New York City Football Club (FC) and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital announced a collaboration today making NewYork-Presbyterian a Founding Sponsor and the official hospital of the Club.

The Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center graduated its third and largest class of participants in HeartSmarts, a unique faith-based education and outreach program that empowers people to become teachers in their communities.

For many people, the chance to come to the United States means pursuing the dream of a better life for themselves and their children. Now, six students from Washington Heights and Inwood are a part of this dream. They are preparing to enter college with the assistance of the Lang Youth Medical Program for middle and high school students at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital — the only hospital-based medical mentoring program of its kind in New York City.

At today's AAAS meeting, Dr. Steven Goldman, Nathan Cummings Professor of Neurology at Weill Cornell Medical College, will report several new discoveries pertaining to the use of stem cells and progenitor cells for treating the diseased human brain. The research holds tremendous promise for a wide range of neurodegenerative and demyelinating diseases, as well as destructive disorders such as stroke, trauma, cerebral palsy, and spinal cord injury.

Study findings from the Department of Public Health at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center and the Inner City Health Research Unit at St. Michael's Hospital/University of Toronto demonstrate that screening and treating new immigrants from developing nations for the latent stage of tuberculosis infection would result in substantial public health and economic benefits.

Almost one year after Columbia University Medical Center researchers completed a three-year landmark clinical trial that found implanted heart pumps lengthen and improve the lives of terminally ill heart failure patients, the Food and Drug Administration has approved the pump for use by patients who are ineligible for transplant.

Dr. Lila A. Wallis, Clinical Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College -- and a pioneering woman physician and advocate for women's health and women's medical education -- was honored with the Virginia Kneeland Frantz Distinguished Women in Medicine Award today at the Dean's Day ceremonies of Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons.

A 71-year-old retired businessman from New Jersey is the first patient in the U.S. to receive robotically-assisted coronary artery bypass surgery without a chest incision of any kind. The operation was performed by Dr. Michael Argenziano, director of robotic cardiac surgery, and Dr. Craig Smith, chief of cardiothoracic surgery, as part of a clinical trial sanctioned by the Food and Drug Administration at NewYork-Presbyterian's Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center on January 15, 2002. Until this point, coronary artery bypass surgery required open-chest surgery, which involves an eight to ten-inch incision made in the chest. Robotically-assisted surgery requires only three pencil-sized holes made between the ribs. Through these holes, two robotic-arms and an endoscope (a tiny camera) gain access to the heart, making surgery possible without opening the chest.