For Pierre Georges Bonnefil, the morning of February 6, 2013, started off like any other. He made coffee for his wife, Marysia, and watched the news before getting ready for his job as an immigration attorney. But then Marysia noticed something was wrong: the left side of Bonnefil’s face had begun to droop and he suddenly couldn’t move his left arm. “I started to speak, but she said it made no sense whatsoever,” says Bonnefil. “That’s when she put two and two together and called 911.”

Pierre Georges Bonnefil in his Manhattan apartment, where he suffered a stroke several years ago. Photo credit: John Abbott 

Bonnefil was having a stroke, a condition that affects nearly 800,000 people in the United States every year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one American dies from a stroke — which happens when blood flow to the brain is interrupted — every four minutes, making it the fifth-leading cause of death and a major cause of serious, long-term disability. Rushed from his midtown Manhattan apartment to NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center — ranked among the country’s top institutions for advanced stroke care — Bonnefil was diagnosed with a middle cerebral artery (MCA) stroke, meaning that one of the largest blood vessels in the brain was blocked. “It was pretty much as bad as it gets,” says Dr. Babak Navi, assistant professor of neurology at Weill Cornell Medicine and medical director of the Weill Cornell Medicine Stroke Center, who treated Bonnefil at the hospital.

But Dr. Navi says Bonnefil was luckier than most: because his wife recognized the signs and called for help right away, he was given a clot-busting drug just 74 minutes after his symptoms began. Getting swift medical attention also meant he was able to receive endovascular therapy, a procedure that involves inserting a catheter into the brain to remove the clot. Bonnefil went home five days later; although he attended outpatient physical therapy for three months to strengthen the left side of his body, he was back to most normal activities within weeks. “He came back very quickly — that doesn’t always happen,” says Dr. Navi. “Stroke is incredibly time sensitive, arguably more than any other disease. Each minute that a typical stroke goes on, patients on average lose about two million brain cells. So every minute counts.”

Racing the Clock

Bonnefil is a prime example of how early intervention is critical when it comes to stroke. Neurologists often use the phrase “time is brain” when talking about the disease, since it’s well established that the sooner patients receive treatment, the better off they’re likely to be. Even short delays can make a big difference: a 2014 study by the American Heart Association found that stroke survivors lose an average month of healthy life for every 15 minutes of postponed treatment. Weill Cornell Medicine, with heavy support from NewYork-Presbyterian, began leading a study of a mobile stroke treatment unit, the first of its kind on the East Coast. The unit, launched also in collaboration with Columbia University Medical Center and the FDNY — does more than reach stroke victims quickly: it also provides a pipeline of subjects for time-sensitive clinical trials being conducted at Weill Cornell Medicine, as well as other research initiatives that may lead to new therapies.

Dr. Babak Navi. Photo credit: Studio Brooke

The unit is a customized emergency vehicle that brings a highly specialized team of experts, diagnostic equipment and stroke-specific drugs right to a patient’s doorstep. “The key to treating stroke patients is getting to them as early as you can, as fast as you can, and this unit makes that possible,” says the program’s executive director, Dr. Matthew Fink, neurologist- in-chief and chief of the Division of Stroke and Critical Care Neurology at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and the Louis and Gertrude Feil Professor and chairman of the Department of Neurology at Weill Cornell Medicine. “But this is just the beginning. I view this unit as something transformational that may dramatically change the way we deliver care.”

The unit is deployed in the neighborhoods surrounding NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell at East 68th Street and NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia at West 168th Street, where a combined total of nearly 2,000 stroke patients come for aid every year. Staffed by a neurologist, two paramedics and a radiology technician, the unit is dispatched weekdays between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. when an emergency call comes in to New York City’s 911 system and operators suspect a stroke. (Eventually, those hours of operation will be adjusted based on the times when most stroke calls come in.) Unlike a traditional ambulance, it includes a portable computed tomography (CT) scanner that can image a patient’s brain on the spot, so the medical team is able to determine whether a stroke is ischemic (caused by a blood clot) or hemorrhagic (which occurs when a weakened blood vessel ruptures). For ischemic strokes — which account for 87 percent of all stroke cases — vital medications can be administered immediately, such as the one Bonnefil received called tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, which is considered the “gold standard” for recovery. If patients receive tPA within four and a half hours of the onset of symptoms, they have a much greater chance of surviving and avoiding long-term brain damage; after that, the drug offers no benefit.

