2024 NYP Philanthropy | For the Future of Healthcare Magazine
NEWYORK-PRESBYTERIAN OFFICE OF PHILANTHROPY / FALL 2024
HOW NYP IS REVOLUTIONIZING ACADEMIC MEDICINE
Learn more about our campaign to make the next generation of healthcare a reality for all—and how you can make it possible (p. 8)
AI AND DATA SCIENCE CARING FOR ALL RESEARCH TODAY, THE STANDARD OF CARE TOMORROW PIONEERING THE NEXT BIG BREAKTHROUGH, TOGETHER
NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center’s Matthew Jason Lewis, MD, MPH, is advancing the field of cardiology and adult complex congenital heart disease.
WE’RE SHAPING THE FUTURE OF CARE. IT’S TIME TO BRING IT TO ALL.
When people set out to find a doctor, it’s easy to get lost. A cursory glance can make it seem like a comprehensive and accessible healthcare system is a utopian dream.
That is why NewYork-Presbyterian stands apart.
As an academic medical center in New York City, NYP and its academic partners—Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons—serve a vital purpose.
Clinically, we provide care to underserved communities, ones most hospitals cannot— or will not—take care of. Regardless of one’s ability to pay or the stage of their disease, we are committed to providing the very best care for everyone.
That care is shaped by our academic research, from basic studies in our labs to what we bring from the bench to the bedside. It allows us to give our patients the latest and most rigorously tested treatments, along with the newest devices and procedures.
And everything that we do is constantly improved by the pipeline of talent cultivated at NYP. Each physician leaves with a foundation built from the absolute best tools and mentors and the NYP ethos.
These three foundational missions of NYP —clinical care, research, and education— are practiced here every day. In the following pages, you will see the myriad ways in which we save and change lives—all through the NYP mission, of which I could not be more proud.
Steven J. Corwin, MD President and Chief Executive Officer NewYork-Presbyterian
I believe supporting NewYorkPresbyterian has a compounding positive effect on the world. Whether you help NYP recruit a top physician or help us build the incredible new facility in Westchester, you are moving medicine forward.
Our physicians are the best in the world. Period. They actually hold three jobs at once, as clinicians, scientists, and teachers. This means they heal people while teaching students how to heal and researching how to heal people better.
For example, coronary artery bypass surgery is the most common procedure performed in the world. Data shows that, without a doubt, the results of this surgery are worse for women and people of color. So, why not do it differently? Why not do it better?
Those are the questions our physicians are asking—and philanthropy is enabling them to answer.
NYP is special because of its mission: We treat every patient with the same world-class standard of care, no matter their ability to pay.
To me, this is a moral imperative. But it does not come for free.
I often tell people we could not fulfill our mission without philanthropic support. That is not an empty maxim. It is an empirical truth. Philanthropy pays for the spaces and recruitment packages that attract top physician talent. It pays for the technology that catches disease earlier and cures it faster. Philanthropy is what makes the difference between healing patients and transforming medicine. Thank you for making the difference.
Jerry Speyer Chair
FORGING AHEAD WITH DEEPA KUMARAIAH, MD
How NYP’s Chief Medical Officer is Reinventing Academic Medicine
Deepa Kumaraiah, MD, MBA, came to NYP a decade ago, not long after completing her training at Mass General Hospital.
At the time, she knew that she not only wanted to come to NYP to be a cardiologist— she wanted to change medicine, too.
The journey to get there, however, was not immediately clear.
“Cardiology is one of those fields that impacts everybody. Heart disease is the most common killer in the United States, and, increasingly, the world,” says Dr. Kumaraiah. “In treating patients on a one-to-one basis, you have an incredible opportunity to change a life.”
While that is no small feat, Dr. Kumaraiah was focused on a bigger goal: changing the system.
That transformation is happening at NYP. Dr. Kumaraiah has zeroed in on one of NYP’s great strengths: The institution trains one in 70 doctors in the country. This affords NYP a pipeline of talent of dedicated minds in the world.
As Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Kumaraiah finds herself in a unique place. She is still treating patients, working with clinicians and teaching trainees while also leading teams on how to transform care delivery.
“ We are at an inflection point where that incredible amalgamation of what can only happen at an academic medical center can make the biggest difference,” she says.
Advancing the Future of Academic Medicine
Each waking hour, Dr. Kumaraiah and the scores of healthcare teams across NYP bring their most audacious ideas for changing healthcare to life. For Dr. Kumaraiah, that means empowering physicians throughout NYP to innovate and scale their ambitions.
DATA SCIENCE
As a practicing physician, Dr. Kumaraiah understands the potential for harnessing data science and artificial intelligence in healthcare. As a result, she is committed to both training and retaining clinicians and data scientists who collaborate in unprecedented ways.
“Our unique combination of a partnership with Weill Cornell and Columbia, have led us to really fertile ground to change science and healthcare,” says Dr. Kumaraiah.
COMMUNITY
NYP’s patient care is deeply grounded in the community. That sense of connection is one of the things that attracted Dr. Kumaraiah here.
“ Why is it that Black and brown communities still have worse mortality and worse maternal outcomes? We certainly have made progress here in New York State, but it is going to require clinicians who deeply care about these issues at a crucial point in their career to continue to answer that question. Our ability as an institution to invest in those clinicians, the ones who want to answer the hard questions and really change our communities, is what is going to make NYP distinct.”
MISSION
As a practicing clinician, Dr. Kumaraiah has a frontrow seat to the moments physicians make pivotal career decisions. She tells a story of Dr. Pierre Elias, her intern in the cardiac care unit, who, prior to being in medicine, worked at a startup acquired by Google.
