HIV Center News Briefs

Wafaa El-Sadr named MacArthur Fellow

Wafaa El-Sadr, M.D., M.P.H. has been named a 2008 Fellow by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, an exceptional honor for an outstanding HIV and TB researcher. Dr. El-Sadr is Director of the International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs (ICAP) at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Harlem Hospital, and an Associate Director of the HIV Center. MacArthur Fellowships -- sometimes called "genius awards" -- recognize bold thinkers and innovative practitioners in a diverse array of fields. This year's 25 fellows receive a $100,000 a year grant for $500,000 with "no strings attached." According to the Foundation, fellows are "selected for their creativity, originality, and potential to make important contributions in the future."

"Wafaa has demonstrated extraordinary dedication, determination, and brilliance in her work on HIV, TB, and other issues at Harlem Hospital, at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and throughout her career," said HIV Center Director Anke A. Ehrhardt, Ph.D. "We congratulate Wafaa on this well-deserved award and are proud that she has recently joined us as an Associate Director of the HIV Center." To read the Columbia University press release about this honor, click here. To read the complete press release from the MacArthur Foundation, click here.

Arrivals and departures mark new academic year

Diane di Mauro, Ph.D. joined the HIV Center in July as the Program Director of the MAC AIDS Fund Leadership Initiative. In addition to her position at the HIV Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, she is also an Assistant Professor of Clinical Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University. Dr. di Mauro has worked over 20 years in the field of human sexuality, specializing in the areas of sexuality research and education. She previously worked as the director of the Sexuality Research Fellowship Program at the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) for 11 years, and was the program director at the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS) prior to 1995. In her work with public health service organizations, she has designed and directed various educational and training programs; has evaluated national legislation and policy guidelines; and has provided technical assistance to professionals, school districts, and parent associations regarding implementation and evaluation of sexuality and HIV/AIDS education programs.

This summer marked the departure of Shari Dworkin, Ph.D., who was a postdoctoral research fellow in HIV infection from 2002-2005. In 2005, she became an Assistant Professor of Clinical Behavioral Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University and a Research Scientist at the HIV Center. As the first Program Director of the MAC AIDS Fund Leadership Initiative, Dworkin played a key role in the development and implementation of the first year of the Leadership Initiative, and in particular its wide-ranging curriculum on HIV prevention and leadership. In August, she took a a position at the University of California at San Francisco in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the School of Nursing.

In July, HIV Center Fellow Mark Bradley, M.D. graduated from the Fellowship Program. At the HIV Center, under the mentorship of Robert Remien, Ph.D., Bradley's main area of research was the effect of treating depression in HIV-positive patients on their adherence to antiretroviral medications, funded in part through an HIV Center pilot grant. Bradley also worked on a multisite study of acute HIV infection. He is now an Attending Physician at the Manhattan Veterans Administration Hospital, where he serves as the psychiatrist in the integrated Primary Care-Mental Health program. He is also a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the NYU Medical School, where he teaches medical students, residents and fellows.

Reuben N. Robbins, Ph.D. has joined the HIV Center as a Postdoctoral Fellow. He received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Fordham University. He also completed his APA-approved predoctoral internship at the Psychology Clinic of the University of Florida's Department of Clinical and Health Psychology. Dr. Robbins’s research interests include HIV-related health behaviors and outcomes as they change and develop over time. In particular, he is interested in the cognitive effects of HIV-infection, HIV-related health disparities, and adherence. In 2007, he received an F31 predoctoral NRSA grant to examine cultural and cognitive factors in adherence among HIV-positive Hispanic adults.

Melissa White, M.S.W. has taken a new position, at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Beginning in January 2004, White was the HIV Center's Core Coordinator, working closely with Core directors as part of the Center's Administrative team. In September, she began as a Field Coordinator on the CHAIN (Community Health Advisory & Information Network) Project, an ongoing prospective study of a representative samples of persons living with HIV/AIDS in New York City Metro Area. Laura Schairer has joined the HIV Center as Core Coordinator. Schairer was previously at the UCLA Center for Community Health where she was a research assistant on a study of substance-abusing adolescents exposed to trauma.

