In a move that is expected to lead to the expansion of cardiac, oncology, pediatric and surgical services and other clinical programs for residents of Nassau and Suffolk Counties, Winthrop South Nassau University Health System has become a member of the NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System, the largest health care system in the tri-state area.

Although research has shown that babies born to older mothers are at greater risk of having genetic abnormalities such as Down syndrome, it's long been thought that the mother's age was the sole determining risk factor. A new study by researchers at the Columbia University Medical Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital shows that the father's age also plays an important risk-determining role in the incidence of this genetic abnormality.

A new study by a research scientist at Weill Cornell Medical College has shown that early antiretroviral therapy for individuals with HIV may significantly increase life expectancy, even when accounting for side effects like heightened cholesterol levels. Additionally, early therapy was found to be cost effective, yet it is still being denied to many patients because of cost.

Michael G. Vitale, MD, MPH, of Brooklyn, New York, was inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Dr. Vitale was one of 549 new Fellows inducted during ceremonies at the Academy's 72nd annual meeting in Washington, DC.

Dr. Marc Bessler has been appointed director of the Minimal Access Surgery Center (MASC) at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, where he is also surgical director of Laparoscopic Surgery and director of the Center for Obesity Surgery. He is assistant professor of surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Renowned preventive cardiologist and tri-athlete Dr. Lori Mosca offers her prescription and inspiration on how to make healthy lifestyle choices that fit today's busy lifestyles: choices that involve and improve the health of the whole family.

The late Dr. Steven Z. Miller, the much beloved and respected associate professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and director of Emergency Medicine at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian, has been honored with the 2005 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Education Award. Presented at the AAP National Conference and Exhibition (NCE) in Washington, DC, on October 8, 2005, the award recognizes Dr. Miller's lifelong commitment to and legacy of substantially improving medical student education and humanism across the United States. Dr. Miller was a fellow of the AAP. The late Dr. Richard T. Sarkin of the State University of New York at Buffalo will also receive this year's award. Dr. Miller and Dr. Sarkin, both Arnold P. Gold fellows, promoted the concepts of humanism and professionalism in medicine around the country. They died in a plane crash on October 19, 2004, en route to making a presentation to Kirksville Osteopathic School in Kirksville, Ohio.

Final results of the WIN-R trial, the largest hepatitis C study conducted in U.S. patients, showed that weight-based REBETOL® (ribavirin, USP) in combination therapy with PEG-INTRON® (peginterferon alfa-2b) achieved significantly higher rates of sustained virologic response (SVR) and lower rates of relapse compared to the combination therapy using a flat dose of ribavirin. The study also showed that, for patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 2 or 3, a shorter, 24-week course of therapy was as effective as the standard 48-week course, with better tolerability. These results from WIN-R (Weight-Based Dosing of PEG-INTRON and REBETOL), a community-based access trial involving more than 4,900 patients at 225 centers across the United States, were reported in an oral presentation today at the 56th annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).