During FY 2026, which ended June 30, more than 9,400 donors supported the academic medical center’s operations, programs and initiatives. Three out of every four of these donors received care at Cedars-Sinai prior to contributing.

“The extraordinary commitment of our donors is a wonderful validation of the dedication and expertise of Cedars-Sinai employees as well as the remarkable generosity of the people we are privileged to serve,” said Peter L. Slavin, MD, president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai and the David and Meredith Kaplan Presidential Chair.

Emma Geller is an example of a patient whose family showed gratitude with a donation. The 13-year-old is cancer-free after being treated for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s. Despite financial strain caused by major damage to their home in the January 2025 Palisades Fire, the Gellers remain committed to their annual support of pediatric hematology/oncology research and pediatric nursing at Cedars-Sinai.

“Our daughter received such tremendous care from amazing doctors, and we wanted to know how we could give back,” said Jordan Geller, Emma’s father. “If there was a way to make other people’s lives a little better as they were going through something like this, we wanted to do it.”

Some of the most meaningful philanthropic investments in Cedars-Sinai are unrestricted gifts to The Fund for Cedars-Sinai.

One example of unrestricted support this past year was a $10 million gift from the Ashkenazy family, providing flexible resources that can be directed where they will have the greatest impact. This support enables Cedars-Sinai to respond to emerging needs, invest in strategic priorities and pursue promising opportunities, helping advance our mission both now and in the years ahead.

“Unrestricted gifts are the fuel powering vital community health initiatives and the highest level of patient care,” said Heather Renshaw Vučetin, vice president of Development for Cedars-Sinai. “Gifts of every size improve our community’s health, which is priceless.”

Other recent major gifts included but were not limited to:

• The Cedars-Sinai Cayton BRCA Center: A $30 million gift from the Cayton Goldrich Family Foundation to create a center for research, diagnosis and comprehensive treatment of illnesses linked to mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes.
• The Cedars-Sinai Holoman Health Equity Center: A $13 million gift from Eric and Terri Holoman to establish a center that will shape the future of equitable healthcare at Cedars-Sinai.
• A generous bequest from the estate of Joanna Carson, demonstrating the enduring impact of planned giving. By including the organization in her estate plans, Carson created a legacy that will strengthen our mission for future generations.

“Philanthropic support is a powerful catalyst for healing,” said Arthur J. Ochoa, JD, senior vice president and chief advancement officer for Cedars-Sinai. “Whether expressed through volunteering or making a financial gift, the simple act of giving is fundamental to Cedars-Sinai’s vision to make a meaningful and lasting difference in the Los Angeles community and beyond.”

Read more from Cedars-Sinai Stories and Insights: Strengthening Children’s Health

Soliz initially shrugged it off as a pulled muscle. But the pain grew progressively worse. Soon, he was experiencing sharp pain throughout the day, using walls for support as he walked and struggling to find a comfortable position to sleep.

Soliz underwent an MRI, revealing a large tumor in his spine. Recognizing the critical diagnosis of this bone tumor, an orthopedic surgeon in Ventura County near Soliz’s home referred him to Cedars-Sinai.

An image-guided biopsy performed by interventional neuroradiologist Marcel Maya, MD, co-chair of the Department of Imaging at Cedars-Sinai, made the diagnosis of an aneurysmal bone cyst, a rare, blood-filled tumor that can grow rapidly and, as in Soliz’s case, destabilize the spinal column and compress the spinal cord.

Although the tumor was benign, its location made it dangerous, said his surgeon, Tiffany Perry, MD, associate professor of Neurosurgery and co-director of Spine Oncology.

“Spinal fluid normally surrounds the cord, providing space for the cord and the nerve roots as they exit the spinal column,” Perry said. “But in Ryan’s case, the tumor was taking up about 80% of the spinal canal and was blocking the flow of fluid and compressing the cord, causing weakness in his legs.”

For Soliz, the diagnosis quickly became about more than treating a rare tumor—it was about saving his ability to walk. Three days after his outpatient appointment in the neurosurgery clinic, Soliz began losing feeling in his legs, prompting doctors to act emergently. By the time he was admitted to the ICU, he had lost the ability to walk.

“It was a roller coaster of emotions. I was terrified thinking I might never be able to walk again,” Soliz said.

A Rare Tumor and Emergency Surgery

Aneurysmal bone cysts are uncommon, and involvement of the spine with significant spinal cord compression is particularly unusual, Maya said.  

“Although these tumors are benign, they can be locally very aggressive—destroying bone, bleeding significantly and, when they occur in the spine, compressing the spinal cord,” Maya said.

After Soliz was seen in the outpatient clinic, his case was reviewed by a spine tumor board, a group of specialists at Cedars-Sinai from different disciplines that discusses complex spinal tumors. The board ensures patients like Soliz receive coordinated care, formulating a comprehensive, individualized treatment plan for each patient. Maya said the multidisciplinary tumor board allows specialists in neurosurgery, imaging, interventional neuroradiology, pathology and other disciplines to develop a coordinated treatment strategy from the outset. Given the rapid decline of Soliz’s condition, his care team implemented the developed plan in an expedited manner.

Before removal of the tumor, Michael Alexander, MD, vice chair of Neurosurgery, performed a preoperative embolization of the tumor. This minimally invasive procedure blocked blood flow to the tumor, reducing the risk of major blood loss during surgery.

Following the embolization, Perry resected the tumor during a five-hour surgery, ultimately relieving the pressure on Soliz’s spinal cord and preserving his ability to walk.