Thanks to the unit, a neurologist sees stroke patients immediately, rather than waiting until they get to the emergency room. While en route, the doctor can signal ahead to hospital colleagues, who can be poised for additional tests or alternate remedies as soon as a patient arrives, further streamlining the process. (Eventually, the on-board neurologist will shift to being on call at the hospital; he or she will use telemedicine to evaluate those picked up by the unit without delay, using a remote audio-visual system to ask questions and examine the patient and CT scans in real time; this way, neurologists can still determine treatment for stroke patients more quickly, and attend to other tasks while waiting for a call to come in.) “The conventional ambulance system was never designed to treat out in the field; patients aren’t seen by a doctor and don’t undergo testing until they get to the hospital,” says Dr. Fink, who first proposed the mobile program two years ago. “The mobile unit essentially becomes an extension of the emergency department.”

The specially equipped ambulance is designed to diagnose and treat stroke. Photo credit: NewYork-Presbyterian

New Yorkers at Risk

Advanced stroke care is particularly important in places like New York City, which has a growing population that is becoming increasingly elderly and ethnically diverse. African Americans, Asian Americans and Hispanics have a higher chance of dying or being disabled from stroke than whites, in part because of genetics and other contributors that increase the likelihood of risk factors such as hypertension and diabetes. And though the disease affects people of all ages, the risk of having a stroke is far greater as one gets older. According to the city’s Department for the Aging, as a result of demographic shifts, the number of older whites living in New York dropped by nearly 10 percent between 2000 and 2013, while minority members of that age group shot up by 55 percent in that same period. In addition, the total number of seniors is projected to increase to 1.86 million by 2040, which means that one in every five New Yorkers will be over age 60 by then. “After the age of 50, the risk of stroke doubles with every decade,” says Dr. Fink. “So that’s a major problem, because people can reduce or eliminate some risk factors, but we can’t change our age.”

Indeed, on only its second day in operation, the stroke unit responded to a call from a doctor’s office on the Upper East Side, where a woman in her 90s had come in for a routine checkup. While there, she began to feel dizzy and weak on one side. The unit’s medical squad sped to the site and was able to give the woman tPA within the “golden hour,” so named because the treatment is even more powerful if administered within 60 minutes of the onset of symptoms. That’s rare; only about 1 percent of stroke patients nationwide receive tPA in that ideal window. As a result, she made a complete recovery. “It was a moment that made me proud to be a doctor,” says Dr. Mackenzie Lerario, the mobile stroke unit program’s medical director and an assistant professor of clinical neurology at Weill Cornell Medicine, who treated her. “We can come in and treat patients quicker and more effectively than we ever could before. It’s an elegant solution to a complex problem.”

The concept of the mobile stroke unit originated in Germany, where physicians who studied this method reported in 2012 that it reduced time to treatment by about 25 minutes compared to regular emergency transport. Subsequent studies have also shown significant time reductions at the Cleveland Clinic and the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, where the first U.S. mobile stroke units began operating in 2014. Researchers are still investigating whether these shorter response times directly correlate to improved outcomes, but earlier this year a group of doctors in Berlin published an article in Lancet Neurology that seems to support that theory. Their study found that patients treated by mobile units had a lower death rate and less severe disabilities three months after a stroke than those who received conventional care.

Weill Cornell Medicine, Columbia and NewYork-Presbyterian are collecting data to assess their own unit’s efficacy, tracking patient information such as mortality rates, degree of disability, length of hospital stay and type of complications for up to a year after initial treatment at either facility. Health expenditures are being examined, too, to determine the value of such units for academic medical centers and healthcare systems, including the feasibility of expanding to include additional units and incorporating mobile care into insurance reimbursement models. “I think that’s highly possible because if you’re preventing disability by giving tPA to patients quicker, the patients who are less disabled are going to use fewer healthcare resources in the future,” says Dr. Lerario. “They’ll have fewer rehabilitation needs. They’re going to be admitted to the hospital less frequently with complications of stroke.”

