WE DON’T JUST PRACTICE MEDICINE.
WE CHANGE IT.
Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center I WA N BAA N
2017
P&S Today: Class of 2020 at 2016 White Coat Ceremony
A M E L I A PA N I C O
Dear Friends, As the calendar year comes to a close, the College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S) is looking ahead to 2017, when we will observe a special anniversary: 250 years of pioneering medical education, research, and patient care at Columbia University.
Lee Goldman, MD
P. Roy Vagelos, MD
This is an exciting occasion. For two and a half centuries, P&S has shaped the field of medicine. From the beginning of medical training at Columbia, when we conferred the country’s first medical degree, to the modern era of research, technology, and evidence-based clinical care, we have trained generations of medical and scientific leaders and nurtured the innovations that have resulted in lifesaving new therapies and advances in clinical practice. For this work, our faculty have received the highest recognitions in medical science, including the Nobel Prize, with recent Nobel Laureates counting current full-time faculty Richard Axel and Eric Kandel and two 1966 P&S classmates, Robert Lefkowitz and Harold Varmus. This calendar pays tribute to just a few of the milestones achieved by the P&S community— discoveries and innovations that have transformed the way we study, learn, and practice medicine. It is truly no exaggeration to say that at Columbia, we don’t just practice medicine, we change it. We hope you will be able to join us as we devote the next 12 months to a series of events and festivities that will hail our storied past and take stock of the future. Details on the 250th anniversary and other stories like the ones in this calendar can be found at ps.columbia.edu/250. We want to draw your attention to a special program on April 26, when we will host a vibrant discussion of precision medicine, followed by DocTalks events on cancer in June and neuroscience/psychiatry in October. We also will celebrate a special Crown Awards Gala in December 2017. We expect the next 250 years of academic medicine at P&S to be every bit as auspicious as our first as we continue to change the course of medical history. We look forward to seeing you in 2017 and wish you and your loved ones a Happy New Year. Sincerely yours, Lee Goldman, MD
P. Roy Vagelos, MD
Harold and Margaret Hatch Professor
Chair, College of Physicians and Surgeons 250th Anniversary Steering Committee
Executive Vice President and Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine Chief Executive, Columbia University Medical Center
Chair, CUMC Board of Advisors
College of Physicians and Surgeons on the northeast corner of 23rd Street and what is now Park Avenue South circa 1856
JANUARY 2017
MEDICAL EDUCATION AT
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Columbia University dates back to 1767, when King’s College—later renamed Columbia College— established the first medical school in New York. This was only the second medical school in the 13 colonies and the first in the colonies to grant the MD degree, in 1770. Samuel Bard (pictured above), a prominent early American physician, was dean of the Columbia medical school. He also was instrumental in the founding of the College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S) in 1807, serving as its president from 1811-1821. In 1814, Dr. Bard presided over the merger of the two institutions. The first dormitory for P&S students, Bard Hall, was named in his honor and opened in 1931.
Dr. Charles Drew, far left, with nursing and medical faculty in 1941
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AS A GRADUATE STUDENT at Columbia,
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Dr. Charles Drew (P&S 1940 MSD) identified an efficient way to process and store large quantities of blood plasma. This discovery, the foundation of modern blood banking, transformed the practice of emergency medicine. Dr. Drew was the first African-American to receive a Doctor of Medical Science degree from Columbia. Today, P&S has one of the most diverse student bodies of any U.S. medical school and hosts several pipeline programs that prepare underrepresented college students for careers in health professions.
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IN 1953, Dr. Virginia
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Apgar (P&S 1933, pictured above), professor of anesthesiology, published a simple 10-point scoring method for predicting infant health. The Apgar score measures five body functions to determine the need for life-saving assistance within 60 seconds of birth and remains the international standard for assessing newborn health. Dr. Apgar served on the faculty from 1935 to 1959 and was the first woman appointed to a full professorship at P&S.
Civil War field hospital station C O U R T E S Y O F T H E N AT I O N A L L I B R A R Y OF MEDICINE
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IN 1861, the College
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of Physicians and Surgeons granted Dr. John C. Dalton Jr., professor of physiology, leave to join the U.S. Army Medical Corps during the Civil War. He remained with the Army until 1864, serving in military operations in coastal South Carolina and Georgia, where he was responsible for the health of thousands of soldiers. At least 409 P&S alumni served during the Civil War (400 for the Union and nine for the Confederacy), including 19 who are known to have died while in service. Dr. Dalton (pictured above) was the nation’s first full-time physiology professor and from 1884 to 1889 served as president of P&S.
The Department of Surgery in 1928, led by Dr. Allen O. Whipple, seated front and center
MAY 2017 Sunday
ONE OF THE GREAT
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surgical innovations of the 20th century is the Whipple procedure. The complex surgical operation, formally called a pancreaticoduodenectomy, was pioneered by Dr. Allen O. Whipple (P&S 1908) to remove pancreatic tumors. As chair of the P&S Department of Surgery, Dr. Whipple oversaw the department’s transformation into a modern academic research unit, a legacy that has lived on in the innovations of subsequent surgery faculty, such as Dr. Kenneth Forde (P&S 1959, pictured above), who pioneered the use of endoscopy as a diagnostic and surgical tool and is one of the many surgeons who have performed the Whipple procedure.
