News Briefs

“To our institution’s great credit, we have gone beyond discussions and created a tangible product, demonstrating our commitment to actual change.”

Dr. Monika Safford (M.D. ’86), chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine and founding co-director of the Cornell Center for Health Equity, which has launched a racial allyship training course, providing anyone who wants to learn to be a better ally with essential skills and tools they can use in their personal and professional lives. The self-directed course is free online; it consists of four modules, which take about five hours to complete.

New Site Chief of Otolaryngology

Dr. Natalya Chernichenko, a leading otolaryngologist who specializes in tumors of the head and neck, has been named site chief of otolaryngology at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital. Dr. Chernichenko is an assistant professor of clinical otolaryngology and a vice chair in the Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery.

Dr. Chernichenko will lead a skilled team of specialists and surgeons providing comprehensive otolaryngology care and further develop the hospital’s head and neck surgical oncology program. She will also oversee clinical leadership across NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist’s ambulatory care locations and serve as the director of otolaryngology patient safety.

New Division Chiefs

Pediatric nephrologist Dr. Natalie Uy has been named chief of the Division of Pediatric Nephrology in the Department of Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Komansky Children’s Hospital. An assistant professor of pediatrics and assistant attending pediatrician, she previously served as director of the pediatric nephrology fellowship program and residency elective at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital and NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

Physician-scientist Dr. Jonathan Weinsaft, the Antonio M. Gotto Jr., M.D. Professor in Atherosclerosis and Lipid Research who focuses on clinical research and cardiovascular imaging, was appointed chief of the Maurice R. and Corrine P. Greenberg Division of Cardiology at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Housed within the Weill Department of Medicine, the division is dedicated to diagnosing and treating patients with disorders of the heart and blood vessels that comprise the cardiovascular system.

$30 Million Funding For Cardiothoracic Research

A multi-institutional team of scientists led by Dr. Mario Gaudino, the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Professor in Cardiothoracic Surgery II, professor of cardiothoracic surgery and assistant dean for clinical trials, has been approved for a nearly $30 million funding award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).

The award will fund the first study among women and Black and Hispanic patients comparing the effectiveness of two revascularization options used to treat coronary artery disease: coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Over half of patients facing a decision on PCI or CABG are women or racial groups that have been underrepresented in past clinical trials, notes Dr. Gaudino, who is also an attending cardiothoracic surgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. “Prior studies have enrolled mostly non-Hispanic white men,” he says, “leaving other patients with little guidance for making an informed decision.