Thanksgiving Food Drive to benefit Special Needs Clinic

In light of rising food costs and depleted food pantries, the HIV Center sponsored a Thanksgiving food drive to benefit HIV-affected families at the the Special Needs Clinic at New York Presbyterian Hospital. The drive garnered several boxes of canned and boxed goods as well as over $500, which will be used to provide groceries to families in need. The proceeds were accepted on behalf of the clinic by its Co-Directors (left to right) Warren Ng, M.D., Claude Anne Mellins, Ph.D. of the HIV Center, and Sheila Ryan, L.C.S.W., M.P.H.

The Special Needs Clinic, one of the only specialized child psychiatry clinics of its type in New York City, was founded in 1991 with the help of the HIV Center to meet the mental health needs of children and families affected by the dual epidemics of HIV and substance abuse. To address many of the limitations of the current mental health system, the clinic has developed a multidisciplinary mental health team providing comprehensive family based services to adults and children in one site. To read a recent feature on the Special Needs Clinic in the New York Presbyterian newsletter, click here, and scroll down to pages 4 and 5.

Columbia Psychiatry/RFMH ranks first among NIH grantees

The combined total of NIH grants received by the Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene (RFMH) and Columbia University Department of Psychiatry ranked #1 in the nation for the year 2007 among Departments of Psychiatry. In his announcement of this landmark, Jeffrey Lieberman, M.D., Chair of the Columbia Department of Psychiatry and Director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute, noted that "This is the first time that we have had the #1 ranking in recent memory and it is a spectacular achievement. This clearly reflects the extraordinary ability and productivity of our faculty at Columbia and PI, and the progress that we have made in recent years. I want to express my pride and appreciation to our talented faculty for all of their hard work and dedication... I [also] want to express my gratitude to the numerous staff and clinical and support services that are the foundation of our research enterprise and enable us to function so successfully. Although each grant award has a single PI, it is truly a team effort that has enabled us to achieve this remarkable milestone."

Awards presented to Levin, Elkington, Kang

Bruce Levin, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of the Columbia University Department of Biostatistics and Director of the HIV Center's Statistics, Epidemiology and Data (SED) Core, received an achievement award for contributions in academia from the American Public Health Association's (APHA) Statistics Section. The award was presented to Dr. Levin in conjunction with the Section’s 100th anniversary at APHA’s annual meeting on October 28. Dr. Levin was chosen to receive the award for his extraordinary dedication to advances in the field of public health. He has made key contributions to the development of innovative designs for clinical trials of medical interventions and HIV, the promotion of a focus on participant safety in behavioral trials, and to the education of public health students through clear exposition of fundamental biostatistical principles.

HIV Center Fellow Katherine Elkington, Ph.D. was the recipient of the Dr. Joseph E. and Lillian Pisetsky Award, which is presented to a young investigator at the Columbia University Medical Center proposing clinical research in psychotic, mood, anxiety or eating disorders. The $10,000 award will be used to support a study to test the validity and reliability of the Mental Illness Stigma-Sexual Health Questionnaire (MISSHQ), which measures how the stigma of mental illness (SMI) among adults with SMI may affect their sexual risk behaviors. A secondary aim is to examine whether the dimensions measured by this instrument are associated with actual sexual risk behaviors. The study will seek to provide the first validated measures to examine the experience of stigma among adults with SMI in order to be able to systematically examine the effect of stigma on sexual risk behaviors.

HIV Center Investigator Ezer Kang, Ph.D. was named the winner of the 2008 HIV Center Publication Award for Junior Investigators and Fellows, which is presented annually to recognize an outstanding research paper. Kang was the lead author of "Standing between two worlds in Harlem: A developmental psychopathology perspective of perinatally acquired human immunodeficiency virus and adolescence," which was co-authored with Claude Ann Mellins, Ph.D., Warren Yiu Kee Ng, M.D., Lisa-Gaye Robinson, M.D., and Elaine J. Abrams, M.D. and was published in 2008 in the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. The selection committee noted that "by creatively integrating theory, existing data, and clinical observations, the paper documents how urban poverty, racism, and HIV-related stressors collectively impact the developmental milestones of adolescents living with perinatal HIV."

Investigators present findings at International AIDS Conference

A number of HIV Center investigators presented their findings at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City in August. To view the abstracts for oral and poster presentations, click here.