News from NYU Langone Health
NYU Langone Health Receives $15 Million Gift To Advance Endocrine Disorder Research. (Crain's New York Business)
In its Health Pulse newsletter, Crain’s New York Business (3/20) reports, “NYU Langone Health has received a $15 million gift from Wayne and Wendy Holman to advance research and treatment options for endocrine disorders.” The donation is “the largest NYU’s Grossman School of Medicine has received from an alumnus and will go toward the newly-named Holman Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism, which is part of the medical school.”
Paywall* Politico Pro (3/20)* reports Robert I. Grossman, MD, chief executive officer, dean, said in a statement, “Wayne and Wendy’s generosity in this important area of medicine will help NYU Langone further enhance our exceptional research, education and clinical care within the Holman Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism.”
First Split Liver Transplant Performed. (WGAL-TV Lancaster (PA))
WGAL-TV (3/19) “A surgical team at NYU [Langone Health]’s children’s hospital performed the first split liver transplant to benefit a child and adults,” with Dr. Adam Griesemer, MD, associate professor, Department of Surgery, Divisions of Transplant Surgery, and Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Transplant Institute, and Karim J. Halazun, MD, Department of Surgery, Divisions of Transplant Surgery, and Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, saying that the transplant has transformed the child’s life, and that splitting livers can help save the lives of more children.
‘Double Life’ Of Key Immune Protein Reveals New Strategies For Treating Cancer And Autoimmune Diseases. (Oncology News Australia)
Oncology News Australia (3/20) “Insights into the workings of an immune cell surface receptor, called PD-1, reveal how treatments that restrict its action can potentially be strengthened to improve their anticancer effect,” according to a new study “led by researchers at NYU Langone Health’s Perlmutter Cancer Center and the University of Oxford.” Study lead investigator and physician-scientist Elliot Philips, MD, PhD, resident, Department Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, Perlmutter Cancer Center, said, “Our study reveals that the PD-1 receptor functions optimally as dimers driven by interactions within the transmembrane domain on the surface of T cells, contrary to the dogma that PD-1 is a monomer.” Study co-senior investigator and cancer immunologist Jun Wang, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Pathology, Perlmutter Cancer Center, said, “Our findings offer new insights into the molecular workings of the PD-1 immune cell protein that have proven pivotal to the development of the current generation of anticancer immunotherapies, and which are proving essential in the design and developing of the next generation of immunotherapies for autoimmune diseases.” Study co-senior investigator and structural biologist Xiang-Peng Kong, PhD, professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Perlmutter Cancer Center, said, “Our goal is to use our new knowledge of the functioning of PD-1 to determine if weakening its dimerization, or pairing, helps make anticancer immunotherapies more effective, and just as importantly, to see if strengthening its dimerization helps in the design of agonist drugs that quiet overactive T cells, tamping down the inflammation seen in autoimmune diseases.”
Can ChatGPT Help Manage Gynecologic Cancers? (Medscape)
Paywall* Medscape (3/19)* “ChatGPT can accurately answer common questions pertaining to genetic testing and counseling for gynecologic cancers but stumbles when asked to provide the appropriate treatment option, according to a pair of studies presented at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology 2024 Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer,” with Jharna M. Patel, MD, research fellow, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology saying, “To be able to provide answers to nuanced questions, especially genetic counseling, which has to be tailored to a specific patient’s genetic profile, that’s definitely impressive.” In a news release, senior study author Marina Stasenko, MD, assistant professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, added, “We think we can further improve on these results by continuing to train the AI tool on more data and by learning to ask better sets of questions.”
Status Showerheads – Yes, That’s Now A Thing. (Wall Street Journal)
Paywall* The Wall Street Journal (3/19)* “‘I don’t think there is any harm to [filtered showerheads], but they can be expensive,’ says Mary L. Stevenson, MD, associate professor, the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology, who does not “personally recommend them to her patients.”
