Winter 2017 e-News for Alumni

February 16, 2017

ABOUT OUR CURRENT STUDENTS

Read about the January transition ceremony, the annual Steven Z. Miller Student Clinician’s Ceremony marking the transition of second-year students from the classroom to patient-centered training.

P&S is one of 10 medical schools across the country participating in a pilot program to ensure medical students are fully prepared for residency on day one of their residencies. Read more.

P&S AND CUMC NEWS

A pipeline program to increase the number of health care professionals from underrepresented minorities has been expanded this year to include nursing, public health, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and nutrition. Columbia has participated in the medical and dental program for several years. Read more.

The Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology has opened a new preterm birth prevention center to provide personalized medical care for women at high risk for premature birth. Read more.

P&S is 250 years old this year, but the other schools at Columbia University Medical Center also are celebrating anniversaries (125 years for nursing, 100 for dental, and 95 for public health). To kick off the year of anniversaries, the medical center hosted a “cake off” in January. The P&S cake won the vote cast by a panel of judges, while the College of Dental Medicine cake won the popular vote. Read more.

The third annual Kenneth A. Forde Diversity Alliance symposium and reception honored several members of the P&S and CUMC community for their contributions to promoting diversity. Two P&S graduates and two students were honored: Julia Iyasere’08, Christopher Gonzalez’16, Naralys Batista’19, and Christopher Travis’19. Read more.

A SELECTION OF CLASS NOTES

An opinion piece in the East Hampton Star mentions Jay Meltzer’53. Read more.

John Bilezikian’69 participated in a panel discussion at the Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, N.J., about the state of Armenia’s health care 25 years after independence. Read more.

Steven M. Schwarz’74 was honored with the prestigious Murray Davidson Award for 2016 by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Read more.

The Society of Thoracic Surgeons awarded the 2017 Earl Bakken Scientific Achievement Award to Eric A. Rose’75. Read more.

Harvey Makadon’77 will receive an honorary degree from Rutgers University at the school’s May 14 commencement ceremony. Read more.

Marc C. Chamberlain’77 has joined the leadership team at the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Cascadian Therapeutics. Read more.

Mary T. Bassett’79, New York City health commissioner, received the Frank A. Calderone Prize, the most prestigious award in public health, from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in an October 2016 ceremony. Read more.

Ellen Gravallese’81 has been appointed an associate editor of the New England Journal of Medicine. Read more.

Tom Frieden’86 discussed his seven-year tenure at the CDC in an interview with F. Perry Wilson’06. Read more.

Read an Indianapolis newspaper feature story about how Margo Carrancejie’89 diagnosed a patient with craniosynostosis because she studied at P&S under a doctor who specialized in fetal skull issues.

Christopher P. (Kit) Gorton’84 has been appointed to the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission. Read more.

Read about Navarra Rodriguez’97 in a Queens, N.Y., newspaper article.

Matt Iseman’98 won NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice” in February after competing in the final against singer Boy George. Read more. The newspaper at Princeton, where Matt was an undergraduate, also posted a story about his win.

John H. Velyvis’98 has been appointed medical director of robotic orthopedic surgery at Seton Medical Center in Daly City, Calif. Read more.

Adam Wilcox’00 has been appointed to the Methodology Committee of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. Read more.

Aimee Smidt’02 was named chair of the department of dermatology at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. Read more.

Eve Glazier’04 is one of three doctors writing a daily medical column, “Ask the Doctors,” for the Plainview Daily Herald newspaper in Plainview, Texas. Read more.

Richard O. Francis’07 received a grant through the Columbia Provost’s Grants Program for Junior Faculty Who Contribute to the Diversity Goals of the University. Read more.

The Duluth Family Medicine Residency Program hired James Coniff’11 as a board-certified family physician. Read more.

Uzodinma Iweala’11 co-produced a documentary film that premiered at Sundance International Film Festival in January. Read more.

Ben McVane’13, a volunteer with the Syrian American Medical Society Global Response, wrote an op-ed published in the New York Times. Read more.

Abdul El-Sayed’14 has resigned his position as Detroit public health director to run for governor of Michigan in 2018. Read more.

OF HISTORICAL INTEREST

Virginia Apgar’33 is the first subject in a Medical News Today series highlighting female role models in medicine. Read more.

A new Columbia University website created by faculty, students, and staff to present information about Columbia’s historic connections to slavery includes an article and student research papers about P&S history and the school’s ties to slavery. Read more.

IN MEMORIAM

Lawrence Crane’42

Robert Comly Wilson III’44

Stanley Edelman’53

Donald R. Reisfield’54

Burton Lee’56 

Raymond D. Mutter’57

Sheila Horn Bisaillon’60  

Frank Rees Smith’62

Keith Brodie’65

Laura Ponticorvo’68 

Anne Bernstein’70

Harvey Topilow’75

Send your news to columbiamedicine@columbia.edu

Note: External links are current at the time of this communication. The College of Physicians & Surgeons is not responsible for the content of external websites.