News Archive
News Flashes August 2008
Faculty News
New Grants
Staff Promotions
Publications
Welcome New Faculty
Welcome New Staff
Welcome New Residents and Fellows
Media and Publicity
Dr. Ravinder Mamtani Appointed Acting Associate Dean for Student Affairs at Weill Cornell Medical College/Qatar
Ravinder Mamtani, M.B.,B.S., M.D., M.Sc., Professor of Public Health/Qatar, has accepted the position of Acting Associate Dean for Student Affairs at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar. In this capacity he will have the additional responsibilities of student counseling; medical student career development, including fourth-year scheduling and assistance with the residency process and the Match; oversight of the Office of the Registrar; and support of the Student Community Service Programs.
Dr. Joseph Fins Named Trustee of American College of Physicians Foundation
Joseph J. Fins, M.D., F.A.C.P., Chief of the Division of Medical Ethics and Professor of Medicine, Public Health, and Medicine in Psychiatry, has been named a trustee of the American College of Physicians (ACP) Foundation. The ACP Foundation supports the mission of ACP and strives to improve the health and welfare of patients and society through initiatives that provide patients with the information they need to understand and manage their health.
J. Emilio Carrillo, M.D., M.P.H., To Present Alvin F. Poussaint MD Lecture at Harvard Medical School
J. Emilio Carrillo, M.D., M.P.H., Associate Professor of Clinical Public Health and Clinical Medicine, President and Chief Medical Officer of NewYork-Presbyterian Community Health Plan, and Vice President of Community Health Development, has been selected to present the 2008-2009 Alvin F. Poussaint MD Lecture at Harvard Medical School. This lecture is presented each year by a minority graduate of Harvard Medical School who has earned distinction in a field of Medicine. The day-long program, which will take place in the fall, includes a lecture at the Medical School, Grand Rounds at a Harvard hospital, and a dinner meeting with students and faculty. This is the fourth year of the lecture series. Dr. Poussaint is a well known and highly regarded African American Psychiatrist who served as Dean of Students at Harvard Medical School for decades.
Heather T. Gold, Ph.D., Presents Two Grand Rounds on Cost-Effectiveness of Pharmacogenetic Testing
Heather Taffet Gold, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Public Health in the Division of Health Policy, made two recent Grand Rounds presentations. On May 8, 2008, she spoke on “Cost Effectiveness of Pharmacogenetics in Oncology” to the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. On May 21, 2008, she presented “Cost Effectiveness of Pharmacogenetic Testing” to the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Weill Cornell Medical College.
Joseph J. Fins, M.D., Addresses Brain Injury Association Congress in Lisbon and Accepts Award on Behalf of Dr. Fred Plum
Dr. Joseph Fins, Chief of the Division of Medical Ethics and Professor of Medicine, Public Health, and Medicine in Psychiatry, delivered a plenary address at the Seventh World Congress of Brain Injury of the International Brain Injury Association, in Lisbon, Portugal. His address, entitled "From PVS to MCS: Fred Plum's Legacy to Neuroethics," paid tribute to Dr. Plum's work in neurology and his contributions to medical ethics. Read more.
Heather Taffet Gold, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Public Health in the Division of Health Policy, has been awarded a 3 ½-year subcontract for a grant funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute entitled “Long-term Survivorship in Older Women with Early Stage Breast Cancer (BOW II).” The principal investigator is Rebecca A. Silliman, M.D., Ph.D., of Boston University. In this renewal proposal the researchers will collect additional information about the cohort of 1859 elderly, early breast cancer survivors (funded through “Breast Cancer Treatment Effectiveness in Older Women (BOW I)” from the National Cancer Institute) through 15 years after diagnosis. They will add a matched comparison cohort of women without breast cancer from the same source population, 6 sites of the HMO Cancer Research Network. This uniquely detailed dataset will enable them to focus on three domains of long-term breast cancer survivorship research: follow-up care including surveillance mammography, health care costs, and late treatment effects.
