The Reporter: February 1997, Vol.8, No.1
Named Professorships: 100 by 2003

An update on the P&S goal of 100 named professorships by the year 2003.

Three new P&S professorships were established and/or filled at the Columbia Trustees meeting in October. These new professorships bring the total to 72, with 21 partially funded (including three teaching chairs) and 24 in discussion stages (including two teaching chairs).

The University has received funds from the Madeline C. Stabile Foundation to establish the Madeline C. Stabile Professorship of Medicine. The foundation, established a few months before Madeline Stabile's death in early 1996, supports a variety of causes, including osteoporosis research and education. Ms. Stabile's siblings, Antoinette D. Stabile and Vincent A. Stabile, trustees of the foundation, proposed the new professorship to honor their sister, who served as vice president of the family company, Industrial Retaining Ring Company. Ms. Stabile, who had osteoporosis, supported both osteoporosis education for health care professionals and research of the disease.

Dr. Ethel S. Siris

Appointed as the Madeline C. Stabile Professor of Clinical Medicine at P&S is Dr. Ethel S. Siris, professor of clinical medicine. Dr. Siris graduated from P&S in 1971 and joined the faculty in 1977. She is internationally recognized for her contributions to the understanding of bone disease, particularly Paget's disease and osteoporosis. Her research has contributed significantly to the improved and more individualized treatment regimens now available for patients with osteoporosis and for those at risk.

For the past few years, the Stabile family's support has helped Dr. Siris launch a clinical program that provides patients with high quality diagnostic services and comprehensive treatment, which is enhanced continuously by the ongoing clinical and basic research at CPMC.

The will of the late Elizabeth K. Dollard, a practicing attorney and former patient, created a trust to advance her interest in programs involving the interrelationship of law, medicine, and psychiatry. Columbia has received a pledge of support from the Elizabeth K. Dollard Charitable Trust to establish the Elizabeth K. Dollard Professorship of Psychiatry, Medicine, and Law. The professorship supports training and research on medical situations that demand combined psychiatric, legal, and ethical skills.

Dr. John M. Oldham

Dr. John M. Oldham, director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute and P&S professor of clinical psychiatry, has been appointed to the new chair. Dr. Oldham is also chief medical officer of the New York State Office of Mental Health. He is involved in many areas of clinical psychiatry, such as developing programs that balance patient rights with maintenance of treatment and safety, for example, providing enhanced protection for patients who lack capacity to participate in the informed consent process. He is regularly asked to consult on specific cases of patients in the criminal justice and mental health systems.

Dr. Oldham helped make possible the first seroprevalence studies among psychiatrically institutionalized populations in New York state, which opened the way to grantsupported studies that have identified subpopulations at highest risk and those with the highest prevalence of HIV infection. The support provided by the Dollard chair will make it possible for Dr. Oldham to continue to design and implement special educational and research initiatives within psychiatry, medicine, and law.

Dr. Karen Antman

The Wu Professorship of Medicine (Oncology), approved by the Trustees in June, has been filled by Dr. Karen Antman, P&S professor of medicine, chief of medical oncology, and director of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Antman is widely recognized as one of the nation's leading cancer specialists with a special interest in breast cancer and sarcoma. She is a graduate of P&S and returned to Columbia in 1993 from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute where she was associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

During her first year back at P&S, she was elected by the medical house staff as Senior Medical Faculty Teacher of the Year. She is also associate editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, serves on several top cancer center advisory committees, and participates in numerous national and private committees as a cancer consultant.

The Wu Professorship of Medicine (Oncology) was established by Dr. Clyde Wu, associate clinical professor of medicine at Wayne State University; his wife, Helen; their sons Roger and David; and other family members. Dr. Wu, a 1956 graduate of P&S, is a trustee of Columbia University and a member of the Columbia-Presbyterian Health Sciences Advisory Council and its Cancer Committee.