With summer fading, anxiety is on the rise for some students anticipating the return of school. But it isn't just the first days of classes that can provoke angst -- anxiety in school is seasonal and age dependent, say pediatric psychiatrists.

A leader in advancing new surgical treatments for congenital heart defects, Dr. Emile Bacha has joined the pediatric cardiac surgery team at NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital. He has been appointed as director of congenital and pediatric cardiac surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital and professor of surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Kevin Hammeran has been appointed senior vice president and chief operating officer of NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital and the Sloane Hospital for Women at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center.

Dr. Francesco Rubino, chief of gastrointestinal metabolic surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, is now enrolling overweight and mildly obese patients -- those with a body mass index (BMI) of 28 to 35 -- in a study of gastric bypass surgery aimed at reversing Type 2 diabetes. Because of their non-morbidly obese status, these patients do not qualify for the surgery under current guidelines. Today, gastric bypass, along with other bariatric procedures, can only be prescribed for patients with a BMI of 35 and over.

Two young physician-scientists in the Division of Cardiology at Weill Cornell Medical College each won a highly competitive award presented at the recent 2001 American Heart Association meeting in Anaheim.

One of the 40 national finalists in this year’s Intel Science Talent Search contest is Dmitriy Aronov, a Stuyvesant High School student who pursued his project in the lab of Dr. Jonathan D. Victor, a Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medical College and an authority on mathematical approaches to vision and neuroscience.

In multiple myeloma, plasma cells in the blood become malignant and attack the bone, causing painful fractures and, often, death. Nearly 14,000 Americans are diagnosed each year with the disease, and over 11,000 die. Multiple myeloma accounts for approximately 10% of cancers of the blood.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has pledged a $500,000 challenge grant over the next three years to help create a $1 million endowment for the Gateways to the Laboratory Program, a joint endeavor of Weill Cornell Medical College, The Rockefeller University, and Sloan-Kettering Institute.