Dr. Philip Green, MD, FACC

Dr. Bajakian comes to Columbia from Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, where she was Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery. She earned her MD degree in 1996 at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine in Brooklyn. She completed her internship and general surgery residency at Mount Sinai (1996-2001), her vascular surgery fellowship at New York University Medical Center (2002-2003), and a mini-fellowship focusing on endovascular surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in 2003. Her clinical specialties include endovascular techniques for treating peripheral arterial disease, aortic aneurysms, carotid artery disease, and lower extremity venous insufficiency. Her research interests focus on novel techniques for restoring circulation to the ischemic limb including angioplasty, atherectomy, and stent placement.

James Church, MD is a colorectal surgeon who cares for all aspects of colorectal disease, with a particular focus on hereditary colorectal cancers and polyposis. Born and raised in New Zealand, Dr. Church did his medical school, postgraduate research and general surgical training in Auckland before training in colorectal surgery at the Cleveland Clinic and eventually joining the faculty there. Over the 34 years that followed, he played an instrumental role in developing what was widely considered the finest Department of Colorectal Surgery in the world. Dr. Church has been co-Investigator of the Collaborative Colorectal Cancer Family Registry, funded by a research grant from the National Cancer Institute. In addition, he has served as the Chairman of the Leeds Castle Polyposis Group and the International Collaborative Group on Hereditary Non-Polyposis Colorectal Cancer and President of the Collaborative Group of the Americas on Inherited Colorectal Cancer. These international societies are dedicated to the care of patients with inherited colorectal cancer and research into their disease. Dr. Church’s other areas of interests include colonoscopy, functional colorectal and anal problems including constipation and incontinence, perianal and perineal infections and inflammatory bowel disease. As head of the Section of Endoscopy at Cleveland Clinic, he helped develop several advances in the art of colonoscopy for the benefit of patients. He is also deeply commitment to education and is currently a Fellow of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, American College of Surgeons, Costa Rican Society of Surgery, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, American College of Gastroenterology, American Surgical Association and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Glasgow.

Allan Schwartz, MD is a Cardiologist, Chief, Division of Cardiology, Vice Chair, Department of Medicine and Seymour Milstein and Harold Ames Hatch Professor of Clinical Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center/Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He graduated magna cum laude in physics and mathematics from the City College of New York in 1967. He received an MA in physics in 1968 from Harvard University and an MD from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1974, where he was awarded the Robert Loeb and Janeway Prizes. He completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at the Presbyterian Hospital and he received a fellowship in clinical and research cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Schwartz returned to the College of Physicians & Surgeons in 1978 as an academic clinical cardiologist. Dr. Schwartz has been vigorously involved in patient care, education of medical students, medical housestaff and cardiology fellows, as well as clinical research with a current focus on valvular heart disease. He has progressively assumed various leadership and administrative roles serving as Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory and Associate Director of the Division of Cardiology and the Seymour Milstein and Harold Ames Hatch Professor of Clinical Medicine. Dr. Schwartz has also played an important administrative role within the Department of Medicine, serving as Vice Chairman of the Department of Medicine. Dr. Schwartz has been the driving force behind the development of the NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center Cardiovascular Service Line and the development of the new Vivian and Seymour Milstein Family Heart Center. Under Dr. Schwartz’s leadership, there has been a major increase in the breadth of cardiology clinical and research activities, resulting in the Division of Cardiology’s attaining international prominence and emerging as one of the leading cardiology training centers in the United States.