Jacob Epstein medicine. Albert Einstein’s daughter, Margot, said of his (1880–1959) bust of Einstein: “What impressed me most is the pensive, Location: Leo Forchheimer dreamy look of the eyes, something lacking in so many Medical Science Building, other portraits.” first floor American-born British sculp- tor Jacob Epstein met Albert Sculptor: Robert Berks (1922–2011) Einstein in England, where Location: Offices and homes everywhere Unveiled in 1979, the original 12-foot- Einstein sat three times for him. high bronze statue on the Epstein said of his subject that grounds of the National “his glance contained a mixture Academy of Sciences in of the humane, the humorous Washington, DC, weighs and the profound.” The bust of Einstein at the College of some four tons. Medicine is one of several that Epstein created. Einstein awards a much Sculptor: Gina Plunguian (1906–1962) smaller Location: Arthur B. and replica to Diane Belfer Educational commencement speakers and donors. The Center for Health Sciences lobby sculpture shows Albert Einstein holding a paper summariz- American sculptor Gina ing three of his most important scientific contributions: the Plunguian was a longtime friend photoelectric effect, the theory of general relativity and the of Albert Einstein, who sat for equivalence of energy and matter. Einstein posed for Mr. her in 1948; the Smithsonian Berks in 1953, the same year that he gave his name to the Institution in Washington, College of Medicine. Mr. Berks also sculpted many other DC, has a photo of the session. famous people, including Franklin Roosevelt, Pablo Casals, (Einstein also gave her his pipe John F. Kennedy and Golda Meir. that year, which she donated to the Smithsonian in 1958.)

science at the heart of medicine 9 upfront | Collegial life

BODY vs. Diabetes Welcome! econd-year med student Ross Robert A. Coleman, Ph.D., and Wei-Li Liu, Ph.D. Kristal has lived with type 1 Drs. Coleman and Liu met at the University of California, Sdiabetes since he was 7 years Berkeley, where they were postdoctoral fellows studying old—which may be why he’s so how genes are regulated. Dr. Liu grew up in Taiwan, and passionate about type 2. While there’s Dr. Coleman was raised in suburban Philadelphia. no cure for type 1, “people don’t The research collaborators fell in love, married and have to live with type 2 diabetes,” he arrived together at Einstein in 2010, where both are now says. “It’s preventable and reversible.” assistant professors in Einstein’s department of anatomy And thus was born Ross’ brainchild, and structural biology. They continue studying gene regulation but use different BODY: Bronx, Obesity, Diabetes and advanced imaging techniques to do so: she uses high-resolution single-particle cryo- You. The student-run extracurricular electron microscopy, obtaining three-dimensional images of proteins within cells; he activity brings information and uses single-molecule fluorescence, which captures images of genes in action, both in motivation to the local community, vitro and within the milieu of the cell. where type 2 diabetes is “one of the on the web biggest health problems the Bronx www.einstein.yu.edu/liu-coleman2011 faces,” says Ross. BODY gives medical students at Einstein a great opportunity to fight David Cowburn, Ph.D., D.Sc. on the front lines. This past academic Dr. Cowburn joins Einstein’s departments of year, two second-year medical biochemistry and of physiology & biophysics as a students, Debby Yanes and Kristen professor. He comes here from the New York Structural Meier, led fun after-school exercise Biology Center, where he was president and CEO. activities such as freeze tag and capture There, and previously at the Rockefeller University, he the flag with students at P.S. 89, and developed structural biology tools for investigating signal they created a curriculum to teach transduction in health and disease. basic nutrition concepts—how to read a nutrition label, for example—to fourth graders. Did the kids get it? Ellise S. Delphin, M.D., M.P.H. “A week after one of our nutri- Dr. Delphin has joined the Einstein community as tion lessons, a student approached a professor and chair of the department of anesthesiology. BODY volunteer and recalled how She previously served as professor and chair of instead of mindlessly choosing a anesthesiology at UMDNJ–New Jersey Medical School snack, she consulted the nutrition and as chief of service at the school’s University Hospital, label and selected the snack based on and taught for 19 years at the College of Physicians and the amount of calories, just like we Surgeons of Columbia University. At Montefiore, where talked about during the nutrition Dr. Delphin is chair of the department of anesthesiology, she has emphasized lesson!” says Debby. strengthening subspecialty services in anesthesia, including cardiothoracic, “We really want BODY to be pediatric, neuroanesthesia, critical care and pain management services for action-oriented within the community hospital patients suffering from acute pain and for patients needing chronic and make an impact. We’re optimistic care in an outpatient setting. that BODY will continue for many on the web years to come,” says Ross. www.einstein.yu.edu/delphin2011

10 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 Lab Chat Kami Kim, M.D., studies Toxoplasma gondii, a single-celled parasite that causes severe brain damage when a healthy immune system is lacking—in AIDS patients, transplant patients and fetuses. Dr. Kim, a professor of medicine (infectious diseases) and of microbiology & immunology at Einstein and an attending physician in the department of medicine at Montefiore, recently received two NIH grants totaling $8 million to support her T. gondii work. spreading the parasite. Do Could you briefly describe your you own a cat? “No cats— research? “We use genetics, cell biology my husband is allergic.” and biochemistry to study genes that are crucial for T. gondii ’s development Any other advice for and survival. We hope our research will avoiding toxoplasmosis? lead to drugs that work by targeting and “Pregnant women in Day 4 Day 7 Day 10 Day 13 disabling critically important genes.” households with cats should never clean the litter box. And everyone Plasmodium yoelli resembles Plasmodium How did you become interested in should avoid eating undercooked meat, species that cause malaria in people. Here, Nick Grandin and Li-Min Ting of parasites? “My first year at Columbia another source of infection.” Dr. Kim’s lab have infected a mouse with medical school was the year HIV was P. yoelli cells expressing luciferase, the described in New York. People talked You and your husband [Thomas V. enzyme that makes fireflies glow, and cells are detected by an extremely sensitive about this mysterious gay-related McDonald, M.D., professor of medi- camera. The cells are first visible four immunodeficiency, and one of my cine (cardiology) and of molecular days after infection, which peaks at days first patients was an AIDS patient. I pharmacology at Einstein] are both 7 and 10 and by day 13 is resolved by the wanted to do an immunology research scientists. Are your kids following in mouse’s immune system. elective at UCSF, thinking I’d learn how your footsteps? “Both kids are inter- people fight infections, but the only lab ested in math and science, but the older kits and the crafty arts like ceramics willing to take me was a parasitology boy, who is 17, doesn’t want to be a and knitting. Science speaks to those lab. Subsequently, at Stanford, I started doctor. The younger boy is in middle things—the mystery, the creation.” working on Toxoplasma.” school, so we shall see.” When do you do your best thinking? How prevalent is T. gondii infection? Were your parents scientists? “My “I’m an insomniac, so I write most of “Toxoplasma is one of the world’s most father was a physicist and wanted me my papers and grants between 10 p.m. successful parasites and infects at least a and all my siblings—one brother, two and 2 a.m. You need some quiet to really third of the world’s population. In this sisters—to go to medical school. But think about things.” country, around 10 percent of people I’m the only one who’s a physician or a show evidence of Toxoplasma infection.” scientist.” Any final words? “Keep an open mind. There’s a lot of serendipity in the world. Cats can carry T. gondii in their intes- Did any hobby inspire your work? You never know where you’ll end up.” tines and are largely responsible for “As a kid, I loved Radio Shack science

science at the heart of medicine 11 upfront | Collegial life

Law & Order at Einstein “Not at all—it was fun,” Ms. During three days in May, cameras Newman says. “I live in midtown rolled as the Michael F. Price Center for Manhattan, so I see things being shot Genetic and Translational Medicine/ all the time and was really curious about Harold and Muriel Block Research what it was like to be on the other side. Pavilion was transformed into the Hopefully, I can show the episode to Bedford Institute, a fictional high-tech my future kids so they can see their medical facility featured in an episode dad’s med school!” (Ms. Newman is of TV’s Law & Order: Criminal Intent. married to Collin Stutz, D.D.S., M.D., The episode, which aired on June 12 who received a medical degree from on USA Network, was called “Cadaver” Einstein in June.) and centered on a man who disappears As a treat for the many members of after making a large donation to the the Einstein community who watched institute. the outdoor shots from the sidelines, Law & Order: Criminal Intent stars Vincent D’Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe, right, were Leah Newman, assistant to the chief Vincent D’Onofrio (Detective Robert on campus in May to film an episode of procurement officer and administra- Goren on the show) generously posed the TV series. Between them is guest star tor in Einstein’s procurement services and smiled with anyone bold enough Rosalind Chao. department, was pulled in as an extra to ask. for a grant award presentation scene on Einstein was compensated for the the third floor of the Price Center/Block use of its facilities. Research Pavilion. Was she nervous?

In Memoriam Robert A. Shimm, M.D. faculty for more than 35 years in generations of Einstein students, Dr. Shimm died in New York on the departments of pediatrics, of many of whom he also mentored. December 29, 2010. He came to ophthalmology and of neurology, she His outstanding ability as an Einstein in 1956 and organized also served as director of the Sudden educator was recognized at Einstein’s and ran the medical outpatient Infant Death Syndrome Research 2009 Commencement, where he department. After 36 years on the Project at Montefiore Medical Center. received the College of Medicine’s Einstein faculty, he retired in 1992 Dr. Cornwell was the recipient of Lifetime Achievement Award for as clinical professor emeritus of numerous scientific and professional Excellence in Teaching. He also was medicine. In later years he was an awards and was often invited to present a longstanding member of the Leo esteemed member of the medical her scientific findings throughout M. Davidoff Society, which honors school’s voluntary faculty and served the world. teachers at Einstein who have made as a physician for many students, significant contributions to the members of the Einstein faculty, George J. Fruhman, Ph.D. education of students. He was a their families and others. Dr. Fruhman, a member of Einstein’s beloved presence on campus and founding faculty, died on July 11, will be missed. Anne Christake Cornwell, Ph.D. 2011, at age 86. An associate professor Dr. Cornwell died in Santa Barbara, of anatomy and structural biology CA, on February 17, 2011, at age for more than 50 years, Dr. Fruhman 81. A member of the Einstein taught histology and gross anatomy to

12 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 Einstein-Cardozo Master of Science in Bioethics

n today’s emotionally charged, technologically including ethics analysis, mediation and advanced environment, issues at the crossroads of communication skills. Receive extensive medicine, law and public policy are commonplace supervision and feedback from experts with vast among physicians, lawyers, clergy, healthcare bioethics consultation experience Iworkers and others. • Study crucial bioethics issues, including medical The Einstein-Cardozo Master of Science in Bioethics choices at the end of life, the allocation of is a collaboration among Yeshiva University’s Albert scarce healthcare resources, protections for Einstein College of Medicine and Cardozo Law, and human research subjects, the privacy of medical Montefiore Medical Center, the University hospital information, and the role of race, class and for Einstein. The program brings together a broad ethnicity in health outcomes and access to care range of expertise to address bioethics issues and • Bring critical skills to your current job and position provides students with the knowledge to make yourself for advancement by specializing in this potentially life-changing decisions with confidence. exciting, emerging field

By enrolling in the 32-credit Master’s An abbreviated program, the six-credit Montefiore- Einstein Certificate Program in Bioethics and Medical program (offered on a full-time and part-time Humanities, is also offered independently or as the basis) you will... key introductory course for the Master of Science in • Examine how moral, ethical and religious values Bioethics. Classes are held at Cardozo Law School affect medical decisions and healthcare policy in Manhattan and Einstein’s Jack and Pearl Resnick • Master all aspects of bioethics consultation, campus in the northeast Bronx, NY.

Applications now being accepted for fall 2012 To learn more, visit our website: www.einstein.yu.edu/masters-in-bioethics Tia Powell, M.D., Director I Phone: 718.920.4630 I E-mail: [email protected] upfront | Lab Dish

Girl’s Life Saved by Novel TB Therapy in an e-mail to the College of Medicine. The girl showed clinical improve- ment after four weeks of therapy, the Belgian team reported. After 11 weeks, her sputum tests were negative for TB. “This is early and limited evidence that the therapy will be efficacious, but it’s very encouraging,” says Brian Currie, M.D., M.P.H., vice president and medi- cal director for research at Montefiore Medical Center and assistant dean for edicine-Texas M edical Center L ibrary © Houston A cademy of M edicine-Texas clinical research at Einstein. “We look

Arid climates were thought to help tuberculosis patients—hence the popularity of TB forward to beginning clinical trials with sanatoriums that opened in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and California during our colleagues in South Africa, where the 1800s and early 1900s. Texas opened its first “tuberculosis colony” near San Angelo drug-resistant TB is a significant and in 1911. This photo from the early 1900s shows young female patients on the porch of growing problem.” Dr. Currie, also the Texas facility. professor of clinical medicine (infectious Using a novel two-drug combination shields TB bacteria from meropenem, diseases) and of clinical epidemiology & developed by Einstein researchers, a member of the beta-lactam class of population health, expects that trials will Belgian physicians cured a young patient antibiotics. start within a year. with extensively drug-resistant tubercu- The U.S. Food and Drug Einstein has filed a patent application losis (XDR-TB). Their report, published Administration has approved merope- on the novel combination clavulanate– in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, nem for adult and pediatric use, and beta-lactam drug formulations to treat marks the first known clinical use of this clavulanate is used in combination with TB, as an incentive for commercial drug treatment for XDR-TB, the most deadly amoxicillin as an FDA-approved antibi- manufacturers to support expanded form of the disease. otic. Clavulanate-meropenem therapy clinical trials and to collaborate with “It was extremely rewarding to see for XDR-TB has not yet been evaluated Einstein on developing these antibiotics that our in vitro biochemical studies in clinical trials. for greater use in TB therapy. would contribute to a successful clini- In 2010, physicians at Hôpital cal outcome for this seriously ill girl,” Universitaire Saint-Pierre in Brussels, says John S. Blanchard, Ph.D., the Dan Belgium, oversaw the care of a 14-year- Danciger Professor of Biochemistry old girl from Chechnya with XDR-TB. at Einstein, who led the development The acutely ill and malnourished patient of the new therapy. Dr. Blanchard failed to respond to standard first- and and his colleagues had reported in the second-line TB medications, and tests February 27, 2009 issue of Science showed that her TB strain was exten- that a combination of clavulanate and sively drug resistant. As a last resort, meropenem inhibited the growth of the Belgian physicians decided to try drug-susceptible laboratory strains of clavulanate and meropenem, the com-

TB as well as XDR-TB strains isolated bination therapy they had read about in R ay Butler; Photo: Janice Haney Carr Courtesy of CDC/Dr. from TB patients. The drugs work in Dr. Blanchard’s Science paper. “We had tandem: clavulanate inhibits a bacterial nothing to lose,” wrote Marie-Christine enzyme (beta-lactamase) that normally Payen, M.D., leader of the Belgian team, Tuberculosis bacteria.

14 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 Metastasis Molecule Found

Einstein scientists have identified a key player in the spread of breast cancer. The senior author of the study, published in the June 8 online edition of Nature, was Jeffrey W. Pollard, Ph.D., professor of developmental and molecular biol- ogy and of obstetrics & gynecology and women’s health and the Louis Goldstein Swan Chair in Women’s Cancer Research. Metastasis begins when cells break away from the primary tumor and gain the ability to move on their own. These cells invade nearby blood vessels (a pro- cess known as intravasation) and are car- This 3-D reconstructed confocal microscope image shows breast-tumor cells ried by the bloodstream to other parts (blue) and macrophages (green) in a mouse’s lung vessels (red), 24 hours of the body. The bloodborne tumor cells after tumor cells were injected into the animal’s tail vein. After traveling to then escape from vessels in a process the lung, tumor cells secrete a protein called CCL2. The CCL2 molecules aid cancer spread (metastasis) by attracting monocytes and macrophages, which called extravasation and seed new and help the tumor cells escape from blood vessels and enter lung tissue. (The deadly tumors that grow in these distant white bar equals 20 microns.) locations. In previous studies, Dr. Pollard found researchers used anti-CCL2 antibod- that macrophages—immune system cells ies to suppress CCL2 signaling—with DuPont Award Goes to whose functions include fighting infec- striking results. In lungs challenged Peng Wu, Ph.D. tions—actually promote the spread of with metastatic tumor cells, the number For his work in labeling recombinant cancer. In the current study, using mod- of metastatic sites that developed was proteins and living cells, Einstein’s els of human and mouse breast cancer, markedly reduced, and the mice lived Peng Wu, Ph.D., assistant professor the researchers showed that when breast much longer when CCL2 signaling was of biochemistry, has been invited to tumor cells travel to the lung, these cells blocked. join the 2011 class of DuPont Young secrete CCL2, a molecule that attracts “These findings have potential Professors, representing 17 national immune cells called inflammatory implications for therapy, since in human and international universities. Since monocytes—in particular, those bearing breast cancer we know that CCL2 the award was initiated more than 40 receptors for CCL2, which then develop expression and macrophage infiltration years ago, 548 young professors have into macrophages. are associated with poor prognosis and received nearly $48 million in grants The monocytes and macrophages metastatic disease,” says Dr. Pollard. “If from DuPont, a science-based prod- “invited” by CCL2 signaling then facili- we can develop ways to inhibit these ucts and services company. tate extravasation. One way monocytes processes, we might be able to slow or Dr. Wu also recently won a five- help tumor cells escape from blood ves- stop breast cancer from spreading.” year grant totaling $1.5 million from sels is by secreting vascular endothelial the National Institute of General growth factor (VEGF), a substance that ON THE WEB Medical Sciences to continue study- makes blood vessels leaky and promotes www.einstein.yu.edu/pollard2011 ing sugars called fucosylated glycans metastasis, the researchers found. on cell surfaces, where they enable To confirm their findings, the host cells to tell friends from foes.