Rina Dhopeshwarkar, M.P.H., has been promoted to Research Coordinator in the Division of Outcomes and Effectiveness Research. Ms. Dhopeshwarkar received her B.A. in Biological Sciences from Wellesley College and completed her Master’s Degree in Public Health with a concentration in the Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases from Yale University School of Public Health. Before joining Weill Cornell Medical College in the summer of 2007, she was a Research Assistant at the Yale Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS, working on a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded project which evaluated an HIV structural intervention in India. She also contributed to a Yale School of Public Health study evaluating internet technology applications in Lyme disease prevention. Currently, she assists Dr. Rainu Kaushal on the Health Information Technology Evaluation Collaborative (HITEC) project.
“Can modeling of HIV treatment processes improve outcomes? Capitalizing on an operations research approach to the global pandemic” was published in BMC Health Services Research 2008 8:166. The authors include Wei Xiong, PhD, Instructor in Public Health (lead author), Nathaniel Hupert, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Public Health, and Eric Hollingsworth, formerly Research Data Specialist in the Department of Public Health. The article describes the application of classic operations research techniques to address logistical and resource management challenges in HIV treatment scale-up activities in resource-limited countries. It concludes that HIV treatment scale-up includes many processes that are amenable to mathematical and simulation modeling and argues for increasing the number of cross-disciplinary collaborations between engineering and public health to help speed the appropriate development and application of these tools. Read the Medical College press release.
An article coauthored by Linda Gerber, Ph.D., Professor of Public Health and Epidemiology in Medicine, and Quanhong Ni, M.S., formerly a Research Biostatistician in the Department of Public Health, was published in the July 2008 issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery. The article was titled “Effect of early nutrition on deaths due to severe traumatic brain injury.” Its lead author was Roger Hartl, M.D., Chief of Spinal Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College, and its senior author was Jamshid Ghajar, M.D., Ph.D., Clinical Professor of Neurological Surgery. Dr. Gerber and Ms. Ni planned and executed the study analyses, prepared the tables and figures, and contributed to writing and proofreading the paper. Read the press release on the article. The study has been covered by several television stations, including NC8-Cable in Maryland, KBMT-TV (ABC Texas), plus an additional three ABC affiliate stations. It has also been posted on MedicalNewstoday.com, MedPageToday.com, HealthNewsDigest.com, News-Medical.net, and Physorg.com.
Joseph J. Fins, M.D., F.A.C.P., Chief of the Division of Medical Ethics and Professor of Medicine, Public Health, and Medicine in Psychiatry, was the author of an essay published on Bioethics Forum entitled “Science as Civic Education.” Dr. Fins presents the case that faculty need to help students make connections between science and humanities disciplines through interdisciplinary study and by providing guidance consistently over the undergraduate experience. They also need to understand the perceptual barriers that make many people think these fields are antithetical rather than synergistic. Achieving these goals will help all students to become scientifically literate, which will enable them to make informed choices as voters and citizens.
Jorge Kizer, M.D., M.Sc., Associate Professor of Medicine and Public Health, was the lead author of an article published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism called “Adiponectin and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in Older Men and Women.” The study showed an association between adiponectin, a protein produced by fat cells, and increased risk of first-ever CHD in older adults. The findings were discussed in U.S. News & World Report HealthDay News and on TheHeart.org.
Sameer Malhotra, M.D., M.A., has been appointed Clinical Instructor in Public Health in the Division of Outcomes and Effectiveness Research. Dr. Malhotra is Assistant Medical Director of Information Services at Weill Cornell Medical College. He is also assisting with the Health Information Technology Evaluation Collaborative led by Dr. Rainu Kaushal. Dr. Malhotra received his M.B., B.S. degree from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, India, and his Masters in Biomedical Informatics from Columbia University. He completed his residency at the Medical College of Wisconsin. His research and publications have focused on healthcare technology and quality of care.
