Katie Couric, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and its Jay Monahan Center for Gastrointestinal Health, and the Entertainment Industry Foundation’s National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance want you to “make that call” to your doctor for colon cancer screening if you are 50 or older or otherwise at high risk for colon cancer.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center is one of a select group of medical centers participating in a clinical trial of a new device for advanced heart failure patients, the Thoratec® HeartMate III Left Ventricular Assist System (LVAS). The device is designed to supplement the heart’s pumping function in patients with left-sided heart failure.

Colon cancer, the second-leading cause of cancer death in the United States, is often preventable and highly curable.

Herbert Pardes, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, has announced the appointment of William A. Polf, Ph.D., to the position of Senior Vice President for External Relations at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

New York Weill Cornell Medical Center of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital has greatly expanded its neurosurgery program by creating a new Department of Neurosurgery and appointing a leading neurosurgeon, Dr. Philip E. Stieg, as Chairman of the Department and Neurosurgeon-in-Chief.

For the millions of individuals who suffer from hearing loss, a device newly approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the Vibrant Soundbridge, has been shown to eliminate the sounds of silence with minimal discomfort. Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center is one of only two facilities in the New York area to offer the device.

Gastric bypass surgery has become an increasingly popular treatment option for the some 30 percent of Americans struggling with obesity. However, many gastric bypass patients struggle with side effects from the procedure, which are difficult to treat due to the patients’ surgically-altered digestive tract. In order to more effectively treat these conditions, NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center developed EUS-Directed Transgastric ERCP (EDGE), the first minimally invasive procedure to treat pancreaticobiliary diseases in gastric bypass patients.

Every minute a woman dies from heart disease in the United States, and more than 90 percent of women in America are at risk, according to the American Heart Association, but prevention can be as easy as a walk in the park.