science at the heart of medicine 15 upfront | Lab Dish

Watching Genes at Work Childhood Cancer Gene Identified Einstein researchers have for the first and structural biology, professor in the time observed the activity of a single Dominick P. Purpura Department of Nothing works against rhabdoid gene in living cells. In an unprecedented Neuroscience and in the department of tumors, aggressive childhood cancers study, published in the April 22 online cell biology, and co-director of the Gruss that usually strike children under 3 edition of Science, the scientists were Lipper Biophotonics Center at Einstein. years old and affect the brain or kid- able to follow, in real time, the process The study’s lead author was Daniel neys. The disease is extremely rare— of gene transcription, which occurs Larson, Ph.D., previously a member of fewer than 10 cases are diagnosed when a gene converts its DNA informa- Dr. Singer’s lab and now an investiga- each year in the United States—but tion into molecules of messenger RNA tor at the National Cancer Institute and almost always fatal. (mRNA) that go on to make the protein head of the institute’s Systems Biology of Now scientists at Einstein have coded by the gene. Gene Expression Section. identified a target for potential Gene transcription is a key step in Using fluorescent proteins, the therapies for these tumors: a gene synthesizing proteins, which govern researchers were able to follow mRNA called Aurora A that is vital for tumor the body’s structure and function and activity by inserting DNA sequences growth. The research team was led underlie many diseases when present in into a gene in live yeast cells. RNA made by Ganjam V. Kalpana, Ph.D., pro- mutated form or in aberrant amounts. from these sequences bound a modified fessor of genetics and of microbiol- The senior author of the paper was green fluorescent protein; expression of ogy & immunology, and the Mark Robert H. Singer, Ph.D., professor and the entire gene resulted in mRNA mol- Trauner Faculty Scholar in Neuro- co-chair in the department of anatomy ecules that were visible with fluorescent oncology at Einstein. Their findings light. appear in the April 26 online issue of The study involved monitoring Cancer Research. the activity of RNA polymerase—the The Aurora A gene is known enzyme that constructs mRNA mol- to be expressed at higher-than- ecules by linking single nucleotides normal levels in many cancers, and together into a molecular chain. The its expression is associated with researchers were able to directly observe poor prognoses. Scientists have also and measure the key steps involved in known that mutations in a tumor © David S . Goodsell and the R C B PDB transcription. suppressor gene called INI1/hSNF5 “Understanding how gene expression can lead to rhabdoid tumors. In is regulated in a single-celled organism this study, the Kalpana team found such as yeast is a first step in under- that in rhabdoid tumors, loss of standing the same processes in humans, the tumor suppressor gene INI1/ which have a vastly larger and more hSNF5 leads to changes in Aurora A’s complex genome,” says Dr. Larson. expression that are crucial for tumor “But fundamentally, the same molecular growth. laws will still apply.” In experiments involving rhab- doid tumors and tumor cell lines, the ON THE WEB Einstein scientists showed for the first Visit Dr. Singer’s lab at This RNA polymerase molecule from yeast http://singerlab.aecom.yu.edu/ time that Aurora A is highly expressed is composed of a dozen different pro- in both human and mouse rhabdoid teins. Together they form a machine that surrounds DNA strands (orange), unwinds tumors, that the loss of the INI1/ them and then constructs a strand of mes- hSNF5 tumor suppressor gene from senger RNA (red) based on the informa- rhabdoid tumor cells leads to the tion encoded within the DNA.

16 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 “de-repression” of Aurora A and that Liver Cell Transplants May Reverse Genetic Liver knocking down Aurora A’s expres- and Lung Disease sion in rhabdoid tumor cells potently inhibits the growth of those cells. Transplanting cells from “Our findings indicate that target- healthy adult livers may ing Aurora A could be an effective work in treating a genetic strategy for halting rhabdoid tumor liver-lung disorder that growth,” says Dr. Kalpana. She notes affects millions of people that many Aurora A inhibitors are worldwide, according to now being tested against several types an animal study in the of cancers­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­, including melanoma and April 18 online edition non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. of the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Jayanta R. Roy-Chowdhury, Grant Renewal for Teen M.B.B.S., professor of HIV/AIDS Research medicine (gastroenterology & liver Immunofluorescent staining of a liver two months after normal liver cells (green) A competitive renewal grant of diseases) and of genetics and scientific were transplanted into a transgenic mouse $4.6 million over five years was director of Einstein’s Gene Therapy model of alpha-1 antitrypsin disease. Red awarded to Donna C. Futterman, Core, and attending physician at indicates the mutated protein that has M.D., professor of clinical pedi- Montefiore, was the study’s senior accumulated in some host liver cells; blue indicates nuclei of cells. Note the clusters atrics at Einstein and director author. of green cells derived from marked prolif- of the Adolescent AIDS Program Alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency eration of the transplanted cells. (AAP) at The Children’s Hospital is the most common potentially lethal at Montefiore. This grant from the hereditary disease among Caucasians, transgenic mice whose liver cells (hepa- National Institute of Child Health affecting an estimated 100,000 people tocytes) had been engineered to pro- and Human Development will in the United States and 3.4 million duce mutant human AAT, resulting in re-fund the AAP as an Adolescent people worldwide. AAT is a protein liver fibrosis. When the mice were given Medicine Trials Unit focused on made by the liver that is essential for infusions of hepatocytes harvested from HIV/AIDS in adolescents. lung health. In AAT deficiency, the liver the livers of healthy mice, the trans- Bronx residents are dispropor- produces a misshapen form of AAT planted cells proliferated in the host tionately affected by HIV, and the that cannot enter the bloodstream and livers, progressively replacing diseased AAP has been critically important instead gets stuck inside liver cells, and hepatocytes. Most importantly, says Dr. for young people with HIV/AIDS accumulating AAT leads to liver fibrosis Roy-Chowdhury, the transplanted cells or who are at risk for HIV infection. (development of scar tissue) and liver reversed the fibrosis that had developed. The grant will allow the AAP to con- failure. Current therapy for AAT deficiency tinue its nationally prominent efforts Too little AAT reaches the lungs, consists of lifelong injections of a in research, clinical care and commu- where it’s needed to rein in elastase, an genetically engineered version of AAT nity outreach aimed at HIV-positive enzyme produced by white blood cells. called Prolastin. “This very expensive and at-risk youth. Dr. Futterman Elastase helps to kill bacteria in the therapy slows progression of the lung receives several federal and state lungs, but uncontrolled elastase activ- disease in some patients but does not grants that support her work in the ity can damage lung tissue and lead to have any beneficial effect on the liver Bronx and South Africa. severe emphysema (chronic obstructive disease,” says Dr. Roy-Chowdhury. The pulmonary disease). only other therapy for AAT deficiency ON THE WEB In the study, Dr. Roy-Chowdhury is combined lung-liver transplantation, www.einstein.yu.edu/futterman2011 and his colleagues tested cell therapy on reserved for the sickest patients.

science at the heart of medicine 17 upfront | Lab Dish

An Enzyme That Steers—and Brakes—Cells

Members of an enzyme family found they break up microtubules—dynamic in humans and throughout the plant intracellular polymers that regulate cell and animal kingdoms play a crucial movement by controlling the forma- role in regulating cell motility, Einstein tion of protrusions called lamellipodia. researchers have discovered. Their find- (Polymers are large molecules composed ings suggest an entirely new strategy for of many repeating units.) treating conditions ranging from dia- When Dr. Sharp’s team treated betic ulcers to metastatic cancer. motile cells of the fruit flyDrosophila David J. Sharp, Ph.D., professor of with a drug that inhibited katanin physiology & biophysics, was the senior production, the treated cells moved sig- author of the study, which was pub- nificantly faster than control cells, and lished in the March 6 online edition of with a striking increase in high-velocity Nature Cell Biology. movements, indicating that katanin pre- Micrograph of a Drosophila hemocyte “Cells in our bodies are in constant (invertebrate immune-system cell) in which vents cells from moving too rapidly or in motion, migrating from their birth sites molecules of katanin (green) break mi- an uncontrolled manner. The research- to distant targets,” says Dr. Sharp. crotubules (red), preventing the cell from ers observed similar effects with katanin moving too rapidly. “Cellular movement builds our when they examined human cells. tissues and organs and underlies key vascular disease and metastatic cancer.” “Our study opens up a new avenue functions such as the immune response Dr. Sharp and his colleagues found for developing therapeutic agents for and wound healing. But uncontrolled that certain members of an enzyme fam- treating wounds—burns and diabetic cell migration can lead to devastating ily known as katanin concentrate at the ulcers, for example—as well as meta- problems, including mental retardation, outer edges of nondividing cells, where static disease,” adds Dr. Sharp.

Progress Against Chagas

Chagas disease is caused by the single- celled parasite Trypanosoma cruzi and is a leading cause of heart failure in WHO/TD R / S tammers Latin America. Herbert B. Tanowitz,

M.D., professor of pathology and of Inc. © Dennis Kunkel M icroscopy, medicine (infectious diseases) at Einstein and attending physician at Montefiore, in collaboration with David C. Spray, Ph.D., Dumitru A. Iacobas, Ph.D., and Left, the “kissing bug” that transmits the single-celled Trypanosoma cruzi parasite that causes Chagas disease. Antonio Campos De Carvalho, M.D., Right, scanning electron micrograph showing trypomasti- Ph.D., all in Einstein’s Dominick P. gotes, the parasite stage that infects the bloodstream. Purpura Department of Neuroscience, as well as students and postdocs on a chronic Chagas disease. percent of 1,702 genes altered by Fogarty Training Grant, investigated In a gene microarray study compar- T. cruzi infection recovered normal bone marrow cell transplants as a treat- ing hearts of infected mice treated or expression following bone marrow cell ment for cardiomyopathy (deteriorated untreated with bone marrow cells, Dr. treatment. The researchers reported their function of heart muscle) resulting from Tanowitz and colleagues found that 96 findings in the May issue ofCell Cycle.

18 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 Wake-Up Call: Monitoring Addictive Drugs The study, published in the March 2 noncancer pain. They looked at whether online edition of the Journal of General patients received urine drug testing, Internal Medicine, found lax monitoring were seen regularly in the office or even of patients at high risk for opioid received multiple early opioid refills. misuse, such as those with a history of “Our study highlights a missed drug abuse or dependence. The find- opportunity for identifying and reduc- ings are of special concern considering ing misuse of prescribed opioids in that prescription drugs now rank second primary care settings,” says lead author (after marijuana) among illicitly used Joanna L. Starrels, M.D., assistant drugs, with approximately 2.2 million professor of medicine (general internal Americans reporting first-time non- medicine) at Einstein and attending medical use of pain relievers in 2009, physician at Montefiore. “The finding according to the National Institute on that physicians did not increase pre- Few primary care physicians pay Drug Abuse. cautions for patients at highest risk for adequate attention to patients tak- The researchers studied administra- opioid misuse should be a call for a stan- ing prescription opioid drugs—despite tive and medical records of more than dardized approach to monitoring.” the potential for abuse, addiction and 1,600 primary care patients for an overdose, according to a new study by average of two years while they received Einstein researchers. regular prescription opioids for chronic,

Obesity, Diabetes and the Brain The brain’s hypothalamus plays a key epidemic proportions. mass that lead to obesity and diabetes,” role in obesity and one of its major com- In work involving mouse models says Dr. Schwartz. “Hyperglycemia— plications—type 2 diabetes. Nerve cells of obesity and diabetes, Drs. Blouet pathologically elevated glucose lev- in the hypothalamus detect nutrients and Schwartz have shown that excess els—causes an excess of TXNIP in and hormones circulating in the blood nutrient availability leads to an over- hypothalamic neurons, which in turn and then coordinate a complex series of abundance of a protein found in may contribute in several ways to a behavioral and physiological responses nutrient-sensing nerve cells of the breakdown in energy homeostasis—the to maintain a balance between calories hypothalamus. They concluded that balance between calories taken in and eaten and calories burned. Obesity and increased levels of this protein, known calories burned.” diabetes can result when this regulatory as thioredoxin-interacting protein, or Dr. Schwartz notes that these find- mechanism goes awry. TXNIP, contribute to the onset of obe- ings regarding TXNIP could eventually Now, research by postdoctoral fel- sity and the impaired control of blood lead to therapies. “Interventions that low Clémence Blouet, Ph.D., and sugar levels that characterizes type 2 can suppress TXNIP production or Gary J. Schwartz, Ph.D., professor in diabetes. Their findings were published selectively inactivate this protein might the department of medicine (endo- in the April 20 online edition of the help in preventing weight gain and the crinology) and in the Dominick P. Journal of Neuroscience. obesity and diabetes that result from it,” Purpura Department of Neuroscience, “Our study indicates that TXNIP in he says. has revealed a molecule in the brain hypothalamic nerve cells provides a cru- that may contribute to those health cial link between brain nutrient sensing problems, both of which are reaching and the increases in body weight and fat

science at the heart of medicine 19 upfront | Lab Dish

Grad Students Honored at Marmur Symposium Three promising young researchers presented their work to the Einstein community and received some well- deserved recognition at the 15th Annual Julius Marmur Symposium in March. The symposium opened with presenta- tions from the award winners, followed by lunch, poster presentations and a reception in the Lubin Dining Hall. The three students were chosen for the potential impact of their research in their fields. The awards were given in memory This year’s Marmur Award winners—standing between Victoria H. Freedman, Ph.D., of Julius Marmur, Ph.D., a professor of assistant dean for graduate programs in the biomedical sciences, and Edward R. Burns, biochemistry and of genetics at Einstein M.D., executive dean—are Rotem Rubinstein, Catherine Y. Liu and Diany Paola Calderon. and an enthusiastic and dedicated edu- cator. This year’s student winners are: Pennsylvania, where she worked on the His laboratory work under Steven C. Diany Paola Calderon. As a teen- role of alpha-synuclein in a Drosophila Almo, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry ager, Ms. Calderon was fascinated by model of Parkinson’s disease. Liu joined and of physiology & biophysics, and how the skin perceives touch, which Einstein’s M.D./Ph.D. program, the Andras Fiser, Ph.D., associate profes- developed into a strong interest in the Medical Scientist Training Program sor of systems & computational biol- nervous system. After graduating from (MSTP), and studied how alpha- ogy and of biochemistry, allowed him medical school in her native Colombia, viruses infect cells in the lab of Margaret to test hypotheses in the lab that had she studied human Schwann cells at the Kielian, Ph.D., professor of cell biol- arisen from his theoretical computa- Colombian National Institute of Health. ogy. Liu looked specifically at molecu- tions. Rubinstein’s thesis work involves Calderon came to Einstein for graduate lar mechanisms of membrane fusion, the relationships among amino acid school in 2004 and worked in the lab of which is critical for virus infection of sequence and structure, and function Kamran Khodakhah, Ph.D., professor host cells. She is now doing her medical of cell-surface immunoglobulin-super- in the Dominick P. Purpura Department school rotations. Her presentation at the family proteins. of Neuroscience, where she researched Marmur Symposium was “Unlocking Rubinstein also developed a novel the mechanisms by which rapid-onset the Secrets of the E1 Homotrimerization method for predicting disulfide bond dystonia-parkinsonism (RDP) results in Reaction During Semliki Forest Virus formation—the most frequent natu- dystonia and parkinsonism symptoms. Membrane Fusion.” rally occurring covalent cross-link in Her talk at the Marmur Symposium Rotem Rubinstein. Born in Israel, proteins. Being able to predict the was “The Neural Substrates of Rapid- Mr. Rubinstein entered Einstein’s Ph.D. pattern in which disulfide bonds occur Onset Dystonia-Parkinsonism.” She program with an undergraduate degree provides insight into protein’s structure is now continuing her research at the in mathematics and computer science and function. Rubinstein defended Rockefeller University. and a year of experience on a project his thesis in September 2010, and his Catherine Y. Liu. Ms. Liu came to that involved programming methods to presentation at the Marmur Symposium the United States at age 6 and credits predict the three-dimensional structure was “Functional Classification and her parents with cultivating her inter- of proteins. He undertook his gradu- Structural Characterization of Immune est in science. She earned a master’s ate thesis while working concurrently in Regulatory Proteins.” degree in chemistry at the University of two labs.

