NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center physician-scientists presented new research at the 2009 American Transplant Congress in Boston, May 30 to June 3. Topics included minimizing steroid exposure for liver transplant patients with hepatitis C; hypothermic machine perfusion vs. cold storage for preserving donor livers; and the effectiveness of neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio in predicting colorectal liver metastases in liver cancer patients undergoing transplantation.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony today officially opens the newly dedicated Con Edison Fast Track Suite at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/The Allen Pavilion. Made possible through a $100,000 gift from Con Edison, the Fast Track Suite is designed to improve and speed emergency care for patients with urgent yet uncomplicated medical problems.

Despite rapid strides in minimally invasive surgical techniques — most notably, laparoscopy — traditional open surgery remains the most common surgical option across the United States for people with diseases of the rectum and colon.

Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is seeking participants for an investigation of the potential tumor-fighting capabilities of the drug Celebrex™. The National Cancer Institute-sponsored trial studies the role of Celebrex™ in preventing the development of colon polyps, benign growths in the lining of the colon that often precede colon cancer. Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center is one of two New York metropolitan area hospitals participating in the multi-center study, which has been ongoing since October 1999, along with leading researchers at 100 other sites in United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

Scientists from Weill Medical College of Cornell University have discovered the mechanism by which a renewable source of autologous organ-specific adult bone marrow stem cells may be recruited.

Dr. Ridwan Shabsigh, associate professor of urology at Columbia University and director of the New York Center for Human Sexuality at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital's Columbia University Medical Center, takes an honest look at ED in his new book, Back to Great Sex: Overcome ED and Reclaim Lost Intimacy.

The Partnership for Women's Health at Columbia University will present its International Athena Award to Ms. Mitsuko Shimomura, president and CEO of the Center for Healthcare and Public Concern in Tokyo, Japan, at its annual gala on May 8, 2002.

In a study published today in the journal Science, scientists from the University of Auckland and Weill Cornell Medical College report on the effectiveness of a new gene therapy approach to Parkinson's disease, and the potential for this therapy to affect the overall progression of the disease itself.