Dr. Joseph Fins, chief of the Division of Medical Ethics and professor of medicine, public health and medicine in psychiatry, has been awarded the Robert Wood Johnson Investigator Award in Health Policy Research. The three-year grant will fund interdisciplinary research into best serving the needs of patients and families touched by severe brain injury. Investigator Awards in Health Policy Research is a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that aims to build the capacity of the health policy field by offering general research support for innovative ideas that are unlikely to be funded elsewhere. Dr. Fins' project, which includes collaboration with neuroscientists, is designed to improve clinician-family communication about brain injury, inform educational standards for professionals, and articulate a justification for research in patients who are unable to provide consent.
Dr. Michael Goldstein, assistant professor of surgery (transplantation surgery), was part of an expert panel of the Transplant Center Growth and Management Best Practices Initiative, a program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources and Service Administration. The panel meeting, held in May, was designed to create national guidelines for change strategies to boost organ donation and transplantation. Dr. Goldstein was an invited guest representing NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell as one of the eight best-practice transplant centers in the country based on program growth, volume and excellent patient outcomes.
Dr. Jean Pape, professor of medicine, was cited by President George W. Bush in a statement made on May 30 on PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief). Commenting on Dr. Pape's leadership of GHESKIO—Haiti's non-governmental organization dedicated to clinical service, research, and training in HIV/AIDS and related diseases—President Bush said, "Dr. Pape has shown that even in the most difficult circumstances, dedicated and caring people can make great progress in fighting HIV/AIDS. We're sure proud you're here."
Photograph courtesy of Dr. Jean Pape.