20 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 New Fluorescent Protein Makes Internal Organs Visible Gates Grant for Anti-Retroviral HIV Therapy Einstein researchers have developed the first fluorescent protein that enables Arturo Casadevall, M.D., Ph.D., and scientists to clearly “see” the internal Ekaterina Dadachova, Ph.D., are win- organs of living animals without the ners of a $100,000 grant from the need for a scalpel. Grand Challenges Explorations (GCE) The new probe could be a program, an initiative funded by the breakthrough in whole-body imaging Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. —allowing doctors, for example, to Dr. Casadevall holds the Leo and Julia noninvasively monitor the growth Forchheimer Chair in Microbiology of tumors to assess the effectiveness and Immunology and is professor and of anti-cancer therapies. In contrast chair of the department of microbi- to other body-scanning techniques, ology & immunology and professor fluorescent-protein imaging does not of medicine (infectious diseases) at involve radiation exposure or require the Liver cells in this mouse contain the Einstein. Dr. Dadachova is professor of use of contrast agents. The findings are fluorescent protein iRFP. The mouse was exposed to near-infrared light, which nuclear medicine and of microbiology described in the July 17 online edition caused iRFP to emit light waves that are & immunology and the Sylvia and of Nature Biotechnology, and the research also near-infrared. The composite image Robert S. Olnick Faculty Scholar in shows these fluorescent near-infrared was conducted in the lab of Vladislav Cancer Research. Verkhusha, Ph.D., professor of anatomy waves passing readily through the animal’s tissues to reveal its brightly Their project,“Radioimmunotherapy and structural biology. glowing liver. in Patients on Antiretroviral Therapy Scientists have used a variety of for HIV Cure,” involves using radio- colored fluorescent proteins to visualize particularly difficult to visualize because immunotherapy (in which radioactive cells and their organelles and molecules. of its high blood content. Adenovirus isotopes are attached to antibodies) to But using fluorescent probes to peer particles containing the gene for iRFP treat HIV/AIDS. The antibody will inside live mammals has posed a major were injected into mice. Once the target a specific protein on the surface challenge: hemoglobin in an animal’s viruses and their gene cargoes infected blood effectively absorbs the blue, green, liver cells, the infected cells expressed of cells infected with HIV so that radia- red and other wavelengths used to the gene and produced iRFP protein. tion emitted by its attached isotope will stimulate standard fluorescent proteins, The mice were then exposed to near- destroy the cells. (See the related article along with any wavelengths emitted by infrared light, and it was possible on page 26.) the proteins when they do light up. to visualize the resulting emitted GCE is a $100 million initia- To overcome that roadblock, Einstein fluorescent light using a whole-body tive funded by the Gates Foundation. researchers engineered a fluorescent imaging device. Launched in 2008, GCE grants have protein from a bacterial phytochrome “iRFP was far superior to the other already been awarded to nearly 500 (the pigment that a species of bacteria fluorescent proteins that reportedly researchers from over 40 countries. uses to detect light). This new help in visualizing the livers of live The GCE grants “are meant to fluorescent protein, dubbed iRFP, both animals,” said Grigory Filonov, Ph.D., spur on new discoveries that could absorbs and emits light in the near- a postdoctoral fellow in the department ultimately save millions of lives,” says infrared region of the electromagnetic of anatomy and structural biology and Chris Wilson, director of the Global spectrum in which mammalian tissues first author of theNature Biotechnology Health Discovery program at the Gates are nearly transparent. paper. “We believe it will significantly Foundation. The researchers targeted their broaden the potential uses for fluorescent protein to the liver— noninvasive whole-body imaging.”

science at the heart of medicine 21 AIDS Arises and +30 Einstein Responds BY GARY GOLDENBERG

“I know something’s wrong.” — The Normal Heart, by Larry Kramer

he 1970s were heady times for infectious-disease experts. Vaccines were developed against rubella, chicken pox, pneumonia and meningitis. Smallpox T had all but disappeared, and tuberculosis, at least in the United States, was in retreat. Disease-causing microbes, it seemed, were headed for history’s dustbin. optimism about the end of infectious disease would soon be crushed. On June 5, 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) published a brief article about five young gay men in Los Angeles with rare opportunistic infections that had been found “almost exclusively” in people with compromised immune systems. Yet these previously healthy men were “without a clinically apparent underlying immunodeficiency,” which the MMWR article termed “unusual.” More and more cases were reported in the months that followed. Something was definitely wrong. that “something” was a new disease that in 1983 became known as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS. By now, 30 years later, AIDS has taken 30 million lives and ranks among history’s worst pandemics.

22 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 EinsteinMagazineSummer-Fall2011_11_2_11FINAL—November 30, 2011 5:21 PM

& immunology, who diagnosed—in 1979—one of the first pediatric cases of this new immunodeficiency disease. His recognition that HIV could be trans- mitted from mother to child—and that infection was not solely the result of “lifestyle choice”—was a major mile- stone in the history of AIDS. Through a blend of scientific inquiry and social activism, he helped prevent AIDS intro from reaching epidemic proportions in infants and children, often at consider- able professional and personal risk. “I was almost assaulted after testify- ing in court in Brooklyn,” recalls Dr. Rubinstein. “The parents in one school In 1979, Einstein professor Arye Rubinstein, In many ways, the healthcare estab- wanted to remove children who were M.D., diagnosed one of the first cases of lishment was slow to react to the brew- infected, but I testified that HIV was what came to be called pediatric AIDS. His not transmitted through casual contact. efforts on behalf of HIV-infected children ing crisis, but researchers made steady sometimes placed him at personal risk. progress in understanding it. Within The parents got very upset, to the point five years of that fatefulMMWR report, where I had to be hauled out of the researchers identified the at-risk groups, courtroom through a back door.” learned how AIDS was transmitted, Another story of compassion and issued recommendations for preven- perseverance features Peter Selwyn, tion, discovered the virus—known as M.D., M.P.H., professor and chair of human immunodeficiency virus, or family and social medicine. He began HIV—responsible for causing AIDS his residency in family medicine at and developed a commercial blood test Montefiore Medical Center in June for detecting the virus. 1981—the very month the article

ara Krulwich/The New York Times S ara Krulwich/The New York In 1987, scientists showed that a appeared in MMWR. “In those early drug called AZT could prolong the years…we had the uneasy feeling that lives of people with AIDS and prevent an unknown, shadowy predator was at mother-to-child transmission during large, ranging across the vast expanse of pregnancy. Then, in 1995, a combina- the Bronx, not clearly visible but leaving tion therapy using a “cocktail” of three its distinctive tracks,” he writes in his or more antiretroviral drugs was intro- memoir, Surviving the Fall: The Personal duced—a treatment approach called Journey of an AIDS Doctor. highly active antiretroviral therapy, or Rather than escape to safer pre- HAART. With HAART, AIDS was cincts after his residency, Dr. Selwyn transformed from an invariably fatal dis- became medical director of Montefiore’s ease into a manageable chronic illness. Substance Abuse Treatment Program, Medicine’s remarkable response to where he served as the primary care doc- AIDS can be viewed in microcosm at tor for nearly 1,000 current or former Dr. Rubinstein with a young patient at Einstein and its clinical affiliates (see intravenous drug users, many infected Einstein’s pediatric AIDS unit. At rear: Anita Septimus, Ph.D., M.S.W. “Milestones,” page 24). with HIV. “[S]cores and eventually hun- The story of AIDS at Einstein begins dreds of patients died under my care, with Arye Rubinstein, M.D., profes- and not one of them was over 50,” sor of pediatrics (division chief, allergy he writes. and immunology) and of microbiology Along with Einstein colleagues

science at the heart of medicine 23 The National Institutes of Health society and how Einstein has responded (NIH) began establishing a national to that challenge. In this article, we focus network of Centers for AIDS Research on 10 of these researchers and how they (CFARs) in 1988—including one at are confronting HIV/AIDS. Einstein, largely because of its expertise Despite the progress so far, 2.6 mil- in pediatric AIDS. When antiretroviral lion more people worldwide will acquire drugs succeeded in sharply reducing HIV this year, and 1.8 million will die new cases of pediatric AIDS, Einstein’s of the disease. Although antiretroviral CFAR broadened its mission. therapy has saved countless lives, survi- intro Today’s areas of study by Einstein- vors face an elevated risk of heart disease, Montefiore investigators include the dementia, cancer and other diseases. So molecular biology of HIV, interven- the search continues for better drugs to tions to prevent transmission among treat the disease, as well as for vaccines, inner-city teens, developing HIV vac- microbicides and social interventions to cines and microbicides, AIDS-related prevent it from spreading. Peter Selwyn, M.D., participated in some dementia and treatment compliance. “Thirty years into the AIDS epi- of the earliest studies of HIV infection The Einstein-Montefiore CFAR has demic, our greatest unmet need is for among intravenous drug users. also expanded globally, bringing AIDS- a vaccine that will relegate HIV to the including Ellie Schoenbaum, M.D., related scientific, educational and clini- history books as was done with small- professor of epidemiology & popula- cal activities to parts of the world hit pox,” says Harris Goldstein, M.D. ’80, tion health, Gerald Friedland, M.D., hardest by the epidemic and least able director of the Einstein-Montefiore and Robert Klein, M.D., Dr. Selwyn to cope with it. CFAR and the Charles Michael Chair in conducted some of the earliest studies of The Einstein-Montefiore CFAR Autoimmune Diseases. But on the plus HIV among substance abusers. Today, now supports the work of 86 principal side, he notes, the AIDS experience has as director of community health at investigators from across many disci- provided reason for optimism: Montefiore, Dr. Selwyn remains closely plines who work in four broad areas: “We now know that society can involved with this patient population. behavioral and treatment research; clini- change its attitude towards previously As the following pages illustrate, Drs. cal and translational research; virologi- marginalized populations in the grip of Rubinstein and Selwyn are not the only cal/immunological pathogenesis and an infection, that healthcare workers will Einstein faculty members who have treatment research; and international selflessly care for patients despite risks to dedicated their careers to people with research. Nearly one fourth of Einstein’s their own health, that people can change HIV/AIDS, which often means working principal investigators are engaged in their behavior to reduce the spread of with society’s outcasts or in impover- research related to HIV/AIDS, reflecting infection and that research can convert ished corners of the world. how the disease has affected health and a death sentence into a treatable disease.”

Milestones in HIV/AIDS at Einstein and Montefiore 1981 1983 Arye Rubinstein, M.D., makes two presentations Dr. Rubinstein is awarded the first NIH grant describing a new acquired immunodeficiency in for the study of AIDS in women and children, children, similar to that seen in young gay men. focusing on the epidemiology, immunology and pathogenesis of the disease.

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“Designer Antibodies” Against HIV Could Bolster Immune Response

Researchers identified HIV as the cause genes for these antibodies into lentivi- of AIDS in 1983, raising hopes that a ruses—viruses skilled at inserting their vaccine would soon follow. But so far, genetic payloads into the genomes of even the best experimental vaccines— other cells. A person’s B cells would those that have triggered antibodies then be harvested from the bloodstream that react with HIV—have shown and mixed with lentiviruses bearing the minimal success. protective genes. When reinfused into Vaccines work by exposing the that individual, the reprogrammed B body to killed or inactivated parts of a cells would begin to express the power- B asic Re s e arch pathogen. These molecular bits prime ful anti-HIV antibodies that are difficult the immune system’s B cells to produce for HIV to evade. antibodies that stand ready to recognize, Dr. Goldstein hopes to target these target and destroy invading organisms. potent artificial antibodies against what But this does little good against the could be HIV’s Achilles’ heel: a mol- To overcome this problem, the NIH’s AIDS virus. ecule on its surface called gp120, which Dimiter S. Dimitrov, Ph.D., has created “HIV is capable of evading anti- the virus requires to dock with and tiny antibodies, specific to this gp120 bodies by mutating its proteins. It’s a infect cells. region, that can slip through the virus’ master of disguise,” says Dr. Goldstein, Although HIV is notorious for its defenses. But the price paid for making assistant dean for scientific resources ability to mutate, a particular segment “miniantibodies” is that the body breaks and professor of pediatrics (allergy and of gp120 rarely does. But HIV keeps them down soon after they’re injected. immunology) and of microbiology & this vulnerable portion of gp120 well “If we can use our lentiviruses to immunology. hidden from the immune system, except program B cells to make this antibody, Can the immune system be strength- for a few milliseconds when HIV latches we can then provide the body with a ened to ward off HIV? onto a cell. constant supply of these potent antibod- Dr. Goldstein believes that it can. “If you want to stop HIV from ies,” says Dr. Goldstein. He is now working on a solution that infecting cells, that’s the molecular The approach has worked in a mouse uses molecular engineering to provide sequence you need to target,” says Dr. model of HIV, raising hopes that science patients with powerful “designer anti- Goldstein. “Unfortunately, conventional will finally unmask and neutralize this bodies” that their own immune systems antibodies are too big to get to it when master of disguise. could not make. it’s revealed just prior to HIV’s entry The first step involves loading the into cells.” Courtesy of CDC/Jim Gathany

1983 1983 1984 Dr. Rubinstein and his colleagues in the Montefiore creates the AIDS Center, a model for Dr. Rubinstein establishes a division of allergy and immunology report delivering multidisciplinary HIV/AIDS care. Components pediatric AIDS program at that AIDS can be transmitted perinatally include the Center for Positive Living/Infectious Diseases Einstein’s Weiler Hospital. to the infants of HIV-infected mothers. Clinic, one of the largest such clinics in New York State.

science at the heart of medicine 25 Antiviral Therapy and Radioimmunotherapy: A Fatal One-Two Punch Against HIV?

Antiretroviral drugs can suppress HIV Scholar in Cancer Research, and their replication and greatly reduce symp- Einstein colleague Dr. Harris Goldstein. toms, but they don’t eliminate the infec- In HIV RIT, antibodies are made tion. Down but not out, HIV persists against the viral protein gp41, one of in the body—capable of causing further several viral proteins displayed on the damage and potentially transmittable to surface of HIV-infected cells. The anti- others. So the search continues for thera- bodies are linked to radioactive isotopes pies that can rid patients of HIV and such as Bismuth-213 or Rhenium-188 that would essentially amount to a cure and then injected into the blood- for HIV/AIDS. stream. After the antibody latches onto One promising solution is radio- the surface of an HIV-infected cell, its

ranslational Re s e arch T ranslational immunotherapy (RIT), in which a radioisotope “cargo” emits radiation that radioisotope is attached to an antibody destroys the cell. Recognizing the promise of HIV that seeks out HIV-infected host cells In 2006, Drs. Casadevall, Dadachova RIT, the Bill and Melinda Gates and delivers a lethal dose of radiation to and Goldstein published a paper in Foundation recently awarded Drs. these virus-producing cells. PLoS Medicine showing that RIT could Casadevall and Dadachova a prestigious RIT has been successfully used to successfully target and destroy human “Grand Challenges Explorations” grant treat several types of cancer. Its use immune cells infected with HIV. The worth $100,000 (see Lab Dish, p. 21). against HIV infection resulted from study, involving mice, supports the idea The grant is paying for lab studies of a collaboration between two Einstein that this therapy might also help in the interaction between radioimmuno- scientists who have worked together for treating people infected with HIV. therapy and antiretroviral drugs that more than a decade on this and other “Although today’s antiretroviral drugs should be completed early next year. projects: Arturo Casadevall, M.D., help keep HIV from multiplying, they Then, says Dr. Dadachova, the research- Ph.D., the Leo and Julia Forchheimer can’t do anything about latently infected ers will apply for Gates Foundation Chair in Microbiology and Immunology, cells in which the virus lurks and funding for a phase 2 trial of radioim- professor and chair of the department may later start multiplying,” says Dr. munotherapy in patients with HIV—a and professor of medicine (infectious Dadachova. “Since even these latently collaboration among Einstein, the diseases), and Ekaterina Dadachova, infected cells display some gp41 on their Institute for Transuranium Elements in Ph.D., professor of nuclear medicine surfaces, we hope that RIT can destroy Karlsruhe, Germany, and Guy’s Hospital and of microbiology & immunology and them as well, thereby eliminating HIV in London, that would be carried out in the Sylvia and Robert S. Olnick Faculty from the body.” the United Kingdom. ara Krulwich/The New York Times S ara Krulwich/The New York

1985 1986 1986 Anita Septimus, Ph.D., M.S.W., A pediatric AIDS daycare center Dr. Rubinstein and colleagues show that IV associate in pediatrics, initiates a is established at Jacobi Medical gamma globulin helps prevent infections family-centered model for AIDS Center with funds from NIH and and T cell attrition in children with AIDS, case management at Einstein. private donors. At left, center significantly improving survival rates. director Terry Weissman. 26 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 EinsteinMagazineSummer-Fall2011_11_2_11FINAL—November 30, 2011 5:21 PM

Protecting Women From HIV Infection

Early in the AIDS epidemic, labora- But why did N-9 and CS make tory studies showed that nonoxynol-9 things worse? “The tightly packed cells (N-9), a spermicide used in condoms of the vaginal epithelium form an imper- and contraceptive gels, showed promise meable barrier to HIV,” says Dr. Herold. as a vaginal microbicide against HIV. “We theorized that if a microbicide Perhaps N-9 could be the sought-for disrupts the barrier’s structural integrity, alternative to condoms, allowing women HIV might be able to slip through and to protect themselves without depending infect circulating T cells.” on their partners’ cooperation. To test this theory, Pedro Mesquita, But clinical trials found that N-9 was Ph.D., an instructor in pediatrics at ineffective against HIV and, when used Einstein and a member of Dr. Herold’s often, actually made women more sus- lab, developed a model that mimics the ceptible to the virus. Later, the promis- genital tract environment, composed ranslational Re s e arch T ranslational ing microbicide cellulose sulfate (CS) of two chambers separated by a bar- would meet a similar fate. rier of cultured human epithelial cells. epithelial barrier intact, suggesting What went wrong en route from After treating the barrier with differ- that it would be a good microbicide. bench to bedside? Betsy C. Herold, ent microbicides, the researchers tested In 2010, a clinical trial conducted in M.D., professor of pediatrics (infectious its permeability by placing HIV in the South Africa found that tenofovir gel did diseases), of microbiology & immunol- upper chamber and T cells in the lower indeed reduce new HIV infections in ogy and of obstetrics & gynecology and chamber, and then monitoring T cell high-risk women by 39 percent com- women’s health, suspected the preclinical infection over time. pared to a placebo. testing was too simplistic. HIV couldn’t reach the lower cham- But Drs. Herold and Keller believe Using lab tests replicating actual con- ber when the epithelial barrier was microbicides must perform better. “Very ditions, Dr. Herold (on right in photo) treated with a placebo. But treating the few women will use a gel every time they showed that factors such as semen and barrier with either N-9 or CS allowed have sex, and many won’t use it within vaginal secretions could render micro- HIV to slip through and infect the T the prescribed time before or after sex,” bicides ineffective. She confirmed her cells—a test that might have predicted says Dr. Keller. “So we’ve started looking findings in animals and then in small- the failure of the N-9 and CS trials. at better delivery systems, like vaginal scale clinical trials conducted with Marla Recently, the researchers used their rings, that provide controlled release of Keller, M.D., associate professor of med- dual-chamber model to test a micro- drugs over extended periods and there- icine (infectious diseases) and of obstet- bicide containing tenofovir, a potent fore take adherence out of the equation.” rics & gynecology and women’s health. antiretroviral drug. The drug left the