To Dr. Fink, these mobile units open up even bigger possibilities. Not only do they have the potential to radically improve stroke outcomes, he says, they could represent a shift in how providers deliver overall emergency care. “Right now we’re doing this for stroke, but I can imagine that this might extend to other kinds of emergencies like heart attacks or trauma — where we treat patients out in the field and not wait until they come to the hospital,” he says. “This might be the first of many new developments in taking the hospital out to the patient.”

UNIT FUELS NIH TRIALS

Investigators are using the mobile unit as a way to enlist patients for clinical trials in stroke prevention, acute stroke treatment and stroke recovery that are now under way as part of the NIH’s StrokeNet network of 25 regional stroke centers across the country. Weill Cornell Medicine doctors are studying such topics as whether endovascular therapy, which is usually only done within six hours of stroke symptoms, could benefit patients treated between six and 16 hours of onset; and whether a drug typically used to remove excess iron from the body might work to reabsorb blood in the brain after an intracranial hemorrhage.

Dr. Navi is Weill Cornell Medicine’s site principal investigator for StrokeNet’s POINT (Platelet-Oriented Inhibition in New TIA and Minor Ischemic Stroke) trial, which aims to determine the safety and efficacy of a combination of low-dose aspirin and another blood-thinning drug in reducing the risk of stroke, heart attack and other complications in patients who have already had a transient ischemic attack (otherwise known as a mini-stroke) or a minor ischemic stroke. “Many of the stroke patients who come in through the mobile unit may be eligible for these trials, so it allows us to identify, recruit and enroll them quicker,” says Dr. Navi. “By studying these interventions, the more likely we are to identify a new treatment that we can provide to the stroke community at large.”

EXPLORING STROKE’S CAUSES

As clinicians improve care for stroke patients, scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine’s Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute (BMRI) are examining a wide range of topics involving the condition. The institute’s director, Dr. Costantino Iadecola, says one major goal in the clinical arena is to figure out what causes strokes that are classified as cryptogenic, or of unknown origin; this is imperative, he says, since one-third of ischemic strokes fall into this category and people who have already had a stroke are more likely to have another one. “If we can identify the cause, we are in a better position to prevent future strokes,” says Dr. Iadecola, a professor of neuroscience and the Anne Parrish Titzell Professor of Neurology. “Therefore, finding a cause can have a profound impact on how we take care of these patients.”

To do that, Dr. Navi and Dr. Hooman Kamel, an assistant professor of neurology, hope to identify new risk factors, such as subtle dysfunctions of the heart, as well as the association between stroke and cancer. In addition, the institute’s basic science researchers have found that cells of the immune system are crucial; Dr. Iadecola and his colleagues now know that certain immune cells can dramatically help reverse post-stroke brain damage, while others appear to exacerbate it. Another recent discovery, headed by Dr. Josef Anrather, a professor of neuroscience, indicates that bacteria normally present in our gut can also help repair stroke-induced brain damage. Dr. Iadecola notes that these findings could lead to promising new treatments, ones that may also need to be given to stroke patients quickly. If that’s the case, he says the mobile stroke unit could play a central role in testing early-stage interventions. “Should our science suggest that we have a new drug or a new therapeutic approach, we now have a way to deliver these novel treatments early,” says Dr. Iadecola. “It opens up new horizons for stroke therapy.”

— Heather Salerno

This story first appeared in Weill Cornell Medicine, Vol. 16 No. 1.

Dr. Costantino Iadecola, director of the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute, the Anne Parrish Titzell Professor of Neurology and a professor of neuroscience, won the Chancellor’s Award from the Neuroscience Center for Excellence at Louisiana State University. On July 14, Dr. Iadecola presented the Chancellor’s Award Lecture, entitled “Bright and Dark Sides of Immunity in Stroke and Dementia: The Gut Takes Center Stage.”