“He was finishing up his training and he had job offers to work at any number of Silicon Valley companies. And he came to me and he said, ‘Deepa, I want to change healthcare. What should I do?’ I said ‘Pierre, you are not going
to make care truly better outside of academic medicine.”
Dr. Elias stayed. Doubling down on his mission, his team devised a system where every single EKG at NYP runs through an algorithm that predicts the risk of valve disease.
“I’ ve stayed here because of the mission to truly care for our community,” says Dr. Kumaraiah. “It bleeds through every level of our organization. When you bring great minds together, you can change science; you can change care delivery.”
Dr. Elias
To learn more about Dr. Elias’ work, see pages 12-13.
ANNOUNCING A HISTORIC CAMPAIGN TO CHANGE
HEALTHCARE FOR GOOD—AND FOR ALL.
For more than 250 years, NewYork-Presbyterian has delivered exceptional care to millions while forging medical breakthroughs that save lives around the world. And today marks a defining moment in that storied history.
On the precipice of a new era in medicine, with new technologies pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, NYP is publicly launching one of our most ambitious initiatives ever: the For Every Future campaign.
“ The future of medicine is now, and it’s full of hope,” said Steven J. Corwin, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer at NYP. “We have an opportunity to transform not only what healthcare looks like but also the millions of lives our care and our breakthroughs will touch.”
The campaign seeks to invest $2 billion in physicians, technology, and facilities for the benefit of all. With a focus on both digital innovation and health justice woven throughout, the campaign will emphasize the hope and possibilities we see in six specialties: behavioral and brain health, cancer care, cardiovascular care, pediatric care, spine care, and women’s health.
“ We want NewYork-Presbyterian to be the beacon for transformation,” said Deepa Kumaraiah, MD, MBA, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at NYP. “We’re on the verge of changing the way we deliver healthcare, and NYP can bring its power to people like no other leading hospital can.”
The next era of healthcare brings incredible possibilities. This campaign will help us realize that potential and ensure the next generation of healthcare reaches all.
All of this is possible only with philanthropy, which enables advancements, expands access, and supports the care and cures our nonprofit hospital brings to everyone we serve. It will take our entire community of supporters to reach our $2 billion fundraising goal by 2028.
“NewYork-Presbyterian is ready to secure its place at the forefront of healthcare’s future,” says Jerry Speyer, Chair of the NYP Board of Trustees. “Together, we can make the most of this moment by investing in our talent, technology, and facilities on a new level, giving us the resources to save lives and improve well-being like never before.”
Make a difference today
Open the camera on your phone and scan the QR code to learn more about For Every Future: The Campaign for NewYork-Presbyterian.
THE SPINE CARE OF TOMORROW, AVAILABLE TODAY
Philanthropy has long brought audacious ideas to life at NYP.
A prime example is the NewYork-Presbyterian Och Spine Hospital. The Jane and Daniel Och Family Foundation established the one-of-a-kind program in 2015 and expanded it in 2022 with two transformational gifts.
Today, NewYork-Presbyterian Och Spine is the largest, most comprehensive spine care program in the country.
“It’s been a privilege to watch Och Spine grow into what it is today and help countless patients with spine problems” said Dan Och, who has been a Hospital Trustee since 2005. “We are thrilled to continue to support its role as a global leader in spinal care and research.”
To learn more, visit www.nyp.org/giving/campaign
A new milestone awaits in January 2025: a stateof-the-art, 50,000 square-foot facility in The Spiral, a spectacular new building in New York City’s Hudson Yards neighborhood. This space will allow us to treat more patients on an outpatient basis and via minimally invasive or nonsurgical approaches—a hallmark priority of this remarkable program.
“ While most people think spine surgeons work in isolation, it is important to realize spine care is a multidisciplinary affair,” says Roger Härtl, MD, Neurosurgical Director at Och Spine at NYP/Weill Cornell. “The beauty of The Spiral is that it brings together a collaborative group of nonsurgical and surgical specialists with the same commitment to patients, all in one location.”
The stunning new Spiral space will join Och Spine locations in Manhattan, Queens, Westchester, and New Jersey, where patients from the tri-state area and all over the world seek out the best spine care medicine has to offer.
A LAST CHANCE AT HOPE
Aiden Rodriguez seemed healthy when his parents brought him home from the hospital, but when he wasn’t hitting developmental milestones, they grew concerned. “I kept taking him to the doctor, saying, ‘He’s not walking, he’s not babbling, he’s not holding his own bottle,’” Aiden’s mom, Patricia Evans-Rodriguez recalls. “We knew something was wrong, we just didn’t know what.”
When Aiden was six, he developed tremors on the left side of his body; doctors found a baseballsized mass in his brain. He was diagnosed with a choroid plexus carcinoma, an extremely rare tumor that occurs in early childhood, often in infancy, and develops in the ventricles of the brain. Aiden underwent chemotherapy and three surgeries at a hospital upstate, but total tumor removal was not possible. He had multiple blood transfusions and suffered a stroke, but the tumor remained. His parents were faced with a choice.
“ We do nothing and he dies in front of us, or we do something and give him a chance,” says his dad, Jason Rodriguez.
That chance came at NewYork-Presbyterian, where Aiden became the first patient in the world ever to be treated with intra-arterial chemotherapy for choroid plexus carcinoma.