1986 1987 Dr. Rubinstein demonstrates that in pregnant Under the leadership of the late Ruy Soeiro, M.D., women with HIV, transmission of the virus often professor of medicine (infectious diseases), Einstein occurs in utero and not just at delivery or through establishes one of the first five NIH-supported AIDS breast-feeding. Treatment and Evaluation Units.

science at the heart of medicine 27 HIV Prevention: Teens Helping Teens

Teenagers are notoriously difficult to minority inner-city adolescents were dissuade from engaging in risky behav- found to be at particular risk for con- iors. Warn them against something tracting the virus. With TEEN as her and they’ll likely ignore you or do the model, she developed a program called opposite. Project Safe in which teens received One way to reach teens is through several weeks of intensive training and peer counseling. Researchers in Einstein’s then taught their peers everything they Preventive Intervention Research Center wanted to know about sex but were too

P r e v ntion (PIRC) have put it to good use, helping uncomfortable to ask. “Basically, we adolescents reduce their risk of acquir- were trying to address the many mis- ing HIV and other sexually transmitted conceptions and beliefs that undermine infections (STIs). teenagers’ use of condoms,” says Laurie J. Bauman, Ph.D., professor of Dr. Bauman. pediatrics (general pediatrics) and direc- Project Safe proved a success, but tor of PIRC, began experimenting with some teens continued having unpro- job of helping young people understand peer counseling in the 1980s. She helped tected sex. In later studies, Dr. Bauman how to treat a partner with respect, how to create the innovative Teen Education and her colleagues delved deeper into to communicate with someone on an and Employment Network (TEEN) pro- the lives of inner-city teens and found intimate level separate from sex. That’s gram, which trained Bronx adolescents that condom use depended on how they a tragedy.” A tragedy with important with chronic health conditions to men- perceived their relationships. Teens who consequences, including low rates of tor other, similarly challenged youngsters were, in their words, “messin’ around” condom use and high rates of HIV/STI in the hopes of improving mental health almost always used condoms, while transmission. and self-esteem in those kids. those in committed, “hubby/wifey” In a new effort called Project It soon became apparent that the relationships usually did not. The take- Prepared, Dr. Bauman is developing an intervention was working—but not in home lesson was that HIV/STI preven- HIV/STI prevention intervention for the way the researchers expected. The tion efforts must address factors, such youths aged 12 to 14 that again uses ones benefiting most were the mentors. as love and monogamy, that influence peer counseling. The project will help From that serendipitous finding emerged youthful behavior. kids avoid risky sexual situations and a new approach to influencing teen “A major task in middle-to-late ado- provide medically accurate informa- behavior. lescence is to develop and understand an tion about sexual development, sexually In the 1990s, Dr. Bauman turned attachment with your love partner,” Dr. transmitted infections and pregnancy. her attention to HIV prevention when Bauman elaborates. “But we do a terrible

Centers For AIDS Research eininger/Contact Press Images A lon R eininger/Contact Press

1987 1988 1989 Karen Hein, M.D., clinical professor The NIH establishes seven Centers Dr. Rubinstein launches a of pediatrics, launches the nation’s for AIDS Research (CFARs), including summer camp in the Catskills first program for adolescents with one at Einstein led by Dr. Rubinstein. for children with HIV and HIV at Montefiore Medical Center. their families.

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Coaxing People to Take Their Meds

You’d think that HIV-infected people antiretrovirals. The strategy, known as would be motivated to take their antiret- directly observed therapy (DOT), had roviral medications every day. After all, it worked wonders for tuberculosis but had could be a matter of life and death. But never been evaluated for HIV. many patients—most notably intrave- To test this strategy, Dr. Arnsten nous drug users, who tend to have com- designed a study in which patients were plicated, unstable lives—have trouble randomly assigned either to receive sticking with their treatment regimens, directly observed antiretroviral therapy

putting themselves and others at risk. (provided on site at a methadone clinic) P r e v ntion Doctors treating people with HIV or to self-administer antiretrovirals and have been struggling with this problem receive advice at the methadone clinic since 1995, when antiretroviral therapy after sticking with the therapy. first came on the market. “In those days, Sadly, Dr. Arnsten had no shortage of patients needed to take 18, 19, 20 pills study participants. As of the end of 2009, a day, and adherence was tremendously there were some 109,000 HIV-infected to intervene and that active interven- challenging for everyone,” says Julia people in New York City (including tion helps.” DOT is now the standard of H. Arnsten, M.D., M.P.H., profes- 23,000 in the Bronx), about 20 percent care at the Montefiore substance abuse sor of medicine (division chief, general of whom had a history of IV drug use. program and will likely be adopted internal medicine), of epidemiology & “We found that for those receiv- elsewhere as the findings become more population health and of psychiatry and ing DOT, adherence overall was almost widely known. behavioral sciences. This regimen has twice that of the treatment-as-usual Why should society care about since been greatly simplified, but poor group,” says Dr. Arnsten. “But more patients who won’t care for themselves? adherence remains a problem. importantly, their viral load was three “We can be moralistic, or we can say that Several years ago, Dr. Arnsten and her times more likely to be undetectable, so everyone deserves an opportunity to live colleagues at the Montefiore Substance DOT was extraordinarily effective.” the best life they can, no matter what Abuse Treatment Program wondered Soon after the trial ended, however, choices they’ve made in the past,” says if the solution was to combine HIV adherence among the members of the Dr. Arnsten. She also cites recent studies primary care services with a metha- DOT group dropped and their viral lev- showing that treating HIV-positive indi- done maintenance program. When els rose. “We hoped they had developed viduals markedly reduces their risk for patients came for their daily doses of the skills to maintain the regimen, but infecting others. So treatment not only methadone, clinic workers would ensure evidently that wasn’t the case,” says Dr. helps the patient but benefits society by that they took their prescribed dose of Arnsten. “But at least we now know how preventing the spread of HIV.

1989 1992 Peter Selwyn, M.D., helps define the unique characteris- Basketball star Magic Johnson sponsors a tics of AIDS among drug users, including risk factors for playroom for children with HIV/AIDS at Jacobi HIV infection and the importance of bacterial infections Medical Center. Dr. Rubinstein, left, and as major sources of illness and mortality in this group. Magic Johnson at the dedication.

science at the heart of medicine 29 The Accidental AIDS Researcher

When Kathryn Anastos, M.D., professor its kind in the United States and prob- of medicine (general internal medicine) ably the world. Despite a lack of research and of epidemiology & population experience, Dr. Anastos won a grant to health, began her career in the 1980s, establish the Bronx/Manhattan WIHS she intended to go into community- consortium, which continues to this day. oriented primary care. But a new and Dr. Anastos describes the early years deadly epidemic would push her into of WIHS as “heartbreaking,” since uncharted territory. the researchers had little in the way of By the end of the decade, people with treatment to offer their patients. “The HIV were filling the clinics at Bronx- women knew they would probably die, Lebanon Hospital Center, where she but they still committed to the study, lobal I mpact ocal/ G lobal was director of ambulatory services. She hoping that it would help their sisters,” L searched the scientific literature for guid- she says. “It was pure altruism.” ance in treating her patients. “There was Fortunately, highly active antiretrovi- little data on caring for poor people with ral therapy (HAART) soon transformed with HIV. For her part, Dr. Anastos has HIV disease, and nothing on women,” AIDS into a chronic disease. “It was a studied subjects including survival and she recalls. miracle,” recalls Dr. Anastos. “People disease progression in women with HIV Dr. Anastos, a graduate of the literally arose from their deathbeds.” and the role of sex and race in response Einstein-Montefiore residency program WIHS still had a critical role to play. to infection and treatment. in social medicine, was not about to let People with HIV were surviving—only Dr. Anastos, also co-director of the that inequity stand. Along with other to fall prey to complications such as early Einstein Global Health Center, has like-minded individuals and organiza- dementia and atherosclerosis. “With established the Rwanda Women’s tions, including the activist AIDS group antiretroviral therapy, the big question is Interassociation Study and Assessment ACT UP, she petitioned government whether HIV-positive women will have (RWISA) in this Central African nation authorities for broader studies of HIV. normal health and survival and if there hit hard by HIV. RWISA is investigating The NIH responded by establish- are significant effects from the drugs the effects of antiretroviral therapy, rape, ing the Women’s Interagency HIV themselves,” Dr. Anastos explains. HIV infection and immune suppression Study (WIHS) to examine the impact of Over the years, WIHS researchers on Rwandan women. Dr. Anastos HIV infection on women. WIHS was would address that question and many has recently been awarded a grant to launched in 1993 and eventually enrolled others in hundreds of papers covering extend this research into Cameroon 3,768 women at six sites around the everything from cancer to medication and Burundi. country, making it the largest study of adherence to substance abuse in women

1993 2000 The NIH creates the Bronx/Manhattan Consortium of The NIH funds an AIDS International Training and the Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS), part of Research Program at Einstein, directed by Vinayaka R. the largest U.S. study of HIV-infected women, under Prasad, Ph.D., professor of microbiology & immunology. the leadership of Kathryn Anastos, M.D.

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“We’ve Got a Lot of Work to Do” Combating HIV in Ethiopia

By the time Carol A. Harris, M.D., into numerous anti-AIDS activities professor of clinical medicine in the there. At the ALERT Hospital complex department of medicine (infectious dis- in Addis Ababa, for example, she has eases), first visited Ethiopia in 2002, she helped build a demonstration program had been caring for people with HIV for of excellence that recently achieved its two decades. But nothing prepared her goal of enrolling 10,000 HIV-infected for what she saw in this impoverished patients. Dr. Harris teaches in the East African country where more than program and carries out research sup- one million of its 80 million citizens are ported by the Einstein Center for AIDS

infected with HIV. Research. I mpact ocal/ G lobal

While visiting a slum in Addis About six years ago, her Ethiopian L Ababa, the capital, she came across a colleagues asked Dr. Harris to help out 12-year-old girl with HIV in acute respi- at Hawassa College of Medicine and ratory distress. “She died that night,” Health Sciences, located in southern comprehensive primary care to AIDS recalls Dr. Harris, “and it was a horrible, Ethiopia and one of the country’s six patients in the province and will horrible death.” medical schools. She and other Einstein improve tuberculosis treatment At the young girl’s funeral, Dr. Harris faculty have taught and provided care and prevention. was overcome with sadness. “AIDS puts there and are developing programs Dr. Harris’ Chinese colleagues have a bright spotlight on the glaring inequi- in trauma care, emergency obstetrics, also asked for her help in bolstering ties around the world, the grotesque dif- oncology, and AIDS and malaria treat- their medical education and training ferences in quality of life,” she says. ment. Dr. Harris has been bringing system. The end of the young girl’s life, how- Einstein students to Hawassa for several Back in the Bronx, Dr. Harris, also ever, led Dr. Harris to a new beginning. years, thanks to funding from Einstein’s an assistant professor of pathology, At the funeral, a local physician turned Global Health Fellowship program. wants to help develop Einstein’s Global to her and said, “Come on, Carol. There More recently, Dr. Harris was invited Health Center, which she envisions will are millions more people like her who to China to help build model AIDS one day encompass a center for interna- are suffering. We’ve got a lot of work programs in Changchun, a city of about tional clinical research. “I want to help to do.” eight million that is the capital of Jilin build programs that will outlive me,” Dr. Harris has since returned to Province. She has offered advice on she says. Ethiopia many times, throwing herself setting up a program that will provide

2003 2006 2008 The NIH funds the Einstein-Montefiore Ekaterina Dadachova, Ph.D., Arturo Casadevall, M.D., Dr. Prasad discovers why Center for AIDS Research, under the and Dr. Goldstein develop an experimental therapy two major variants of HIV leadership of Harris Goldstein, M.D. for targeting and killing HIV-infected cells using anti- differ in their ability to cause bodies attached to radioactive isotopes. neurologic complications.

science at the heart of medicine 31 After Antiviral Therapy: Living Longer But Aging Faster

Thanks to highly active antiretrovi- can profoundly damage the blood-brain ral therapy (HAART), people with barrier. “The relatively few infected HIV can now measure their life expec- astrocytes emit toxic signals that kill tancy in decades rather than months. neighboring uninfected astrocytes, ulti- Unfortunately, HAART does relatively mately weakening the blood-brain bar- little to ease the virus’ impact on the rier and allowing harmful compounds to brain. Despite early treatment, half of all enter the brain,” she explains. people infected with HIV will eventually At present, there is no way to mea- develop some degree of neurocognitive sure the progression of neuro AIDS. But impairment, and up to 5 percent will in another study, Dr. Berman and col- develop full-blown dementia. leagues identified a potential biomarker One problem is that HAART is for neuro AIDS called PrPc (protease rarely given early enough. HIV typi- resistant protein). cally reaches the central nervous system PrPc is found in the cerebral addr e ssing complications (CNS) within two weeks of entering the spinal fluid levels of people with body—well before the infection is usu- neuro AIDS—and the higher the PrPc ally diagnosed. Once in the CNS, HIV neurocognitive disorders, collectively level, the worse the dementia. This find- triggers a chronic, low-level inflamma- known as neuro AIDS. She focuses on ing suggests that measuring PrPc could tory response that damages neurons and HIV’s entry into the CNS and how help predict the progression of neuro- compromises the blood-brain barrier, a infection and resulting inflammation cognitive decline and help evaluate the network of blood vessels that prevents damage CNS cells. Her group has iden- effects of experimental therapies. The harmful substances in the blood from tified a subset of monocytes as the blood National Institutes of Health recently crossing into the brain. cells that bring HIV into the CNS. awarded Dr. Berman a five-year, $2 mil- “HAART lowers viral load in the A few years ago, Dr. Berman found lion grant to further study PrPc. blood, which reduces the amount of that HIV infects about 5 percent of the “It’s wonderful that people with HIV new virus that can enter the brain, but it brain cells called astrocytes, which sup- are living to middle age and beyond,” does nothing to stop the inflammation,” port the blood-brain barrier. In a follow- says Dr. Berman, “but now they face a explains Joan W. Berman, Ph.D., profes- up study published last June in the host of new medical issues. Infection sor of pathology and of microbiology & Journal of Neuroscience, Dr. Berman and with HIV appears to accelerate aging in immunology. Eliseo Eugenin, Ph.D., assistant profes- important regions of the body, including Dr. Berman is one of several Einstein sor of pathology at Einstein, showed that the brain. I fear this is just the beginning researchers studying HIV-associated even this low-level astrocyte infection of a new and uncertain era of AIDS.”

2009 2009 Betsy Herold, M.D., devises a laboratory The NIH funds the Einstein Proteomics Research Center test for predicting whether microbicides for HIV-Associated Neurological Disorders and Substance against HIV are safe for human use. Abuse, led by Ruth Angeletti, Ph.D., professor of develop- mental and molecular biology, to study neurological compli- cations affecting HIV-positive people. 32 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 EinsteinMagazineSummer-Fall2011_11_2_11FINAL—November 30, 2011 5:21 PM

Einstein Supporters Help Raise AIDS Awareness on Broadway

ast fall, award-winning producer “You felt like you were caught up Daryl Roth organized a one-night in the vortex of fear and helplessness L benefit reading of The Normal experienced during the early days of the Heart. This powerful and thought- AIDS epidemic,” says Dr. Goldstein, who provoking play by Larry Kramer, first is also professor of pediatrics (allergy produced in 1985, focuses on the AIDS and immunology) and of microbiology & crisis in New York City during the early immunology and holder of the Charles years of the epidemic. After the reading, Michael Chair in Autoimmune Diseases. Ms. Roth felt strongly “These scenes brought “These scenes brought that “everyone has to back memories of the back memories of the see this.” So last April many AIDS patients I many AIDS patients I cared she brought a full revival cared for. We all can for. It’s impressive how of The Normal Heart to relate to the dread and Broadway—which went denial felt by otherwise the play still feels timely on to win critical acclaim. healthy individuals who and relevant.” Ms. Roth is also an found a purple lesion – Harris Goldstein, M.D. ’80 active board member of Kaposi’s sarcoma of the Einstein National that was one of the first

Women’s Division’s New U sed by Permission.Playbill, Inc. A ll rights reserved, signs of AIDS and real- York chapter and a Spirit ized that this could be of Achievement Award their death sentence. It’s recipient. In a show impressive how the play of support for her, the still feels timely and audience at the Golden relevant.” Theater on Tuesday evening, June 21, Directed by Joel Grey and George included about 50 members of the C. Wolfe, The Normal Heart won three Einstein community, among them Harris 2011 Tony Awards: for Best Revival of a Goldstein, M.D. ’80, director of the Play, Best Featured Actor in a Play (John Einstein-Montefiore Center for AIDS Benjamin Hickey) and Best Featured Research (CFAR) and assistant dean for Actress in a Play (Ellen Barkin). Ms. Roth scientific resources. Proceeds from tick- delivered the acceptance speech for the ets purchased by the Einstein group ben- Best Revival of a Play award. The play‘s efited the Einstein-Montefiore CFAR and 12-week run ended in July; a U.S. tour Dr. Goldstein’s research on HIV/AIDS. and London production are planned.

2009 2010 2011 William Jacobs, Jr., Ph.D., a Howard The NIH awards Einstein scientists Joan Berman, Ph.D., discovers mecha- Hughes Medical Institute investigator, three grants to study South Africans nisms through which HIV infection leads to co-founds the KwaZulu-Natal Research co-infected with HIV and drug-resistant memory loss and other cognitive problems Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV in TB. One study involves a novel, home- despite potent antiretroviral therapy. Durban, South Africa. based treatment program. science at the heart of medicine 33 Of Cells AND Centenarians

Research on stem cells and aging is an important element of Einstein’s strategic research plan. Einstein Benefactors Ira and Ingeborg Rennert have made a generous investment in the work of Einstein scientists who are involved in these key areas.

