James A. Lee, MD

Andrew S. Bomback, MD, MPH, is a nephrologist who specializes in glomerular diseases and resistant hypertension. Dr. Bomback received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He completed residency in Internal Medicine and fellowships in Nephrology and Clinical Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was the Doc J. Thurston III Fellow in Nephrology and Hypertension. In 2009, he returned to Columbia University as an associate at the Center for Glomerular Diseases and is currently Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Bomback is a member of the ColumbiaDoctors Hypertension Center, a multi-disciplinary center of excellence that provides high quality care and state-of-the-art diagnostic testing for patients with hypertension, Dr. Bomback has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on the subjects of chronic kidney disease, glomerular diseases, and hypertension. He is the co-author of the textbook, Chronic Kidney Disease and Hypertension Essentials, and an editor of the National Kidney Foundation's Primer on Kidney Diseases. He is the recipient of the 2013 Daniel V. Kimberg Junior Faculty Award for oustanding teaching of medical students and housestaff. Dr. Bomback's research interests focus on evaluating novel therapies for glomerular diseases. He currently serves as principal or co-investigator on clinical trials of new treatments for IgA nephropathy, membranous nephropathy, lupus glomerulonephritis, hereditary nephritis, C3 glomerulopathy, and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis.

Dr. Susan Bates received her M.D. degree from the University of Arkansas School of Medicine. She completed her clinical training in internal medicine at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and in medical oncology at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, MD. Dr. Bates was a Lead Clinical Investigator and Head of the Molecular Therapeutics Section in the Developmental Therapeutics Branch of the Center for Cancer Research before moving to Columbia University in August 2015. During her years at the NCI, Dr. Bates led a highly successful translational research program focused on mechanisms of multidrug resistance and approaches to evaluate and improve the activity of epigenetic modifying agents. Her laboratory was among the first to clone the multidrug transporter ABCG2, eventually characterizing its function and its role in chemo-resistance and chemo-protection. This effort built upon earlier work elaborating the role of the multi-drug transporter P-glycoprotein that had defined the drug sensitivity profiles of cell lines in vitro, particularly in the NCI-60 cell line panel. The latter observation continues to impact how the NCI-60 cell line panel is used in drug discovery, and helped her identify a novel agent, at that time known as depsipeptide. Dr. Bates brought this drug to the clinic and after completing its phase I testing, served as Principal Investigator of a multi-institutional, international Phase II study of romidepsin (depsipeptide) in cutaneous and peripheral T-cell lymphoma. Working with Gloucester Pharmaceuticals, the data from this study were included in New Drug Applications (NDA) to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). This partnership led to approval by the FDA of romidepsin for two indications - initially for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma and later for peripheral T-cell lymphoma. Dr. Bates' current interests are both laboratory and clinical in nature. Her laboratory efforts include laboratory and translational studies on drug resistance in T-cell lymphomas and advanced solid tumors including breast, pancreatic, neuroendocrine, renal and lung cancers. Her work is dedicated to new drug development, and finding antineoplastic agents that, alone or in combination with other anticancer agents, improve the options available for difficult to treat cancers. Emanating from the clinical and translational development of romidepsin, a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, a current focus is on epigenetic therapies, and the development of combination therapies to use with HDAC inhibitors in refractory advanced cancers, including solid tumors. She also has a special interest in drug delivery and drug distribution and the role of the blood brain barrier in creating a sanctuary site for cancers that metastasize to the brain. Clinically, her goal has always been to translate ideas from the laboratory to clinical trials, an effort that has proven very successful. Clinically she seeks to develop combination therapies with histone deacetylase inhibitors for the therapy of solid tumors; and to develop therapies to treat central nervous system metastases, a complication of cancer that is becoming a greater problem as patients live longer with cancer.

Dr. Elissa Driggin is a cardiologist and an Assistant Professor of Medicine practicing at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She specializes in Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology and Mechanical Circulatory Support. She is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Disease. Dr. Driggin received her medical degree at New York University School of Medicine where she was induced in the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society. She completed her internship and residency in Internal Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. Subsequently, she finished her fellowships in Cardiovascular Disease and Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. During her fellowship in Cardiovascular Disease, she was selected as Chief Fellow. She has also received a Masters of Science in Patient Oriented Research at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Driggin's clinical interests include heart failure, with particular expertise in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), heart transplant, and mechanical circulatory support. Her research focuses on nutrition and heart failure pathophysiology. Dr. Driggin has authored numerous peer-reviewed manuscripts in the field and has been published in several prestigious peer-reviewed journals.