Director of Pediatric Neurological Surgery at NYP/ Weill Cornell, Mark Souweidane, MD, has pioneered clinical trials testing the delivery of chemotherapy. In Aiden’s case, he applied learnings from that trial to innovate his treatment, in partnership with Y. Pierre Gobin, MD, Professor of Radiology in Neurosurgery and Neurology at NYP/Weill Cornell.
“Aiden came to NYP in May 2023 for the trial. His participation began with an angiogram under anesthesia, which was performed by Dr. Jared Knopman.” says Dr. Souweidane.
During the angiogram, Dr. Souweidane and Dr. Knopman, Director of Cerebrovascular Surgery and Interventional Neuroradiology, decided Aiden’s
vasculature would allow them to proceed with the chemotherapy. Using microcatheters, Dr. Gobin infused three medications directly into the tumor.
A month later, Aiden returned to NYP. The chemotherapy had reduced the tumor enough that Dr. Souweidane could remove it entirely.
“He came out looking like a superstar,” says Dr. Souweidane.
Today, Aiden shows no evidence of disease and is thriving.
“
Our hope for his future,” his mom says, “is that he continues to grow and learn and has a very long and prosperous life.”
Thanks to pioneering clinical trials at NYP like Dr. Souweidane’s, that future is possible.
Left: Aiden and one of the doctors who saved his life, Mark Souweidane, MD, at a follow-up appointment.
Open the camera on your phone and scan the QR code to see how Aiden beat the odds.
AI AND DATA SCIENCE STOP ILLNESS IN ITS TRACKS
Clinicians have traditionally used five vital signs—blood pressure, pulse, temperature, respiratory rate, and oxygen status—to diagnose and care for patients. It informs so many medical decisions, but in reality, thousands of biological and environmental variables interplay with the human body.
“ Weill Cornell, Columbia, and NewYorkPresbyterian have always been pioneers on the forefront of innovation and excellence,” says Peter Fleischut, MD, Senior Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer.
And while many medical centers are seeking to harness AI, Dr. Fleischut points out that the approach embodies the very ethos of NYP.
“ We need to do this our way,” he says. “That means ensuring and prioritizing safety, equity, and transparency in a way that benefits all patients.”
In practice, this looks like developing early warning systems to identify patients who will need care and reaching out to them to intervene hours or days before a life-threatening event.
“A foundational challenge in medicine is that you can’t treat the patient you don’t know about. We’re building a future where artificial intelligence helps get the right patient to the right doctor at the right time,” says Pierre Elias, MD, NYP’s first-ever Medical Director of Artificial Intelligence.
Dr. Elias is putting his passion for AI into practice in identifying valvular heart disease. Often, it is diagnosed in the later stage of the disease due to the expense of the echocardiogram required for diagnosis.
To solve the problem, he has created an AI algorithm that can be deployed across every NYP hospital and satellite location.
“Our AI model runs on every electrocardiogram at NYP to find patients who have undiagnosed structural heart disease,” he says. “We’re able to act on these results to enroll patients in appropriate clinical trials and get them the treatment they need.”
Dr. Elias’ team is also setting a new standard for the diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis, a life-threatening cause of heart failure. Today, about 20 percent of patients tested for the disease are diagnosed. Dr. Elias’ team is currently running a clinical trial of an AI model developed here at NYP to find likely candidates and screen them. They discovered that cardiac amyloidosis is far more common than we previously thought: 50 percent of patients are
positive. Moreover, it has led Dr. Elias’ team to test more patients who would have been overlooked; it’s likely that NYP will double the number of patients diagnosed this year alone—connecting them to life-saving medications that can add years to their lives.
Soojin Park, MD, Professor of Neurology and Biomedical Informatics at NYP/Columbia, is similarly driven to apply data science tools to medicine.
“In neurocritical care, you have these patients who don’t have a great exam, and a lot of them are in a coma. You have to understand what’s happening in a black box of the brain in real time so you can intervene,” Dr. Park says. “And if you don’t know what’s happening and you don’t know how to interpret the data coming off of these monitors, you lose an opportunity. That’s what we’re there for.”
Dr. Park’s purpose-driven approach to data and neurocritical care has led to predictive models that improve timeliness and precision in diagnosis.
While the work at the leading edge of AI and data science can look different among different specialties, there is a common good that unites them all: the promise of health equity.
“ We have many patients who are at risk of falling through the cracks, whether those are patients who are undocumented, patients who do not speak English, or patients who have been seen at multiple health systems in a short period of time,” says Dr. Elias. “This is a way for us to address some of the health equity challenges that exist in those patients who could be overlooked and say, ‘Let’s have a coordinated system that finds those patients and makes sure that they get the care that they need.’”
Addressing bias in healthcare isn’t just a positive outcome of the use of AI, it’s a tenet of NYP’s mission.
“ These models have an immense stability in their performance across race, ethnicity, gender, and location,” says Dr. Elias. “This work simply can’t exist without academic medicine.”
Open the camera on your phone and scan the QR code to learn more about Dr. Elias’ work.
In applying AI to medicine, Pierre Elias, MD, collaborates closely with Columbia faculty like Noémie Elhadad, PhD, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE: HEALTH JUSTICE IN ACTION
UNCOVERING DISPARITIES IN HYPERTENSION
Marwah Abdalla, MD, clinical cardiologist and cardiac intensivist at NYP/Columbia
Hypertension is one of the leading risk factors for heart disease and death and also the origin of many healthcare disparities.
