VP&S Alumni Association

VP&S's newest MD students in the incoming Class of 2025 received an extra special welcome this year: a video performance by fellow medical students!

Let’s congratulate #VPSAlumni Plicy Perez ’17 and Cooper Kersey ’19, who were recently engaged! "It was a magical day in Sedona- we got engaged on one beautiful hike and celebrated with some champagne at sunset on a second stunning hike. We’re so grateful to have had our paths cross at VP&S. -Plicy @kewperkersey #ColumbiaLoveStory #ColumbiaCouple #Engaged #TopDoctors

#ClassOf2021 attended their virtual #commencement ceremony yesterday. Welcome to the #VPSAlumni ranks!! #ColumbiaVPS #Columbia #graduation

On March 24, 2021, Thomas Lo'08 spoke with Interim Dean Anil K. Rustgi, MD about medical education, research, clinical care, and community engagement at VP&S. Dr. Anil K. Rustgi is a world-renowned physician-scientist, teacher, and mentor. He joined Columbia in early 2019 as the Herbert and Florence Irving Professor of Medicine and Director of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC).

Mary Raddawi '20 and Taiwo Alonge '21 are just two members of the VP&S community who will be honored today during the Alumni Day program at 4 p.m. EDT. Tune in! Or check back later at reunion.ps.columbia.edu for a recording of the festivities.

TODAY! The #VPSAlumni reunion Scientific Session at 4 p.m. EDT features presentations on the latest research on #COVID19 and its effects on underserved communities of color. Clockwise from top left: Dr. David Ho, Director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center at Columbia presents "SARS-COV-2 Variants of Concern"... Mindy Fullilove '78, a social psychiatrist, presents "The Social Structure of the COVID Pandemic" Mike Smith '01, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist, presents "The ABC Science Collaborative." Suzanne Oparil '65, an expert in vascular biology and hypertension, presents "Hypertension in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic: New Issues and Enduring Controversies" It's not too late to register at reunion.ps.columbia.edu or link in bio. A recording will also be made available.

The Challenges for Underrepresented Women and the Role of Allies Hear the October 14, 2020, discussion between VP&S Women in Medicine Collective members Christin Drake ‘06, Mindy Fullilove ‘78, and Ruth Gerson ‘07, moderated by Kathie-Ann Joseph '95. #Allyship #WomenInMedicine #MinoritiesInMedicine

Join us TONIGHT for the VP&S Women in Medicine Collaborative virtual discussion: The Challenges for Underrepresented Women and the Role of Allies Featuring, clockwise from top left: Christin Drake ’06, Mindy Fullilove ’78, Kathie-Ann Joseph ’95, Ruth Gerson ’07... Wednesday, October 14, 8:30 to 9:30 PM EST Register here: https://bit.ly/3dqhPnl

Join us tomorrow for an important discussion of the election! https://neighbors.columbia.edu//cuimc-election-forum-healt

For Hispanic Heritage month, the CUIMC newsroom interviewed Daniela Diaz '12, assistant professor of medicine and quality lead at the Center for Family and Community Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital "Personally, it was very difficult to go from a situation where patient death is a rare occurrence to having one or two every day. It's an entirely different magnitude, and you can't come out unchanged from that." Read the full interview below. ... Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons Columbia Alumni Association

Hear the latest about the student experience at VP&S, how Columbia is fighting COVID-19, the renaming of Bard Hall, and other areas of interest to the alumni community. Moderated by Risa Gold ‘82, the webinar took place on September 16

In a letter to the community, President Bollinger announced that Bard Hall, the @ColumbiaPS residence hall on Haven Avenue, will be renamed. The building had been named for Samuel Bard, a slave owner who founded Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. https://president.columbia.edu//announcement-regarding-bar

#urologist Al Ruenes ’88 (center) is pictured pre-COVID, teaching radical perineal prostatectomy to West African urologists. This is a minimally invasive, low-cost approach to manage prostate cancer. Since 2004, Dr. Ruenes has traveled each year to Senegal to teach. He founded the nonprofit ASSISTS (American-Senegal Surgical Initiative, Surgeons Teaching Surgeons). In 2017, he co-founded a family health center in Yeumbeul, Senegal, to serve the community of 200,000. Fortunately, Senegal has not seen an overwhelming number of COVID-19 cases, but fewer people are willing to seek health care at this time. #WorldHumanitarianDay #ProstateCancer #Senegal #VPSAlumni

Sharon Malone '88 spoke with Michelle Obama about women and aging on the latest episode of the #MichelleObamaPodcast. Listen on Spotify! Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons Columbia Alumni Association

Like father, like daughter, and as of tomorrow: like 140 incoming students in the class of 2024! Get ready #ClassOf2024 for your #WhiteCoatCeremony "To me, the white coat ceremony represented both an honor and a responsibility. The white coat itself is such a tangible representation of what we had all been working towards, and it felt like an immense honor to don for the first time. Reciting the Hippocratic Oath as a class, I felt the weight of the responsibility that th...at moment conferred to each other, to our education, and to our future patients. It’s a day to celebrate and to remember - congratulations to the class of 2024! -Maggie Bogardus’20, PGY1 in Ob/Gyn at Columbia University Irving Medical Center NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Dr. Bogardus is pictured with her father, fellow VP&S Alum, and gastroenterologist Sidney Bogardus ’89, who is Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at Yale School of Medicine

Christin Drake '06, psychiatrist, on what black mothers carry daily. https://www.nytimes.com//the-shadow-behind-black-mothers-a Columbia Alumni Association

Daniela J. Lamas '08 with an op-ed today in the New York Times, emphasizing that not all hospitals have sufficient resources to save the most lives when battling COVID. https://www.nytimes.com//opini/covid-rural-hospitals.html

Held June 10, 2020, this Q&A-style discussion brought together four experts in pediatric medicine from VP&S and the Columbia Dental School to answer participant-submitted questions about how COVID-19 is impacting children’s lives.

Efforts to Fight COVID-19 with Dr. George D. Yancopoulos CC’80, GSAS’86, PS’87 Mon, June 22, 2020 6:00 PM 7:15 PM EDT... https://www.eventbrite.com/e/alumnitalk-efforts-to-fight-co In this exclusive AlumniTALK, Dr. George D. Yancopoulos CC’80, GSAS’86, PS’87, co-founder, president and chief scientific officer of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, in conversation with Dean James J. Valentini, will discuss biotechnologies and therapy explorations aimed at addressing COVID-19, the most pressing public health infectious risk of our time.