February/March 2011
From the Dean
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Dear colleagues,
This is our moment! That's the overpowering sense I had during my weeklong participation at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month. For only the second time in Davos history, one of the plenary sessions was focused on public health. Ten years ago, there was a world-changing plenary session on HIV/AIDS; this time, the topic was noncommunicable diseases, such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, that are ravaging both the developing and the developed world. For me, it was an honor to be invited by President Bollinger and a thrill to see how public health has leapt ahead on the agenda of corporate CEOs, heads of state, and other world leaders. I am eager to share my impressions with all of you. Read more >>
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New Faces
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Please join us in welcoming new faculty, staff and researchers.
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Magdalena Cerdà, (pictured)
joined the Department of Epidemiology as an assistant professor in January. Prior to
that, she worked for the Center
for Urban Epidemiologic
Studies at New York Academy
of Medicine and was an adjunct assistant professor of
Epidemiology at the School. |
Alemayehu Bereket
Associate Research Scientist
ICAP
Batista Pedro
Technician B
Department of Epidemiology
Bocour Nicola
Clerk B
Department of Sociomedical Sciences
Read more >> |
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On Campus: New Moves
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February was marked by some wonderful milestones for the Allan Rosenfield Building. The Department of Environmental Sciences moved in to floors 11 and 12, and ICAP moved to floor 13. Check out this slideshow for a glimpse of the gorgeous new floors.
See the slideshow>>
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In the Neighborhood: Nonstop From a Farmer's Field to You
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Did you know that people living and working in Washington Heights can sign up for weekly deliveries of produce from a nearby farmer? Tierra Direct is a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) service committed to providing the neighborhood with affordable, organic, locally grown fruits and vegetables. The pickup times and locations are available at justfood.org/csaloc/manhattan/tierra-direct, along with instructions on how to sign up.
Tierra Direct is organized through Just Food, a leader in connecting local farms to New York City neighborhoods. It has been instrumental in creating many of the CSAs available in the city. A CSA gives consumers the opportunity to buy a share of the harvest from a local farmer. For a payment per season, families receive a weekly delivery of fresh produce. By purchasing direct from the farmer, a CSA cuts out the middleman and is the least expensive way for consumers to purchase fresh, local, organic food.
In addition, Just Food is having an expo on Saturday, March 5, from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Food and Finance High School on West 50th Street. The conference is an opportunity for CSA members and farmers from around the city to come together for a day of workshops, discussion, and good food. Go to www.justfood.org for more information on the expo and for information on CSAs and other fresh food programs around the city.
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Kudos
Here's a snapshot of promotions, honors, and achievements some of our faculty members have recently earned. If we overlooked you, please contact us.
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Appointed/Elected
John Santelli, chair of the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health, has been elected President of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM), beginning in March 2012. Founded in 1968, SAHM is the only national organization dedicated exclusively to advancing the health and well-being of adolescents, through advocacy, clinical care, health promotion, health service delivery, professional development and research. Dr. Santelli will serve as President-Elect for one year and become President in 2012. A pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist, he has been a national leader in insuring that adolescents are appropriately included in health research.
Awards
Magdalena Cerdà, assistant professor of Epidemiology, won the American Psychopathological Association's 11th Annual Robins/Guze Award, which is given to a promising junior investigator in psychiatric epidemiology based on the overall quality of his or her work. Dr. Cerdà, who came to Mailman in January, investigates the social epidemiology of risk behaviors and psychiatric disorders, particularly violence, substance abuse and depression, and the influence of massive disasters on risk behavior trajectories.
Jennifer Hirsch, associate professor of Sociomedical Sciences, was recognized by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) for authoring "One of the Outstanding Academic Titles for 2010." Dr. Hirsch's book, The Secret: Love, Marriage, and HIV, was one of 620 books selected as "outstanding" from more than 25,000 titles submitted for consideration by the ACRL, a division of the American Library Association. The book was cited as "a great addition to the existing literature on sexuality, marriage, extramarital opportunities, and HIV risk and a pleasure to read."
