Our Faculty

Roger Vaughan, DrPH, professor of Biostatistics and acting chair and vice dean for Academic Advancement, is the winner of the 2013 Outstanding Teaching Award, given by the American Statistical Association's Section on Teaching Statistics in the Health Sciences. The prize will be awarded on August 5.

Zena A. Stein, MA, MB, special lecturer and professor emerita of Epidemiology, will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Science by Columbia University at the 2013 Commencement. Dr. Stein has been a Columbia faculty member for over 45 years, and her most recent research has included prenatal and perinatal HIV infection and HIV infection in women.

Robert L. Klitzman, professor of clinical Sociomedical Sciences, received a Guggenheim Fellowship to conduct research and write a book about the ethical, legal and social implications of assisted reproductive technologies. Dr. Klitzman is one of 175 fellows selected for 2013 in the United States and Canada from a group of almost 3,000 applicants, and the only awardee in the category of Medicine and Health. (Read more here.)

Wafaa El-Sadr, professor of Epidemiology and Medicine and director of ICAP, was named by the Huffington Post as one of "50 Women Who Shaped America's Health," acknowledging Dr. El-Sadr's pioneering of a family-focused approach to AIDS and tuberculosis treatment, care, and prevention in Harlem and around the world. Based on the success of her approach, today, ICAP provides care to more than one million individuals in sub-Saharan Africa and lifesaving antiretroviral access to more than 800,000 people.

Andrew R. Davidson, professor of Population and Family Health and Vice Provost for Academic Planning at Columbia University, was elected to the Provost’s Advisory Council for the Enhancement of Faculty Diversity.

Heather Greenlee, assistant professor of Epidemiology, has been elected to serve as president of The Society for Integrative Oncology for a term beginning in October 2013. The society is a multi-disciplinary organization committed to the study and application of complementary therapies and botanicals for cancer patients.

Dale C. Hesdorffer, associate professor of Clinical Epidemiology, has received the Ambassador for Epilepsy Award 2013 by a joint executive committee of the International Bureau for Epilepsy and the International League Against Epilepsy for demonstrating outstanding achievement in the international struggle against epilepsy.

Dr. Mitchell Elkind, associate professor of Neurology and Epidemiology, and Dr. Rachel Gordon, assistant professor of clinical medicine and clinical epidemiology, were chosen to be members of the Virginia Apgar Academy of Medical Educators, an active community of educators at the College of Physicians & Surgeons dedicated to promoting, rewarding, and supporting outstanding education for medical students, residents, fellows, and faculty.

Dr. Tomás R. Guilarte, Leon Hess Professor and Chair of Environmental Health Sciences, was appointed to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Council (NAEHSC) on March 15, 2013. The (NAEHSC) is a congressionally mandated body that advises government organizations in health sciences on the direction of research, research support, training, and career development. His term will start in May 0f 2013.

Dr. Richard Mayeux, the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Professor of Neurology, Psychiatry and Epidemiology, has been named a fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Fellows are honored for their efforts to advance scientific applications that are deemed especially promising or socially distinguished.

Dr. Zhezhen Jin, associate professor of Biostatistics, was elected as the Executive Director of the International Chinese Statistician Association(ICSA) for 2014-2016. The ICSA is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing educational, charitable, and scientific causes through the uses of statistics.

Dr. Prakash Gorroochurn, assistant professor of Clinical Biostatistics, won the 2012 PROSE Award in mathematics for his book Classic Problems of Probability, on February 7, 2013. Each year the American Publishers Awards recognizes the best publications for professional and scholarly excellence in various academic disciplines with its PROSE Awards.

Drs. Diana Hernandez and Shakira Suglia received grants as part of the first competition for the Provost's Grant Program for Junior Faculty Who Contribute to the Diversity Goals of the University. The new program offers grants to support new or ongoing research and scholarship, seed funding for innovative research for which external funding would be difficult to obtain, and support curricular development projects.

Dr. Patrick Kinney has been appointed to the New York City Panel on Climate Change (NPCC). The NPCC is a body of physical and social scientists and risk management professionals that identifies climate risks facing the city and advises the Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability. The first meeting was held on January 18th, 2013.

In  Harvard Business Review ranking of approximately 2000 best performing CEOs in the world, John (Jack) Wallis Rowe, professor of Health Policy and Management and former chairman and CEO of Aetna, was listed among the top 100 CEOs at number 40. He also ranked first in the world of health care services and the health care finance arena in the magazines January/February 2013 issue.  Dr. Rowe also previously served as president and CEO of Mount Sinai NYU Health.

Among the top 10 most-read articles in the journal Health Affairs for 2012, “Differences In Life Expectancy Due To Race And Educational Differences Are Widening, And Many May Not Catch Up” by John (Jack) Wallis Rowe, professor of Health Policy and Management and co-author Dean Linda P. Fried, ranked number 7 (August 2012). The article “A Penny-Per-Ounce Tax On Sugar-Sweetened Beverages by Y. Claire Wang, assistant professor of Health Policy and Management, ranked number 10 (January 2012).

April 12, 2013