News Archive
March 2006 News Flashes
WELCOME NEW FACULTY
 Michael J. Louie, MD, MPH |
Michael Louie, MD, MPH – Instructor in Public Health (courtesy) in the Division of Outcomes and Effectiveness Research. Dr. Louie recently completed his Pfizer Fellowship in Health Services Research in the Department of Public Health and is now a Senior Manager at Pfizer. He will continue to teach and conduct collaborative research with Outcomes faculty.
Stephen Ferrando, MD – Professor of Clinical Public Health in the Division of Medical Ethics. Dr. Ferrando is a graduate of Northwestern University Medical School and joined Cornell Medical College in 1991. Dr. Ferrando’s primary appointment is in the Department of Psychiatry where he is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Director and Vice Chair for Psychosomatic Medicine.
 Deborah Schrag, MD, MPH |
Congratulations to Deborah Schrag, MD, MPH on her promotion to Associate Professor of Public Health in the Division of Outcomes and Effectiveness Research. Dr. Schrag received her MD from Columbia University and was awarded a MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. She joined the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in 1999 and was promoted to Associate Member in 2005. She is the recipient of a Research Scholar Training Grant from the American Cancer Society and is PI or co-PI on three separate National Cancer Institute grants. Dr. Schrag’s research has focused on the area of outcomes and effectiveness research pertaining to human cancer, and specifically the application of principles of decision science to the improvement of clinical oncology.
Cornell University and Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC) are partnering with Lockheed Martin to develop a computerized system to help hospitals nationwide plan for and deal with mass casualties from disasters such as hurricanes, a flu pandemic or bioterrorism. The system, for which Lockheed is providing the research funding, will be an extension of a prototype already developed at WCMC called the “Mass Casualty Response Logistics Program”, created by Dr. Nathaniel Hupert, Assistant Professor of Public Health in collaboration with Dr. Jack Muckstadt, of OR-Manhattan, the New York City program of the School of Operations Research and Industrial Engineering (ORIE) on Cornell's Ithaca campus. The system will aid in readiness planning, simulate a disaster situation for testing purposes and act as a decision support system in a real disaster. http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Feb06/ORIE.Lockheed.ws.html
 Dr. Linda Gerber |
Dr. Linda Gerber, Professor of Public Health in the Division of Biostatistics & Epidemiology, has had her paper “Albumin-to-Creatinine Ratio Predicts Change in Ambulatory Blood Pressure in Normtensive Persons: a 7.5-Year Prospective Study” published in the February 2006 issue of the American Journal of Hypertension.
Weill Cornell Awarded Federal Contract for Public Health Research Read the press release on ACTION and CERT.
The U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has awarded Weill Medical College of Cornell University a 5-year contract to fund public health research in outcomes and cost-effectiveness.
The AHRQ contract “Accelerating Change and Transformation in Organizations and Networks (ACTION)” has a mission to promote innovation in healthcare delivery by accelerating the development, implementation, diffusion and update of demand-driven and evidence-based products, tools, strategies and findings.
“We are very pleased to be selected for this highly competitive government funding. It will make it possible for us to fund rapid, health services research to improve health care for millions of patients,” says Dr. Alvin Mushlin, Chairman of the Department of Public Health at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University and Public Health Physician-in-Chief at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
ACTION stresses the importance of collaboration. Projects will be carried out in partnership with several organizations. ACTION partners include the NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, and GHI.
The ACTION contract—one of 15 given nationally—will fund one-to-two-year research projects examining how various technologies and strategies may improve outcomes and delivery. Various topics of study include the structure, organization and coordination of care; economic incentives; patient safety; working conditions and quality of care; health care for medically underserved populations; long-term care; health information technology; and readiness for terrorist events and other public emergencies.
ACTION is a continuation of AHRQ’s Integrated Delivery System Research Network (IDSRN), a five-year implementation initiative specifically developed by AHQR to capitalize on the research capacity of, and research opportunities in, integrated delivery systems. IDSRN awarded $4.2 million to Weill Cornell during 2000 - 2005 for multiple studies, including research on telemedicine technology for intensive care units (electronic ICUs or eICUs), a disease management system for hypertensive patients, coordinated planning for flu and anthrax outbreaks, and an IT system to help ease the transition of long-term-care patients from the hospital to home.
“A substantial number of IDSRN projects have resulted in a change to health policy, whether it is locally, nationally, or internationally,” says PI Dr. Mark Callahan, Chief of the Division of Outcomes and Effectiveness Research and Associate Professor of Public Health and Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and Associate Attending Physician at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell. “Even more than IDSRN, ACTION is designed to quickly turn research into practice.”
DEPARTMENT NEWS
The Department of Public Health will honor former chairman, Dr. George Reader at the March 28 th General Faculty Meeting. Dr. Reader, who passed away last fall, was a life-long Cornelian, culminating his career as chairman of the Department from 1972 – 1992. http://www.med.cornell.edu/deans/2005/10_21_05/article_5-10_21.shtml
EAP Workshops
The Employee Assistance Program continue in March and April and will cover communication skills, stress management and grief and bereavement. These workshops are free but reservations are required. Further information for the workshops and the EAP, please call: (212) 746-5890.
March CME Presentations:
MEDICAL ETHICS: Thursday, March 30, 2006 3:30 – 5PM/KB 301 – 411 East 69th Street
“Schiavo: Reflections One Year Later”
Jay Wolfson, DrPH, JD
Distinguished Professor of Public Health and Medicine
University of South Florida Health Sciences Center