In addition to Perry, Maya and Alexander, many Cedars-Sinai specialists contributed to Soliz’s care, including the pathologists who confirmed his diagnosis. The specialists and staff in the Neuroscience Critical Care Unit were also instrumental in his recovery, providing attentive care before and after surgery that helped him begin walking again.

“Ryan’s case reflects the importance of every team bringing its expertise together toward one shared goal—taking care of every patient and ensuring the best outcomes possible within our abilities,” Perry said.

A Recurrence, and Off to College

After surgery, Soliz spent time in rehabilitation recovering his strength. But in April, the tumor returned.

Alexander performed another embolization, blocking the blood vessels supplying the tumor. The approach allowed Soliz to avoid another operation to remove it and instead take medication to suppress the tumor’s growth.

Today, Soliz is in good health, golfing and hiking, and preparing to start his freshman year at the University of Hawaii, where he will be followed by a specialist throughout the school year. During breaks, he will continue his medical care at Cedars-Sinai.

Despite everything he has been through, Soliz is looking ahead to college and to a possible career in healthcare.

“I’ve always had huge respect for healthcare workers, but being a patient made me realize I want to work in healthcare and help others as a nurse,” he said.

For Perry, Soliz’s story feels personal.

“I have a daughter one year older than Ryan who just went through the college application process and moved away,” Perry said. “I could only imagine what Mrs. Soliz was feeling. I knew we had to work together for Ryan. He has amazing things he will do—and I cannot wait to see how he changes the world.”

Read more from Cedars-Sinai Stories and Insights: Seeking a Second Opinion for a Spine Condition

, a national recognition awarded to programs that bring together specialists across disciplines to advance care for patients with complex skull base tumors through clinical expertise, research, education and innovation. These programs offer advanced surgical approaches to treating skull base tumors, including some cases considered inoperable elsewhere.

The designation recognizes Cedars-Sinai’s collaborative approach to treating tumors that develop at the base of the skull—an anatomically complex area where tumors grow near nerves and blood vessels that control vision, hearing, facial movement and swallowing.

“There is very precious real estate, and treatment often requires expertise from multiple specialties,” said Vladimir Ljubimov, MD, assistant professor of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai, where he and other neurosurgeons at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Torrance Memorial Medical Center collaborate with a range of specialists to remove some of the most complex tumors.

The Cedars-Sinai Newsroom spoke with Ljubimov about what skull base surgery involves, why a multidisciplinary team is essential, and how advances in surgical techniques are expanding treatment options for patients.

What is skull base surgery?

Skull base surgery involves treating tumors that develop in one of the body's most anatomically complex regions. But the goal isn't simply to remove the tumor—it's to do so while preserving the nerves and blood vessels that control critical functions. Even a small injury to one of these structures can have life-altering consequences, including stroke, vision loss or facial paralysis. That's why skull base surgery requires advanced techniques, meticulous planning and close collaboration among specialists.

Treatment is tailored to each patient. Depending on the tumor's location, we may perform a traditional craniotomy, in which surgeons temporarily remove a small section of the skull to reach the tumor. We also use minimally invasive endoscopic techniques through the nose, orbit, or mouth, or combine multiple surgical approaches. These techniques allow us to safely treat tumors that were once considered extremely difficult or even impossible to reach.

What does a multidisciplinary skull base team involve?

Skull base surgery is truly a team effort. Neurosurgeons and otolaryngologists often work together during surgery, especially for minimally invasive endoscopic procedures performed through the nose or ear. Depending on where the tumor is located, other specialists may join the team. For example, ophthalmologists and oculoplastic surgeons help us safely treat tumors near the eye while preserving vision and appearance. Plastic surgeons may assist with reconstruction when needed. We also collaborate with endocrinologists, neuro-oncologists, neurologists and radiation oncologists, depending on the patient's diagnosis.

Every case is reviewed by our multidisciplinary team before surgery. Together, we evaluate imaging, discuss treatment options and determine the safest, most effective approach. Just as important as removing the tumor is reconstructing the skull base afterward. Our specialists work together to rebuild these structures, helping prevent complications such as cerebrospinal fluid leaks or infection while allowing patients to recover safely. After surgery, we continue coordinating care, which may include hormone management, radiation therapy, chemotherapy or rehabilitation.

What are the symptoms of a skull base tumor?

Not all skull base tumors are cancerous. Many are benign, but because of where they're located, they can still cause serious problems by pressing on the brain, nerves or blood vessels.

Skull base tumors include tumors such as pituitary tumors, tumors that arise from the lining of the brain (meningiomas), rare tumors that develop near the pituitary gland (craniopharyngiomas), tumors of the bone and cartilage (chordoma, chondrosarcoma), as well as cancers that have spread to the skull base from other parts of the body.

Symptoms vary depending on where the tumor is located and may include vision changes or vision loss, double vision, dizziness, balance problems, headaches, nausea or hormonal changes.

What are the latest advances in skull base surgery?

One of the biggest advances is the development of sophisticated endoscopic techniques that allow us to reach tumors through the natural openings of the nose, avoiding large incisions in many cases. These approaches give us access to areas that were once considered too risky to operate on, including tumors deep within the skull base and around the cavernous sinus.

As technology continues to advance, we're able to treat increasingly complex tumors with greater precision while reducing complications and improving quality of life for our patients.

How should patients look for the right skull base surgeon for them?

