Alumni News
By Julia Hickey González, alumni editor
1966
Robert J. Lefkowitz, a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, is the 2026 commencement speaker for Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Lefkowitz, the Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Medicine and professor of biochemistry and chemistry at Duke University School of Medicine, is widely recognized for discoveries that transformed understanding of G protein-coupled receptors, molecular gatekeepers involved in many physiological processes. Today, more than half of all prescription drugs target this kind of receptor. In 2012, he and former trainee Brian Kobilka shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry for revealing how these receptors function at the molecular level. Dr. Lefkowitz completed internship and residency training at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, worked at the National Institutes of Health as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health Service, and later trained in cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital before joining the Duke faculty in 1973. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Among many awards, he has received the National Medal of Science. He continues to be actively involved in his research on G protein-coupled receptors, the most common target of therapeutic drugs.
1969
Thomas Sculco, surgeon-inchief emeritus of the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, and his wife, Cynthia, have opened an art museum to showcase 150 works from their personal collection. The Westerly Museum of American Impressionism in Westerly, Rhode Island, is considered to be the only museum in the U.S. dedicated exclusively to American impressionist paintings from the 1880s to the 1920s. Both natives of Westerly, the Sculcos were captivated by the colors and expressive brushwork of the movement and its depictions of the natural beauty of New England. The site of a former nursing facility that closed during COVID-19 has been transformed into a modern, 20,000-squarefoot museum overlooking Babcock Cove and the Pawcatuck River, and has received an average of 1,200 visitors per month since its opening in October 2025. Dr. Sculco, an orthopedic surgeon known for his leadership in joint replacement surgery, built the collection with his wife over more than 40 years. He spent much of his career at the Hospital for Special Surgery, where he helped advance modern approaches to hip and knee reconstruction. Their son, Peter Sculco, is a 2009 graduate of VP&S.
1975
Kevin Bell, an internist, is the namesake of the Kevin E. Bell, MD, Critical Care Unit at Overlook Medical Center in Summit, New Jersey. The 31-bed unit opened in mid-2025. Dr. Bell joined the hospital in 1979 after completing an internship and a tenure as chief resident at the University of Wisconsin. Because Overlook Medical Center was previously affiliated with Columbia’s medical school, Dr. Bell taught P&S medical residents for 14 years and was faculty for the Introduction to the Patient class for first-year medical students from 1980 to 1992. He also established a private practice in Somerset County, New Jersey, while receiving multiple awards for clinical excellence.
1977
Vivian Lewis published an article in the Journal of Medical Biography about her maternal grandfather, Edward S. Miller, who was born into slavery and became a physician and civic leader at the turn of the 20th century. In “Edward S. Miller: Physician, Entrepreneur, and Community Leader (1858–1942),” Dr. Lewis and co-authors Paul Miller and Constance D. Baldwin draw on archival research, newspapers, government documents, and family interviews to trace Dr. Miller’s path from post-Civil War Kentucky to medical training and practice in Chicago, where he built a career serving the city’s Black community. The authors cite that, nationally in 1890, only 0.9% of all physicians were Black, most practicing in the South. The article follows Dr. Miller’s contributions to Provident Hospital, his service as a field surgeon with a unique Black volunteer regiment during the Spanish-American War, and his later role in founding institutions that supported Black civic and economic life, including a cemetery and a federally chartered bank. Dr. Miller’s story illustrates the challenges of the medical system in the North and the resourcefulness needed by a Black leader to succeed and build community in a segregated society. Dr. Lewis is president of the VP&S Alumni Association as well as co-chair for the alumni network of the VP&S Black and Latino Student Organization, also known as BALSO. She is a professor emerita in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, where she also served as vice provost for faculty development and diversity.