At the heart of NYP’s mission lies an imperative: furthering health justice. Ensuring that patients have consistent access and engaging in initiatives that dismantle and remove obstacles to care has never been more critical. The engine behind this work is NYP’s own Dalio Center for Health Justice, which was launched in 2020 thanks to the generosity of Trustee Ray Dalio. The Center invests in research and education, advocates for policy change, and drives measurable improvements in health outcomes for all.
“Our mission is broad so we can be responsive to the needs of our patients, New York City, NYP, and our university partners,” says Julia Iyasere, MD, MBA, Executive Director of the Dalio Center and Senior Vice President, Health Justice and Equity. “Working closely with physicians is key to improving health outcomes in our communities.”
Whether it’s addressing diseases in the context of social determinants of health, harnessing innovation to address disparities, or creating policy pathways that set more equitable standards, our physicians are dedicated to creating a better world for all. Here are four who are leading the charge.
“It’s a treatable disease, and unfortunately, as a medical community, we’ve struggled with getting one of the most leading risk factors for heart disease under control,” Dr. Abdalla says. “Over the past several years, there’s been an increase in and worsening of hypertension-related mortality, as well as blood pressure control.”
Dr. Abdalla’s research lies in understanding why that is and what can be done about it. Since 2014, she has been collaborating with the Jackson Heart Study, which follows one of the largest cohorts of Black adults to ever be studied in the United States in order to uncover why this population suffers more from hypertension and cardiovascular disease.
“Black people have high rates of hypertension, and there’s a multitude of reasons for that,” says Dr. Abdalla. “What are the historical reasons for this? Obviously, racism has had a huge impact on the health of underrepresented groups within the U.S., not just on Black adults.”
The next step for Dr. Abdalla, then, is looking at effective implementation strategies to improve hypertension management and blood pressure control across the country.
“From a research perspective, we have to identify and target multilevel factors—including at the structural, environmental, community, and healthcare system levels—that can be used to improve healthcare, particularly for vulnerable populations,” she says. “What we do on the research and clinical side can impact families and their descendants across generations.”
Marwah Abdalla, MD
GIVING KIDS A NEW FUTURE
Matthew Jason Lewis, MD, MPH, cardiologist and Director of the Adult Congenital Heart Disease Research Program at NYP/Columbia
Dr. Lewis’s path to understanding the need for access and health justice started with an unlikely source: Paul Newman. The actor and activist created summer camps for children in need who also have severe illness. As a camp counselor there, Dr. Lewis was part of a team that was unable to resuscitate a camper who had a cardiac event.
“ The parents of this child were still so grateful that he had an opportunity to experience this and that he wanted to be buried in his camp T-shirt, which shows how meaningful it was to him,” Dr. Lewis says. “That struck me because I think our job as physicians is to give people the opportunity to live a life.”
Today, Dr. Lewis puts that idea into practice in his work with patients who have congenital heart defects that often aren’t compatible with life without extreme interventions. The landscape for those who receive them, though, becomes more complicated over time.
“ The academic pediatric cardiology programs have been successful in getting people to this (later) point in their lives. But we have this wave of individuals who are emerging into adulthood with structurally very complicated hearts,” he says.
His goal is to not just give them a normal life span but to also give them normalcy and a future. To do that, physicians like Dr. Lewis are trying to innovate solutions beyond structural repairs of the heart.
“ We have to think about not only how we can predict which patients are going to be the sickest, but also are there innovative ways that we can drive improvements in healthcare?” he says.
Dr. Lewis is making that vision a reality in new ways. He’s looking to patient-centered research that engages with patents and biorepositories where they’re active participants, helping providers understand the important research questions they should be asking.
“I really want to help bridge the gaps for a lot of folks who may otherwise not have the opportunity.”
BRINGING POSTPARTUM CARE HOME
Heather Lipkind, MD, MS, Director of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at NYP/Weill Cornell
When Dr. Lipkind had her first daughter, in 2009, she found herself experiencing—like so many women do—complications from high blood pressure and preeclampsia.
“I took all the work I had been doing and things that I saw—disparities in care, different cesarean section rates in different places—a lot of things that cause morbidity, and I really wanted to understand what was going on,” Dr. Lipkind says of what propelled her current trajectory. “I’m really passionate about high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease in women, particularly after delivery, and making sure women get care.”
If pregnancy was once considered a window into future health, Dr. Lipkind is looking at it through a new lens.
“My work is linking women into the care system and figuring out a way to help them navigate what’s going on.”
That’s what motivated Dr. Lipkind to sit with 100 women—“Black and brown women, women without insurance”—about six months after delivery. She discussed with them how their pregnancy conditions led to high blood pressure and metabolic diseases like diabetes.
Many of the women weren’t even aware they had those diagnoses.
“I saw how social determinants of health often prevented women from accessing care on the ground. It was very hard to get people into care at six months,” says Dr. Lipkind. “Actually talking to women about what affects them and their communities has allowed me to structure research in a way that I can really help women.”
Now, Dr. Lipkind is putting her mission into action by working with local communities—from patients themselves to community boards and community doulas—to build a better understanding of places of access and to bring better care to underserved women, even those without pregnancy complications. This research has shown that almost 20 to 30 percent of women—even healthy women—had high blood pressure six months after giving birth. That means even more people will benefit from the continuity of care that Dr. Lipkind has spent her career building.
“ Working with communities in the context of academic medicine allows me to take care of patients while helping the system and making the world a better place,” says Dr. Lipkind. “NYP is the perfect place to do this work.”
Matthew Jason Lewis, MD, MPH
Heather Lipkind, MD, MS, (standing) reviews an ultrasound with members of her healthcare team.
