In This Issue
- Catalytic Seed Grant Fosters Drug Discovery Collaboration
- CHDI Turns One Year Old
- New Academic Track for Faculty Appointments
- Einstein-Montefiore Research in the Headlines
- Spotlight on Success
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Catalytic Seed Grant Fosters Drug Discovery Collaboration
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Thomas Ow MD, MSc
is an associate professor of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery and of Pathology. He specializes in the surgical treatment of tumors of the head and neck, including those that occur in the mouth, throat, larynx, neck, sinuses, salivary glands, and thyroid, and is a translational researcher studying head and neck cancer. As a past ICTR scholar in the Clinical Research Training Program, Dr. Ow’s ongoing work focuses on molecular and genomic biomarkers and treatment targets in head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC). Dr. Ow collaborates with
Evripidis Gavathiotis PhD
, associate professor of Biochemistry and of Medicine, to study apoptosis signaling in HNSCC. They have found that tumors rely on several redundant anti-apoptotic mechanisms, and that a strategy targeting apoptosis in HNSCC requires inhibition of multiple anti-apoptotic signaling proteins, including BCL-2, BCL-xL, and MCL-1. As a recipient of, initially, a foundation career development award, and then more recently, an independent NIH K23 award, Dr. Ow was eligible to receive an ICTR Catalytic Seed Grant. His project was aimed at investigating new agents developed by Dr. Gavathiotis that target apoptosis. They found that both HPV(-) and HPV(+) HNSCC cells demonstrated similar apoptotic profiles, suggesting that these cancer cells may be highly dependent on anti-apoptotic proteins to evade programmed cell death. Their overall goal is to develop an optimized strategy targeting apoptosis molecules which can be studied in a pre-clinical mouse model and potentially translated into a strategy to treat patients with HNSCC.
To learn more about our Pilot Projects Program,
click here
.
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Center for Health Data Innovations Hits One Year Milestone
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The Center for Health Data Innovations (CHDI), directed by
Parsa Mirhaji MD PhD
,
was created in the summer of 2017 to support novel data sciences and Montefiore’s learning health system. CHDI thus builds bridges to research and data technologies that are integrated with clinical practice. CHDI provides the expertise, methodologies, and infrastructure to leverage multi-source, heterogeneous, and linked data for evidence generation for clinical decision making, predictive analytics, and for translational research. To learn more about CHDI, click on the video below and check out their
website here
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Faculty Appointments and Promotions—New Academic Track
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The Office of Academic Appointments website provides up-to-date
guidance
for both prospective and current Einstein faculty. The Albert Einstein College of Medicine has several career pathways for full-time faculty investigators, including a new Physician Investigator Track. The determination to recommend an individual faculty member for appointment or promotion in a particular track should be based on consultation between the departmental chair and the individual faculty member, followed by the endorsement of the departmental review committee. For more information,
click here.
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Curbing Healthcare Costs Through Disease Prevention
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In July 2018 the US Senate’s health panel met to discuss rising costs in the US healthcare system. Four healthcare executives, including Dr. Steven Safyer, President and CEO of Montefiore, provided testimony at a session called by committee Chair Lamar Alexander and ranking Democrat Patty Murray of Washington.
Dr. Safyer discussed the top healthcare concerns of the Bronx, including asthma, obesity and diabetes. He stated, "The healthcare systems have to make a change, but they can't make it on their own" when discussing the difficulty of changing to healthier diets to lower risks of known diseases. (For example, Montefiore’s
Diabetes Prevention Program
is a nationally recognized effort that is acting on evidence-based disease prevention).
To learn more about the Senate health panel's meeting,
click here
.
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Good Luck, Nicole Bjorklund!
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Nicole Bjorklund PhD joined the ICTR four years ago as Administrator for both the Biomarker and Biorepository cores, and was recently appointed Research Assistant Professor. She will be leaving us to take a senior position at the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation as Assistant Director for Scientific Affairs, and remain on our voluntary faculty. The DDF is one of the largest non-profit funders of Alzheimer’s disease research, and Dr. Bjorklund will be responsible for a multi-million dollar portfolio of grants. Says Dr. Daniel Stein, the ICTR core scientific director, “Please join me in wishing Nicole great success in this new stage of her career. She has helped the ICTR translational cores become highly efficient in serving our diverse research community on both Einstein and Montefiore campuses, and we will miss her”.
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Award for National Leadership in Advocacy for Research
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Research!America has recently announced the Herbert Pardes Family Award for National Leadership in Advocacy for Research. This award will be given to those who are highly regarded for their ability to communicate the value of research and innovation and inspire others to do so. Nominations for this honor are due by August 3rd and more information can be found
here
.
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Alzheimer's Research Foundation Receives $30 Million in New Funding
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Bill Gates, Estée
Lauder Companies Inc., and other donors have recently announced the Diagnostics Accelerator program through the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation. This venture is pledging $30 million over three years to develop tests for the early detection of Alzheimer's disease. This funding will be available to researchers, biotechnology companies and charities across the world. To learn more,
click here
.
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Research in the Headlines
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Einstein-Montefiore investigators continue to succeed in obtaining funding. Some of these investigators with new grant awards are:
Robert Burk MD
, Professor, Departments of Pediatrics, Microbiology & Immunology, Obstetrics & Gynecology and Women's Health, Epidemiology & Population Health,
Howard Strickler MD
, Professor, Department of Epidemiology & Population Health,
Caterina Minniti MD
, Professor, Departments of Medicine (Hematology) and Pediatrics (Pediatric Hematology-Oncology),
Sunit Jariwala MD
, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine (Allergy & Immunology),
David QH Wang MD, PhD
, Professor, Department of Medicine (Hepatology),
Wei Chen MD
, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine (Nephrology),
Leonard Augenlicht PhD
, Professor, Departments of Medicine (Oncology) and Cell Biology.
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Harold and Muriel Block Institute for Clinical and Translational Research
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