Dr. Peter N. Schlegel, chairman of the Department of Urology, the James J. Colt Professor of Urology, and a professor of urology and of reproductive medicine, was elected vice president of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine. The ASRM, which is dedicated to advancing the science and practice of reproductive medicine, facilitates and sponsors educational activities about reproductive medicine for the public, while sponsoring continuing medical education programs for professionals in reproductive medicine. Dr. Schlegel’s term as vice president begins Oct. 19, 2016, and ends in 2020. 

Dr. Costantino Iadecola, director of the Brain and Mind Research Institute and the Anne Parrish Titzell Professor of Neurology, was the featured speaker at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke's Alzheimer's Disease-Related Dementias 2016 Summit, hosted March 29-30 in Bethesda, Md. He spoke about "Redefining the Neurovascular Unit." The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health focuses on increasing knowledge about the brain and nervous system and using that knowledge to reduce the burden of neurological disease.

Dr. Rodrigo Navarro-Ramirez, a research fellow under the mentorship of Dr. Roger Härtl, a professor in neurological surgery, has been awarded the Society of Lateral Access Surgery's 2016 Young Investigator Award. The award recognizes the highest-ranking abstracts presented at the society's annual meeting; Dr. Navarro-Ramirez was honored for his abstract "Radiological Correlation of Facet Degeneration and Indirect Decompression after Extreme Lateral Interbody Fusion." The society seeks to advance minimally disruptive lateral access spine surgery techniques through clinical research, peer-to-peer education, and membership initiatives.

Certain types of bacteria in the gut can leverage the immune system to decrease the severity of stroke, according to new research from Weill Cornell Medicine. This finding can help mitigate stroke — which is the second leading cause of death worldwide.

In the study, published March 28 in Nature Medicine, mice received a combination of antibiotics. Two weeks later, the researcher team — which included collaborators at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center — induced the most common type of stroke, called ischemic stroke, in which an obstructed blood vessel prevents blood from reaching the brain. Mice treated with antibiotics experienced a stroke that was about 60 percent smaller than rodents that did not receive the medication. The microbial environment in the gut directed the immune cells there to protect the brain, the investigators said, shielding it from the stroke's full force.

"Our experiment shows a new relationship between the brain and the intestine," said Dr. Josef Anrather, the Finbar and Marianne Kenny Research Scholar in Neurology and an associate professor of neuroscience in the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute at Weill Cornell Medicine. "The intestinal microbiota shape stroke outcome, which will impact how the medical community views stroke and defines stroke risk."

The findings suggest that modifying the microbiotic makeup of the gut can become an innovative method to prevent stroke. This could be especially useful to high-risk patients, like those undergoing cardiac surgery or those who have multiple obstructed blood vessels in the brain.

Further investigation is needed to understand exactly which bacterial components elicited their protective message. However, the researchers do know that the bacteria did not interact with the brain chemically, but rather influenced neural survival by modifying the behavior of immune cells. Immune cells from the gut made their way to the outer coverings of the brain, called the meninges, where they organized and directed a response to the stroke.

"One of the most surprising findings was that the immune system made strokes smaller by orchestrating the response from outside the brain, like a conductor who doesn't play an instrument himself but instructs the others, which ultimately creates music," said Dr. Costantino Iadecola, director of the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute and the Anne Parrish Titzell Professor of Neurology at Weill Cornell Medicine.

The newfound connection between the gut and the brain holds promising implications for preventing stroke in the future, which the investigators say might be achieved by changing dietary habits in patients or "at risk" individuals.

"Dietary intervention is much easier to accomplish than drug use, and it could reach a broad base," Dr. Anrather said. "This is a little far off from the current study — it's music of the future. But diet has the biggest effect of composition of microbiota, and once beneficial and deleterious species are identified, we can address them with dietary intervention."

Dr. Costantino Iadecola has long been at the vanguard of understanding the vascular drivers of Alzheimer's disease

Today Dr. Costantino Iadecola is known as one of the world's leading experts on dementia, stroke and the aging brain. Twenty-five years ago, he was considered something of a heretic.