UNIFYING PSYCHIATRY AND PEDIATRICS
Cori Green, MD, MSc, Vice Chair of Behavioral Health in Integration and Innovation and Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Weill Cornell Medicine
Although Dr. Green is a pediatrician, she’ll be the first to tell you that every day, she engages with the Department of Psychiatry as part of her work. This collaboration is possible only at a place like NYP.
“ They are integral to helping to think about providing mental healthcare from a population health standpoint,” she says. “I work with their social workers, their psychologists, their psychiatrists, their administrative team.”
Bringing this interdepartmental strategy to pediatrics is key to offering the most comprehensive care to children and adolescents. Much of the impetus for doing so stems from recognizing that pediatric illness and disease are not always entirely separate from mental health challenges.
“ We continue to see more and more pediatric patients who have mental health challenges, and not just severe mental illness,” she says. “When you’re diagnosed with diabetes, there are a lot of emotional aspects to that. You should go to our endocrinology practice and be able to talk about insulin, but also at the same time [go to] a mental health specialist who can help support you in how challenging it is to learn that you have a new diagnosis and how you’re going to build coping skills.”
Dr. Green’s work has a vast scope.
“I got into medicine and into research to help vulnerable populations, and then to educate the pediatric workforce to do a better job,” she says. “This is what I’ve always thought pediatrics should be: more comprehensive.”
SICKLE CELL REACHES THE NATIONAL STAGE
Sickle cell disease is a genetic blood disorder affecting approximately 100,000 Americans, including around 10,000 New York State residents. The condition predominantly impacts Black and Hispanic Americans. Despite significant advancements in recent years, research remains underfunded in comparison to similar genetic disorders, and mortality rates have not significantly improved over the last 40 years. The NewYorkPresbyterian Dalio Center for Health Justice is dedicated to driving progress in this field.
NYP cares for over 1,200 patients living with sickle cell disease annually, offering leading-edge therapies such as stem cell transplantation and gene therapy. These innovations are transforming the management of this historically stigmatized disease, aiming for a future where patients are no longer burdened by the excruciating pain, organ damage, or frequent hospitalizations that often begin in infancy.
To make this largely invisible disease truly visible, the Dalio Center for Health Justice has launched a groundbreaking social media and marketing campaign. Partnering with the basketball
community, local organizations focused on sickle cell disease, and national advocacy groups, the campaign seeks to educate the public, raise awareness, and empower those living with sickle cell disease. The #IBall4SickleCell campaign features a limited-edition basketball designed with a red panel to denote a sickled red blood cell. Participants will record and perform trick shots with the ball, share their videos on social media, and explain their support for the campaign. They will also nominate others to join the movement, directing them to www.sicklecellball.com.
NYP is dedicated to amplifying awareness of sickle cell disease and fostering greater public understanding of its impact.
Learn more at www.sicklecellball.com
Above: A glimpse behind the scenes of production of the sickle cell ball. The Dalio Center’s Whitney Harris, Manager of Clinical Strategy, and Molly Lawson, Sickle Cell Program Manager.
Cori Green, MD, MSc, (right) helps bring timely mental healthcare to children and adolescents.
RESEARCH TODAY, THE STANDARD OF CARE TOMORROW
Academic medicine’s future hinges on NYP’s physicians. Our teams are translating research advances discovered in our laboratories to treat—and potentially cure—a wide range of medical conditions. They collaborate and work non-stop to discover the next big thing in medicine and bring life-changing therapeutics to fruition.
“Being able to talk to patients in the clinic and understand what is missing in current care drives the direction and focus of my research,” says Melissa Frey, a gynecologic oncologist and Director of the Genetics and Personalized Cancer Prevention Program at NYP/ Weill Cornell. “And then as a scientist, I can do the research and bring what we have learned to the patient.”
The ability to go from the patient to the laboratory, then back to the patient gives physicians like Dr. Frey the ability to personalize care in ways that surpass the traditional standard.
“I can operate on a patient, remove that patient’s cancerous tissue, and do analysis so I know exactly how the tumor is behaving. This analysis can offer clues as to how the cancer will respond to surgery, chemotherapy, and novel targeted agents,” she says of her work, which is largely centered around ovarian cancer. “That will help not only that patient but potentially others as well.”
Dr. Frey was uniquely positioned to help launch the Genetics and Personalized Cancer Prevention Program, the first of its kind in the state of New York. The program offers cancer risk assessment and genetic testing for anyone who is interested and then coordinates longterm cancer preventative care for people who are at higher risk.
The program not only focuses on a single patient, but also considers the health of the entire family, as hereditary cancer syndromes can impact many relatives. “We are committed to helping our patients contact their relatives and offer them genetic counseling and testing to improve the health of many generations in a family,” she says.
“Our research scientists are helping us use all of this information to prevent cancer or detect it at the earliest possible stage.”
Uma Reddy, MD, MPH, Vice Chair of Research and a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, applies these translational research concepts when trying to improve pregnancy outcomes. She reflects on how far the field of maternal fetal medicine has come since her training in the early nineties, and the response to stillborn and preterm births at the time.
“ We would say, ‘We’re really sorry. We don’t know why this happened,’ and we didn’t know how to prevent it.
Through research, we have a much better understanding of the causes and risk factors of these poor pregnancy outcomes. We then apply that understanding to developing new approaches that can improve care and produce better outcomes for our patients.”