34 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 EinsteinMagazineSummer-Fall2011_11_2_11FINAL—November 30, 2011 5:21 PM

Of Cells AND Centenarians

he work of two leading member of the New York chapter of or thought possible, has long been an Einstein researchers—stem Einstein’s National Women’s Division. interest of mine,” says Mr. Rennert. “I cell expert Eric E. Bouhassira, In 2007, the Rennerts made a gift am also intrigued by the use of stem Ph.D., and Nir Barzilai, of $4 million to establish two profes- cells to reverse degenerative diseases. TM.D., an authority on the aging sorial chairs at Einstein: the Ingeborg Ingeborg and I were fascinated to learn process—is supported by two generous and Ira Leon Rennert Professor of from Dean Spiegel about the exciting donors whose names appear in these Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative advances taking place at Einstein in researchers’ professorships: Ira and Medicine and the Ingeborg and Ira Leon these related areas of research.” Ingeborg Rennert. Rennert Professor of Aging Research. In the fall of 2007, at a special aca- Widely known for their philan- Dr. Bouhassira, professor of medicine demic convocation held on Einstein’s thropic endeavors in the United States (hematology) and of cell biology, and Jack and Pearl Resnick Campus, the and Israel, Ira and Ingeborg Rennert Dr. Barzilai, professor of medicine Rennerts participated in the formal are Benefactors of both Einstein and (endocrinology) and of genetics, were ceremony investing Drs. Barzilai and Yeshiva University. The Brooklyn-born named the first holders, respectively, of Bouhassira as the holders of the two Mr. Rennert rose from salesperson for these two endowed academic positions. newly established Rennert Chairs. a typewriter company to successful and What prompted the Rennerts to “The Rennerts’ generous gift is a tes- noted financier. He is currently chair invest in stem cell and aging research at tament to their philanthropic vision and of the Renco Group, Inc., a private, Einstein? The couple hosted a dinner deep concern for the future of human- family-owned holding company that party at their home for Allen M. Spiegel, ity,” said Dr. Spiegel. “Their decision to makes long-term investments in com- M.D., Einstein’s Marilyn and Stanley endow these two important academic panies across a range of industries. Mrs. M. Katz Dean, and a group of leading positions is enabling two of our most Rennert, like her husband, is a vision- Einstein supporters, in the summer of distinguished investigators, Nir Barzilai, ary philanthropist. She is also an active 2006. That evening, the conversation M.D., director of Einstein’s Institute for focused on potentially groundbreaking Aging Research, and Eric Bouhassira, Below left: Ingeborg and Ira Rennert, long- medical research at the College Ph.D., director of our Center for time supporters of biomedical research at of Medicine. Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Einstein. Below: Nir Barzilai, M.D., on right, “The concept of longevity, the idea to make significant strides in their has identified at least three genes thought to promote longevity. Assisting him is that human beings can have longer life research into the biological mechanisms laboratory technician John Lofrese. spans than was ever previously imagined that are responsible for both healthy

science at the heart of medicine 35 aging and age-related pathology.” Award of Distinction in Aging Meet On this and the following pages we Research, the highest award given describe the work that Drs. Barzilai and by the American Federation for the SuperAgers! Bouhassira are carrying out, thanks Aging Research. in part to the support of Ira and Protected by genes and Ingeborg Rennert. The Most Important Risk Factor positive attitudes, Dr. Barzilai’s nonagenarian and centenarian Several of our most important health research participants have their problems—cancer, diabetes, heart dis- own theories about living longer Nir Barzilai, M.D. ease and Alzheimer’s disease—primarily to share with us younger folks Years before embarking on aging affect middle-aged and elderly people, (which is just about everyone). research, Nir Barzilai, M.D., worked in Dr. Barzilai notes. The role of aging Third World medicine. While attend- in these adult-onset diseases is rarely ing medical school he ran an emergency examined, he says, even though aging is room in a refugee camp in Cambodia the major risk factor for developing all and worked at a hospital in Soweto, of them. SuperAger Irving Kahn, age 105, South Africa, during apartheid. “We want to find ways to slow the “The Eternal Businessman”: “Back then, everything I was doing rate of aging and thereby prevent most “My secret to a long was focused on people who were young of these age-related diseases,” says Dr. life is to wake up and miserable—very different from the Barzilai. “A side effect of this work ©Titus Kana ©Titus in the morning and kind of people I study today,” he says. might be that people would live longer, have something to His residencies in medicine and geri- but that’s not really our goal. Our goal look forward to.” atrics sparked his interest in aging. “I would look at my elderly patients and ask myself, ‘Why are they old?’ “We want to find ways Dr. Barzilai recalls. “My colleagues were SuperAger Irma Daniel, age 103, to slow the rate of focused on their diseases, but I was “The Pragmatic Survivor”: aging and prevent interested in them in a different way “Work—I think it’s and wanted to learn about the biology these age-related the best thing for of aging.” not getting old.” diseases,” says In 2010, Dr. Barzilai’s Institute for Dr. Barzilai. Aging Research was named one of the National Institutes of Health’s Nathan Shock Centers of Excellence in the Basic is healthy aging, which means grow- Biology of Aging—an honor accorded ing old without being burdened by the SuperAger Lilly Port, age 98, to only five centers nationwide, and diseases of aging.” “The Powerhouse”: one that comes with a $3.1 million, In 1998, Dr. Barzilai and his team “You have to be five-year grant from the NIH’s National began studying a group of more than active, you have to Institute on Aging. Dr. Barzilai, director 500 Ashkenazi Jews over the age of be active physically. of the new Shock center, also received a 95. Their aim: to identify the genetic Exercises, walking— separate MERIT Award from the NIH influences that have delayed aging lots of walking— during 2010; this 10-year, $4 million and kept these centenarians healthy skiing, bicycle award will fund efforts to use genetic while most of their peers long ago riding… Enjoy what and biological tools to insert human succumbed to age-related diseases. you’re doing, enjoy genes into a rodent in the hope that it The team selected Ashkenazi Jews, your partner.” will attain a healthy life span 50 percent whose ancestors came from Eastern longer than normal. Europe, because they are genetically ON THE WEB Dr. Barzilai’s contributions to human homogenous, making it easier to and www.SuperAgers.com spot genetic differences within the www.youtube.com longevity research were honored in 2010 (search for “SuperAgers”) when he received the Irving S. Wright study population.

36 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 EinsteinMagazineSummer-Fall2011_11_2_11FINAL—November 30, 2011 5:21 PM

Centenarians

longevity. And compared with elderly subjects lacking the variant, centenar- ians possessing CETP VV were twice as likely to have good cognitive skills based on a standard test of thinking ability. Ideally, such discoveries can be trans- lated into drugs that mimic what lon- gevity genes are doing for centenarians. And indeed, Merck is developing a drug that imitates the activity of CETP VV and is now in phase 3 clinical trials for boosting HDL cholesterol and decreas- ing LDL levels. Based on CETP VV’s favorable influence on cognitive abil- ity, Dr. Barzilai believes that this drug should also be tested to see if it can help Using high-throughput technology and a systems biology approach, Einstein researchers against Alzheimer’s disease. have begun to sequence the genomes, or entire hereditary information, of centenarians. Longevity genes may not be limited to those that tweak cholesterol or other The centenarian study, formally website that also offers the latest infor- biochemicals. “When I started work- known as the Longevity Genes Project, mation on more than a decade of aging ing with centenarians, I thought we’d also recruited 700 of the offspring of research at Einstein.) find that they survived so long in part the subjects between 60 and 85 years Dr. Barzilai and his colleagues because they were mean and ornery,” old and a control group of unrelated so far have identified at least three says Dr. Barzilai. “But we recently Ashkenazi subjects between 60 and 95 genes thought to promote longevity. assessed the personalities of 243 of years old. By analyzing blood sam- Centenarians and their children were our centenarians and found qualities ples from the study participants, the much more likely than other people to that clearly reflect a positive attitude researchers have begun uncovering the possess particular variants (rare forms) towards life. Most of these centenarians genetic influences on longevity. (Video of these “longevity genes.” are extroverted, optimistic, conscien- interviews with four study participants One such variant is a form of the tious and easygoing. They also consider are featured on SuperAgers.com, a cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) laughter an important part of life and gene. Centenarians were have a large social network.” three times likelier to pos- So could there be a “personality/lon- sess this unusual form of gevity” gene? “We don’t know, but we’re CETP, called CETP VV, certainly going to look for it,” says than people in the general Dr. Barzilai. population. People with One thing is clear: Little about the CETP VV have high levels lifestyles of centenarians provides guid- of “good” HDL cholesterol ance for living a long life. “Most of our along with unusually large centenarians have not done what their particles of both good and physicians have told them to do,” says “bad” (LDL) cholesterol, Dr. Barzilai. “About 40 percent of them perhaps making those par- were overweight or obese, nearly 40 per- ticles less likely to lodge in cent had smoked for more than 30 years blood vessels. and fewer than half of them reported People with CETP VV exercising regularly. Perhaps their lon-

Dr. Barzilai with Ingeborg and Ira Rennert, right, ran a lower risk of heart gevity genes help protect them against and Dean Allen M. Spiegel, M.D., at the 2007 attacks and strokes, which their poor lifestyle choices!” investiture ceremony. may explain their unusual

science at the heart of medicine 37 Eric Bouhassira, Ph.D. Thomson and obtained In November 1998, Einstein’s Eric samples of two of the five Bouhassira, Ph.D., was studying how human embryonic stem transcription (passing on DNA’s message cell lines developed in his to RNA so that proteins can be made) lab. For help in culturing is regulated in blood cells. Then he read the cells, he hired a techni- a paper in the journal Science that cian who had worked with would change the direction of his Dr. Thomson. And to gain scientific career. more knowledge about It was big news: James Thomson, stem cells, Dr. Bouhassira Ph.D., V.M.D., a developmental sent a postdoc and a Ph.D. biologist at the University of Wisconsin, student to spend several announced that he had isolated human weeks in the lab of one of Eric Bouhassira, Ph.D., with the Rennerts and Dean Dr. Thomson’s collabora- embryonic stem cells from early embryos Spiegel at the investiture ceremony in 2007. and grown them in the laboratory. tors, who had moved to the Nearly 20 years earlier, scientists had University of Minnesota. achieved the same feat in mice, and Since 1998, interest Thomson had isolated embryonic stem “The isolation of human embryonic in stem cell biology has grown expo- cells from a rhesus monkey in 1995. stem cells opened up a big opportunity nentially, and so has Dr. Bouhassira’s Embryonic stem cells have the for translational research that could prominence in the field. A professor in unique ability to multiply indefinitely actually result in cures for diseases,” says the departments of medicine and of cell and are “pluripotent,” meaning they Dr. Bouhassira. “If we could learn how biology, Dr. Bouhassira was the organiz- have the potential to develop into virtu- to nudge these undifferentiated embry- ing force behind the three-year, $3 mil- ally any cell type in the body. Now that onic stem cells into more-specialized lion center grant for human embryonic human embryonic stem cells could be cells that could then be transferred to stem cell research given by the NIH grown in unlimited quantities, stud- patients, we could address health prob- ied and manipulated, Dr. Bouhassira lems ranging from sickle cell disease realized that an entirely new scientific to Alzheimer’s.” Dr. Bouhassira’s work with blood-forming stem cells could lead to an unlimited sup- discipline—regenerative medicine— Soon after reading about the dis- ply of blood cells for use in bone marrow had been created. covery, Dr. Bouhassira contacted Dr. transplants and transfusions.

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Cells

in 2005—one of only six such grants to human embryonic stem cells. Dr. produce iPS cells for use by the entire awarded. That center, which he directs Bouhassira says that these stem cells, Einstein stem cell community. and which is known as the Einstein known as induced pluripotent stem “We’re hoping to create unique Center for Human Embryonic Stem cells, or iPS, may offer key advantages stem cells derived from blood diseases Cell Research, has helped advance over human embryonic stem cells. (Dr. like sickle cell anemia, hemophilia and fundamental knowledge of human Yamanaka spoke at Einstein’s Lasker thalassemia, all of which result from embryonic stem cells. Lecture in October.) gene mutations or deletions,” says Dr. Dr. Bouhassira’s leading role in “We’ve always known that, even if Bouhassira. “Once we obtain iPS cells stem cell research was recognized in we could produce transplantable blood from patients’ skin cells or other bodily 2007, when he was invested as the cells from embryonic stem cells, the cells, we may be able to cure them. This Ingeborg and Ira Leon Rennert recipient’s immune system might reject might involve correcting the gene defect Professor of Stem Cell Biology and those blood cells as incompatible,” says in the iPS cells and then directing these Regenerative Medicine. Dr. Bouhassira. “One strategy would be to create ‘banks’ with enough dif- Changing Stem Cells into ferent embryonic stem cells that they “We’re hoping to create Red Cells could be matched with recipients. But stem cells derived Pluripotent embryonic stem cells differ- the most elegant solution for ensuring entiate into more-specialized progenitor immunological compatibility would be from blood diseases cells, referred to as “multipotent” stem to produce pluripotent cells from every like sickle cell anemia,” cells, which can form several different patient—which is now possible thanks says Dr. Bouhassira. cell lineages. Dr. Bouhassira’s stem cell to iPS cells. These cells also are much work has focused on directing human less controversial than human embry- embryonic stem cells to differentiate onic stem cells, since human embryos ‘corrected’ iPS cells to differentiate into into multipotent hematopoietic (blood- are not involved in producing them.” hematopoietic stem cells, which would forming) stem cells that, in turn, dif- Thanks to the endowment provided form healthy blood cells that we could ferentiate into red cells, T cells, platelets by the Rennerts and funding from transplant back into patients without and all the other cell types that make New York State, Dr. Bouhassira has fear of rejection.” up the blood. Practical applications created the Einstein Pluripotent Stem Dr. Bouhassira will soon report for this research range from providing Cell Center. One of the center’s units progress in his effort to cure genetic patients with immunologically compat- is staffed by three scientists trained to blood diseases. He and his colleagues ible bone marrow transplants to turning made iPS cells from a patient with alpha hematopoietic stem cells into “factories” thalassemia—a blood disorder caused that produce red blood cells for patients by deletion of three genes, resulting in needing transfusions. reduced hemoglobin production. The Guiding embryonic stem cells researchers successfully inserted the to develop into fully functioning healthy version of one missing gene hematopoietic cells—and then coaxing into iPS cells at the desired location those cells into forming cells suitable in the genome—a correction that may for transplantation or transfusion—has be sufficient to normalize hemoglobin proven quite a challenge. Meanwhile, production. Equally important, this Dr. Bouhassira has turned some of his gene was inserted without recourse to research energy toward a new type of viral vectors that might have made the stem cell, produced by breakthrough iPS cells unsafe for human use. research in Japan. “We still have to achieve that In 2006, Shinya Yamanaka, M.D., next step, which involves making Ph.D., reported that, by inserting four the corrected iPS cells develop genes into skin cells, he was able to These pluripotent stem cells from into transplantable cells,” says Dr. Dr. Bouhassira’s lab have the potential reprogram the skin cells into form- to develop into virtually any cell type Bouhassira, “but we’re optimistic ing cells that were virtually identical in the body. that we’ll succeed.”

science at the heart of medicine 39 Passionate pursuits | Einstein faculty, students, staff

Axons by Day, Aesop at Night

rigor to whimsical creativity, sketching courses to understand children’s develop- 12-year-old daughter Sasha at play and ment so we could detect problems in our in repose and illustrating Aesop’s Fables students,” says Tatyana. “We also went and other children’s books. to hospitals to learn to give injections so “I always enjoyed drawing as a child,” that, in case of war or other disasters, we says Tatyana, who grew up in Chernihiv, could help administer first aid.” an ancient Ukrainian city of about When disaster did strike—the 300,000 people. “My classmates would explosion of Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear say, ‘Oh, your drawings are so nice,’ reactor on April 26, 1986—Tatyana was which would build up my confidence.” in her first year at the university and t work, Tatyana Starikova Tatyana wanted to become an art 70 miles from the destroyed reactor. Harris’ computer screen is teacher, and her education was perfect “We didn’t learn of the explosion A awash in her drawings of bio- preparation for her job at Einstein. until four days later, when European medical minutiae, from mitochondria to Pursuing a bachelor’s degree in fine countries reported high radiation levels histone tails to cell-signaling pathways. arts and education at Shevchenko State in the atmosphere,” Tatyana recalls. Later, this illustrator/graphic artist in University in Chernihiv, she studied “Miraculously, because of how the wind the department of communications and biology, anatomy, physiology, internal was blowing, Chernihiv had lower public affairs switches from scientific medicine and pathology. “We took those radiation levels than other Ukrainian

40 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 EinsteinMagazineSummer-Fall2011_11_2_11FINAL—November 30, 2011 5:21 PM

cities farther from Chernobyl.” important,” says Tatyana. Instead, she unfinished portrait of a seagull (above, But Tatyana and her city weren’t earned a certificate in computer arts at right). “The gull was transfixed by my entirely spared. She notes that people Westchester Community College. She handbag—posing there perfectly still in Chernihiv have died from radiation- has worked at Einstein for the past six just a few feet from me,” Tatyana recalls. related cancers, and that she has heard years, creating illustrations for Einstein “Then, before I could finish painting, about the deaths of people she grew magazine, newsletters, brochures, Sasha came running up and scared up with. invitations and other printed material. it away.” In the summer of 1994, after five For her artwork, Tatyana favors years teaching art in an elementary watercolors but also paints digitally with school, Tatyana was vacationing in the computer, using either Photoshop Facing page: Moscow when she met Jonathan Harris, or the Painter program. Her illustrations Scientific illustrations, digital media. an American visiting the city as part of for children’s books have been exhibited Above, clockwise from top left: Ballerina, mixed media. a tourist group. They married the next at Manhattan’s Jefferson Market Library, year, and Tatyana moved to the United and her Aesop’s Fables drawings will be Illustration for Aesop’s Fables– The Fox and the Stork, digital media. States soon afterward. shown this fall. Seagull, watercolor. “I didn’t want to teach here because Bar Harbor, ME, is a favorite place Illustration for The Reluctant Dragon I was self-conscious about my English, to paint, and one of her family’s annual by Kenneth Grahame, watercolor. and communicating with kids is so summer visits there resulted in an

science at the heart of medicine 41 our dna | alumni news

Commencement 2011 In Every Ending a New Beginning

Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.— Life Outside the Comfort Zone

