An innovative procedure to streamline a robotic partial nephrectomy, the surgical removal of a kidney tumor, significantly reduces the critical time the kidney is without blood flow, otherwise known as warm ischemia time (W.I.T), by nearly 25 percent, according to an analysis led by researchers at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center.

A supporter and champion of biomedical research, Dr. Herbert Pardes, executive vice chairman of the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Board of Trustees, has established and endowed a prestigious award that will be presented annually to a physician-scientist whose research exemplifies the very best in scientific advancement and innovation.

For the twelfth straight year, NewYork-Presbyterian has more physicians listed in New York Magazine's prestigious "Best Doctors" annual survey than any other hospital. The magazine lists 198 NewYork-Presbyterian physicians — representing 17 percent of the 1,160 New York metro-area doctors listed.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is the recipient of a five-year grant, totaling up to $900,000, from the New York State Department of Health to reduce the asthma burden in New York City.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center is the first hospital in the New York metro area to offer breast cancer survivors an at-home method for tissue expansion in preparation for breast reconstruction surgery. Patients use a remote control to gradually create a space within their chest wall for a breast implant.

Physicians at three transplant centers have found in a pilot study that a majority of children who receive liver tissue from a parent can eventually stop using immunosuppression (anti-rejection) medications safely. These drugs, which tamp down natural immune function, have been linked to a bevy of complications, including cancer, diabetes, hypertension and kidney failure.

During a regular annual physical exam, blood is usually drawn to check the health of a person's heart, kidneys and liver. Now, researchers at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center say a blood test that detects the early development of emphysema -- well before symptoms occur -- may someday also be offered.

Dr. Herbert Pardes, President and CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, the nation's largest nonprofit, non-sectarian hospital, called for increased attention to health care reform efforts that may inadvertently damage the nation's academic medical centers, which provide the bulk of medical innovation and new life-saving techniques to patients across the country. His remarks were delivered in a Newsmaker Lecture Event at the National Press Club here today.