Intermittent Fasting Linked To Higher CVD Death Risk. (Medscape)
Paywall* Medscape (3/19)* “Intermittent fasting is ‘certainly an interesting concept and one on which the potential mechanisms underlying the improvements in short outcome studies and preclinical studies in animals are strongly being pursued,’ Sean P. Heffron, MD, assistant professor, Department of Medicine, the Leon H. Charney Division of Cardiology, who wasn’t involved in the study, told theheart.org.”
Watch Cardiologist Answers Heart Questions From Twitter. (Wired)
Wired (3/19) Sunil Rao, MD, professor, Department of Medicine, the Leon H. Charney Division of Cardiology, answers “questions from the internet” on the Heart Support video segment.
Doctors Create AI Hospital Note Rewriter To Help Patients. (TechAcute)
TechAcute (3/19) Researchers at NYU Langone Health developed an AI hospital note rewriter where “physicians and nurses wrote prompts describing the patient’s conditions and let the AI rewrite them for a non-medical audience,” and 56% “of the notes tested were considered perfect by the supervisors on a six-scale rating.”
Physician Shares Tips On Dealing With Spring Allergies. (WNYW-TV New York)
WNYW-TV (3/18) Clifford Bassett, MD, clinical associate professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Allergy and Immunology, discusses surviving seasonal allergies and his book, The NEW Allergy Solution, with viewers.
ACC Clinical Trials Research Program REACH(es) New Heights. (HMP Global Learning Network)
HMP Global Learning Network (3/19) “The American College of Cardiology (ACC) has selected 50 learners for its 2024–2025 Clinical Trials Research (CTR) program, of whom 28 structural heart cardiologists and surgeons will participate in the CTR’s new Project REACH,” including Carlos L. Alviar, MD, assistant professor, Department of Medicine, the Leon H. Charney Division of Cardiology, and Giorgio A. Medranda, MD, clinical assistant professor, Department of Medicine, the Leon H. Charney Division of Cardiology.
New Dean Of Medicine At Thomas Jefferson University Plans To Double Down On Diversity To Improve Health Outcomes. (Philadelphia Tribune)
The Philadelphia Tribune (3/19) Olugbenga G. Ogedegbe, MD, MPH, the Dr. Adolph and Margaret Berger Professor of Medicine and Population Health, Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, professor, Department of Population Health, speaking of Dr. Said Ibrahim, the new dean of Thomas Jefferson University’s Sidney Kimmel Medical College, said, “He is a great inspiration for all of us.” The article additionally notes that in “2018, NYU Grossman School of Medicine began offering free tuition for all who qualify.”
Griffin Gives $50 Million for Brain Research in Second Large Miami Gift This Month. (Philanthropy News Digest)
Philanthropy News Digest (3/19) “Julia Koch has given $75 million to NYU Langone Health to build an eight-story facility in West Palm Beach named the Julia Koch Family Ambulatory Care Center.”
Physicians Discuss Obesity, Weight Loss Drugs After Oprah Announcement. (WTVR-TV Richmond (VA))
WTVR-TV (3/19) Jonathan D. LaPook, MD, the Mebane Professor of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, professor, Department of Population Health, “says weight loss drugs are effective in decreasing cravings in the brain and slowing down in the gastrointestinal tract so you feel fuller sooner.”
WMAQ-TV (3/19) Natalie E. Azar, MD, clinical associate professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, said about obesity, “The brain is involved in your food intake, it’s involved in your weight, obesity/fat set point, and it’s responsible for metabolism and if your brain is controlling those things, then how could you possibly control that by running more miles on a treadmill?”
News from NYU Langone Hospital—Long Island
Children With FPIES May Tolerate Reintroduction Of Reaction Triggers At Home. (Healio)
Healio (3/19) “Some children with food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome may safely reintroduce triggers into their diets at home, according to a study presented at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Annual Meeting,” and additional “treatment options, better outcomes and improved quality of life are possible as well, Ashna Mehra, DO, NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine, and colleagues wrote.”