Ezra Susser, professor of Epidemiology at Mailman and professor of Psychiatry at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, was awarded the American Public Health Association's 2011 Rema Lapouse Award for his outstanding contributions to the scientific understanding of the epidemiology and control of mental disorders. He is the lead author of the primary textbook on psychiatric epidemiology and director of the Imprints Center for Genetic and Environmental Lifecourse Research which looks at the developmental origins of health in birth cohorts across the globe.
Ying Wei, assistant professor of Biostatistics, has been named the winner of this year's Noether Young Scholar Award by the American Statistical Association. The award is given annually to an accomplished young researcher to support both research and teaching in nonparametric statistics. As part of the award, she will deliver an invited lecture the year after the award and be asked to report on research performed since receiving the award. Dr. Ying Wei's research interests are in the general area of quantile regression, longitudinal data, and semi-parametric models, with a focus on developing methodologies of longitudinal growth chart construction.
Lawrence Yang, assistant professor of Epidemiology, was awarded the 2010 Henry Tomes Award for Significant Contributions by an Emerging Leader, in recognition of his research on stigma in China around schizophrenia. The award is given by the Council of National Psychological Associations for the Advancement of Ethnic Minority Interests. Through the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD), Dr. Yang also leads a project on stigma among adolescents, examining the impacts of the new 'high-risk' for psychosis designation on adolescents as they transition to adulthood.
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Going the Extra Lapp as a Mentor, Colleague, Educator, and Friend
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For ten years, Ian Lapp has been at the heart of Mailman's efforts to raise the bar for teaching excellence, mentoring, and academic programs. He's spearheaded complex projects like school re-accreditation, while somehow finding unhurried time to befriend and mentor students, share a joke, and solve many a colleague's problem. That ready hand, that infectious smile, that baritone voice at Grand Rounds and graduation will be missed come March, when Associate Dean Lapp takes on a new role as Associate Dean for Strategic Educational Initiatives at the Harvard School of Public Health. To honor Ian on the occasion, we've asked a few colleagues and students offer anecdotes and tribute. Lap it up, Ian, and if your face turns crimson, well, that's about right for Hah-vard. Read more >>
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Grand Rounds on the Future of Public Health (March 9, 4 - 5:30 PM)
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Improving Human Health through Research and Innovation
Save the date for a Grand Rounds with Carolyn M. Clancy, MD, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). A general internist and health services researcher, Dr. Clancy's research focuses on improving healthcare quality and patient safety and reducing disparities in care associated with patients' race, ethnicity, gender, income, and education.
The upcoming Grand Rounds on the Future of Public Health will be held at 4 pm on March 9, in the Alumni Auditorium, at 650 W. 168th Street. A reception will follow the event.
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Global Health Initiative Connects INDIGO Fellows from Malawi, Uganda, and Nigeria Across the School
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The Mailman School is once again hosting fellows from the inter-university collaborative program INDIGO which provides future public leaders from Africa with an intense year of study in global health systems before returning to their home institutions for doctoral studies. The fellows are formally registered in the Heilbrunn Department of Population & Family Health, but mentors with expertise in their specialized fields of study also come from the Departments of Health Policy and Management and Sociomedical Sciences. In addition to preparing for their dissertations, all three students are taking the class, "Priorities in Global Health," and relevant courses in research methods. Read more >>
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UPDATE ON THE 2012 CURRICULUM
By Melissa Begg, Vice Dean for Education
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The Curriculum Renewal process is moving forward and continues to engage faculty from the entire school. Here's a quick synopsis of where we are and how to stay involved.
- The Curriculum Renewal Task Force (CRTF) submitted 21 Certificate applications to the Columbia University Senate, which is the first step towards final submission to the New York State Education Department. We are all very excited to see this move forward and to implement these Certificates as part of the renewed curriculum in 2012.
- On February 15 we posted major parts of the new curriculum on CourseWorks for faculty feedback. Included in the posting are learning objectives, course descriptions, and a week-by-week overview for the integrated Core curriculum, the Integration of Science and Practice (ISP) course, the Leadership and Innovation (L&I) course, and the Integrated Practical Experience (IPE) pre-practicum workshops. The descriptions of the 21 Certificates that have been submitted to the Columbia University Senate have also been posted.