In the early '90s, Dr. Iadecola's team at the University of Minnesota Medical School discovered that mice genetically engineered to get Alzheimer's disease also developed blocked vessels in their brains, reducing cerebral blood flow by as much as 30 percent. This occurred before a mouse showed any signs of dementia, but it was clearly connected to the severity of the animal's eventual symptoms. At the time, scientists were aware that plaques, made up of accumulations of the peptide amyloid beta, played a major role in Alzheimer's. But they believed that it was a disease of the neurons, not of the brain's vascular system. "Nobody thought blood vessels were relevant," says Dr. Iadecola, now the director of the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute and the Anne Parrish Titzell Professor of Neurology at Weill Cornell Medicine. "Obviously, the Alzheimer's field was skeptical."

By 2000, epidemiological and pathological data had caught up: It was clear that people with Alzheimer's also had suffered damage to the brain's blood vessels, including blockages that caused small strokes. The two most common types of dementia — Alzheimer's and vascular dementia, caused by small strokes — were connected. "Eventually the field came around," Dr. Iadecola says. "Everybody confirmed the other results, and new data showed there was a reduction in blood flow even before a patient displayed the first signs of cognitive impairment. Now it has become common knowledge, and there is a major push at the level of governmental funding agencies to investigate the vascular components of dementia."

That push includes a five-year, $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, awarded to Dr. Iadecola's longtime collaborator Dr. Chris Schaffer, an associate professor of biomedical engineering on the Ithaca campus and of neuroscience in the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute. A physicist by training, Dr. Schaffer specializes in developing novel, optics-based tools and techniques for biomedical research. "He is a world leader in this new technology," Dr. Iadecola says. "It's cutting edge, using lasers to image the brain and to do all kinds of experiments that were not previously possible."

The grant will fund Drs. Schaffer and Iadecola's continuing investigations into the impact of blood-flow disruptions on the course of Alzheimer's disease. During a previous study, they noticed that Alzheimer's mice were experiencing a slowing of blood flow at the level of individual capillaries ("which could cause the smallest stroke you could imagine," Dr. Schaffer says). When they looked more closely at these tiny occlusions, they realized that they might have discovered the key to the relationship between reduced blood-flow to the brain and the amyloid beta plaques that were the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. "In essence, what Chris and his team found was that, in the smallest possible vessels in the brain — capillaries — there were white blood cells blocking blood flow or making the flow sluggish," Dr. Iadecola says. "Now, this puts in a new twist to the whole story, suggesting that there may be something happening within the plumbing itself that prevents the normal flow of blood that the brain desperately needs to keep working." Essentially, the brain's drains get blocked, launching a vicious cycle in which amyloid beta — normally cleared out of the brain before it can accumulate — is allowed to build up and form neurotoxic plaques. "You decrease the clearance, and the concentration is higher," Dr. Schaffer says. "The concentration gets higher, then the probability of aggregation is higher. And the aggregates of amyloid beta drive the inflammation, which causes decreased brain blood flow."

Mind and matter: Blood vessels in a mouse brain (seen in red) surrounded by amyloid plaque (green) Photo credit: Dr. Chris Schaffer

The pair's research could point to new targets for drugs that could slow or even stop the progress of the disease, and they are now trying to understand the molecular signaling that makes white blood cells adhere to the inside of the brain's capillaries in the first place. But their findings also reinforce the importance of maintaining good cardiovascular health — not only to prevent heart attack, stroke and other well-known consequences of atherosclerosis and high blood pressure, but to stave off dementia.

The good news, Dr. Iadecola says, is that thanks to several years of messages about maintaining vascular health, the rate of Alzheimer's seems to be going down; though in the aging global population the number of patients with dementia will continue to increase, it will be at a slower rate. "In the absence of a cure, there is now, in the United States and in the world, a much greater appreciation for preventing Alzheimer's disease," he says. "And this means controlling vascular risk factors like hypertension, diabetes, cholesterol, lack of mobility, smoking — all the things that make the vessels suffer." Dr. Iadecola notes that the involvement of the brain's vascular system could also help explain why mental agility exercises and learning new things seem to buffer against Alzheimer's: Mental activity increases blood flow. "Whether you're learning a new language or a musical instrument," he says, "You should always keep your brain active to keep Alzheimer's away."