1988
Jeffrey Ascherman, the Thomas S. Zimmer Professor of Reconstructive Surgery at CUMC, was elected chair of the board of trustees of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons for 2026. He trained in general and plastic surgery at NewYork- Presbyterian/CUIMC and completed a craniofacial fellowship in Paris. As site chief of the Division of Plastic Surgery, he specializes in a full spectrum of aesthetic and reconstructive surgeries. Beyond his clinical practice, Dr. Ascherman has performed life-changing surgeries abroad in underserved communities across Asia and South America. His son, Benjamin Marc Ascherman, graduated from VP&S and Columbia Business School.
1989
Abraham Thomas is now chief medical officer of Caring Health Center in Springfield, Massachusetts, a federally qualified health center that provides primary care and preventive services to underserved communities. Dr. Thomas brings more than two decades of clinical and executive leadership experience in academic health systems and community-based care. He previously served as system chair of medicine at Baystate Health, chief quality officer at Central Maine Healthcare, and chief of medicine at the former NYU Lutheran Medical Center. Dr. Thomas has also served as chair of the Food and Drug Administration’s Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee. A graduate of both Columbia College and VP&S, Dr. Thomas also holds an MPH from the Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health and an MBA from the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School.
1991
Deb Schrag has been elected president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology for the 2027-28 term and will assume the role of president-elect following the society’s annual business meeting in June. Dr. Schrag is chair of the Department of Medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. A gastrointestinal medical oncologist and population scientist, Dr. Schrag focuses her research on improving the quality, effectiveness, and experience of cancer care. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and partners with city, state, and federal stakeholders to advance population-level cancer control and the accessibility of clinical cancer research. Before joining Memorial Sloan Kettering, she led the Division of Population Sciences at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and served as a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
1995
Stephen Fealy, an orthopedic sports medicine surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery, has integrated his lifelong love of baseball with consulting work for the Major League Baseball Players Association. He helped co-create MLB’s Pitch Smart initiative, which since 2012 has promoted safer pitching practices and worked to reduce overuse injuries in youth baseball. He considers medical school, where he played on a competitive rugby team, the best part of his education. Dr. Fealy completed his orthopedic surgery residency and sports medicine fellowship at the Hospital for Special Surgery, during which time he served as an assistant team physician to the New York Giants football team. Dr. Fealy is an active member of many professional organizations, including the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, the Arthroscopy Association of North America, the American College of Sports Medicine, the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons, and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
Kathie-Ann Joseph, former president of the VP&S Alumni Association, has been appointed chief of breast surgery and codirector of the multidisciplinary breast program at the Rutgers Cancer Institute and the Jack & Sheryl Morris Cancer Center at RWJBarnabas Health. In addition to her new roles, Dr. Joseph is a professor in the Department of Surgery at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and will serve as associate chief surgical officer for system integration and quality for RWJBarnabas Health, as well as director of breast surgical services for the RWJBarnabas Health Southern Region. A nationally recognized leader in advanced breast surgery and health equity, Dr. Joseph has focused her career on improving access to breast cancer screening and care for underserved populations, helping thousands of women receive critical screenings and support services. She previously co-directed the Beatrice W. Welters Breast Health Outreach and Navigation Program at NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center and served on the faculty of the NYU Grossman School of Medicine.
Raelene Walker has joined MCHC Health Centers in Ukiah, California, where she provides pediatric care at Hillside Health Center for patients from infancy through young adulthood. Dr. Walker brings more than two decades of experience in community- based pediatrics, most recently practicing in Santa Cruz. A former National Health Service Corps scholar, she began her career at a community health center in New Haven, Connecticut, serving largely Spanish-speaking families. This placement also gave Dr. Walker the opportunity to become fluent in Spanish, building on communication skills she’d developed working in orchards alongside migrant workers in the rural part of Oregon where she grew up, and during a year working in Mexico for a binational nonprofit after college. Outside of her day-to-day role, she provides palliative and hospice care for children with complex needs, some of whom are facing the end of life. Dr. Walker describes herself as very outdoorsy and enjoys spending time in nature, having recently completed a three-week trek in Nepal. She is also learning to crochet small animal toys, which she hopes to share with her patients.