In 1968, experts declared victory in the war on infectious diseases. So, as Dr. Fauci drove through Maryland en route to a National Institutes of Health infectious diseases fellowship, he felt ambivalent about his career choice. “Was I entering a disappear- ing subspecialty?” he wondered. He was not. Thirteen years later, the first cases of what would be ommencement is a beginning, known as AIDS were reported, and not an end. Though their “my professional career, if not my entire life, was transformed,” said Dr. Cmed school days are over, Fauci, who went on to win renown the members of the Class of 2011 for his HIV/AIDS research, including are taking on new roles as residents his work showing how HIV destroys and researchers. At the Albert the body’s immune defenses, and for Einstein College of Medicine 2011 his help in developing therapies and prevention strategies. Commencement, professors, colleagues Dr. Fauci, now the director of the and mentors helped prepare graduates NIAID, was this year’s Einstein com- for this transition by sharing their mencement speaker. He spoke to the accumulated wisdom. Class of 2011 about what he called Dean Allen M. Spiegel, M.D., with Mark A. The advice from Yeshiva University Hardy, M.D. ’62. “the paradox of graduation.” “You feel like you’re no longer a President Richard M. Joel: “Don’t point student, but this is an illusion,” he society to the new normal, point them said. “In my case, it became painfully to a new horizon and lead us there.” apparent after my graduation from He reminded graduates that they can’t medical school that my student days do it alone and they don’t have to— had just begun.” We are all perpetual students, he said—a state of mind “You have each other.” that can bring low-grade anxiety and In his commencement address, a nagging feeling of inadequacy. AIDS pioneer Dr. Anthony Fauci of However, “when you realize you’re the National Institute of Allergy and participating in a dynamic process Infectious Diseases (NIAID) told those with a steep learning curve, it should create a healthy, positive and produc- assembled that “the mosaic of our tive tension that can serve as the cata- knowledge and experiences is eternally Executive Dean Edward R. Burns, M.D. lyst to constantly improve yourself unfinished.” He said that to this day he ’76, grand marshal, and Yeshiva University and fulfill your enormous potential.” President Richard M. Joel. feels the discomfort of this productive

42 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 1 2 3

1 stephen Goldstone, M.D. ’79, with Stephen H. Lazar, Ed.D. 2 Dean Spiegel with Charles S. Peskin, Ph.D. ’72. 3 David Wisotsky, M.D. ’74, and Lynn Sugarman, M.D., with Etan Sugarman, M.D. ’11. 4 teaching awards went to, from left: Chaim Putterman, M.D.; Michael D. 4 Gitman, M.D.; David J. Sharp, Ph.D.; Steven L. Roderick, Ph.D.; Michael J. Reichgott, M.D. ’65, Ph.D.; and Steven A. Sparr, M.D. 5 lawrence J. Brandt, M.D., with Boris Paskhover, M.D. ’11. 6 louis M. Aledort, M.D. ’59, and Marvin Kirschner, M.D. ’59.

5 6 tension but that “it has become part 13 Ph.D. candidates also received Marvin Kirschner, M.D. ’59, Lifetime of me, and I believe it has helped me M.D. degrees. Achievement Awards; and Stephen greatly rather than hurt me in any way.” With help from Stephen Goldstone, H. Lazar, Ed.D., the Lifetime Service (For more, see sidebar at left.) M.D. ’79, president of the Alumni Award for a Non-Alumnus. Allen M. Spiegel, M.D., Einstein’s Association, Dean Spiegel presented Dean Spiegel closed with the tradi- Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean, the following Einstein Alumni Awards: tional Prayer of Maimonides. In view congratulated members of Einstein’s Mark A. Hardy, M.D. ’62, the of this year’s Commencement theme third graduating class, the Class of Dominick P. Purpura Distinguished of endless education, these words rang 1961, who were celebrating their 50th Alumnus Award; Charles S. Peskin, especially true: “May there never arise reunion. Paul Wachter, M.D. ’61, Ph.D. ’72, the Distinguished Ph.D. in me the notion that I know enough, recalled the rustic setting—actually, a Alumnus Award; Lawrence J. Brandt, but give me the strength and leisure construction site—where class members M.D., professor of medicine (gastro- and zeal to enlarge my knowledge.” received their diplomas. enterology & liver diseases) and of Dean Spiegel then awarded 185 surgery, the Honorary Alumnus Award; on the web M.D. diplomas and 59 Ph.D. diplomas; Louis M. Aledort, M.D. ’59, and www.einstein.yu.edu/commencement2011

science at the heart of medicine 43 our dna | alumni news

Reunion 2011 Honors the Class of 1961

Members of the Class of 1961 at the Gala Reunion Dinner.

exercises. Those pioneering Einstein “It’s moving to see grads were recognized with spirited applause by Allen M. Spiegel, M.D., the evolution of the Einstein’s Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz medical school as you Dean; the newly minted graduates; and assembled guests. meet alumni from That evening, the Class of ’61 headed different eras.” downtown to the Yeshiva University Museum at the Center for Jewish — Ramon Vazquez, M.D. ’86 History. There Dean Spiegel joined them for the Welcome Dinner, held in M.D., distinguished university professor Paul Wachter, M.D. ’61, left, and Kenneth honor of their milestone anniversary. emeritus of medicine (geriatrics). Schiffer, M.D. ’61, co-chairs of the Class of Alumni from all nine reunion classes Stephen Goldstone, M.D. ’79, the 1961 50th Anniversary Reunion, leading their classmates at they march into Avery came together on Thursday, June 2, for outgoing president of the Alumni Fisher Hall at Commencement. the Gala Reunion Dinner at the Grand Association, passed the baton to Hyatt Hotel. The emotion was palpable incoming president Jack Stern, Ph.D. lue skies greeted Einstein alumni as former classmates reconnected, many ’73, M.D. ’74. Kenneth A. Schiffer, who gathered in the “Big Apple” lingering well after the evening’s M.D. ’61, who served on the Alumni Bfor Reunion 2011. Returnees official end. Association Board of Governors for included members of the Class of The occasion was enriched by the many years, received the Alumni 1961, the third class of Einstein gradu- presence of three Einstein faculty Association’s 2011 Lifetime Service ates, who came to celebrate their 50th members who taught the Class of 1961: Award, which was presented to him Reunion, as well as those who graduated Isabelle Rapin, M.D., professor in the by Dean Spiegel and Dr. Goldstone. in years ending in 1 and 6. Saul R. Korey Department of Neurology Reunion 2011 culminated with The festivities got off to a rousing and in the department of pediatrics; Alumni Day on Campus, Friday, start at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Katherine S. Lobach, M.D., professor June 3. Harris Goldstein, M.D. ’80, the Hall on Wednesday, June 1, when emerita of pediatrics and associate pro- Charles Michael Chair in Autoimmune members of the Class of 1961 marched fessor emerita of epidemiology & popu- Diseases, director of the Einstein- in the Class of 2011’s Commencement lation health; and David J. Hamerman, Montefiore Center for AIDS Research,

44 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 assistant dean for scientific resources, and professor of pediatrics (allergy & immunology) and of microbiol- ogy & immunology, welcomed guests to a morning symposium held in the Michael F. Price Center for Genetic and Translational Medicine/Harold and Muriel Block Research Pavilion’s Ethel and Samuel J. LeFrak Auditorium. The symposium addressed research and clinical strategies in personal- ized medicine, cervical cancer preven- tion, women’s health and diabetes. Presenters included Dean Spiegel; Mark Kenneth Schiffer, M.D. ’61, center, accepting the Alumni Association Lifetime Service H. Einstein, M.D., M.S. ’05, associate Award presented by Stephen Goldstone, M.D. ’79, outgoing president, Alumni professor of obstetrics & gynecology and Association Board of Governors, and Dean Allen M. Spiegel, M.D. women’s health (gynecological oncol- ogy) and of epidemiology & popula- tion health; Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller, Ph.D., the Dorothy and William Manealoff Foundation and Molly Rosen Chair in Social Medicine, professor of epidemiology & population health, and principal investigator in the Women’s Health Initiative at Einstein; and Jill Patricia Crandall, M.D., professor of clinical medicine in the department of medicine (endocrinology). Following lunch in the Lubin Dining Einstein faculty members who taught the Class of 1961. From left, Isabelle Rapin, M.D.; Hall, guided tours of the Jack and David Hamerman, M.D.; and Katherine Lobach, M.D. Pearl Resnick Campus gave visitors a closer look at how Einstein has changed since their medical school days. Led by Michael J. Reichgott, M.D. ’65, Ph.D., professor of medicine (administration) and chair of the conflict of interest office, and Salvatore P. Ciampo, senior direc- tor of facilities management, the tours included stops at the Clinical Skills Center; the laboratory of Matthew Levy, science at the heart of medicine 45 Ph.D., assistant professor of biochemis- try; and the anatomy laboratory in the Leo Forchheimer Medical Science Members of the Class of 1961 at the Gala Reunion Dinner. From left, Zalman Schrader, Building. M.D.; Paul Wachter, M.D.; Kenneth Schiffer, M.D.; Martin Brownstein, M.D.; and George Teebor, M.D.

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1 Members of the Class of 1976, including Edward R. Burns, M.D. ’76, executive dean. 2 Michael Goldfischer, M.D. ’91, and Debra Brenin-Goldfischer. 3 Beth Weinstein Nash, M.D. ’81; Jodie Hurwitz, M.D. ’81; and Gilad Kuperman, M.D. ’81, Ph.D. ’81. 4 Members of the Class of 1996. 5 Stephanie Green, M.D. ’81, with Edward R. Burns, M.D. ’76, executive dean. 6 Selma Targovnik, M.D. ’61, and Martin Brownstein, M.D. ’61. 7 From left, Suanne Mallenbaum, M.D. ’89, Ph.D. ’89; Ramon Vazquez, M.D. ’86; Wendy Elenbaas; Steven Reich, M.D. ’86; and Jodi Reich.

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46 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 EinsteinMagazineSummer-Fall2011_11_2_11FINAL—November 30, 2011 5:21 PM

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1 Members of the Class of 2001. 2 Members of the Class of 1971 with Jack Stern, M.D. ’74, Ph.D. ’73, incoming president of the Alumni Association, and Dean Allen M. Spiegel. 3 Touring the campus on Alumni Day on 3 Campus with Michael Reichgott, M.D. ’65, Ph.D., far left. 4 Touring the laboratory of Matthew Levy, Ph.D., far left, in the Price Center/ Block Research Pavilion. 5 Burt Meyers, M.D. ’61, and Amnon Weinstock, M.D. ’61. 6 From left, Judith Rodewald; Russell A. Rodewald, M.D. ’66; Lenore Grubman; and Jerold Grubman, M.D. ’66. 7 Earle B. Weiss, M.D. ’61, and Ruth V. Weiss.

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science at the heart of medicine 47 making a difference | Mini-med school

Homework Optional: Einstein Supporters Become Medical Students for a Day

Front row, from left: Edward R. Burns, M.D. ’76, executive dean; Overseer Sue-ann Friedman; Overseer Arthur Hershaft; Adam Friedman, M.D. ’06; Trudy Gottesman; Overseer Roslyn Goldstein; and Alice Gottesman. Back row, from left: Stephen Baum, M.D.; Robert W. Marion, M.D. ’79; and Dean Allen M. Spiegel, M.D.

bout 30 Einstein Overseers Spiegel, M.D., the Marilyn and Stanley students about doctor-patient issues and guests recently attended M. Katz Dean, served as program and building communications skills. A “Mini–Med School”— advisors, and the Office of Institutional After getting some insight into how a chance to gain a hands-on Advancement helped coordinate the doctors can better interact with their understanding of the educational day’s activities. patients, the attendees broke into small elements that go into the making First came lunch in the Harry H. groups and applied what they had of an Einstein physician. Beren Conference Room and opening learned by communicating—just as Held in the Clinical Skills Center remarks from Stephen Baum, M.D., actual Einstein medical students do— on May 11, Mini–Med School was senior associate dean for students, Dean with actors playing the roles of patients. a collaborative effort among Martha Spiegel and several current Einstein Next, the group moved on to Grayson, M.D. ’79, senior associate students. Then the Mini–Med Schoolers “Molecular and Cellular Foundations dean for medical education; Robert went to their first class: “Doctor-Patient of Medicine: The Family Genetics W. Marion, M.D. ’79, director of Communications 101.” Conference.” Dr. Marion was joined Einstein’s Children’s Evaluation and The session was led by Dr. Grayson by his patient Alena Galan, 12, Rehabilitation Center; and Paul and by Felise Milan, M.D. ’88, director and her mother, Marcia. They Marantz, M.D., associate dean for of the Clinical Skills Center. Dr. helped him demonstrate the doctor- clinical research education. Ruth L. Milan helps direct the all-important patient dynamics and professional Gottesman, Ed.D., chair of Einstein’s “Introduction to Clinical Medicine” skills involved when a clinician is Board of Overseers, and Allen M. course, which teaches first-year faced with helping a family cope

48 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 Front row, from left: Paul Marantz, M.D.; Overseer Rita Rosen; Martha Grayson, M.D. ’79; Nicole Schreiber-Agus, Ph.D. ’94; and Overseer Elizabeth Stanton. Back row, from left: Stephen Baum, M.D.; Dean Spiegel; and Dr. Marion. with a potentially life-threatening with a personalized physician’s lab genetic condition. coat, signifying his or her successful Dr. Marantz led the final session, completion of the Mini–Med School “Screening for Cancer: Do We Know curriculum. It’s Good, or Must We Show It’s Good?” Dr. Gottesman, who conceived the Participants enjoyed using an audience- idea for Mini–Med School and also response system to tabulate their votes participated, called it a “powerful” on various multiple-choice questions. experience. “It made all of us appreciate It soon became clear that where human how much time and effort our faculty behavior is concerned, the outcomes puts into preparing our students to we might expect are not always the be skilled and caring physicians—the ones we get. kind of doctors who really listen to Ruth L. Gottesman, Ed.D., chair, Einstein Board of Overseers, welcomes The afternoon culminated in their patients.” Overseers Arthur Hershaft, left, and a “white coat ceremony” modeled While their medical education may Ben Winter to Mini–Med School. after the “On Becoming a Physician” have been fleeting, the participants ceremony, a rite of passage for first- left Mini–Med School with lasting year Einstein students. As Associate impressions of the journey all Einstein Dean Glenn Miller called their names, students take in fulfilling their dreams each new “graduate” was “cloaked” of a career in medicine.

science at the heart of medicine 49 Help Us Transform the Future of Medicine… Give to the Einstein Alumni Association Annual Fund

A scholarship can empower a gifted Einstein student to become:

a caring and curing physician

a world-class investigator working to unravel

the mysteries of human health and disease

A well-designed student life program can enhance that student’s educational experience. “The Alumni Scholarship The Einstein Alumni Association Annual Fund provides has been life-changing. both scholarships and student life programs. And your support makes it all possible! It’s given me the freedom Please consider making your gift today. You’ll find a to pursue the things I return envelope in the center of this magazine. Or, to feel passionate about, make a contribution online, go to www.einstein.yu.edu/ to consider social equity alumni, click “support Einstein,” then click “online giving.” Designate your gift or pledge to Albert Einstein College and altruism in my of Medicine. You don’t have to be an Einstein graduate career, and to seek out to contribute. and respond to need in the world.” – Eric Tanenbaum, Alumni Scholar Class of 2014

For more information, please contact the Office of Alumni Relations at 718.430.2013 or [email protected].