Patients should look for a program that offers multidisciplinary care. Complex skull base conditions often require expertise from multiple specialists, and having those experts work together from the beginning leads to more comprehensive treatment planning.

At Cedars-Sinai, we evaluate each case as a team and offer the full spectrum of surgical and nonsurgical treatment options. If a patient has been told their tumor is too difficult to remove or has limited treatment options, seeking a second opinion at a high-volume skull base center can help determine whether additional approaches may be available.

Read more from Cedars-Sinai Stories and Insights: From Vacation Vertigo to an Acoustic Neuroma Diagnosis

During the fiscal year that ended June 30, the medical center supported organizations through 169 grants to address critical needs, including access to healthcare, housing stability, food security and other essential resources.

A $300,000 grant to the Los Angeles Food Policy Council will strengthen regional food access through CalFresh outreach and enrollment efforts. The funding will also support the infrastructure of local farmers markets and coordinated strategies to protect food-purchasing power and access to healthy, culturally relevant food for low-income residents.

The medical center has invested in regional food systems by backing local growers and issuing grants to programs such as FeedLA through the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles as well as YMCA Center for Community Well-Being locations.

A grant to ALMA Backyard Farms helped expand the urban agriculture infrastructure, workforce training opportunities and fresh food distribution in communities with limited access to healthy food and green space. This contribution includes aid toward the development of a new farm hub in Carson.

Shifts in public program protocols continue to reshape the social services landscape. Cedars-Sinai has pledged to expand its investments in community-based organizations.

The latest round of grants also included $250,000 to Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County to assist residents navigating programs like Medi-Cal, CalFresh, Covered California and Medicare.

To support healthy aging and quality of life programs, Cedars-Sinai awarded two grants to expand services for seniors and their caregivers. A grant to Comprehensive Community Health Centers will help increase behavioral health engagement and ensure those in need can receive effective medical treatment.

Watts Healthcare also received a grant to aid its Healthy Aging and Wellness Program that promotes physical, emotional and social wellbeing through preventive care, fitness and nutritional support, and mental health resources.

Cedars-Sinai funded two initiatives focused on homeless prevention and long-term support to those facing housing instability. According to the 2025 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, more than 72,000 people experience homelessness on any given night across L.A. County.

A grant to the housing advocacy organization Brilliant Corners supported the Los Angeles County Homeless Prevention Unit’s efforts to provide flexible financial assistance to at-risk young adults in danger of losing housing.

A grant to local nonprofit Housing Works will fund enhanced training, professional development and wellness support for frontline staff serving those who have faced homelessness.

A Cedars-Sinai grant to Planned Parenthood Los Angeles will support care through the organization’s network of health centers, school-based wellbeing centers and its community outreach efforts.

“Cedars-Sinai is deeply compelled to continue providing support to organizational partners in their dedication to helping communities across this region,” said Andrea Iloulian, MPP, executive director of Grantmaking at Cedars-Sinai. “These organizations are on the front lines of improving access to medical care for everyone as well as providing food and housing assistance. This will help ensure vulnerable populations have the support and supplies they need to survive and thrive.”

Read more from Cedars-Sinai Newsroom: $13M Gift Creates Cedars-Sinai Holoman Health Equity Center

“Spinal CSF leaks can be incredibly debilitating, and in many cases we haven’t understood why they happen,” said Wouter Schievink, MD, co-senior author of the study and professor of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai.

The brain and spinal cord are bathed in protective cerebrospinal fluid. A tear or hole in the membrane that surrounds the spinal cord can allow this fluid to leak out, leading to nausea, neck stiffness and severe headaches that worsen when standing. Current treatments for spinal CSF leaks focus on sealing the leak after it occurs. Patients are often treated with epidural blood patches, which can provide temporary relief, or may require specialized surgery to repair the tear when symptoms persist.

Spinal CSF leaks are associated with genetic connective tissue diseases that affect tissues supporting the body’s structure, but for many patients without a diagnosis of connective tissue disorder, the cause of the ruptured membrane is unknown.

“Because some patients with unexplained spinal CSF leak show subtle signs of connective tissue disease, even though they do not have a defined diagnosis, we sought to find a genetic cause,” Schievink said.

Investigators, including lead author of the study Cassie Parks, MD, PhD, and co-senior author Hal Dietz, MD, analyzed whole-exome sequencing from 42 patients with unexplained spinal CSF leak and compared the results with more than 3,800 individuals without the condition. They tested how the genetic variants they detected behave in human cells and laboratory mice.

The study found that about 1 in 5 patients with this type of spinal CSF leak had changes in the FBN2 gene, and that these changes appeared significantly more often in patients with CSF leak than in those without the condition.

Additional experiments showed that these genetic changes disrupt the way cells attach to the supportive tissue surrounding the spinal cord, potentially weakening this protective layer. In laboratory mice carrying the same mutations, the spinal lining was more prone to tearing and leaking.

Together, these findings suggest that defects in connective tissue caused by FBN2 variants may increase a person’s risk of developing spinal cerebrospinal fluid leaks.

“By identifying a genetic contributor, we now have the first understanding of cellular events that may be targetable for prevention or treatment of spontaneous CSF leaks,” said Dietz, professor of Genetic Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

“Potential future treatments can include medications that strengthen connective tissue or target the biological pathways affected by the FBN2 gene,” Schievink added.

Additional authors include Mukti Singh, Elizabeth Wohler, Renan Martin, Silke Peeters, Emily Juzwiak, Xinyi Sun, Bart Loeys, Nara Sobreira and Claire Baldock.