Rama B. Rao, M.D., has been appointed Assistant Professor of Public Health. Her primary appointment is in the Department of Emergency Medicine. Dr. Rao received her Medical degree and completed an Internship in Internal Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She then completed a Residency in Emergency Medicine at Jacobi Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine; and a Fellowship in Toxicology at New York City Poison Control Center. She is board certified in Emergency Medicine and is a Diplomate in Emergency Medicine and Medical Toxicology. Before coming to Weill Cornell Medical College, she was Assistant Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine and Department of Forensic Pathology, as well as a Consultant in the New York City Poison Control Center/Office of Chief Medical Examiner. Her interest in public health grew with her participation in the NYU Masters of Global Public Health Program where she was director for graduate courses in “Global Environmental Health” and “Acute Public Health Emergencies” as well as serving on the governance board. She welcomes clinical toxicology inquiries.
Ethan Basch, M.D., M.Sc., has been appointed Assistant Professor of Public Health in the Division of Outcomes and Effectiveness Research. Dr. Basch is a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center who specializes in treating patients with prostate cancer. His research focuses on developing ways to improve patient safety and symptom management through the use of new technologies and innovative administrative structures. Dr. Basch received his M.D. degree from Harvard Medical School and his M.Sc. in Epidemiology from Harvard School of Public Health. He completed his residency in Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Fellowships in Clinical Oncology and Health Services Research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He also completed a Fellowship in Clinical Effectiveness at Harvard School of Public Health, and was an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology.
Abdulbari Bener, Ph.D., has joined the Department as Research Professor of Public Health. Dr. Bener is Director of the Medical Statistics & Epidemiology Department at Hamad Medical Corporation/Qatar. Add to this, He is advisor to World Health Organization and Adjunct Professor & Coordinator for the postgraduate and master public health programs (MPH) of the School of Epidemiology and Health Sciences, University of Manchester. He is Fellow of Royal Statistical Society (FRSS) and Fellow of Faculty of Public Health (FFPH). He holds a Ph.D. degree in Medical Statistics (Biometry) and Genetics from the University College of London, and a B.Sc. degree from Ankara University, Faculty of Education, Department of Management, Planning and Investigation. He completed research fellowships in the Departments of Genetics & Biometry and Statistics & Computer Sciences at the University College of London. He has held academic positions in public health, epidemiology, and statistics at universities in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and England. He has been an author or coauthor of more than 400 published journal articles; Editor, Associate Editor, Advisor Editor and Asst. Editor for several Journals and Referee for over 23 Journals. He has contributed to more than 15 book chapters and supervised thesis of 40 postgraduate students (MSc, MPH, MPhil and PhD).
Jared A. Leff, M.S., is a Research Data Specialist in the Division of Health Policy. He works on a variety of cost-effectiveness analysis projects pertaining to the diagnosis and treatment of substance abuse, HIV, and hepatitis C. Mr. Leff graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.S. in 2006 and an M.S. in 2008, both in Industrial and Systems Engineering. From 2006 to 2008, he worked as a research assistant at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics on system-wide initiatives involving process improvement, quality improvement, and patient safety.
Alison Edwards, M.Stat., is a new Research Biostatistician in the Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology. Ms. Edwards holds a Master of Statistics degree in Biostatistics from the University of Utah and a B.A. in Mathematics from Lawrence University. While at the University of Utah, she worked as a Computer Professional/Statistician in the University’s Department of Pediatrics Intermountain Injury Control Research Center, and as a Research Analyst in the Health Research Center of the University’s Department of Internal Medicine. She is a coauthor of two journal publications, and was the Senior Data Editor for Utah’s Health: An Annual Review, Volume XIII.
Thomeka Reeves, M.S., has joined the Department as an Assistant Counselor in the Employee Development Center (EDC) of the Division of Community and Public Health Programs. Ms. Reeves received an M.S. degree in Social Work from Columbia University and a B.A. in Psychology from George Washington University. During the past two years, she served as a Graduate Social Work Intern at the EDC, the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, and the Emergency Room of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. She also has training from Howard University Hospital’s crisis hotline and on-site advocacy program. As an undergraduate, she interned at the American Psychological Association, the Georgetown University Hospital Child Life department, and the School without Walls for Special Education in Washington, DC.