50 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 making a difference | Notable gifts

Randall Bequest Helps Turn Back the Clock on Aging

omputerized brain-training exercises can help people C 70 and over think and focus better, walk faster and become more organized. Those are the latest findings, published in theJournal of Gerontology, of aging specialist Joe Verghese, M.B.B.S., Einstein’s first Murray D. Gross Memorial Faculty Scholar in Gerontology. The endowed academic posi- tion was established by Yolaine G. Randall, a speech therapist who Seniors whose brains got a computerized workout ended up with better concentra- tion, organization and walking speed. Joe Verghese, M.B.B.S., standing, led passed away in 2009. Mrs. Randall the study. left more than $2.9 million to Einstein, and, in accordance with adds to long-lasting improvement in County, NY. Researchers led by her wishes, the funds were used to mental and physical function. “I’m principal investigator Roee Holtzer, establish the position; it was named interested in bringing a broad neurologi- Ph.D., associate professor in the Saul in memory of her beloved late father, cal perspective to aging research, includ- R. Korey Department of Neurology, Murray Gross, a successful New York ing insight into the causes of disability will use innovative lab technology to businessman. (Mrs. Randall’s family and frailty in older people,” says Dr. unobtrusively measure brain activity has a long history of generosity to of the subjects as they walk. Says Dr. Verghese, “The findings from this Einstein. In 2005, at Mrs. Randall’s “The findings from this request, a classroom in the Arthur B. study could help develop interven- study could help develop and Diane Belfer Educational Center tions to prevent mobility decline and for Health Sciences was dedicated interventions to prevent disability in older people.” in honor of her late mother, Sarah mobility decline and Dr. Verghese’s designation as the Murray D. Gross Memorial Faculty Rosenthal Gross, who was also a disability in older people.” donor to Einstein.) Dr. Verghese was Scholar in Gerontology provides formally invested at the Academic – Joe Verghese, M.B.B.S. ongoing financing for his team’s Convocation hosted by Allen M. important work (and will do the same Spiegel, the Marilyn and Stanley M. Verghese, who is also a professor in the for future Gross Faculty Scholars at Katz Dean, in September 2011. Saul R. Korey Department of Neurology Einstein). Though Dr. Verghese never Dr. Verghese has found a posi- at Einstein and clinical director of the met Mrs. Randall—described by a tive correlation between computer- Einstein Aging Study, funded by the family friend as “a bright, indepen- prompted cognitive learning in National Institutes of Health (NIH). dent and positive person”—he is very focusing and organizing, and Einstein’s division of cognitive & grateful for her help. “These are tough increases in normal walking speed for motor aging, which Dr. Verghese directs, funding times,” he says, “so it’s won- seniors age 70 or older. His research has just begun a major multiyear study, derful to have the financial support to shows that multitasking (problem- funded by the NIH, which will enroll pursue our research agenda.” solving and talking while walking) 450 older adults living in Westchester

science at the heart of medicine 51 Making a Difference | women’s division

Spirit of Achievement Luncheon Benefits Research on Women’s Cancers

xceptional talent, creativity and determination were fea- tured at the 57th Annual Spirit of Achievement Luncheon Eon May 5, hosted by the New York chapter of Einstein’s National Women’s Division at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. More than 350 Women’s Division members and guests turned out for the event, which benefited the group’s current initiative to support innovative 1 research on breast, ovarian, uterine and

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cervical cancers at the Albert Einstein obstetrics & gynecology and women’s 1 spirit honorees, from left: Jill Martin, Cancer Center (AECC). “The Women’s health at Einstein, faculty supervisor of Iris Apfel, Natalie Morales and Division is privileged to partner with the AECC Clinical Trials Office, and Barbara Corcoran. Einstein in advancing medical research an internationally recognized expert on 2 einstein Overseers Linda Altman and that has the potential to save lives and breast cancer. Willie Geist, host of Way Rita Rosen; Alexandra Landes, Mrs. improve health and well-being for Too Early with Willie Geist and a co-host Rosen’s granddaughter; and Kathy Weinberg, president, Einstein National women everywhere,” said Kathy K. of Morning Joe on MSNBC, contrib- Women’s Division. Weinberg, National Women’s Division uted his time and talent as emcee for the president. third consecutive year. 3 honorary Einstein Overseer Emily Fisher Landau, founding member This year’s Spirit honorees included When Allen M. Spiegel, M.D., and current board member, Einstein New York real estate entrepreneur the Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz National Women’s Division, and New Barbara Corcoran, interior design Dean, presented the Spirit Award to York chapter executive committee icon and fashion trailblazer Iris Apfel, Dr. Sparano, he was assisted by Mary member; and Ruth L. Gottesman, Ed.D., chair, Einstein Board of broadcast journalists Natalie Morales Jane Happy, a breast cancer survivor Overseers. and Jill Martin of NBC’s Today, and and patient of Dr. Sparano’s, and her Joseph A. Sparano, M.D., profes- daughter, Emily Miller, an M.D./Ph.D. sor of medicine (oncology) and of candidate at Einstein.

52 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 To join the Einstein National Women’s Division’s initiative to support research in women’s health and cancers, or to learn more about the Women’s Division, please contact Janis Brooks at 718.430.2818 or [email protected].

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“Dr. Sparano’s caring and compas- sion, both as a physician and as a human being, along with his brilliance as a clinical researcher, helped me find the courage to face my cancer head on,” said Ms. Happy. Her remarks fol- lowed a video documenting her experi- ence, produced for the occasion by Einstein Overseer Rita Rosen, a past president of the National Women’s 6 7 Division. 4 spirit honoree Joseph A. Sparano, M.D., with Mary Jane Happy, Emily Miller and “It was a great afternoon,” said Mara Dean Allen M. Spiegel, M.D. Sandler, co-president of the New York 5 spirit Luncheon chairs, from left: Andrea Stark, Jackie Harris Hochberg, and chapter. “We were inspired and we Renée Steinberg. raised funds to help the incredible 6 Willie Geist, Spirit emcee, with Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb of NBC’s Today. researchers at the Einstein Cancer Center progress in their efforts to com- 7 Mara Sandler and Mindy Feinberg, co-presidents, New York chapter, Einstein National Women’s Division. bat breast and gynecological cancers.” “We are grateful to our luncheon hard work in making today a success,” Einstein’s National Women’s Division chairs, Jackie Harris Hochberg, Renée said New York chapter co-president A force in philanthropy at Einstein for Steinberg and Andrea Stark, for their Mindy Feinberg. nearly 60 years, the National Women’s Division is conducting a fundraising initiative to support research on Family Day 2011 women’s health and cancers at the Hosted by the Einstein Albert Einstein Cancer Center. National Women’s Division New York chapter on August 21, at the Ross School in on the web To read more about the Bridgehampton, NY, the 22nd Women’s Division: Annual “Family Day in the www.einstein.yu.edu/home/donors/ Hamptons” raised funds to WomensDivision.asp benefit research on women’s health and cancers at the Albert Einstein Cancer Center.

science at the heart of medicine 53 making a difference | men’s division

Einstein Men’s Division Celebrates 50 Years of Advancing Medical Research

Division and of Einstein’s growth as a center for cutting- edge medical research and education,” said Raymond S. Cohen, the division’s current chair. “In our efforts to promote the medi- cal school’s life-saving mission over the last 50 years, they have led the way.” Men’s Division past chairs, front row, from left: Philip Rosen, Jay N. Goldberg, David J. Klein, Stanley M. Katz, Asriel (Rickey) Rackow, Burton P. Resnick, Philip S. Altheim and Bruce F. Roberts. Back row, from left: Dean “As we pay tribute Allen M. Spiegel, M.D., Robert C. Patent, Mitchell Wm. Ostrove, Jeffrey A. Fiedler, Stephen R. Karafiol, to our proud past, David H. Schwartz, Neil A. Clark, Jack M. Somer, Peter A. Gatof and Men’s Division Chair Raymond S. Cohen. we also look to the future,” Mr. Cohen he Einstein Men’s Division the effort to form the Men’s Division added. “We’re grooming a generation of turned 50 this year. To mark this in 1961. young leaders who will take the Men’s T milestone, the division dedicated Helene Wolloch, whose late hus- Division to new heights of philanthropic its 2011 Men’s Division Golf & Tennis band, Zygfryd B. Wolloch, was chair achievement for Einstein.” Tournament and Dinner to honoring from 1965 to 1966, attended in honor “Inspired by the vision and talent its past chairs. of her husband. Representing late of its past chairs, the Men’s Division Proceeds from the event, held on past chair Matthew R. Kornreich, has forged a vibrant partnership with June 13 at Wykagyl Country Club in who served from 1975 to 1977, were Einstein that continues to thrive after New Rochelle, NY, benefited the Men’s his son-in-law and Einstein Overseer half a century,” noted Dean Spiegel. Division Research Scholars Program Samuel Weinberg, his grandson Andrew “That is a remarkable legacy. It’s also (MDRSP), the division’s current initia- Weinberg and tive that helps fund the career develop- his nephew ment of Einstein physician-scientists Thomas involved in translational research. Kornreich. A group of 16 Men’s Division past “We’re chairs spanning four decades took part pleased to in a special awards ceremony during recognize these the dinner program. Einstein Overseer trailblazers, Philip Rosen, who served as chair from whose influ- 1964 to 1965, was accompanied by his ence looms Dean Spiegel with a group of Men’s Division Research Scholars and wife, Einstein Overseer Rita Rosen, who large in the mentors. Front row, from left: Deepa Rastogi, M.B.B.S., M.S.; Gabriele de Vos, M.D.; Mooyeon Oh-Park, M.D., M.S.; Howard Strickler, M.D. delighted the audience with her recol- history of Back row, from left: Richard Lipton, M.D.; Sean Lucan, M.D., M.P.H., M.S.; lections of how her husband helped lead the Men’s Mark H. Kuniholm, Ph.D.; Matthew Abramowitz, M.D.; Paul Marantz, M.D.

54 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 To learn more about the Einstein Men’s Division or the Men’s Division Research Scholars Program, please contact Sam Young at 718.430.2795 or [email protected].

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1 Stanley M. Katz and Asriel (Rickey) Rackow. 2 Philip Altheim with son Marc Altheim. 3 Bruce Roberts and David Klein. 4 From left: Robert Patent, Neil Clark, David Klein, Peter Gatof and Jeffrey Fiedler. 5 5 From left: Peter Bernstein, Andrew Weinberg, Andrew Frank, Marc Altheim and Henry Cercone. 6 From left: Philip Rosen, Rita Rosen, Burton Resnick clear that the young professionals for Clinical and Translational and Helene Wolloch. who will shape the next 50 years Research; and Paul R. Marantz, 7 Ben Winter, left, and Sam Weinberg, right, of volunteer leadership at Einstein M.D., associate dean for clinical with Men’s Division Research Scholar share their predecessors’ passion, research education and professor of Mark Kuniholm, Ph.D. intelligence and creativity.” clinical epidemiology & popula- Einstein’s Men’s Division Also among the distinguished tion health and of clinical medicine Since 1961, the Men’s Division of Albert Einstein dinner guests were several Men’s (general internal medicine). Victor College of Medicine has provided volunteer Division Research Scholars and L. Schuster, M.D., chair of the leadership to encourage the growth and their mentors, as well as the two department of medicine, professor development of the College of Medicine. Its faculty advisors for the MDRSP: of medicine (nephrology) and of current fundraising initiative is the Men’s Division Harry Shamoon, M.D., associate physiology & biophysics, and the Research Scholars Program. dean for clinical and translational Ted and Florence Baumritter Chair research, professor in the depart- in Medicine, gave keynote remarks on the web ment of medicine (endocrinology) highlighting the impact of transla- www.einstein.yu.edu/home/donors/ and director of Einstein’s Institute tional medicine on patient care. MensDivision.asp

science at the heart of medicine 55 our dna | Class notes

keep einstein updated with 1960s your news@! Morrie Stampfer, M.D. ’63, writes, “This month completes my fifth year of Please tell us what you are up working full-time in the cardiology divi- to so your classmates can read sion of Jacobi Medical Center. I have no about it in Einstein magazine. plans to retire—I’m having too much To be included in the next fun! I was honored to be elected to the issue, e-mail your news to Leo Davidoff Society in May 2011; [email protected]. this election recognizes ‘outstanding achievement in the teaching of medical students.’”

1950s Edward Lynn, M.D. ’65, writes, “I am Marion Zucker Goldstein, M.D. ’59, still enjoying retirement in Reno, NV, M.S., writes, “I am a Distinguished after years of academia, program devel- Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric opment, administration and, finally, Association, and a Fellow of the practicing what I preached in the pri- American College of Psychiatry Class of vate sector.” 1959. I have been in geriatric psychia- try, my subspecialty for 25 years, as a Barbara Barlow, M.D. ’67, FAAP, professor in the department of psy- FACS, will be awarded the U.S. Centers chiatry, New York State University at for Disease Control’s CDC Foundation Buffalo. I have contributed to mak- At “Einstein in Los Angeles” (see page 63): Hero Award in October. The award ing geriatric psychiatry flourish. My Nancy and Emanuel Abrams, M.D. ’63. was established in 2005 to correspond daughter Lillian Schapiro, M.D. ’91, with the foundation’s tenth anniversary is an OB-GYN and a mohelet, and I loved the practice of pediatrics and celebrating a “Decade of Heroes.” It married to a constitutional professor at the children whose care was entrusted recognizes an individual who has made Emory. She is the mother of Ruth, 14, to me, and miss being in the office. My a significant contribution to improving Rebecca, 14, and Sarah, 8. I take care of wife, Audrey, and I have been fortunate the public’s health through exemplary my developmentally impaired daugh- to travel through parts of Europe. We work in advancing the CDC’s mission ter Naomi, and make life as pleasant spent some 30 years in Barbados and of promoting health and quality of life and engaging as possible for her.” were considered Bajans by the locals. I by preventing and controlling disease, have written a 500-page historical novel injury and disability. Dr. Barlow is Donald Kline, M.D. ’59, writes, about Barbados, and three other novels, being cited for her injury-prevention “I retired from the JFK Hospital in all still unpublished. I am an artist and work, which has become the Injury Free Edison, NJ, medical staff in 2010, and have sold paintings of people, pets, Coalition for Kids (www.injuryfree.org). am now an emeritus. I have served as landscapes, Barbados, the Old West and an executive committee member of Woodstock, NY, where we will eventu- Daniel Nussbaum II, M.D. ’67, writes, the board of trustees at JFK Medical ally live. I started to downhill ski at age “I have retired after a career as one of Center for the past 20 years. I have kept 55, but my knees are telling me to look the pioneers of developmental pediat- my New Jersey license and CMEs up for a kinder sport. I hope to give it one rics. The last eight years were in solo to date, continue to learn as much as more year at least.” private practice in New Bedford, MA. I can about current medical practices They were the happiest of my career. and am still looking for employment. The retirement is partially for health

56 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 reasons. I have a neuropathy that so far Science Awards–funded Yale Center for has confounded every neurologist and Clinical Investigation and the Diabetes urologist I have seen (suggestions are Endocrinology Research Center at Yale, welcome). My wife, Alice, and I plan has received the American Diabetes to spend our time commuting between Association’s 2011 Albert Renold Rochester, NY, and Los Angeles. Alice is Award. The award is presented “to an an internationally known Judaic needle- individual whose career is distinguished work designer and part-time Jewish by outstanding achievements in the family educator. My daughter, Yapha training of diabetes research scien- Mason, is the lower-school librarian at tists and the facilitation of diabetes Brentwood School in Los Angeles and research.” One of Dr. Sherwin’s trainees At the Gala Reunion Dinner: William has one daughter, Eve. My son, Joe, is a was Harry Shamoon, M.D., Einstein’s Clusin, M.D. ’76, Ph.D. ’76, left, and Gordon Klein, M.D. ‘71. successful film director in Hollywood. associate dean for clinical and transla- You can look up his filmography (yes, tional research. mornings a week. He and his wife of 45 that is what they call it) on the Internet. years, Gail, own an RV and travel a lot. He has one son, Leo.” Joseph G. Tuchman, M.D. ’67, lives They have three wonderful sons, all in Monsey, NY, and started a private married, and ten grandchildren. His Robert Sherwin, M.D. ’67, the practice in dermatology in Monroe, NY youngest son, Jay Tuchman, M.D. ’03, C. N. H. Long Professor of Medicine, (Orange County), that has been thriv- is an assistant professor of pediatric anes- chief of the section of endocrinology ing since 1973. He retired from actively thesiology at the University of Pittsburgh at Yale School of Medicine and direc- seeing patients in 2006, but works as Medical Center in Pittsburgh, PA. tor of the Clinical and Translational a consultant at his former practice two

Alumni Leadership Brunch From left: Einstein Century Award recipient Russell W. Cohen, M.D. ’85, with Dean On Sunday, May 1, Dean Spiegel hosted the annual Einstein Alumni Leadership Brunch at Allen M. Spiegel, M.D. the Price Center/Block Research Pavilion. Einstein Century Award recipient The event celebrated alumni whose cumulative lifetime gifts total $25,000 or more, Donald H. Wolmer, M.D. ’60, with placing them at the Dean’s Club level of giving. Those alumni who have now reached Dean Spiegel. giving levels of $25,000, $50,000, $100,000 and $150,000 were presented with special Einstein Circle Award recipient Sheila leadership awards by the dean. Also recognized were alumni who made a gift of $1,000 or Tanenbaum, M.D. ’66, and Alumni Association more to Einstein this year. President Jack Stern, M.D. ’74, Ph.D. ’73. Guests enjoyed a lecture by John J. Foxe, Ph.D. ’99, director of research at Einstein’s Children’s Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center (CERC) and professor in the department Einstein Circle Award recipient Kenneth A. Schiffer, M.D. ’61, with his wife, Marcia. of pediatrics and in the Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience. Following brunch and Dr. Foxe’s talk, guests were invited for a tour of the CERC. Einstein Dean’s Club Award recipient Miriam Levy, M.D. ’79, with Dean Spiegel.

science at the heart of medicine 57 our dna | Class notes

afford gas to go to the doctor and have no electricity or running water. It is an amazing and rejuvenating experience. On a lighter note, my daughter Jamie Meade, M.D. ’07, is now teaching and serving as an ER doctor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; my daughter Brooke is a soon-to-be-third- year medical student. If you are ever in northwestern New Mexico, drop by and remember where medicine was 50 years ago. I am also running the student rural rotation program here, in case any Einstein students are interested, or if any Indian Health Service scholarship At the Gala Reunion Dinner, from left: Norman Luban, M.D. ‘71; Miriam Levitt-Flisser, holders are looking for work to pay off M.D. ’71; and David Romanoff, M.D. ‘71. their commitment.”