Funding: This work was supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Marfan Foundation, the Pease/Scheeler Fund and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

The Holoman gift establishes the Cedars-Sinai Holoman Health Equity Center and endows the Holoman Chair in Health Equity, to be held by Christina Harris, MD, vice president and chief health equity officer at Cedars-Sinai.

“We are grateful to Eric and Terri Holoman for their civic-minded vision to help balance the scales in health equity reform,” said Arthur J. Ochoa, JD, senior vice president of Advancement and chief advancement officer at Cedars-Sinai. “This gift reflects deep alignment between the Holomans’ values and Cedars-Sinai’s.” 

Health equity has been a bedrock of Cedars-Sinai’s mission to offer hope and healing to all, regardless of factors including, but not limited to, race, religion, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status.

Yet, evolving challenges in healthcare access and delivery, in combination with long-standing systemic barriers, make this a pivotal time that calls for re-evaluation and restructuring of processes and procedures, Harris said. Many people still face obstacles including coverage and affordability gaps that are inextricably tied to social determinants of health such as income, housing, transportation and education.

Harris said she will use her platform as the Holoman Chair in Health Equity to drive comprehensive programs and research.

“This endowed chair is, in many ways, a commitment to the profound legacy of the late Linda Burnes Bolton, DrPH, RN, FAAN,” Harris said. “She became Cedars-Sinai’s first chief health equity officer after launching the Office of Health Equity in 2019. I am honored to carry this mission forward, standing on the shoulders of her esteemed leadership.”

Cedars-Sinai hosted a dinner in honor of the Holomans at the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills on May 27. Highly regarded nationally for their philanthropy, the Holoman family is a long-time supporter of Cedars-Sinai. Over the past decade, they have contributed to the medical center to support the Neurosurgery Scholars Program and The Brain Trust, a volunteer group that advances fundraising and awareness in support of the work of Keith Black, MD. Black is chair of the Department of Neurosurgery and the Ruth and Lawrence Harvey Chair in Neuroscience.

Eric, an insurance and finance entrepreneur, sits on the Cedars-Sinai Board of Directors. He is also minority owner of the Washington Commanders, managing partner of the Los Angeles Sparks and a member of the WNBA Board of Governors.

Terri, a collector of African American art, is on the board of the California African American Museum and a founding member of its foundation. She also sits on the boards of the USC Black Alumni Association and St. Anne’s Family Services, a Los Angeles nonprofit.

“I invest for a living and I feel like we’re investing in something important,” Eric said. “Terri and I are fervently dedicated to helping local communities thrive, and that is exceedingly difficult without coordinated health services and patient support delivered not only in the hospital but, just as importantly, across Los Angeles neighborhoods.”

Terri added, “This donation is one way we can effect positive change in marginalized communities across the region we call home.”

As a data and innovation engine, the Cedars-Sinai Holoman Health Equity Center will identify opportunities to accelerate solutions for combatting health equity deficiencies by meeting goals, including:

• Expanding Cedars-Sinai’s research equity infrastructure to increase inclusion in clinical research
• Deepening partnerships with local nonprofits and community resources, and advancing coordination of health services for comprehensive patient support
• Upgrading processes like data analytics to measure healthcare disparities
• Strengthening patient care and navigation through an equity dashboard interactive tool
• Equipping field teams to partner on health equity programs
• Enhancing the framework for care that links hospital affiliates across the Cedars-Sinai Health System

Peter L. Slavin, MD, president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai, said the medical center remains committed to upholding the highest standards of equitable care.

“Through this amazing gift, Cedars-Sinai will cultivate and sustain a stringent system of checks and balances to optimize health equity,” said Slavin, the David and Meredith Kaplan Presidential Chair. “This will hold us accountable—as it should—across the board in clinical settings, research labs, conference rooms and local communities.”

Read more from Cedars-Sinai Stories and Insights: Inspiring Community Health by Meeting Patients Needs

Every minute counts when someone has a stroke, which occurs when blood flow to the brain is blocked. Without rapid treatment, brain cells begin dying within minutes, often leaving patients with permanent speech, movement or memory disabilities.

“Stroke is one of the most time-sensitive emergencies in medicine,” said Nestor Gonzalez, MD, director of the Neurovascular Laboratory in the Department of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai. “The faster we restore blood flow to the brain, the more brain function we can preserve.”

Gonzalez’s advice is echoed in the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association’s new 2026 Guideline for the Early Management of Patients With Acute Ischemic Stroke. In the first update since 2019, the guidelines recommend more reliance on imaging, catheter-based procedures and emergency first responders. The guidelines also introduce the first national guidance for treating stroke in children.

Gonzalez, co-vice chair of the American Stroke Association group that developed the guideline, sat down with the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom to discuss the updates and leading-edge stroke research.

What are the most important changes in the updated guideline for acute ischemic stroke, in which a clot blocks blood flow to part of the brain?

Stroke treatment has advanced significantly over the past few decades, particularly with the development of clot-dissolving drugs and catheter-based procedures that can remove blockages in the brain. Since the previous stroke guidelines were published in 2019, new clinical trials have expanded our understanding of which patients can benefit from these treatments.

Previous guidelines recommended endovascular [minimally invasive] clot-removal procedures within six hours of stroke onset, with only a small group of selected patients eligible for treatment up to 24 hours after onset. The updated guideline broadens those criteria, allowing more patients to be considered for treatment in the 24-hour time frame.

