Awards and Honors Across Weill Cornell Medical College - June 6, 2012

Awards and Honors

Professor of Clinical Public Health Appointed Weill Cornell Rep on Cornell University Task Force

Dr. Madelon Finkel

Dr. Madelon Finkel, professor of clinical Public Health and director of the Office of Global Health at Weill Cornell Medical College

Dr. Madelon Finkel, professor of clinical Public Health and director of the Office of Global Health Education, was named by Dean Laurie H. Glimcher to the Cornell University Internationalization Task Force as the representative for Weill Cornell Medical College.

The university-wide faculty task force is charged with articulating the future of international studies and engagement at Cornell.

The committee was formed by Cornell University Provost Kent Fuchs and Dr. Glimcher, also the provost for medical affairs, in response to Cornell University President Dr. David Skorton's March 2 call to "bring Cornell to the world and the world to Cornell." In a white paper he wrote, Dr. Skorton expressed the urgent need for the university to invest in international efforts.

"The world of university-based international studies and engagement is changing," he wrote, "and Cornell must respond aggressively or risk being left behind."

This is not the only honor Dr. Finkel has received this year. In January, Dr. Finkel, in conjunction with Physicians Scientists & Engineers for Healthy Energy and the Mid-Atlantic Center for Children's Health and the Environment, co-sponsored a conference in Washington, D.C., on the "Epidemiologic and Public Health Considerations of Shale Gas Production."

In addition, Dr. Finkel is a winner of a 2012 Pioneers In Diversity award, receiving the Bruce Laine Ballard, M.D. Award for Excellence in Mentorship from Weill Cornell June 14. She will receive her fourth Weill Cornell Excellence in Teaching Award June 19.

Dr. Alvin Mushlin and Dr. Art Sedrakyan Reappointed to Medicare Advisory Committee

Dr. Art Sedrakyan

Dr. Art Sedrakyan, associate professor of public health at Weill Cornell

Dr. Alvin I. Mushlin, chairman of the Department of Public Health, the Nanette Laitman Distinguished Professor of Public Health and professor of Medicine and Dr. Art Sedrakyan, associate professor and director of the Comparative Effectiveness Research Program in the Department of Public Health, were reappointed in May to additional two-year terms on the Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee.

The Committee was established to provide independent guidance and expert advice to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on specific clinical topics. The Committee is used to supplement the Center's internal expertise, allow an unbiased and current deliberation of state-of-the-art technology and science and make recommendations on national coverage of devices and interventions for all Medicare beneficiaries.

This reappointment is not the only exchange between Dr. Sedrakyan and the federal government. On Feb. 15, he testified to the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health hearing, which was examining issues pertaining to the reauthorization of the medical device user fee. In testimony titled "Reauthorization of MDUFA: What It Means for Jobs, Innovation and Patients," Dr. Sedrakyan argued for the need to develop a good post-market device infrastructure in the United States and modify pre-market device approval based on the strength of the post-market infrastructure. He discussed the example of metal-on-metal hip devices to support his statements.

Dr. Sedrakyan was also honored as one of the keynote speakers at the 2012 China Outcomes Research & Evidence Based Medicine Summit, hosted March 30-31 in Shanghai, China. The Summit focuses on outcomes research, comparative effectiveness research, health technology assessment, value based health management and e-Health.

Additional Awards and Honors

Dr. Laith Abu-Raddad, associate professor of Public Health, was appointed as an advisory member for the Development of HIV Modeling Guidelines for HIV Prevention Impact Evaluation by the World Bank's Global HIV/AIDS Program. Dr. Abu-Raddad was also selected as one of the two best overall Weill Cornell teachers in the 1st year pre-medical curriculum.

Dr. John Barnhill, professor of clinical Psychiatry and professor of clinical Public Health, and Dr. Vivian Pender, clinical associate professor of Psychiatry, were awarded the annual Nancy C.A. Roeske, MD, Certificate of Recognition for Excellence in Medical Student Education. The certificate is awarded annually to members of the American Psychiatric Association who have made outstanding and sustaining contributions to medical student education.

Dr. Yannick Benoit, a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Lorraine J. Gudas, the Revlon Pharmaceutical Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology and chair of the Department of Pharmacology, was awarded a two-year postdoctoral fellowship from the Quebec Health Research Fund in April.

Dr. Lawrence P. Casalino, chief of the Division of Outcomes and Effectiveness Research in the Department of Public Health and the Livingston Farrand Associate Professor of Public Health, has been named a member of the American Hospital Association's Health Research and Educational Trust Board of Trustees. Dr. Casalino has also been named a member of the American Hospital Association's committee on research. Both of these appointments took effect January 1.