Miriam Levitt-Flisser, M.D. ’71, was Victoria Stern, M.D. ’71, reports that recently elected mayor of Scarsdale, she has been very happily retired for NY. Dr. Levitt-Flisser has a pediatric more than 14 years. She has stayed busy practice in Bronxville, NY, where she is as a volunteer reading to first graders, also medical director of the Bronxville doing taxes for seniors and sewing in the School District. Besides serving on the costume shop of a local operetta com- voluntary faculty at Einstein, she is a pany. She writes, “I continue to enjoy volunteer for ServNY, a New York State living the California life in the sun emergency response team, and a mem- with hiking/walking and bicycling as ber of the medical executive commit- daily activities. I have one son, a singer/ tee at Montefiore Medical Center. Dr. performer/director/teacher, who lives Levitt-Flisser is an honorary founder/ locally and is working on his teaching At the Gala Reunion Dinner: Dean’s Club member at Einstein. She credential. Life is good.” Leslie Blachman, M.D. ’72, and Paul Blachman, M.D. ‘71. and her husband, Harvey, have three grown children and three grandchildren. Miriam Tasini, M.D. ’71, has been elected president of the American Neil Meade, M.D. ’71, writes: “After College of Psychoanalysts; she took 1970s 32 years in private practice in Maryland office in June. Dr. Tasini is a professor Henry Klapholz, M.D. ’71, has been I took a break, but that didn’t work. at UCLA Medical School and the train- named dean for clinical affairs and Now I am almost one year into my ing and supervising psychoanalyst at professor of obstetrics and gynecology second career, doing what I always the New Center for Psychoanalysis in at Tufts University School of Medicine, wanted: working in Crownpoint, NM, Los Angeles. after serving as chair of obstetrics and on a Navajo reservation doing primary gynecology at MetroWest Medical care, ER, inpatient and whatever else Center in Framingham, MA, for 10 needs to be done. We are one hour from years and as associate professor of nowhere, working with Third World obstetrics and gynecology at Harvard. equipment, where people often can’t

58 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 Alumni profile: sidney sobel, m.d. ’61, FACR Clinical Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry

Einstein magazine as one of the great teachers of pharmacology: “His course recently talked with brought together the basic sciences and clinical medicine, and Sidney Sobel, M.D. ’61, it continues to serve me to this day.” After completing a surgical residency at the Bronx Veterans who attended his 50th Administration Hospital, Dr. Sobel practiced for a few years class reunion in June. It until a serious back injury forced him to find a new specialty. was his first visit to the In 1970, the Worcester, MA, native moved to Rochester, NY, Einstein campus in nearly 50 years. “When I was to become the first fellow in multidisciplinary oncology at a medical student,” said Dr. Sobel, “the campus the University of Rochester’s Strong Memorial Hospital. A consisted of the dorm, one classroom building, residency in radiation oncology followed. the library, Van Etten and Jacobi Hospitals and At Strong, Dr. Sobel realized that outlying areas of Rochester lacked cancer care: “Patients would forgo treatment the Kennedy facility. It was astonishing to come because of the long distances they had to travel.” back and see so many new buildings on campus So he and his wife, and Van Etten in its new Barbara, mortgaged their role.” He summed up home and gathered other “If you choose medicine as a his impressions with one assets, and in 1983, he built word: “Wow!” Dr. Sobel is calling, you’ll be certain to and staffed the first of three a radiation oncologist in find joy in your work, and rural outpatient radiation oncology facilities that he Rochester, NY, and a fellow fulfillment in your service to would establish over the next of the American College the profession and to society.” ten years. The success of of Radiology. this ambitious undertaking “remains a source of hen Sidney Sobel was applying to medical school, enormous pride and pleasure for me,” he says. Whis advisor at Harvard encouraged him to strongly Dr. Sobel has been in practice for 35 years in Rochester consider Albert Einstein College of Medicine. “He said I’d be and, at age 75, has no plans to retire. In 2004, the Rochester a pioneer in the third class of a new medical school founded Business Journal named him Physician of the Year, an honor on principles he considered most important: clinical values, he values highly. But his greatest reward is “the feeling I responsibility to mankind, service to the community,” recalls experienced while standing in line at Home Depot, and Dr. Sobel. “He said the students would be the kind who a former patient came up to me and said, ‘You may not viewed medicine as a calling. I took that very much to heart.” remember me, but I was once told I might lose my life to The advisor assured his protégé that his education at Einstein cancer. You told me that getting well takes place between the would be “second to none” and that the school’s special ears, and that we’d work as a team to help me get well. And emphasis on clinical psychiatry “would help mold a more here I am, 20 years later.’ There’s nothing like that feeling.” sensitive and insightful physician.” Dr. Sobel’s advice to students considering a medical career: His advisor was right on all counts, says Dr. Sobel: “The “If you choose medicine as a calling, you’ll be certain to education I got at Einstein was extraordinary, both in basic find joy in your work, and fulfillment in your service to the science and in clinical practice. The faculty was exceptional.” profession and to society.” As an example, Dr. Sobel describes Professor Arthur Gilman

science at the heart of medicine 59 our dna | Class notes

Norman J. Cohen, M.D. ’74, has Joseph Barbuto, M.D. ’78, has a annual meeting in May. Dr. Weisman retired from the full-time practice of private practice in psychiatry with a is the Jane B. Pettit Chair in Pain orthopaedic surgery after practicing specialty in psychiatric oncology and is Management and professor of anesthe- for more than 35 years in Illinois. The a clinical associate professor of psychia- siology and pediatrics at the Medical Cohens have downsized and moved to try at Weill Medical College of Cornell College of Wisconsin and medical South Florida. Dr. Cohen now spends University, an associate attending director of the Jane B. Pettit Pain and four to six months practicing orthopae- psychiatrist at New York–Presbyterian Palliative Care Center of the Children’s dic surgery on the Navajo Reservation Hospital and a consultant at Memorial Hospital of Wisconsin, both based in in Gallup, NM, at the Gallup Indian Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He Milwaukee. Most recently, his work has Medical Center of the Indian Health writes, “I enjoy teaching medical stu- focused on the impact of chronic pain Service, followed by four to six months dents, residents and clinical fellows on families, treatment of pain with yoga of “R and R” in South Florida. He at these institutions.” Dr. Barbuto is and mindfulness meditation and the notes, “A welcome change after being in also the medical director of the Gestalt interrelationship of obesity and the private sector for so long!” Center for Psychotherapy and Training chronic pain. in New York City. Steven Mandel, M.D. ’75, Ronald B. Cohen, M.D. ’79, recently spoke at the 2011 Sjögren’s Steven J. writes, “Having become disenchanted Syndrome Foundation National Weisman, with pharmacotherapy and the medical Patient Conference in Reston, VA, M.D. ’78, has model, I’ve been transitioning my prac- and co-authored an article in the been awarded tice to focus on relationship difficulties, Sjögren’s Quarterly (volume 5, issue 4, the American intergenerational conflict and ‘the nor- fall 2010), “Cognitive Impairment Pain Society’s mative crises’ of the family life cycle. I and Neuropsychological Testing in 2011 Jeffrey specialize in helping families and cou- Sjögren’s.” Lawson Award ples in crisis and transition, particularly for Advocacy situations caused by severe and chronic Frank Gillingham, M.D. ’77, reports in Children’s Pain Relief. The award, medical and psychiatric illness, trauma that his son Alex was drafted in the elev- which recognizes outstanding efforts and disability. On the home front we enth round of the 2011 Major League to improve the management of pain in are looking forward to two graduations Baseball draft by the Colorado Rockies. children, was presented at the society’s next spring, our son from college and our daughter from high school. Pete the dog will help ease the launching- phase transition.”

At Alumni Day on Campus, from left: Ruth Stolz, M.D. ’81; David Newman, M.D. ’81; and Norland Berk, M.D. ‘64.

60 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 Norman Saffra, M.D. ’88, FACS, FAAO, is pleased to announce the opening of his Long Island office in Hewlett, NY. Dr. Saffra is also direc- tor of ophthalmology at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY, and clinical professor of ophthalmology at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in Manhattan.

Daniel Zanger, M.D. ’88, FACC, is in private practice in cardiology in Members of the Class of 1986 at the Gala Reunion Dinner. Midwood, Brooklyn. He is also on staff at Maimonides Hospital and is an assis- Queens in Fresh Meadows, NY (tms- tant clinical professor of medicine at centerofqueens.com). Downstate Medical Center. Dr. Zanger and his wife, Alyssa (Srulowitz), have Linda Broyde Haramati, M.D. ’85, five children. writes, “Our Einstein family is expand- ing. In addition to my husband, Nogah, Gerard D’Aversa, M.D. ’89, traveled and me being on staff in the radiology to Accra, Ghana, earlier this year with department at Montefiore, our son- his daughter Jaclyn, a junior at Barnard in-law, Alexander (Avi) Pekurovsky, College. The purpose of their 10-day graduated from Einstein in the Class of trip: to work in the North Western Eye At the Gala Reunion Dinner: Melanie 2011, and his wife, our daughter Adina, Clinic, where they provided clinical care Hoenig, M.D. ‘91, and Giselle Corbie- entered Einstein this fall with the Class Smith, M.D. ‘91. and eye-disease screenings for children of 2015.” and adults and conducted educational programs. Dr. D’Aversa performed Lewis Stein, M.D. ’86, writes, “Our sight-restoring surgery on many adult 1980s 25th wedding anniversary was in May patients. He also brought medical sup- Ronald DePinho, M.D. ’81, has been 2011. Every so often, I tease my wife plies and equipment and trained clinic named president of the University of about how I was late for graduation and director Dr. Michael Gyasi to per- Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in missed being in the graduation photo. form modern cataract surgery using a Houston, TX. Dr. DePinho was previ- We have four girls, ages 22, 19, 15 and Phacoemulsification (Phaco) machine. ously the director of the Belfer Institute 7. Our oldest daughter is married and Dr. D’Aversa’s trip was part of Unite for for Applied Cancer Science at the Dana- living in Israel, and is the mother of a Sight, a nonprofit organization provid- Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA, little boy born in August 2010. After ing eye care worldwide and offering and professor of medicine (genetics) at 18 years in anesthesia private practice, hands-on public health opportunities Harvard Medical School. I recently joined an ambulatory sur- for volunteers. Dr. D’Aversa is a partner gery center and office-based anesthesia in Ophthalmic Consultants of Long Joshua Lamm, M.D. ’83, has a private practice. In addition, I started working Island (OCLI), an ophthalmology prac- practice in psychiatry in Manhattan part-time in two New York City Health tice in Valley Stream, NY. and Queens County, NY, and is the and Hospitals Corporation hospitals in medical director of the TMS (transcra- Queens, to keep in touch with the com- nial magnetic stimulation) Center of plicated hospital cases.”

science at the heart of medicine 61 our dna | Class notes

2000s Michelle (Yadegari) Yasharpour, M.D. ’03, completed her internal medicine training in June 2010 and will be start- ing a fellowship at the University of California, Irvine, in allergy and immu- nology. She writes, “I took off the year to welcome my son Jacob Banayahu, who was born October 27, 2010. He was a miracle baby—a hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy baby who underwent the whole-body hypothermia therapy Members of the Class of 1991 at the Gala Reunion Dinner. (cooling protocol) and is now doing amazingly.”

1990s Joshua Sisser, M.D. ’05, and Rachel Dina Levin, M.D. ’93, has moved from Bakst Sisser, M.D. ’05, welcomed their Portland, OR, to Randolph, VT, where third child, Sophie Michelle Sisser, on she started working as an obstetrician- June 11. gynecologist at Gifford Medical Center, a critical-access hospital in central Alexander Zev Nelken, M.D. ’06, Vermont, on May 31. Previously, she is board certified in anesthesiology was at Gateway Women’s Clinic in and working at Beth Israel Medical Portland, OR, and was department Center’s Kings Highway Division in Brooklyn, NY. chair at Providence Portland Medical At the Gala Reunion Dinner, from left: Center. She was accompanied on her Boris Khodorkovsky, M.D. ‘01; move by her husband of 12 years and Eric Berkowitz, M.D. ‘01; and Jeffrey Siegelman, M.D. ’07, and his their two sons, ages 10 and 9. Adam Wollowick, M.D. ‘01. wife, Melissa, are proud to announce the birth of their first child, Emma Robert J. Stern, M.D. ’93, has Etta Eskridge, M.D. ’95, Ph.D., Rose, on January 24. Dr. Siegelman joined the Foreign Service as a regional FACP, was recently named director of completed his residency in emergency medical officer for the United States palliative medicine and founder of the medicine in June and joined the faculty Department of State. In this capacity, he program at Westchester Medical Center, at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. will work overseas out of U.S. embas- Valhalla, NY. Prior to joining the staff at sies, caring for American diplomatic WMC, Dr. Eskridge had run programs Robyn Gartner, M.D. ’08, moved to personnel and advising the Department in clinical medicine in underserved and Philadelphia, PA, for her intern year and of State on health-related matters. He resource-poor villages in Malawi, Africa, writes, “I ended up meeting a wonder- will be joined at his overseas posts by since 2006. Dr. Eskridge is also a trustee ful guy who is now my fiancé. I com- his wife, Gillian Schweitzer, M.D. ’94, on the board of Global AIDS Interfaith pleted one year at Montefiore radiology and their two children, Trevor, 12, and Alliance, a nonprofit organization work- before transferring to the University of Talia, 9. ing to alleviate the burden of poverty Pennsylvania to be closer to him. We are and HIV/AIDS in Malawi. For more getting married in November 2011.” information: www.thegaia.org.

62 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 Einstein in California

In Los Angeles: From left, Allan Compton, M.D.; Miriam Finder Tasini, M.D. ’71; Faranak Nosratian, D.D.S.; Farshad Nosratian, M.D. ’83. In San Francisco: Laurence J. Marton, M.D. ’69, and Dean Allen M. Spiegel, M.D.; Melvin M. Scheinman, M.D. ’60, and Dean Spiegel.

n June, Allen M. Spiegel, M.D., Governors member Farshad Nosratian, concluding remarks at both events. Einstein’s Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz M.D. ’83, welcomed fellow alumni He was enthusiastic about promoting IDean, hosted events in San Francisco and parents and introduced the dean, greater alumni participation from and Los Angeles. Both were well at- who again facilitated discussion and coast to coast and suggested several tended by Einstein alumni and parents fielded questions, and shared a student ways that Einstein graduates could of current Einstein students. recruitment video that the audience become involved in the lives of “Einstein in San Francisco” was held enjoyed. future students, current students and at the Payne Mansion. After a brunch, “It was a pleasure to spend time with younger alumni. Mark Reiss, M.D. ’59, welcomed the Einstein alumni and parents on the West For more information about group and introduced Dean Spiegel, Coast,” Dean Spiegel noted. “Our events regional programming for Einstein who provided an “Einstein Update,” in San Francisco and Los Angeles were graduates, or to see how you can help answered questions from attendees wonderful opportunities for members of Einstein students, please contact Emily and facilitated a lively discussion. the Einstein family to reconnect with the Snyder, director of alumni relations “Einstein in Los Angeles” was College of Medicine and each other.” and annual giving, at 718.430.2922 or held at the Skirball Cultural Center. Glenn Miller, associate dean for [email protected]. New Alumni Association Board of institutional advancement, made

Jeremy Mazurek, M.D. ’08, has Francisco, and started a primary care In Memoriam completed his internal medicine resi- research fellowship there on July 1. Her We sadly acknowledge the passing dency at Jacobi Medical Center and husband, Yaron, opened a restaurant in of the following Einstein alumni. will be serving as chief medical resident their neighborhood in San Francisco We honor their memories and at Jacobi for the upcoming year. He last year called Local Mission Eatery. extend our deepest condolences to has been accepted to the University of Miriam and Yaron welcomed their their families and friends. Pennsylvania Cardiovascular Disease second child, Rimon, in November Neil Barton, M.D. ‘62 Fellowship beginning in July 2012. 2010. Rimon’s big brother, Cruv, is Arthur Feldman, M.D. ’59 now 3-1/2. Arthur Kraut, M.D. ’61 Miriam Sheinbein, M.D. ’08, com- Soo Jin Lee, M.D. ’99 pleted her residency in family medicine Joseph J. Okon, M.D. ’73 at the University of California, San

science at the heart of medicine 63 A look back | einstein in history

In September 1987, a Newsweek cover story made Celeste Carrion the poster child for pediatric AIDS. The serious-looking nine-and-a-half-year-old from a gritty Bronx neighborhood had lived longer than anyone else infected with HIV from birth. Both her parents were heroin addicts. Her mother had died from AIDS four years earlier, and her father was terminally ill with the disease. Every other week, their grandmother took Celeste and her five-year-old brother Eddie, also HIV-positive, to the pediatric AIDS service at Einstein, directed by Arye Rubinstein, M.D., a pioneer in treating children with AIDS. Thanks to antiretroviral drugs such as AZT, the much-feared pediatric AIDS epidemic didn’t occur: Administering the drugs to pregnant HIV-positive women almost always spared their babies from infection. But those drugs came too late for Celeste. In October 1989, at age 11 years and 7 months, she lost her lifelong struggle against HIV. Her brother Eddie had died two years earlier, at age six. “Celeste and Eddie were an inspiration to all of us for their humility and quiet resignation,” Dr. Rubinstein recalls. “They had to deal with the ostracism faced by all AIDS patients, children and adults, in the early years of the epidemic. And yet they expressed their gratitude for every sign of compassion, for every handshake and hug.”

Photo credit: From Newsweek September 7 © 1987. The Newsweek/Daily Beast Company LLC. All rights reserved. Used by permission and protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States. The printing, copying, redistribution, or retransmission of the Material without express written permission is prohibited. Link to web: www.newsweek.com

64 einstein : summer/fall 2 011 EinsteinMagazineSummer-Fall2011_11_2_11FINAL—November 30, 2011 5:21 PM

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Summer/Fall 2011

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Congratulations! On Wednesday, June 1, New York’s Avery Fisher Hall was the site of great rejoicing: After years of hard work, 185 Einstein med students had finally earned their M.D. diplomas; 59 doctoral students were given Ph.D. diplomas; and 13 students received one of each! The graduates entered the next phase of their lives accompanied by sage advice from Richard M. Joel, Yeshiva University’s president; Allen M. Spiegel, M.D., Einstein’s Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean; and eminent AIDS researcher and commencement speaker Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. See page 42.

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