Welcome New Residents and Fellows
Alisa M. Koval, M.D./M.H.S.A., is a new Preventive Medicine Resident. Dr. Koval obtained her medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine, and her Master of Health Service Administration from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She received her B.S. degree with Honors in Biology from the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, & Arts. Before joining the Weill Cornell Department of Public Health, she completed two years of training in Emergency Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. She has also been a Six Sigma Black Belt for NewYork-Presbyterian, as well as an Administrative Fellow in the Department of Pediatrics at The Children’s Hospital in Denver, Colorado. Dr. Koval's research interests include quality of care, as well as telemedicine and its various applications in health care delivery.
Michael Herman, M.D., has joined the Department as a Fellow in Public Health Research. He is also currently a Resident in the Department of Urology at Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Herman completed his M.D. degree at the University of Texas Southwestern, where he was ranked first in his class of 216. Before that, he graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard College, receiving highest honors for his senior thesis. He held numerous leadership positions in medical school and as an undergraduate, including President of the Texas Gamma Chapter of AOA Honor Medical Society, President of the UTSW chapter of American Medical Student Association, Co-president of Medical Students for Choice, and Co-founder of Public Health Interest Group. He has also been honored with a number of awards, including the Ho Din Award, the top honor given by the UT Southwestern Medical Foundation of a graduating medical student. His research and publications have focused on topics such as health policy, atherosclerosis and vascular biology, and urology and male infertility.
A story in Union College Magazine discussed Dr. Lewis Drusin’s receiving the American College of Physicians James D. Bruce Memorial Award in May. Dr. Drusin, who is Professor of Clinical Public Health and Clinical Medicine as well as an alumnus of Union College, was honored for his decades of work in the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases and hospital-acquired infections. The magazine story was based on the Weill Cornell Medical College press release.
The November 2006 article in Medical Care by Bruce Schackman, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Chief of the Division of Health Policy ("The Lifetime Cost of Current HIV Care in the United States,") continues to generate media publicity. An article in the June 27, 2008, edition of Medpagetoday.com discusses the study and includes some of Dr. Schackman’s thoughts about recent developments in HIV treatment.
The work of Oliver Fein, M.D., Professor of Clinical Medicine and Clinical Public Health, has been featured in the New Haven Independent and in U.S. News and World Report. The New Haven Independent article discussed Dr. Fein’s being elected president of Physicians for a National Health Program, an organization that supports a single-payer plan for universal health insurance. In the article, Dr. Fein emphasizes that medical coverage must be comprehensive and provide the same level of care for all, without co-pays and deductibles. The U.S. News article includes Dr. Fein’s comments on a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine showing that one-third of uninsured working –age Americans are chronically ill and are not getting needed medical care. "These people are going to end up with complications of their illnesses prematurely. They will be disabled early. They will probably die younger. It is a major public health disaster," he says. Dr. Fein was also the lead author of an article published in the Journal of Health Services Research and Policy (2008 Jul; 13[ 3]: 131-2) titled “ US health care reform and the Presidential candidates.”
Peter Bach, M.D., Associate Attending Physician at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Assistant Professor of Public Health in the Division of Outcomes and Effectiveness Research, was quoted in a New York Times article titled “Early Test for Cancer Isn’t Always Best Course.” The article discusses recent medical advice that men over the age of 75 should not be routinely screened for prostate cancer, since the cancer is often slow growing and treatments can cause significant harm. "It's just a needle stick, but the cascade of events that follows are fairly serious," Dr. Bach said. "I think the burden is on medicine to try and generate some evidence that the net benefits are there before drawing that tube of blood."
Shari Midoneck, M.D., Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine and 
Nanette Laitman Clinical Scholar in Public Health was featured on Business Week TV discussing the efficacy and limitations of home health testing kits for cholesterol, diabetes, and other medical conditions.
In the New York Times Science Times section for July 15, 2008, Dr. Michael Stewart, Chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology and Professor of Public Health, discusses the vertigo that many people experience while reading in moving vehicles. He defines vertigo as the sense of movement, of yourself or of your surroundings, when there is none, and says that “reading in the car is not really bad for your health, although it can make you feel bad.”