Dr. Jennifer Epstein, assistant professor of Public Health, was appointed to the editorial board of ISRN Public Health, a new peer-reviewed, open access journal that publishes original research articles, review articles and clinical studies in all areas of public health.

Dr. Joseph J. Fins, chief of the Division of Medical Ethics in the Departments of Public Health and Medicine, the E. William Davis Jr., M.D. Professor of Medical Ethics, professor of Medicine, professor of Public Health and professor of medicine in Psychiatry, received the Laureate Award from the New York Chapter of the American College of Physicians. He was also appointed a member of the Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health's Selection Committee for a two year term beginning this year. In addition, he was appointed a member of the Institute of Medicine Exploratory Meeting for End of Life/Palliative Care.

Dr. Madhu Mazumdar, chief of the Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology in the Department of Public Health and professor of biostatistics in Public Health, was appointed to the editorial board of the journal The Laryngoscope as the biostatistics editor. The journal's editor-in-chief is Dr. Michael G. Stewart, professor and chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology and professor of Public Health.

Dr. Inmaculada de Melo-Martín, associate professor of Public Health, was asked to serve as a panelist on the National Science Foundation Ethics Education in Science and Engineering Program.

Dr. Alvin I. Mushlin, chairman of the Department of Public Health, the Nanette Laitman Distinguished Professor of Public Health and professor of Medicine was named as one of four associate editors for a new journal, Comparative Effectiveness Research. The journal, launched in January, is the first of its kind dedicated exclusively to this topic and will provide a forum for high-quality, peer-reviewed research papers, along with informative reviews and discussion articles. In addition, Dr. Mushlin was reappointed in May to another two-year term on the Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee.The Committee makes recommendations on national coverage of devices and interventions for all Medicare beneficiaries.

The New Clinical Drug Evaluation Unit, a scientific meeting that focuses on the latest developments in psychopharmacologic clinical research and related methodology, established a New Investigator Award in honor of Dr. Andrew Leon, a biostatistician in Weill Cornell's Department of Psychiatry, who died in February. Dr. Leon was a long-term and very active participant in the meeting.

Dr. Matthew J. Press, the Nanette Laitman Clinical Scholar in Public Health in Quality of Care Research, assistant professor of Public Health and assistant professor of Medicine, was appointed an adjunct senior fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics of the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Joshua E. Richardson, instructor of public health in Pediatrics and instructor in Public Health, and Dr. M. Carrington Reid, associate professor of Medicine, have been nominated for a mHealth Award at the Medicine 2.0 2012 Conference based on their abstract, "Can Mobile Devices Improve Communication and Care Coordination for Older Patients with Chronic Pain? A Needs Assessment." The conference will be hosted at Harvard Medical School Sept. 15-16.

Dr. Ronald N. Riner, assistant professor of Public Health, will receive an Excellence in Teaching Award from Weill Cornell for his role as a lecturer in the Public Health Clerkship in Health Care Systems.

Dr. Pablo Rodríguez del Pozo, associate professor of Public Health, was appointed to the National Committee on Research Ethics and Regulations of the Qatar Ministry of Health/Supreme Council for Health. Dr. Rodríguez del Pozo also participated in an invited talk in April at the Second Cambridge Consortium for Bioethics Education organized by Cambridge University Press and the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics. His lecture, "Breaking Ground Across Continents and Cultures," included his experiences in bringing Cornell's ethics curriculum to Qatar. Lastly, Dr. Rodríguez del Pozo is part of the Qatari National Committee on Human Subjects Research Regulations whose recommendations have been recently approved by the Supreme Council for Health and will become the regulatory framework in the State of Qatar.

Dr. Gerard P. Smith, professor emeritus of Psychiatry, received the Weill Cornell Alumni Award during the American Psychiatric Association meeting in May for his long-time educational service in the Department of Psychiatry.

Dr. Michael Smith, assistant professor of radiation Oncology, was awarded the 2012 Physician Patient Centered Care Award March 1 by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. The award is given in recognition of a physician's patient-centered care practices as recognized by Hospital staff and patients.  

Dr. Nathan Thoma, a postdoctoral fellow at the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Services of Payne Whitney Outpatient Department at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, and Dr. Genevieve Yuen, a resident in the Department of Psychiatry, received the Samuel W. Perry III Distinguished Award in Psychiatric Medicine at the Perry Memorial Grand Rounds in February. Dr. Perry was an outstanding psychiatrist who as a professor and vice chair for research in the Department of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell made significant contributions to consultation-liaison psychiatry and psychoanalysis.

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