As one of the principal investigators of New York Community-Hospital-Academic Maternal Health Equity Partnerships (NY-CHAMP), a Maternal Health Research Center of Excellence funded by the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Reddy will look into new ways to reduce racial inequity in maternal mortality and morbidity.
Black people are five times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white people in New York State and most of these deaths are preventable. “We are looking at the role of structural racism, social determinants of health, and unmet needs, because despite having the best medical care in the world, we still have worse maternal health outcomes for birthing people.”
Finding new ways of going about old interventions
Coronary artery bypass surgery is the most common major surgical procedure performed worldwide. Yearly, approximately 400,000 patients undergo the operation in the United States alone, but despite its frequency, it’s not been rigorously studied, nor is the way the operation is performed vastly different than it was 25 years ago.
Mario Gaudino, MD, PhD, a cardiac surgeon and Director of Translational and Clinical Research for the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at NYP/Weill Cornell, is exploring why the procedure has different outcomes for women and men of color than it does for white men—research that has never been done in the 50 years that bypass procedures have existed.
“ The highest standard for research in cardiac surgery is the randomized clinical trial. And then you make a comparison,” he says. “So far, there has been no randomized trial.” Until now.
“Nobody else in cardiac surgery thought we could do it, because it has never been done right,” he says. On April 15, the trial—called ROMA—completed enrollment with patient number 4,370. “And now, the results will probably be ready in late 2027, and that will be a gamechanger.”
The results of ROMA—and its spinoff trial, ROMA: Women—will undoubtedly change the way the most commonly performed cardiac surgery is implemented. Dr. Gaudino recognizes that not many places would have taken on this trial as NYP did.
Indeed, generating revenue from determining whether an artery or a vein is the best conduit for bypass, and which technique for harvesting a radial artery is best, is a challenge. But Dr. Gaudino, like NYP itself, is mission-driven.
“I often think of my mom. She’s 80 and she has some coronary artery disease,” says Dr. Gaudino. “I always fear that phone call if something happens to her, and then I need to make a decision. And the reality is that I don’t have the data despite that being my field. We will get it done, and we will change the landscape.”
To view more information on the ROMA trial and ROMA:Women trial, visit www.theromatrial.com and www.theromatrialwomen.com
Above: Uma Reddy, MD, MPH, is on a mission to improve maternal health across New York and beyond.
Open the camera on your phone and scan the QR code to learn more about Dr. Frey’s work.
Top: Mario Gaudino, MD, PhD, (left) is changing the game for coronoary bypass surgery.
Bottom: Melissa Frey, MD, (middle) mentoring the next generation of healthcare professionals.
WHAT’S NEXT IN ACADEMIC MEDICINE
PIONEERING THE NEXT BIG BREAKTHROUGH, TOGETHER
Operating at NYP’s level means attracting and retaining the best talent and channeling their skills into advanced research and clinical practice. But it also requires something intangible and rare: imagination. At NYP, our brightest minds are constantly working to imagine better, novel techniques and applications that propel care into the future for our patients.
Jared Knopman, MD, Director of Cerebrovascular Surgery and Interventional Neuroradiology and Fellowship Director of Endovascular Neurosurgery at NYP/Weill Cornell
Dr. Jared Knopman was drawn to endovascular neurosurgery and minimally invasive neurosurgery due to their less invasive nature compared to many neurosurgeries, which usually results in less pain and a quicker recovery for the patient. Subdural hematoma, a buildup of blood beneath the covering of the brain, is one of the most common conditions he sees.
“It t ypically affects patients above the age of 65, which is a very large, growing demographic in the country right now,” Dr. Knopman says. “And we’ve been treating this disease process the exact same way for a hundred years. We either had surgical options to drain it or we had no options. I thought, there has to be a blood vessel that’s playing a role in this pathophysiology that we can intervene on.”
By refusing to settle for a traditional approach, Dr. Knopman discovered one that is better, and became a pioneer in the process.
“ The middle meningeal artery (MMA) is the artery that runs the covering over the brain,” he explains. “By embolizing it, or shutting it down through minimally invasive means with a catheter.
The post-operative hematoma recurrence rates drop from 25 percent to 4 percent.”
Dr. Knopman served as National Private Investigator on the largest North American trial of MMA embolization, which recently concluded, confirming his findings.
The procedure led to yet another innovation.
“A side effect that we discovered was that many patients’ headaches were going away before the blood was re-absorbing,” says Dr. Knopman. In other words, taking blood supply away from an area was having an impact on pain. “This is an area of endovascular neurosurgery that has never even been studied before, and it came out of a separate area of innovation. It goes to show that one discovery often leads to another and is now the next frontier of our research.”
Thomas Imahiyerobo, MD, Director, Cleft and Craniofacial Surgery and Section Chief Pediatric Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at NYP/Columbia
Complex craniofacial reconstruction—repairing or
restoring congenital birth defects that often affect the head and neck skeleton—make up a significant percentage of Dr. Thomas Imahiyerobo’s cases. From cranial reconstructions of the head to orbital reconstruction of the eyes and rebuilding ears from children’s rib cartilage, Dr. Imahiyerobo’s work is novel by definition. However, he has pushed his craft to new heights with virtual surgery planning, “Sophisticated computer software allows us to simulate our surgeries before we ever get into the operating room,” he says. “You can try as many different outcomes as you want, try as many different permutations as you want to try to pinpoint the most efficient surgical plan.”
He recalls a patient who required facial advancement surgery due to their skull fusing prematurely, which was causing an increase in intracranial pressure—a threat to vision, sleep apnea, and more.
“ We separated the bones of their face from their skull so that we could move the face forward a couple inches. There was a lot of risk involved,” he says.
