July 1996

Dr. Cynthia Hughes Harris is appointed director of P&S Occupational Therapy Programs.

Four new Herbert and Florence Irving Assistant Professors are named to three-year appointments: Dr. Angela M. Christiano, Dr. Robert Fine, Dr. Robin Goland, and Dr. Michio Hirano.

Columbia and Cornell announce plans to build an alliance of physicians (see Partnering to Face a Challenge).


Two studies may end a two-year controversy about the role of a new human herpes virus in Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), a cancer common in gay and bisexual men with AIDS. Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpes virus (KSHV) was first identified in 1994 by Dr. Patrick Moore, associate professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health, and Dr. Yuan Chang, P&S associate professor of pathology. Since then, some experts have argued that KSHV is a common, latent virus that could not cause a rare disease like KS. The latest studies contradict that argument.

Lead researcher Dr. Paul B. Fisher, professor of clinical pathology in urology, and colleagues identify a gene that may control the metastatic spread of prostate cancer and tumor growth. If confirmed, the preliminary finding may eventually help doctors identify patients whose prostate cancer is likely to spread facilitating more effective treatment of the disease.

August 1996

Dr. Herbert Pardes is on hand in late August for President Clinton's signing into law the Kassebaum-Kennedy health insurance reform bill.

A study led by Dr. Richard Mayeux, the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Professor of Neurology, Psychiatry, and Public Health (epidemiology), shows that postmenopausal women who used estrogen for a year or more significantly delay or decrease their risk of developing Alzheimer's disease

September 1996

Opening exercises to welcome incoming students are held in the alumni auditorium with guest speaker Columbia University President George Rupp and keynote speaker Dr. Margaret Wood, E.M. Papper Professor and Chair of Anesthesiology--the first woman to head a clinical department at P&S.

Dr. Margaret Wood

October 1996

An unprecedented seven Columbia faculty members are elected to the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences: Dr. Paul D. Clayton, professor and chairman of medical informatics; Dr. Herbert D. Kleber, professor of psychiatry; Dr. Samuel C. Silverstein, the John C. Dalton Professor and Chairman of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics; Dr. Mervyn W. Susser, the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology and special lecturer in the School of Public Health; Dr. Gerald E. Thomson, the Samuel Lambert Professor of Medicine and senior associate dean; Dr. Myron L. Weisfeldt, the Samuel Bard Professor and Chairman of Medicine; and Dr. Myrna M. Weissman, professor of public health (epidemiology) in psychiatry.

The New York State Psychiatric Institute celebrates the end of its centennial year with a gala.

Three new P&S professorships are established or filled at the Columbia Trustees meeting. Appointed as the Madeline C. Stabile Professor of Clinical Medicine is Dr. Ethel S. Siris, professor of clinical medicine (see Legacy Strengthens Research). The Elizabeth K. Dollard Professorship of Psychiatry, Medicine, and Law is established and Dr. John M. Oldham, director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute and professor of clinical psychiatry, is appointed to the new chair. The Wu Professorship of Medicine (Oncology), approved by the Trustees in June, is filled by Dr. Karen Antman, P&S professor of medicine, chief of medical oncology, and director of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (see Ongoing Relationship Aims for End of Cancer).

A gene that helps control cholesterol levels also may play a role in male infertility, according to a collaborative study between researchers at P&S and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Dr. Li-Shin Huang, P&S assistant professor of medicine is a co-author on the paper.

A new calcium-channel blocker, amlodipine, does not increase the risk of death in patients with severe heart failure, according to a study led by Dr. Milton Packer, the Dickinson W. Richards Professor of Medicine in circulatory physiology, director of the Heart Failure Center at CPMC, and former Irving Scholar.

November 1996

A gala dinner dance recognizes Herbert and Florence Irving for their remarkable generosity to CPMC. The Irvings have donated the most money in CPMC's history: nearly $35 million for clinical and research programs and a pledge of $10 million for cancer research (see Ongoing Relationship Aims for End of Cancer). Officials at Columbia and Cornell universities sign papers creating Columbia-Cornell Care--an alliance of their medical faculties to contract for managed care (see Partnering to Face a Challenge).

The Irving gala in November

The prestigious Dean's Award for Distinguished Service is presented at the Advisory Council meeting to David J. Mahoney, chairman and chief executive officer of the influential Charles A. Dana Foundation, the Eleanor Naylor Dana Charitable Trust, the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, and David Mahoney Ventures, in recognition of his lifelong commitment to health and medical research.

December 1996

Columbia Trustees establish the M.J. Harrison Professorship of Urology, based on a pledge from Arthur E. Lashinsky, trustee and executor of the Mortimer J. Harrison Trust.

CPMC researchers publish details of a blood test they have developed that can identify postoperative thyroid cancer patients at risk for metastatic disease. Dr. Beth Ann Ditkoff, assistant professor of surgery, and Dr. Paul LoGerfo, professor of surgery, are co-leaders of the research team.

CPMC in cooperation with Long Island Jewish Medical Center is selected to participate in the first multicenter clinical trial of lung volume reduction surgery for patients with advanced emphysema. The CPMC/LIJ consortium is the only center participating in the tri-state region.