E L IZA BET H W IL CO X
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IN 1943, P&S laboratory
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supervisor Balbina Johnson (pictured above) made a curious observation while studying a culture of Bacillus subtilis taken from a 7-yearold girl. Overnight, Staphylococcus aureus, observed in the culture during an initial microscope exam, had disappeared. Follow-up research with surgery professor Dr. Frank L. Meleney (P&S 1916) isolated the microbe responsible for destroying the staph bacteria and led to the development of a new antibiotic: bacitracin, or “bacillus of Tracy.” Named after the patient who inspired its discovery, bacitracin was an ideal topical agent for infections that, until then, required surgery. It remains the most common ingredient in over-the-counter antibiotic ointments.
Patient care at the Neurological Institute, 1963 E L I Z A B E T H W I LC OX
JULY 2017 Sunday
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IN 1909, the Neurological
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Institute of New York became the first hospital in North America devoted to the study and treatment of nervous system disorders. Part of Columbia since 1925, the institute has shaped the field of neuroscience through pioneering innovations, including surgical procedures and drug discovery. Columbia’s leadership in understanding the human brain is likewise rooted in the field of psychiatry. Long-time faculty member Dr. Robert Spitzer (P&S 1966, pictured above), helped lead contemporary psychiatry from a theory-driven discipline to one guided scientifically by empirical data. He devoted his career to developing the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders” into a transformative resource for patient diagnosis and treatment.
Dr. Nancy Wexler’s work with families in Venezuela proved to be crucial to the identification of the gene for Huntington’s disease. PETER GINTER
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Huntington (P&S 1871, pictured above) published an article, “On Chorea,” outlining the symptoms and progression of a degenerative neurological condition that would become known as Huntington’s chorea, or Huntington’s disease. The paper came at the beginning of Dr. Huntington’s career, the duration of which would be carried out as a family physician in Dutchess County, N.Y. In 1979, Dr. Nancy Wexler, current Higgins Professor of Neuropsychology at P&S, began extensive research on families in Venezuela affected by Huntington’s disease, collecting and analyzing thousands of blood samples—work that led to the identification of the gene responsible for the disease.
Pediatric clinic at the New York Orthopedic Hospital, circa 1919
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“The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care” in 1946 turned Dr. Benjamin Spock (P&S 1929, pictured above) into a popular authority on parenting—and a global celebrity. Dramatically different from previous child-rearing manuals, which recommended discipline and strict feeding schedules, “Common Sense” offered parents the reassurance to trust their instincts and love their children, along with basic, medically informed health advice. It has been a widely influential, and best-selling, guide for parents ever since.
A crowd of 5,000 witnessed the dedication of the Medical Center in 1928. The speakers platform stands on the site of the present chapel. W O R L D P H OTO
OCTOBER 2017
IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY,
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hospitals allowed medical students to train on their wards only on a very limited basis. So when philanthropist Edward S. Harkness donated land and funds to build what today is known as Columbia University Irving Medical Center, he foresaw an unprecedented “permanent alliance between the hospital and the university� that would transform the field of medicine. The agreement signed between Columbia and Presbyterian Hospital in 1911 established a model that has since been replicated by major institutions around the world, in which facilities dedicated to patient care, medical education, and research are co-located on the same campus. In 1928, this vision came to life when Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center (as it was then known) opened its doors.
Dr. Rustin McIntosh and Dr. Dorothy Andersen, holding a CF patient, receive a check in 1961 from Victor Blitzer, president of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, to further Dr. Andersen’s CF research. At right is Dr. Paul di Sant’Agnese.
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MID-CENTURY P&S FACULTY made a
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number of major discoveries that led to life-saving advancements in care for children. In 1939, for example, Dr. Hattie E. Alexander (pictured above), a longtime faculty member in pediatrics, developed the first effective treatment for a lethal form of bacterial meningitis caused by Haemophilus influenzae. Dr. Dorothy Andersen, professor of pathology, was the first to recognize the disease cystic fibrosis, in 1938, and helped create a test to identify it. Building on the work of Dr. Andersen, Dr. Paul di Sant’Agnese (P&S 1948) developed the noninvasive, and now standard, “sweat test” for cystic fibrosis in 1953.
First pediatric heart transplant recipient 4-year-old J.P. Lovette IV and his parents
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CARDIOLOGY has an
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eminent history at P&S. The first successful pediatric heart transplant was performed at Columbia in 1984 by Dr. Keith Reemtsma (P&S 1958 MSD) and Dr. Eric Rose (P&S 1975). A Nobel Prize recognized another achievement when AndrĂŠ F. Cournand (P&S 1965 honorary MD) and Dickinson W. Richards (P&S 1923) received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (along with German scientist Werner Forssmann) in 1956 for the development of cardiac catheterization. Visit ps.columbia.edu/250 for a full list of P&S Nobel laureates.
King’s College, 1770
This calendar was produced by P&S Development, Archives & Special Collections of the Health Sciences Library, and P&S Communications. FOR MORE INFORMATION: ps250anniversary@cumc.columbia.edu or 212-342-4581 FOR MORE HISTORY: ps.columbia.edu/250 630 W. 168th St., New York, NY 10032 | © 2016