- We are eager to hear comments and address them carefully. To do so, we held two Open Houses, on February 17 and 18. Going forward, faculty and staff are encouraged to provide written comments on the content of the new curriculum. As per the instructions on the CourseWorks site, we welcome comments either sent directly to Ms. Sasha Rudenstine or anonymously via survey monkey (URL will be available via CourseWorks). All comments must be submitted by February 28th, 2011. If you wish to have access and haven't received an invitation to view the Courseworks site, please contact Ms. Rudenstine.
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Summer Programs Are Accepting Applications
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Are you an investigator and scholar looking to bring your skills to the next level?
Launching in June, the Epidemiology and Population Health Summer Institute
at Columbia (EPIC) will offer over 25 intensive week-long courses for healthcare professionals seeking advanced skills for population health research and program evaluation. The program, developed and taught by faculty from the Epidemiology Department and across the Columbia University Medical Center. Register by May 1 to take a range of courses from the Epidemiology of Diabetes and Obesity to Program Evaluation to Genetic Epidemiology. If you have any questions, please visit the EPIC website or contact EPIC coordinator Elaine Meyer at cuepisummer@columbia.edu.
The Columbia Summer Research Institute invites applications from junior investigators for its third offering in summer 2011!
CSRI, a joint initiative of the College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Mailman School of Public Health, is offering funding opportunities for post-doctoral fellows and junior faculty who are interested in comparative effectiveness research, for the 2011 session only; we also have funding available for diverse scholars through the NHLBI-funded PRIDE program. Through an intensive five-week program of full-time study, participants gain fundamental skills in research methods, as well as additional training in comparative effectiveness research and grant writing.
- For more information on the CSRI program, please visit our website.
- For information on comparative effectiveness research and diversity (PRIDE) funding opportunities, please visit http://csri.cumc.columbia.edu. - For information on comparative effectiveness research and diversity (PRIDE) funding opportunities, please visit http://irvinginstitute.columbia.edu/education/cer.html.">irvinginstitute.columbia.edu/education/cer.html.
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Select Upcoming Events
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Tues., March 1 - When the Bough Breaks - Film & Discussion Series
Unnatural Causes - Is Inequality Making Us Sick?
4:00-5:30 pm; Hess Commons (722 W. 168th Street)
Tues., March 1 - The NYC Pedestrian Safety Study and Action Plan
Matthew Roe, New York City Department of Transportation's Division of Traffic Operations
Columbia University Seminar
5:00 - 6:30 pm; Room 923 (722 W. 168th Street)
Wed., March 2 - Can we edge closer to causal understanding using observational data?
George Davey-Smith, MD, DsC, University of Bristol
Columbia University Epidemiology Grand Rounds (CUEGR)
4:00 - 5:30 pm; 8th Floor Auditorium (722 W. 168th Street)
Mon., March 7 - Global Health at the Crossroads - Film Screening and Panel Discussion
Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, Elaine Abrams, MD, and country directors from Kenya, South Africa, Swaziland, and Tanzania
ICAP
3:00 - 5:00 pm; Hess Commons (722 W. 168th Street)
Wed., March 9 - Improving Human Health through Research and Innovation
Carolyn M. Clancy, MD, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Grand Rounds on the Future of Public Health
4:00 - 5:30 pm; Alumni Auditorium (650 W. 168th St.)
Thur., March 10 - Homelessness: New Policy Directions
Raphael W. Bostic, PhD, Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Columbia Center for Homelessness Prevention Studies
2:00 - 3:30 pm; Room 6602 (Psychiatric Institute enter at Kolb Annex, 40 Haven Avenue)
Fri, March 11 - Longitudinal Metagenomic Analysis of the Water & Soil from Gulf of Mexico Beaches Affected by Deep Water Horizon Oil
Nels A. Olson, PhD, Johns Hopkins
Center for Infection & Immunity Lecture Series
10:30-11:30 am; 8th Floor Auditorium (722 W. 168th Street)
For more events and to notify the community about an upcoming event that you are organizing, visit the events calendar online.
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