— Amy Crawford

This story first appeared in Weill Cornell Medicine, Vol. 15, No.1.

Dr. Marc Goldstein, the Matthew P. Hardy, PhD Distinguished Professor of Reproductive Medicine and Urology, and a professor of urology and of reproductive medicine, received the American Society for Reproductive Medicine Star Award during its annual meeting in October. The Star Award is given annually to recognize and thank members who have dedicated hours of time and service to shape the organization into the leading society for reproductive medicine. The society is a multidisciplinary organization dedicated to advancing the science and practice of reproductive medicine.

Dr. Costantino Iadecola, director of the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute, the Anne Parrish Titzell Professor of Neurology and a professor of neuroscience, gave the International Society for Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism's Presidential Lecture during its 17th annual meeting on June 28 in Vancouver, Canada. The society promotes research in cerebral blood flow, cerebral metabolism, and cerebral functions in physiological and pathophysiological states. Dr. Iadecola's lecture was titled "Bright and Dark Sides of Innate Immunity in Stroke and Dementia."

Dr. Erin Mills, senior clinical associate in cardiothoracic surgery, received a 2015 Distinguished Housestaff Award from the NewYork Weill Cornell Medical Center Alumni Council. This annual award is presented to one member of the housestaff from each department for all-around excellence. Award recipients are selected by department chairs and residency program directors.

Dr. Sheida Tabaie, an instructor in anesthesiology, was named the Department of Anesthesiology's first Global Health Fellow. The fellowship is an intense one-year program providing residency-trained anesthesiologists an opportunity to become world leaders in global health. The department's Global Health Initiative is dedicated to creating an innovative and applied global health education, training, and translational research program, which culminates in ongoing work with local clinicians in developing nations.

Dr. Giovanni Manfredi traces the link between mitochondrial disruption and diseases like ALS

Dr. Costantino Iadecola Wins Excellence Award in Hypertension Research

Dr. Costantino Iadecola, director of the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute and the Anne Parrish Titzell Professor of Neurology, has won the 2015 Excellence Award for Hypertension Research from the American Heart Association's Council on Hypertension.

Dr. Costantino Iadecola

The accolade, sponsored by Novartis, is the council's most prestigious award and carries a $10,000 honorarium. It recognizes researchers' contributions to the field of hypertension that have led to improved treatment and a greater understanding of high blood pressure.

A neurobiologist and neurologist, Dr. Iadecola was honored for his research into the connection between hypertension and stroke and Alzheimer's disease. He discovered that blood vessels in the brain are uniquely and highly susceptible to the effects of hypertension. The resulting damage to the vessels may lead not only to stroke and vascular dementia, but also to an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Iadecola received the award at a reception on Sept. 18 during the American Heart Association's 2015 Hypertension Scientific Sessions in Washington, D.C. Dr. Iadecola also gave a lecture during the four-day conference.

"I am honored and humbled to have been selected for this award, which I am delighted to accept on behalf of my associates in the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute who made the research possible," Dr. Iadecola said.

"This recognition has been typically bestowed on scientists working on the heart and blood vessels," he added. "Giving this award for research on the link between high blood pressure and Alzheimer's disease highlights the fact that the hypertension community worldwide acknowledges that the brain is a critical target of hypertension. This realization strengthens my resolve to continue this work, with the ultimate goal of developing new therapies to shield the brain from the devastating impact of hypertension."

Additional Awards and Honors

Dr. Wallace Carter, an associate professor of emergency medicine in clinical medicine and an adjunct associate professor of clinical medicine, received the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors CORD Impact Award at its annual academic assembly on April 15 in Phoenix. The council is a scientific and educational organization focused on improving the quality of emergency medical care, enhancing the quality of emergency medicine instruction and encouraging communication between the faculty of various emergency medicine training programs. The Impact Award is given annually to faculty members who have made significant contributions toward those goals.