January 1997

Columbia researchers, led by senior author Dr. Alan R. Tall, the Tilden Weger Bieler Professor of Preventive Medicine and chief of the Specialized Center for Research in Molecular Medicine and Atherosclerosis, announce the development of a mouse model for the most common genetic cause of a lipid disorder associated with premature heart disease.

The gene known as PTI-1, first identified in 1995 by principal investigator Dr. Paul B. Fisher, P&S professor of clinical pathology in urology, and his colleagues, is confirmed as associated with prostate cancer and has potential use in identifying earlier detection and staging methods for the disease.

February 1997

Columbia Trustees establish the Robert E. Carroll Professorship of Surgery of the Hand in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, on behalf of Dr. Carroll, who spent 40 years teaching, training, and practicing at P&S. Dr. Carroll's wife, Jane Chace Carroll, and her sister and brother, Mrs. Eliot Nolen and Malcolm G. Chace III, fund the chair. The University also receives a pledge from Robert and Hortense Sonneborn to establish the Robert Sonneborn Professorship of Medicine. Dr. Sonneborn graduated from P&S in 1936.

March 1997

Columbia Genome Center signs a $30 million licensing agreement with VIMRx Pharmaceuticals (see Genetics Research Increases Treatment Possibilities).

Russ and Angelica Berrie pledge a gift of $13.5 million to advance CPMC as the most comprehensive diabetes research and treatment center in the New York tri-state area (see A New Hope for Research and Diabetes Care)

	Fourth-year P&S students participate with 13,554 of their fellow U.S. medical school seniors in the 1997 Match Day. The National Resident Matching Program records a total of 20,209 residency positions this year. P&S students take 136 of those positions at prestigious medical institutions across the nation; 64 of those positions are in New York City.
Class of 1997 students Natalie Brathwaite and Duane Russell shared their excitement when Ms. Brathwaite learned the whereabouts of her ob/gyn residency program at Match Day.

Dr. Herbert Pardes is appointed by President Bill Clinton to the Advisory Commission on Consumer Rights and Quality in the Health Care Industry. The commission asked to draft a bill of rights for health care consumers and assess the need for regulation of private health insurance plans.

Columbia researchers, led by Dr. Ramon Parsons, P&S assistant professor of pathology and of medicine, in collaboration with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, identify a new tumor suppressor gene, known as P-TEN, involved in a large percentage of brain, breast, and prostate cancers (see Concerted Efforts Bring Discovery).

April 1997

Long-time P&S supporters Richard and Rakia Hatch are presented the Dean's Award for Distinguished Service. Mr. and Mrs. Hatch have endowed three named professorships and were instrumental in the establishment of a fourth chair. They created the Hatch Young Investigators Fund for Cardiovascular Training, the Hatch Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center, a scholarship endowment for the School of Nursing, and a program in breast cancer research.

Pictured from left, are Richard Hatch, Dr. Herbert Pardes, Rakia Hatch, and Columbia president Dr. George Rupp.

The CPMC Neighborhood Fund awards $79,000 to community groups in Washington Heights/Inwood at its 10th anniversary awards ceremony.

P&S and Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheva, Israel, sign a formal letter of intent to establish a four-year medical degree program at Ben Gurion specializing in international health and medicine.

A report by scientists at CPMC and 23 Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study sites says that selegiline (or Eldepryl) and alpha-tocopherol (or vitamin E) may delay important functional signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's disease by about seven months. Principal investigator is Dr. Mary Sano, associate professor of clinical neuropsychology.

May 1997

Prophylactic mastectomy and oophorectomy (removal of the ovaries) for women who carry the BRCA1 mutation and have a family history of breast and ovarian cancers can prolong life expectancy by approximately 8.5 years, but at a great cost to quality of life, concludes a new study led by Dr. Victor R. Grann, director of health outcomes research in the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center. P&S alumnus Harold E. Varmus, director of the National Institutes of Health, gives the address when 141 students receive medical degrees and 42 receive Ph.D. degrees at graduation ceremonies. Dr. Varmus, a 1966 graduate of P&S, is the first Nobel Laureate to lead NIH.

The Russ Berrie Medical Science Pavilion ribbon-cutting ceremony is celebrated (see A New Home for Research and Diabetes Care).

Cutting the ribbon to the new Berrie Pavilion are, from left, Dr. Herbert Pardes, Gov. George Pataki, Russ and Angelica Berrie, Columbia president Dr. George Rupp, and Sen. Alfonse D'Amato.

June 1997

Dr. Betty Shabazz, educator, civil rights advocate, and member of the Columbia-Presbyterian Health Sciences Advisory Council, dies June 23 from injuries suffered in a fire. Dr. Shabazz was a special friend of Columbia whose relationship with the Health Sciences dates from 1983, when the University, along with the city and state of New York, began plans to develop the Audubon Biomedical Science and Technology Park on the site of the Audubon Ballroom. The ballroom is where Dr. Shabazz's husband, activist Malcolm X, was shot to death in 1965. Dr. Shabazz proposed a living memorial, which became the Malcolm X Medical Scholarships for minority medical students enrolled at P&S.

The late Dr. Betty Shabazz on a 1995 visit to P&S whn she met with Malcolm X Medical Scholars.