As part of an ongoing Phase I NIH-funded study, brain tumor patients at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center are being treated with a novel chemotherapy treatment, in which the drug topotecan is administered directly into the brain tumor through catheters. Traditional intravenous chemotherapy cannot treat brain tumors due to limitations caused by the blood-brain barrier, which prevents drugs from entering the brain. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center is the only medical center worldwide where the treatment is available.

The American Heart Association (AHA) has selected numerous physician-scientists from Weill Cornell Medical College and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center to present their work at the AHA's Scientific Sessions 2004. The four-day conference began this weekend at the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.

Dr. JoAnn Difede, a psychologist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center and an expert in the treatment of trauma, is using virtual reality exposure therapy to treat post-traumatic stress disorder in victims of the WTC attacks, as well as to treat a number of phobias in the general public such as fear of heights, fear of flying, and fear of public speaking. This was the first clinical program in the Northeast to use virtual reality (VR) exposure therapy to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). And it is one of the few VR treatment facilities in the nation.

November is Diabetes Awareness Month. For those living with diabetes, New York-Presbyterian Hospital offers expert care with multidisciplinary depth in specialties such as endocrinology and metabolic surgery. This page contains a webcast about medical and surgical treatments for Type 2 diabetes as well as information on the Hospital's metabolic surgery and weight loss programs.

Maria Masciotti, a development professional with more than 20 years of experience at several of New York's leading academic and cultural institutions, has been named Director of Development at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Ms. Masciotti will play a pivotal role in ensuring the success of both the College and the Hospital annual development programs at the Weill Cornell 68th Street Center, as well as these two institutions' concurrent capital campaigns.

As you read this, billions of synapses lying between the cells of your brain are using complex chemical signals to pass information from one neuron to the next. It's a process crucial to healthy brain function as well as drug development, drug addiction and neurological disease, and researchers at Yale University School of Medicine-Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Weill Cornell Medical College believe they now have a better understanding of how synaptic transmission works.

A snippet of protein that sits on top of healthy prostate cells is often lost as the cell morphs into a potentially life-threatening cancer. The protein, known as neutral endopeptidase (NEP), is inactive in about half of all prostate cancers.

A specialist in the state-of-the-art diagnosis and treatment of gynecologic cancer, Dr. Thomas Herzog has been named Director of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. He has also been appointed Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Columbia University College of Physician and Surgeons. Dr. Herzog joined NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where he conducted extensive research in the underlying causes and mechanisms of gynecologic cancer.