Dr. Marisa Censani, an assistant professor of pediatrics, was appointed to the Pediatric Endocrine Society's Obesity Committee for a three-year term, effective May 1. The society's mission is to advance the care of children and adolescents with endocrine disorders. The committee focuses on the problem of childhood and adolescent obesity caused, at least in part, by endocrine disorders.

Dr. Nikolaos Skubas, a professor of clinical anesthesiology and of anesthesiology in clinical cardiothoracic surgery, was elected into the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists Nominating Committee in May for a two-year term. The society is an international organization of anesthesiologists that promotes excellence in clinical care, education and research in the subspecialty.

Dr. Frank Chervenak, chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Given Foundation Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and a professor of obstetrics and gynecology, was awarded an honorary doctorate in June at Cuban State University in Krasnador, Russia. Honorary doctorates are special academic distinctions awarded to individuals whose personal and professional achievements over the years have made an invaluable contribution to the university, to their discipline or to society at large.

Dr. Costantino Iadecola, director of the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute, the Anne Parrish Titzell Professor of Neurology, and a professor of neuroscience, was elected to the Association of American Physicians this year. Association members strive to acquire new medical knowledge, and advance basic and clinical science research and their application to clinical medicine. Individuals who have demonstrated excellence in achieving these goals are nominated by the association council for membership each year. Election gives members the opportunity to share their scientific discoveries and contributions with their colleagues at the annual meeting.

Dr. Mark Souweidane, a professor of neurological surgery and of neurological surgery in pediatrics, was named chair of the Journal of Neurosurgery in Pediatrics' Editorial Board at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons' May meeting in Washington, D.C. The Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics was founded in 2004 as a supplement to the Journal of Neurosurgery and is one of the most respected journals in neurosurgery today. The American Association of Neurological Surgeons is a scientific and educational association focused on advancing the specialty of neurological surgery.

Dr. Eleni Andreopoulou, the Madeline and Stephen Anbinder Clinical Scholar in Hematology/Oncology and an assistant professor of clinical medicine, received the Archbishop Iakovos Leadership 100 Endowment Fund's Award for Excellence on Feb. 14. One of the most prominent charitable Greek organizations in America, the group was founded in 1984 to bring together Greek Orthodox leaders across many fields and to support the work of other community members. Michael Jaharis, a member of the Weill Cornell Board of Overseers, is also a founding member of the fund.

Dr. Costantino Iadecola, director of the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute, the Anne Parrish Titzell Professor of Neurology and a professor of neuroscience, gave the keynote speech at Oregon Health & Science University's Stroke Conference on March 7. Dr. Iadecola's speech was titled "Neurovascular Pathways to Cognitive Impairment: Clinical Lessons from Animal Models." This one-day annual conference brought together the university's clinicians and scientists interested in stroke, cerebrovascular disease, and traumatic brain injury to share their expertise, report on scientific progress, and discuss research collaborations.

Dr. Anne Moore, a professor in clinical medicine, has won the 2015 Virginia Kneeland Frantz Distinguished Women in Medicine Award from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. This award is presented annually to an alumna who has outstanding career achievements and is named in honor of Dr. Virginia Kneeland Frantz, one of the first six women allowed admission to the previously all-male college. After graduation in 1922, Dr. Krantz went on to become the first woman ever to be accepted into what was then named Presbyterian Hospital's two-year surgical internship. Dr. Moore received the award during the college's reunion event on May 8.

Dr. Stefan Worgall, the Distinguished Professor of Pediatric Pulmonology and a professor of pediatrics and of genetic medicine, won the Klosterfrau Award for Research of Airway Diseases in Childhood from the Society of Pediatric Pulmonology Society in Germany. The annual award, which carries a 30,000 euro (approximately $33,000) prize, is bestowed upon a researcher or research team for outstanding new findings in childhood asthma research. Dr. Worgall was recognized for discovering that an overactive gene interrupts a crucial pathway that enables the synthesis of a small group of lipid molecules, called sphingolipids, which are tasked with signaling between cells and holding them together. The dysfunction of this process can create the genetic form of asthma.