News and Highlights
November 2009
Media and Publicity
Dr. Mushlin and Other Public Health Faculty Featured in Summer 2009 Weill Cornell Medicine
The Summer 2009 issue of Weill Cornell Medicine magazine featured a two-page question and answer article with Dr. Alvin Mushlin, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Public Health (Talk of the Gown pp. 20-21). Dr. Mushlin discussed the current field of public health, the structure and activities of the department, and the work of the Department’s in addressing some of today’s most pressing public health issues.
The issue also mentioned Dr. Heather Taffet Gold’s study of the effects of delayed or incomplete radiation therapy following breast cancer surgery (p. 14) and Dr. Rainu Kaushal’s work as founder and Executive Director of the Health Information Technology Evaluation Collaborative for New York (HITEC—p. 10).
Dr. Heather Cereste Featured in All You Magazine
Heather X. Cereste, MD, MPH, Physician Ethicist and Assistant Professor of Public Health and Medicine in the Division of Medical Ethics, was featured in the September 25, 2009, issue of All You magazine (pp. 68-69) as one of three women whose lives were changed as a result of the events of September 11, 2001. The article describes how the attack led her to enlist in the Air Force and to go to Iraq to attend to patients in the military hospital intensive care unit in Balad. Her experience in dealing with the many ethical dilemmas that came up, both in Iraq and in her position as Chair of the Ethics Committee at Lackland Air Force base in San Antonio, helped make her want to focus on medical ethics in her career and led her to her current position in the Division of Medical Ethics.
Dr. Joseph Fins on NPR’s Talk of the Nation
Joseph J. Fins, MD, FACP, Chief of the Division of Medical Ethics and Professor of Medicine, Public Health, and Medicine in Psychiatry, was a guest on NPR’s Talk of the Nation with host Lynn Neary on August 10, 2009. Dr. Fins and the other guests discussed advanced care planning issues in light of the health care debates.
Dr. Marcus Reidenberg’s Letter Published in New York Times
A letter to the editor by Marcus Reidenberg, MD, Professor of Pharmacology, Medicine, and Public Health, was published in the June 19, 2009 issue of The New York Times. Dr. Reidenberg discusses flaws in our current healthcare payment system that need to be corrected in order to improve care and also lower costs.
Drs. Carla Boutin-Foster and Shari Midoneck Mentioned in New York Times
Carla Boutin-Foster, MD, MS, Associate Professor of Medicine and Public Health, and Shari Midoneck, MD, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine and formerly the Laitman Scholar in Prevention, discussed when night sweats might indicate a serious illness in a New York Times Q & A in June called “What a Sweat I’m In.” Dr. Boutin-Foster was also quoted in Parade Magazine about whether annual physicals are necessary.
Dr. Oliver Fein Discusses Single Payer Option 
Oliver Fein, MD, Professor of Clinical Medicine and Clinical Public Health, was featured on NPR All Things Considered, on Minnipost.com, and on TCdailyplanet.net, discussing the importance of the single payer option for health care. He also discussed health care reform and the benefits of a Medicare-for-all plan on Democracy Now! for syndicated TV and radio.
