Seventh Major Joint Appointment Since Affiliation Agreement Between The Methodist Hospital and Weill Cornell in 2004
NEW YORK (March 9, 2007) — A noted authority in health services research, critical care and geriatric medicine, Dr. Marc D. Silverstein has been appointed chairman of a newly created Department of Public Health at The Methodist Hospital in Houston. He has simultaneously been named professor of public health at Weill Cornell Medical College. The announcement represents the seventh major joint appointment since The Methodist Hospital affiliated with Weill Cornell Medical College in 2004.
Previously, Dr. Silverstein was a clinical scholar at the Institute for Health Care Research & Improvement for the Baylor Health Care System in Dallas.
Dr. Silverstein said the mission in the Department of Public Health at The Methodist Hospital is to help researchers throughout the Hospital to design the best studies for more accurate and reliable results; to provide an informatics "engine" to quickly analyze and compare outcomes; to serve as a catalyst to drive forward innovative research; and to encourage sharing of best practices around the world to advance the science of evidence-based medicine. In order to best facilitate these goals, the department will initially develop divisions of biostatistics and epidemiology; outcomes and quality of care; medical informatics; and medical ethics and palliative care.
"The appointment of Marc Silverstein represents an important step in the unique and innovative partnership between Weill Cornell Medical College and The Methodist Hospital. A strong culture of collaboration between our two institutions will enable valuable public health research in Texas and beyond," says Dr. Antonio M. Gotto Jr., dean of Weill Cornell Medical College.
Other recent department chairs named at The Methodist Hospital include Dr. Stanley Appel (Neurology), Dr. Barbara Bass (Surgery), Dr. Robert Grossman (Neurosurgery), Dr. Michael Lieberman (Pathology), Dr. Miguel Quiñones (Cardiology) and Dr. Richard Robins (Medicine).
"Marc Silverstein understands and is dedicated to the mission of The Methodist Hospital, and throughout his career has worked to promote high quality, cost-effective health care through his academic activities," says Dr. H. Dirk Sostman, chief academic officer and chief medical officer of The Methodist Hospital and executive vice dean at Weill Cornell Medical College. "I am confident that he will lead the Department of Public Health to national recognition."
"I am very pleased by the appointment of Marc Silverstein and look forward to developing numerous collaborations between the public health departments of The Methodist Hospital and Weill Cornell Medical College. There is much that we can do to improve the health and health care for the patients our institutions serve and to advance clinical research by working together," says Dr. Alvin I. Mushlin, the Nanette Laitman Distinguished Professor of Public Health, professor of medicine and chairman of the Department of Public Health at Weill Cornell Medical College.
As the parent academic department, the public health department at Weill Cornell Medical College serves in an advisory and oversight capacity to the department in Houston. A joint advisory committee ensures alignment of goals and objectives, facilitates academic recruitment, and fosters collaboration on research and educational programs.
A major collaborative grant in public health research from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) called the Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics (CERT) has already been awarded jointly to Weill Cornell Medical College, The Hospital for Special Surgery and The Methodist Hospital. The $4 million five-year grant, led by principal investigator Dr. Mushlin and co-principal investigator Dr. Mark Callahan, chief of the Weill Cornell Public Health Department's Division of Outcomes and Effectiveness Research, funds research into the outcomes and cost effectiveness of medical devices. In addition, Dr. Callahan, Dr. Silverstein and colleagues at the Hospital for Special Surgery recently received a seed grant sponsored by The Methodist Hospital Research Institute and Weill Cornell Medical College for collaborative research on total joint replacement surgery.
Marc D. Silverstein, MD FACP
Dr. Marc Silverstein's interests include cost-effectiveness analysis and technology assessment, evaluation of diagnostic tests, and the clinical epidemiology of respiratory diseases.
Dr. Silverstein received his medical degree at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He completed his residency in internal medicine at NYU-Bellevue Hospital and his fellowship in general internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. He later obtained added certificates of qualification in critical care medicine and geriatric medicine.
Dr. Silverstein was assistant professor at the University of Chicago and subsequently staff physician, associate professor and career scientist at the Mayo Clinic. In 1996, he became director of the Center for Health Care Research and professor of medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina.
Dr. Silverstein has been principal investigator or co-investigator on more than 20 studies, and is a member of the Society of General Internal Medicine and the Society for Medical Decision Making. He has consulted for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on patient safety, and has served on research review committees for the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and the Veterans Administration. A respected author in the field of internal medicine, Dr. Silverstein has more than 140 publications to his credit. He also serves as a reviewer for multiple national scientific journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, Annals of Internal Medicine, Archives of Internal Medicine and Health Services Research.
Weill Cornell Medical College
Weill Cornell Medical College — located in New York City — is committed to excellence in research, teaching, patient care and the advancement of the art and science of medicine. Weill Cornell, which is a principal academic affiliate of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, offers an innovative curriculum that integrates the teaching of basic and clinical sciences, problem-based learning, office-based preceptorships, and primary care and doctoring courses. Physicians and scientists of Weill Cornell Medical College are engaged in cutting-edge research in such areas as stem cells, genetics and gene therapy, geriatrics, neuroscience, structural biology, cardiovascular medicine, AIDS, obesity, cancer and psychiatry — and continue to delve ever deeper into the molecular basis of disease in an effort to unlock the mysteries behind the human body and the malfunctions that result in serious medical disorders. Weill Cornell Medical College is the birthplace of many medical advances — from the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer to the synthesis of penicillin, the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S., and most recently, the world's first clinical trial for gene therapy for Parkinson's disease. Weill Cornell's Physician Organization includes 650 clinical faculty, who provide the highest quality of care to their patients.
The Methodist Hospital System
The Methodist Hospital System is a non-profit organization comprising of a major academic medical center, three community hospitals and a research institute. Methodist provides state of the art medical care, preventive and primary care, traditional hospital services and translational research. The System's flagship, The Methodist Hospital, is home of famed heart surgeon Dr. Michael DeBakey and is the site of numerous medical breakthroughs, such as the world's first multiple-organ transplant in the 1960s, gene therapy for prostate cancer, and the first islet cell transplants in Texas. It has extended the world-renowned clinical and service excellence to three community hospitals. A legacy of medical milestones has attracted patients from around the world to TMH for almost 90 years. Methodist is primarily affiliated with Weill Cornell Medical College and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, two of the nation's leading centers for clinical care, medical education and research. Methodist is named among the country's top hospitals by U.S.News & World Report in six specialties. The System was named in 2006 as one of FORTUNE's "100 Best Companies to Work For." Methodist also is recognized by Hospitals and Health Networks as one of "Health Care's 100 Most Wired." Methodist is committed to providing the finest spiritual care coupled with healing skill, compassion, and respect for human dignity; it also believes that sound educational programs enhance the quality of patient care.
Lezlie Greenberg
leg2003@med.cornell.edu