The guidelines also expand treatment options for patients with large-core strokes—cases in which a significant area of the brain is affected. In the past, physicians were often hesitant to treat these patients because the potential benefit was uncertain. However, several recent studies have shown that intervention can still reduce disability in some cases.

The guidelines also expand eligibility for endovascular clot-removal procedures to include patients with preexisting disabilities, reflecting evidence that treatment may help them return to their baseline level of function.

You are a faculty member at Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s, and the updated recommendations include the first dedicated guidance for treating stroke in children. Why is that important?

Stroke can occur at any age, including in children. However, because it is rare, clinicians may not immediately consider stroke when a child presents with sudden neurological symptoms.

The updated guidelines provide clinicians with practical guidance for recognizing and managing stroke in children. Until now, there were no dedicated recommendations specifically addressing treatment in this population. The guidelines address early recognition of stroke symptoms, imaging strategies and circumstances in which treatments such as intravenous thrombolysis [clot-dissolving medication given through an IV] or endovascular thrombectomy [procedure removing clots from the brain] may be considered.

Over the past several years, specialized centers have begun applying some of the endovascular stroke treatments developed for adults to pediatric patients, and outcomes suggest that children can benefit from these interventions.

How will the updated guidelines change the treatment stroke patients receive in hospitals?

The guidelines emphasize improving the entire system of stroke care so patients can be evaluated and treated rapidly. That process begins with recognizing symptoms in emergency medical services, prompt evaluation and use of specialized treatment. They also synthesize a large body of research into recommendations that clinicians can apply in real-world practice.

The updated recommendations also highlight the importance of coordinated stroke systems that include rapid imaging, telemedicine support for smaller hospitals, and efficient patient transport to specialized stroke centers capable of performing advanced procedures, like Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

For adult stroke patients, many of these systems are already in place. But for pediatric stroke, the impact may be even greater, as many hospitals are still developing formal systems for diagnosing and treating stroke in children.

What areas of stroke research are you most excited about right now?

Much of the recent progress in stroke care has focused on treating patients in the acute phase, when a clot suddenly blocks blood flow to the brain. But another challenge is helping patients whose brains receive chronically reduced blood flow, putting them at risk for repeated strokes. Two conditions that can cause this are Moyamoya disease, which often affects children and young adults, and intracranial atherosclerosis, which is more common in older adults.

In Moyamoya disease, the arteries at the base of the brain narrow or become blocked. To treat it, surgeons can perform bypass procedures that create new pathways to restore blood flow to the brain. My research has focused on improving these techniques and understanding how they benefit patients.

In adults with intracranial atherosclerosis, plaque buildup narrows, thickens or hardens the arteries in the brain. Medications help many patients, but in some cases, it is not enough. Working with the National Institutes of Health, we have been studying a surgical technique called indirect revascularization, or EDAS. Originally developed for children with Moyamoya disease, this approach is now being adapted for adults with severe vascular disease. Early clinical trials have shown encouraging results, and we are working to expand those studies to multiple centers to determine whether the technique can improve outcomes for patients who currently have limited treatment options.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

This condition not only can accelerate cognitive decline but is often mistaken for an underlying neurological condition—delaying proper diagnosis and treatment.

In a recent review published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, Cedars-Sinai researchers explored how UTI-induced delirium affects brain function, why individuals with dementia are especially vulnerable, and the critical need for early recognition and intervention.

“It’s a vicious cycle where dementia increases the risk of infection, and infection-related delirium accelerates cognitive decline,” said Shouri Lahiri, MD, principal investigator of the Critical Care Neurodegenerative Medicine Lab, director of the Neurosciences Critical Care Unit and Neurocritical Care Research at Cedars-Sinai, and senior author of the review.

Previous laboratory studies by Lahiri and his colleagues revealed that the immune system’s response to UTI-induced delirium—specifically the inflammatory protein interleukin-6—can cause changes in the brain. Blocking this pathway reversed delirium-like symptoms in mice.

Lahiri sat down with the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom to discuss UTIs as a potentially preventable and treatable contributor to cognitive decline and the importance of early recognition and swift treatment.

What is delirium, and how is it different from memory loss?

Delirium is a sudden change in thinking and awareness. It affects attention, judgment and short-term memory, and develops over hours or days.

Memory loss from conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease progresses slowly over time. Delirium, by contrast, is acute and usually triggered by a medical illness, such as a urinary tract infection, dehydration or infection elsewhere in the body.

Why can urinary tract infections cause confusion, especially in older adults?

Our research shows UTIs can cause acute brain dysfunction through inflammation. An infection in the bladder releases inflammatory signals into the bloodstream, which can affect the brain and disrupt normal function, leading to delirium.

Older adults are more vulnerable because their brains are often less resilient to physiological stress.

UTIs aren’t the only infections that can trigger this response. Any systemic infection, including pneumonia, gastrointestinal infections or skin infections, can provoke widespread inflammation that affects the brain and causes acute confusion.

Why are people with Alzheimer’s disease at higher risk for UTIs?

People with Alzheimer’s may have challenges upkeeping with hygiene and age-related hormonal changes that increase UTI risk. Alzheimer’s can also impair sensation and communication, making it harder for patients to recognize or report well-known UTI symptoms such as burning or urgency to urinate. As a result, infections may go untreated until they trigger delirium.

For people without dementia, delirium increases the risk of developing dementia by about threefold. Repeated episodes further raise that risk.