But with the ability to virtually plan the high-stakes procedure, it was a success.
“ We were able to deliver something for a young lady and her parents that will change pretty much every aspect of her life in an instant and hopefully serve her well as she grows through the decades.”
Jason Solomon Hawksworth, MD, Surgical Director, Adult Liver Transplantation; Chief, Hepatobiliary Surgery, Division of Abdominal Organ Transplant and Hepatobiliary Surgery; and Director of Robotic Liver Surgery Program, Division of Abdominal Organ Transplant and Hepatobiliary Surgery at NYP/Columbia
Transplant surgery is a continually innovative field, one in which Dr. Jason Solomon Hawksworth has blazed a trail with his robotic techniques for transplanting the liver and pancreas, both historically challenging organs.
“ The difference between old-fashioned surgery and laparoscopic robotic incisions for patients,” he says, “is night and day. You take a patient who was going to be in the hospital for 7 to 10 days and stuck in the ICU for a couple days to literally going home on postoperative day one or two.”
Dr. Hawksworth’s pre-operative techniques are worthy of attention, too.
“ We’ve been able to incorporate three-dimensional imaging of the liver so that when planning these cases, you know exactly where all the blood vessels are inside the liver, the relationship of a tumor to those blood vessels, and you can calculate a very precise amount of liver you need to take out to get the tumor out cleanly.”
What’s more is that the 3D imaging Dr. Hawksworth creates can then be projected onto the screen while performing the robotic surgery, providing a roadmap while doing these minimally invasive cases— something that, in the words of Dr. Hawksworth, “is awesome.”
Open the camera on your phone and scan the QR code to learn more about Dr. Imahiyerobo’s work.
Above: Jared Knopman, MD, with clinical fellow Craig Schreiber, DO
Top: Thomas Imahiyerobo, MD, analyzes a 3D replica of a human skull with Mary Elizabeth Katinas, NP.
Bottom: Jason Solomon Hawksworth, MD
WHAT’S NEXT IN ACADEMIC MEDICINE
EMPOWERING THE PRIDE OF BROOKLYN
At NYP, we take care of people where they live and work, whether for a routine check-up or lifealtering surgery.
But we can do more—and we will. That is why NewYorkPresbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital will become our institution’s third major standalone academic medical center.
The people here in Brooklyn want to stay in Brooklyn,” says Dr. Kwesi Blackman, an internist who practices at NYP Brooklyn Methodist. “But they want an option that’s good. And we are that option.”
Brooklyn Investments in Action
Our commitment to the residents of Brooklyn goes beyond the walls of the hospital.
PATIENT CARE
Since NYP acquired the hospital in 2019, NYP Brooklyn Methodist’s metrics of quality and success have soared.
“ When you look at our quality rankings, we are rated as the highest quality hospital,” says Juan Mejia, President of NYP Brooklyn Methodist.
Our doctors improve outcomes and advance health equity.
To address a steep disparity in colorectal and breast cancer screening rates for Black patients, the hospital increased screenings and connected more patients to the hospital for life saving care.
Programs Guided by Health Justice
We address root causes of disease and reduce health inequities:
• Our Sickle Cell Program serves more than 1,200.
• Our Maternal Health Program works with communitybased organizations (CBOs) in Central Brooklyn to create programs focused on maternal and child health.
• The Crown Hair Care Program has provided hair care kits to over 30,000 pediatric and obstetric patients with curly, coiled, or tightly textured hair.
COMMUNITY PRESENCE
We work with CBOs to support Brooklyn’s economic health and well-being through innovative programs and grants:
• CBOs to address social isolation, housing, and economic insecurity.
• Grassroots organizations to help them thrive and ensure sustainability.
• Emergency funding, from helping businesses recover from flooding to supporting immigrant families in the borough.
Looking Ahead
“ This is unlike anything that’s been done before. What we’re building is something that the borough of Brooklyn and the city of New York need and deeply deserve,” says Dr. Paresh C. Shah, Group Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell. “It’s a full-fledged academic medical center that’s part of NewYork-Presbyterian, which, together with Weill Cornell and Columbia, represents the best and most advanced academic health system in the country.”
Philanthropy can make this possible. We invite you to join us.
EXPANDING OUR REACH
Opening in September 2025, our new 25-acre campus at 1111 Westchester Avenue will offer increasingly in-demand care and the unparalleled talent, skill, and resources of one of the top academic medical centers in the country.
It will be a true concierge practice—a beautifully envisioned space with ColumbiaDoctors that brings a broad range of essential services and exceptional expertise in medical specialties to the region.
When NYP sets out to expand, we ensure that the quality of care reaches our high standards of excellence—and advances our commitment to increasing access to care.
“By offering a wide range of specialized services in this center and focusing on providing an exceptional experience for our patients and their families, we will change the face of care for a larger community,” says Paul Dunphey, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of NYP Westchester and President of NYP Hudson Valley Hospital. “With high-level technology and top-ranking specialists from cardiovascular, neurosensory, men’s health, women’s health, pediatrics, oncology, and more specialties,
we can combine the power and reputation of ColumbiaDoctors with the latest advancements in medicine. That level of dedication to providing medical care in this region can only be achieved by NewYork-Presbyterian, a world-class leader in healthcare.”
This location is part of an enterprise-wide investment in Westchester County. From enhancements to pediatrics and women’s health at our NYP Westchester campus, including familyfriendly single-bedded postpartum rooms to modern and expanded space to serve the mental health needs of children and adolescents within our NYP Westchester Behavioral Health campus, we are doubling down on serving the communities north of New York City.
