Mark R. Nathanson, MD

Dr. David A. Katzka is a recognized authority, both in the clinical and research arenas, on eosinophilic esophagitis, esophageal motility disorders, gastroesophageal reflux, Barrett’s esophagus, and unusual esophageal diseases. Dr. Katzka now brings his expertise and 35 years of experience in the treatment and understanding of esophageal diseases to NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, where he is leading the Esophagology and Swallowing Center. A prolific researcher, Dr. Katzka has greatly influenced progress in the field, with more than 350 publications to his name. In July 2021, he completed a five-year role as Program Director/Principal Investigator for the Consortium of Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disease Researchers-Clinical Trial 2: Six Food vs One Food Eosinophilic Esophagitis Elimination Diet (SOFEED) followed by Swallowed Glucocorticoid Trial. Since 2009, Dr. Katzka has been a member of and continues to serve on the Editorial Board of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. He also serves on the Editorial Boards of the Gastroenterology, Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, The American Journal of Gastroenterology, and as an editor/reviewer of Diseases of the Esophagus. His honors and awards include the Distinguished Clinician Award presented by the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) and, most recently, Dr. Katzka was honored with the 2022 AGA Institute Council Section Research Mentor Award, which acknowledges the achievements of AGA members who serve the gastroenterology and hepatology community as outstanding mentors in research. Dr. Katzka joins NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia from Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science where he was Professor of Medicine and Head of the Esophageal Interest Group. He was also a Consultant for the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and held Master's Faculty Privileges in Clinical and Translational Science at the Mayo Clinic. Prior, he was a Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Barry Fine MD PhD is a physician scientist whose clinical and research interests center on cardiogenetics and molecular cardiology. His research utilizes stem cells and engineered human heart tissue to model cardiac disease for drug and gene therapy discovery. His lab is one of the main sites of the NIH funded tissue engineering resource center (www.nextgenterc.com) whose mission is to improve disease modeling across all organs by advancing tissue engineering. Using these cutting-edge methods, Dr. Fine has active research areas involving heart attacks (myocardial infarction), inherited disease of the heart muscle (cardiomyopathies) and novel druggable signaling pathways in heart cells to improve heart function. Additionally, Dr. Fine is also involved in experimental gene therapy trials for patients with inherited cardiomyopathies and arrhythmias through his cardiogenetics clinic. He is currently the Esther and Oded Aboodi Scholar and an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology as well as the assistant program director of the cardiology fellowship. Fine Heart Lab

Dr. Ratner is Professor of Surgery and Director of Renal and Pancreatic Transplantation at Columbia University. Prior to joining the faculty at Columbia, Dr. Ratner was on the faculty of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and served as the Chief of Solid Organ Transplantation at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Dr. Ratner was responsible for dramatic growth of the kidney transplant program at CUIMC. He also established the pancreas transplant program, and the Kidney Autotransplant Program. He introduced robotic surgery to our kidney transplant program. Access to organ transplantation has been Dr. Ratner's major academic interest. Dr. Ratner has been a leading innovator in transplantation for over two decades. In 1993, he performed the world's first dual renal transplant. In 1995 (with Dr. Louis Kavoussi) he performed the first laparoscopic donor nephrectomy, and set the stage for its widespread adoption, which resulted in a profound increase in living donor kidney transplantation. Dr. Ratner has made significant contributions in overcoming immunologic incompatibilities that prohibited transplantation. He devised the plasmapheresis/IVIg protocol for alloantibody desensitization in 1998. In 2001, Dr. Ratner orchestrated the second paired-kidney exchange in the U.S. Subsequently, he arranged the first paired kidney exchanges in both Pennsylvania and New York. More recently Dr. Ratner has been a leading proponent of including compatible donor/recipient pairs in kidney exchanges. And, his more contemporary work has looked at the organizational and regulatory barriers to access to care. All of these strategies have increased organ availability and access to transplantation. Additionally, he has made important contributions to improve living donor safety. For his work, Dr. Ratner has received numerous awards and honors. And, he has been invited to speak and operate at various venues around the world. Dr. Ratner has authored or co-authored over 240 peer-reviewed publications, and has been a federally funded investigator. His publications have been cited over 20,000 times. He served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the LiveOnNY (formerly the New York Organ Donor Network), and has served on numerous national committees including the Board of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). He recently completed a term as the President of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, and previously served as that Society's Treasurer.Dr. Ratner originally hails from Brooklyn, NY. He received his undergraduate education at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He received his M.D. from Hahnemann University. His general surgery training was obtained at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. He completed a Fellowship in Transplantation Surgery and Immunology at Washington University. In 2011 Dr. Ratner completed a Master of Public Health with a focus on health care policy, administration and management.