Why can a UTI make Alzheimer’s symptoms suddenly worse?

A UTI can cause a rapid cognitive decline that looks like a sudden worsening of Alzheimer’s disease. The key difference is timing. Alzheimer’s progresses gradually, while delirium causes an abrupt change from a person’s baseline.

We believe inflammation related to infection places added stress on an already vulnerable brain, which can worsen dementia symptoms and, in some cases, cause lasting damage.

Is delirium from a UTI reversible?

Early treatment offers the best chance for recovery. When UTIs are identified and quickly treated, delirium symptoms can improve or resolve. However, in some cases, cognitive effects can persist or become permanent. That’s why early recognition is critical.

Because UTIs don’t always cause obvious urinary symptoms, especially in older adults, we need to change the way we diagnose UTIs, using a mix of clinical observations and urinary and blood tests that show infection, to recognize when a UTI is behind sudden confusion.

How can caregivers tell the difference between Alzheimer’s progression and a UTI?

Sudden change is the biggest warning sign. Dementia generally does not cause abrupt declines. If someone with Alzheimer’s suddenly becomes much more confused, less alert or behaves very differently, that may signal delirium.

Other changes to look out for include changes in urination patterns, incontinence, pain, or changes in urine color or odor.

What can caregivers do to help prevent UTIs and delirium?

Caregivers should make sure the person they’re taking care of maintains good hygiene and adequate hydration. Caregivers should also notify a physician if UTIs are recurrent, because treatments are available to reduce repeated episodes.

Also, being aware of sudden changes in mental status and seeking prompt medical care can make a significant difference.

Are UTIs linked to delirium in other neurological conditions?

Yes. Parkinson’s disease is a key example. Many people with Parkinson’s have difficulty fully emptying their bladder, which increases infection risk. UTIs can worsen Parkinson’s movement symptoms, just as they worsen cognition in Alzheimer’s disease.

What is your lab studying next?

We are studying new drugs that target inflammatory pathways involved in UTI-related brain dysfunction, with the goal of advancing them to clinical trials. We are also developing diagnostic approaches to better identify UTIs in patients who  don’t have the well-known urinary symptoms.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

Now, thanks to a $5 million gift from the Elaine and Eduardo Saverin Foundation, Graham enters updates into an app on his phone every few days and his care team can view them in real time.

“I use it every other day, at different times of the day, and I hope that helps the care team have a better idea of how my medication is working,” Graham said. “I enjoy it. It keeps me thinking about what I might be able to do better to help myself.”

Cedars-Sinai is helping Graham and other patients by expanding its use of the app, called Kneu Health.

Doctors all over the world who care for patients with Parkinson’s disease face the same dilemma, said Michele Tagliati, MD, vice chair of Neurology and director of the Movement Disorders Division at Cedars-Sinai.

“At each checkup you ask a patient who has a neurological disorder and may be in their 70s or 80s how they’ve been doing for the past three to six months,” Tagliati said. “And you base your whole treatment plan on what they tell you.”

The Kneu Health app, which Tagliati is testing with Graham and other patients, gives doctors more frequent updates. Every few days patients use the app to perform exercises—such as holding the phone in front of their face to check for tremor, walking so the phone’s accelerometer can check their balance, or performing exercises that test their memory or reaction time.

Patients also can enter information about their sleep quality and other symptoms of the movement disorder, in which brain cells progressively deteriorate.

The information feeds directly into the Cedars-Sinai electronic medical record (EMR) and the app produces a summary for doctors to review. It also sends an alert if the data suggests a patient is at risk for falling or other serious issues.

“This allows us to intervene instead of waiting for the patient’s next visit,” Tagliati said. “Rather than unknowingly having a patient spend months on a medication that isn’t working or having them end up in the emergency department because of a fall, we can change their medication or have them use a walker.”

Graham was first diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2018. He takes daily medications, uses an online speech pathology program, practices yoga and Pilates, and sees Tagliati every three months for botulinum toxin injections to help control his involuntary spasms.

Graham said he finds the app intuitive and easy to use and likes the fact that he can check in whenever he wants—and choose what he would like to work on.

The Elaine and Eduardo Saverin Foundation’s gift will fund the hiring of three physician assistants or nurse practitioners to help monitor the large population of patients with Parkinson’s disease followed at Cedars-Sinai, which currently number more than 800.

“We're supporting Cedars-Sinai's Parkinson's disease program because it addresses a critical gap in care by ensuring that patients maintain their quality of care even in outpatient settings,” said Elaine Saverin, chairwoman of the foundation. “Technological innovations like the Kneu Health app can have profound ripple effects for thousands living with Parkinson's.”

The additional staff funded by the gift will also help patients with Parkinson’s disease who are hospitalized for reasons unrelated to their condition, such as an infection or the need for emergency surgery.

“When a patient with Parkinson’s disease is admitted to Cedars-Sinai, we want to make sure the neurology care team knows about it,” Tagliati said. “These patients are at risk of prolonged hospital stays or other complications if their prescribed medications aren’t given on time, or if they are prescribed medications that can be harmful when taken with Parkinson’s medications.”

Cedars-Sinai has created an electronic dashboard to track and improve the care of these patients. The additional dedicated staffing will mean a nurse practitioner or physician assistant is available to monitor the dashboard and ensure hospitalized patients with Parkinson’s disease are receiving the best possible care.