1997
Andrew Lassman has been appointed vice dean of clinical trials at VP&S, a newly created role designed to accelerate and coordinate the school’s growing clinical trials enterprise. A professor of neurology, Dr. Lassman has internationally renowned expertise as a translational clinical trialist for brain tumors, focused on experimental therapeutics. Dr. Lassman will continue in his current roles as vice chair for clinical research in the Department of Neurology, chief of the Division of Neuro-Oncology, and associate director for clinical trials at the National Cancer Institute (NCI)- designated Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center. After earning his medical degree from VP&S, Dr. Lassman completed postgraduate training at Mount Sinai, NewYork-Presbyterian/ CUIMC, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He has served as principal investigator for more than 50 brain cancer studies including multicenter prospective trials conducted through the NCI-sponsored National Clinical Trials Network, with partnerships across both the NCI and industry. He has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed publications, including 14 widely adopted clinical guidelines.
2000
J Mocco became chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine and neurosurgeon-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian/ Weill Cornell Medical Center in December 2025. A cerebrovascular and endovascular neurosurgeon, Dr. Mocco is a physician-scientist who studies stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage, aneurysms, and other vascular disorders of the brain, and has helped to develop widely adopted approaches to acute stroke therapy. He has explored pioneering therapeutic technologies, such as braincomputer interfaces that create a direct communication pathway between the brain’s electrical activity and a home computer, and is leading or co-leading clinical trials with more than $60 million in National Institutes of Health funding. He joins Weill Cornell from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where he served as the Kalmon D. Post Professor and senior vice chair of neurological surgery, as well as directed the health system’s Cerebrovascular Center. Dr. Mocco trained in neurological surgery at the Neurological Institute of New York and completed fellowship training in endovascular neurosurgery at the University at Buffalo. In addition to his MD from VP&S, he earned an MS in biostatistics from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in 2007.
2012
Frances Onyimba, director of the board of the Columbia University Club of Washington, D.C., recently led a Columbia Alumni Association event discussing innovation in health care alongside entrepreneur and investor Halle Tecco, author of “Massively Better Healthcare.” Dr. Onyimba is a gastroenterologist and entrepreneur who leads the esophageal motility program at WellSpan Health, where she works to translate advances in digestive disease care into scalable clinical models. She trained in internal medicine and neurogastroenterology at Johns Hopkins Hospital before completing a gastroenterology fellowship at the University of California, San Diego, where she served as chief fellow. Beyond medicine, she remains an avid supporter of the performing arts and co-founded the Columbia University Arts Initiative-backed P&S Dance Club at Columbia, now known as Dance Haven.
2013
Virginia (Workman) Singla, a cardiac electrophysiologist, has joined Independence Health System at Butler Memorial Hospital in Pennsylvania. Dr. Singla completed an internal medicine residency at the University of Virginia Health System before completing fellowships in cardiovascular medicine and clinical cardiac electrophysiology at Yale New Haven Hospital. Board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular medicine, adult echocardiography, and clinical cardiac electrophysiology, she specializes in diagnosing and treating complex heart rhythm disorders, including atrial fibrillation and other arrhythmias.
2016
Elizabeth Hutchins has joined Cottage Cardiology Clinic in Santa Barbara, California, as a cardiologist specializing in cardiooncology. Dr. Hutchins focuses on the cardiovascular care of patients undergoing cancer treatment, with clinical interests that include cardiac imaging and the use of informatics and artificial intelligence to improve cardiovascular risk assessment. Board-certified in adult comprehensive echocardiography and internal medicine, she also holds an MS in clinical and molecular nutrition from Columbia University’s Institute of Human Nutrition. She completed her internal medicine residency at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and a cardiovascular medicine fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she served as chief fellow. Dr. Hutchins has authored peer-reviewed research and presented nationally on cardiovascular complications of cancer therapy.