Today the American College of Surgeons (ACS) held the ACS Surgical Health Care Quality Forum New York, the 10th program in a series of events to drive national discussions on effective quality improvement methods that surgeons, physicians and hospitals are using to improve patient safety and reduce costs.

Dr. Andrew L. Kung has joined the Department of Pediatrics at New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center as director of the Division of Pediatric Hematology Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation. In this role he will oversee clinical care and develop a research program aimed at harnessing the next generation of therapies for cancer and blood disorders in pediatric patients.

"NY Med," the eight-part television series from ABC News, chronicles the 24/7 drama of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. The documentary from the award winning producers of "Hopkins" and "Boston Med," scheduled to premiere on Tuesday, July 10 at 10:00 PM/ET on ABC, takes a raw and intimate look at life inside the most famous hospital in America's largest city.

A 5-year-old New York girl is recovering at home and undergoing outpatient treatment after an emergency operation involving the removal and partial-re-implantation of her liver and her right kidney along with open heart surgery to resect an otherwise inoperable tumor in February. The 10-hour operation, the first reported emergency pediatric surgery of its kind, was led by Dr. Tomoaki Kato and Dr. Emile Bacha at NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital.

Global health issues such as the AIDS crises in Africa and China have sparked an interest in students to obtain knowledge and training on an international level. Now, Columbia University Health Sciences has formed a new Office for Global Health Training and Education, to serve and develop the global focus for students on the Health Sciences campus.

Columbia University Medical Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital announced the completion of the Toni Stabile Osteoporosis Center, a new standard for treatment, research, and education relating to the disease.

A new drug shows promising results in the treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED), reports the December issue of The Journal of Andrology. A study investigator, Dr. John P. Mulhall, Director of the Sexual Medicine Program at Weill Cornell Medical Center of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, anticipates that the new drug will increase awareness of ED and its ability to be effectively treated.

Dr. Samuel L. Katz is the recipient of the 2007 Pollin Prize in recognition of his contributions to pediatric infectious disease research and vaccine development, especially his instrumental role in the development and application of the measles vaccine. The fifth annual $200,000 Pollin Prize, the largest international award for pediatric research, recognizes outstanding achievement in biomedical or public health research resulting in important improvements to the health of children.