Kneu Health participated in Cedars-Sinai’s Accelerator Program in 2024, and the Cedars-Sinai Intellectual Property Company recently invested in the company.

“This innovative approach to treating people with Parkinson’s disease is something that is done at only a few hospitals around the country,” said Nirdesh Gupta, PhD, managing partner in the Cedars-Sinai Intellectual Property Company. “Thanks to the Elaine and Eduardo Saverin Foundation, the participation of our patients and advances in technology, we now have the opportunity to improve the standard of care for Parkinson’s patients here at Cedars-Sinai and, ultimately, on a global scale.”

Read More on Stories and Insights: Understanding Parkinson’s Disease

The 39-year-old father, who plays softball and ice hockey and spends weekends off-roading, was no stranger to minor injuries. But the anti-inflammatory drugs prescribed by his primary care physician only gave Starsiak temporary relief. Over the next few months, his hips stiffened, and he began to lose sensation and muscle mass in his leg.

Then, during a business trip, the pain caused Starsiak to reach a breaking point.

“I could not walk from one gate to the next at the airport and ended up having a breakdown, crying because I was in so much pain,” Starsiak said.

After multiple doctor visits, including a trip to the emergency room, an MRI revealed the cause: a 2-centimeter cyst lodged on the front side of a nerve, tucked beneath a joint in his spine. Its location made it particularly difficult to treat.

A physician near his home in Orange County referred Starsiak to Corey Walker, MD, an assistant professor of Neurosurgery and Orthopaedics at Cedars-Sinai, who specializes in minimally invasive and complex spine cases.

Starsiak, a medical device salesman with a focus on orthopedic products, was familiar with surgical options and trusted his instincts in choosing Walker to oversee his care.

“When I met Dr. Walker, I immediately knew he was the right surgeon—someone of integrity who listened carefully and was deeply passionate about his craft,” Starsiak said.

Cyst Removal Without Spinal Fusion

Walker performs endoscopic spine surgery, a minimally invasive technique that uses a small endoscope—about the width of a pen—to navigate hard-to-reach places inside the body. Compared with traditional surgery, the minimally invasive approach typically results in smaller incisions, less tissue damage and faster recovery.

In Starsiak’s case, the cyst was compressing nerves against his spinal canal, interfering with their ability to send signals between his brain and leg. That pressure can lead to loss of strength, sensation and coordination.

Removing the cyst would be challenging. In order to access the nerve and underlying cyst, a surgeon typically would need to remove a spinal joint and fuse the vertebrae with rods and screws to stabilize them.

“That would have been a life-altering operation for someone his age,” Walker said. “Fusion puts added stress on surrounding joints and can lead to future surgeries.”

Instead, Walker took a different approach.

Using an ultra-minimally invasive endoscopic procedure, Walker accessed the cyst through an endoscope with a small camera attached. After locating the affected nerve, he and his team were able to use the endoscope to guide them in removing the cyst—without cutting muscle, removing the joint or injuring the nerve.

“We had what felt like an impossible task,” Walker said. “I’m proud that Cedars-Sinai is able to treat patients who have complex cases.”

For Starsiak, avoiding fusion was critical.

“I was worried a fusion would significantly hamper—if not end—my ability to play sports and lift weights,” he said.

Life-Changing Relief

When Starsiak woke up from the procedure, he immediately felt relieved of the pain and pressure, as if a rock had been removed from his back.

His recovery took about eight weeks, and he focused on restoring mobility and strength in his hips, legs and back. Today, Starsiak is back to his normal routine—playing sports, off-roading and lifting weights at the squat rack.

The experience also changed his mindset.

Before the injury, Starsiak said, he measured success largely by career advancement. As a father of two, losing his mobility forced him to reconsider his priorities.

“The second you lose your health, you realize none of the other things really matter,” he said. “You can’t enjoy success if you’re not healthy.”

For Walker, that impact is what makes the work meaningful.

“As a neurosurgeon, it’s incredible to hone your craft—to work with your hands and see a problem fixed by the end of surgery,” he said. “But what’s even more rewarding is hearing later how it’s changed someone’s life—that’s the best part.”

Read more from the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom: Defying the Odds – Father's Love Leads to Life-Changing Surgery

The study shows for the first time that Chlamydia pneumoniae can reach the retina—the tissue lining the back of the eye—where it triggers immune responses linked to inflammation, nerve cell death and cognitive decline.

“Seeing Chlamydia pneumoniae consistently across human tissues, cell cultures and animal models allowed us to identify a previously unrecognized link between bacterial infection, inflammation and neurodegeneration,” said Maya Koronyo-Hamaoui, PhD, professor of Neurosurgery, Neurology, and Biomedical Sciences at Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University and the leading, senior author of the study. “The eye is a surrogate for the brain, and this study shows that retinal bacterial infection and chronic inflammation can reflect brain pathology and predict disease status, supporting retinal imaging as a noninvasive way to identify people at risk for Alzheimer’s.”

To conduct the study, researchers used advanced imaging, genetic testing and protein analysis to examine retinal tissue from 104 individuals, some with normal cognition, some with mild cognitive impairment and some with Alzheimer’s disease.

They found significantly higher levels of Chlamydia pneumoniae in the retinas and brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease than they found in people with normal cognition. The higher the bacterial levels detected, the more severe the brain changes and cognitive decline investigators found.

Higher levels of the bacterium were more common in people who carried the APOE4 gene variant, a known risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease.

