The 2012 Department of Medicine Investigator Award finalists were announced and their talks were delivered during Grand Rounds on May 22, 2012. This was the 21st annual presentation of the DOM Investigator Award, which is presented to members of the Department of Medicine, below the rank of professor, who perform on an outstanding level in the areas of clinical and/or basic biomedical research. The award is generously supported by the Michael Wolk Foundation.
A study in the journal AIDS identifies a connection between the use of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) and the blood disorder polycythemia among HIV-infected men. This is the first study on polycythemia in HIV-infected men and has led to additional recommendations for the treatment of patients with HIV.
Dr. Linnie Golightly successfully competed for an R01 grant, entitled "Endothelial Progenitor cells and the Pathogenesis of Cerebral Malaria," and also secured funding through the Gates Challenge Grants with Alberto Bilenca at the Ben-Gurion University in Israel and John March at Cornell in Ithaca to develop a point-of-care test of malaria by a cell phone imaging probe and a novel cholera vaccine based upon in vivo bacterial communication pathways.
Dr. Mohamad F. Jamiluddin, a former fellow in the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, obtained a patent and produced several research papers in the field of HIV-AIDS within his first two years of training. His journey – emigrating from India to America – is featured in a documentary premiering on HBO, July 4, 2011.
Dr. Jennifer Downs was one of the "first" of four to graduate from a novel Global Health Track of the Master's of Science Degree in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Services Research. This program is a proactive collaboration between the Department of Medicine's Division of Clinical Epidemiology and Evaluative Sciences Research and the Center for Global Health in the Division of Infectious Diseases.
Hepatitis C virus can be transmitted a number of ways, including piercings/tattoos and certain methods of recreational drug use. Dr. Andrew Talal has been invited to join the Division of Viral Hepatitis at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in an external advisory group, analyzing whether to recommend HCV testing for people born between 1945 and 1965.
Daniel W. Fitzgerald, M.D., Warren D. Johnson, Jr., M.D., and Robert N. Peck, M.D., and the Global Health Center secured a Mulago Foundation grant for $560,000 over three years to support health innovations at Weill Bugando Medical School in Tanzania.
Known for his unconventional approach in the field of tuberculosis research, Dr. Rhee has been working at the molecular level studying Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) since 2006. He has pursued a course of study that challenges longstanding assumptions about the basic biology of Mtb, the causative agent of TB-with a particular interest in the biological basis of latency.
Jean W. Pape, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, and Founding Director of the AIDS research and treatment organization GHESKIO, has received a Clinton Global Citizen Award. Established by President William J. Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative in 2007, the award recognizes individuals who have championed innovative solutions to pressing global problems.
Following President William J. Clinton's recent visit to GHESKIO in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, President George W. Bush toured the city on August 10. Partners in the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, established to raise financial support for international aid efforts in post-earthquake Haiti, their visits bring fresh attention to the relief efforts, including extensive emergency aid coordinated by GHESKIO.
Division Brochure