YOU’RE MOVING MEDICINE FORWARD
The future of medicine is in motion at NYP, where investments in our mission are fueling change every day. From simple solutions to soaring skyscrapers, every achievement at NYP happens because of supporters like you. Thanks to your generosity, our major campaign is already opening doors and improving lives, and we’ve only just begun. Here are the events, celebrations, conferences, and unveilings that tell the story of the power of philanthropy in action at NYP.
1 NYP Celebrates 16th Annual Lang Youth Medical Program Graduates
Since its inception in 2003, NYP has proudly celebrated its Lang Youth Medical Program graduates, including the class of 2024, which has completed the six-year college prep and health sciences enrichment program. This program provides public school students from the Washington Heights community with exposure to careers in the healthcare field.
2 Dalio Center Organizes Women’s Health Community Day
The NewYork-Presbyterian Dalio Center for Health Justice, in collaboration with a number of other local organizations, held an exciting day of demonstrations and resources for women and children at the Queens Botanical Garden. Blooming Into Health for Women and Children was arranged as a scavenger hunt for health that featured over 30 health and wellness representative stops for the 1,200 attendees to participate in.
3 Annual Comedy Event Supports Newborns
The sold-out NYP Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital Comedy Night raised more than $900,000 to help build a new neuro-NICU at the hospital thanks to the incredible support of Morgan Stanley employees, including Drew Ertman and Aly Kerr.
4 An Important Conversation to Support Youth Mental Health
At NYP’s annual gala for The Center for Youth Mental Health, singer Demi Lovato spoke with Weill Cornell psychiatrist Charlie Shaffer, MD, about her personal mental health struggles and the benefits of treatment.
Co-hosted by NYP Chief Executive Officer Steven J. Corwin, MD, fashion designer Tory Burch, biotechnology executive Dr. Zandy Forbes, and Vogue editor Anna Wintour, the event raised funds to support research and treatment programs that give young people the care they need.
5 Plates for Pediatrics Benefits NYP Komansky Children’s Hospital
In partnership with Saks Fifth Avenue, NYP Komansky Children’s Hospital’s 12th Plates for Pediatrics benefit raised nearly $2 million to help provide innovative care to children. The benefit was hosted by NewYorkPresbyterian/Weill Cornell Pediatrician-in-Chief Sallie Permar and celebrity chairs Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann.
6 NYP Community Hospitals Host Cancer Care Golf Benefit
NYP held the inaugural edition of our golf benefit in support of community hospitals this year. The fun included morning and afternoon rounds, updates from NYP leadership, and prizes. Proceeds from the event helped support cancer care at NYP Brooklyn Methodist, NYP Queens, NYP Hudson Valley, and NYP Westchester.
7 NYP Westchester Recognizes Breast Cancer Awareness Month
NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester celebrated Breast Cancer Awareness Month with the Carol H. Taylor Breast Health Center Reception. Paul J. Dunphey, SVP and COO at NYP Westchester, and Lynn R. Chinitz, MD, director of the Carol H. Taylor Breast Health Center, spoke with guests about why regular screening is key in the fight against breast cancer and offered guests tours of the state-of-the-art center.
8 NYP Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital Celebrates 20th Anniversary
The Amazing Kids, Amazing Care Dinner commemorated two decades of pediatric excellence, honored the incredible leadership of John J. Mack, Chair Emeritus of the NYP Board of Trustees, and raised $1 million to fund vital patient care, programs, and services for babies, children, and their families.
10 NYP Celebrates Innovation and Excellence in Women’s Health NYP/Weill Cornell and famed fashion house CHANEL celebrated outstanding care in obstetrics and gynecology at the 17th annual CHANEL Award Luncheon. This year’s honoree was Eloise ChapmanDavis, MD, FACOG, Division Director of Gynecologic Oncology at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell and an Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Weill Cornell Medicine.
9 Dalio Center for Health Justice Hosts Second Annual Conference
This year’s event at the Brooklyn Museum centered on how investing in early childhood development in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life can improve social, economic, and health outcomes. Its featured speakers included Dalio Center founder Ray Dalio; NYP Chief Executive Officer Steven J. Corwin, MD; former Surgeon General of California Nadine Burke Harris, MD, MPH; Harlem Children’s Zone President Geoffrey Canada; economist and Nobel laureate James Heckman, PhD; and New York Times bestselling author Dana L. Suskind, MD.
CONTRIBUTORS
We are thrilled to share how NewYork-Presbyterian is redefining academic medicine.
NYP is a nonprofit hospital. We rely on philanthropy to bring the incredible work in these pages to fruition—yet there is so much more we can do.
We envision a world where everyone gets a fair shot at their healthiest life. Healthcare is accessible and just. Communities are nurtured by the healthcare teams who’ve selflessly devoted their careers to helping others.
We’re closer than ever before, but we need your help. We hope that you will consider supporting the amazing work we do. Every person—every future— stands to benefit.
Thank you for your partnership.
Sincerely,
Sheila Kelly Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer NewYork-Presbyterian
BROOKLYN
NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital
MANHATTAN
NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center
NewYork-Presbyterian/ Weill Cornell Medical Center
NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital
NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital
NewYork-Presbyterian Och Spine Hospital
QUEENS
NewYork-Presbyterian Queens
WESTCHESTER
NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester (formerly NewYork-Presbyterian Lawrence Hospital)
NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester Behavioral Health Center