Investigators also studied human neurons in the lab and in laboratory mice with Alzheimer’s disease. In both, infection with Chlamydia pneumoniae increased inflammation, nerve cell death and cognitive decline, showing the bacterium can accelerate disease processes. The infection also triggered production of amyloid-beta, the protein that accumulates in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s.

The findings were driven by co-first authors Bhakta Gaire, PhD, and Yosef Koronyo, MSc.

“This discovery raises the possibility of targeting the infection-inflammation axis to treat Alzheimer’s,” said Timothy Crother, PhD, co-corresponding author of the study and research professor at Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children's and the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Cedars‑Sinai.

The findings suggest that targeting chronic bacterial infection—and the inflammation it triggers—could represent a new treatment strategy. The research also supports potential use of the retina as a noninvasive way to help diagnose and monitor the disease.

Additional Cedars-Sinai authors include Bhakta Gaire, Yosef Koronyo, Jean-Philippe Vit, Alexandre Hutton, Lalita Subedi, Dieu-Trang Fuchs, Natalie Swerdlow, Altan Rentsendorj, Saba Shahin, Daisy Martinon, Edward Robinson, Alexander V. Ljubimov, Keith L. Black, Jesse Meyer, and Moshe Arditi.

Other authors include Julie A. Schneider, Lon S. Schneider, Debra Hawes, Stuart L. Graham, Vivek K. Gupta, and Mehdi Mirzaei.

Funding: This work has been supported by the NIH/NIA grants R01AG056478, R01AG055865, and AG056478-04S1 (M.K.H.), R01AG075998 (M.K.H. and T.R.C.), and Alzheimer’s Association grant AARG-NTF-21-846586 (T.R.C.). MKH is also supported by The Goldrich and Snyder Foundations. ER has been supported by The Ray Charles Foundation.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

Cedars-Sinai has received a $30 million gift from the Cayton Goldrich Family Foundation to establish the Cedars-Sinai Cayton BRCA Center, a first-of-its-kind in Southern California. The state-of-the-art center will concentrate on the research, diagnosis and comprehensive treatment of illnesses linked to mutations in the genes known as BRCA1 and BRCA2.

These genes, when functioning properly, help repair damaged DNA to prevent tumors from forming. However, mutations in the genes can significantly increase the risk of certain inherited cancers, including breast, ovarian, prostate and pancreatic malignancies.

“We can help prevent harmful BRCA mutations from being passed down from carriers to their children and grandchildren and work toward ending the cycle of inherited cancer risk,” said foundation trustee Barry Cayton.

Trustee Andrea Goldrich Cayton added, “Our family has personally been affected by BRCA gene mutations, so we feel especially compelled to make a transformative mark in the healthcare space linked to holistic BRCA research and care.”

The Cayton and Goldrich families are longtime supporters of Cedars-Sinai. In 2019, the Goldrich Family Foundation donated $10 million to establish the Jona Goldrich Center for Alzheimer's and Memory Disorders at Cedars-Sinai. The center was named for the late patriarch of the Goldrich family, who was a Holocaust survivor and prominent Los Angeles real estate developer and philanthropist.

“Cedars-Sinai is truly humbled and honored by our continued visionary partnership with the Cayton Goldrich Family Foundation,” said Peter L. Slavin, MD, president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai and the David and Meredith Kaplan Presidential Chair. “They embody humanitarianism and hold a strong belief in science’s ability to transform healthcare and improve human life.”

About 1 in 400 people in the U.S. carry a BRCA mutation. Males are less likely to be tested for the mutations, and female carriers are more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer. BRCA mutations increase cancer risk in both genders, but the specific forms of cancer and rates of diagnoses differ.

Some population groups are more prone to BRCA mutations, including people of Eastern European Jewish, Korean, Mexican, and African American ancestries. Currently, there is no comprehensive BRCA clinical and research center in Los Angeles to serve high-risk communities. Cedars-Sinai leaders said the new center will play a major role in advancing research, education and clinical innovation.

“The Cedars-Sinai Cayton BRCA Center will offer patients personalized guidance and timelines for their care, including risk-reducing procedures, genetic testing, specialized screenings and reproductive medicine services to help break the cycle of genetic cancer risk,” said Shlomo Melmed, MB, ChB, executive vice president of Medicine and Health Sciences, dean of the Medical Faculty and the Helene A. and Philip E. Hixon Distinguished Chair in Investigative Medicine. “We will develop a hub of translational discovery science devoted to eradicating the cellular underpinnings of BRCA mutations.”

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: 7 Tips to Reduce Your Breast Cancer Risk

More than 1.5 million people in Los Angeles County struggle with meeting the most basic nutritional needs. Since 2020, Cedars-Sinai has donated $10 million to food equity efforts and to organizations including Food Access L.A., Food Forward, Hollywood Food Coalition and the Karsh Family Social Service Center. Because of the Cedars-Sinai grants, critical resources have reached more than 400 nonprofits, food pantries, soup kitchens and churches. November 16-22 is Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, which recognizes two regional challenges Cedars-Sinai works to address through its grantmaking.

“Cedars-Sinai knows that food access is not just a health issue,” said Andrea Iloulian, MPP, executive director of Grantmaking at Cedars-Sinai. “Our commitment is to health beyond hospital walls, including around dinner tables and in the connections between food security and overall wellbeing. We will keep working alongside community organizations doing the vital work to advance food equity every day.”

Grant recipients include:

• Food Access L.A. aims to build sustainable food systems and ensure that people have access to fresh, affordable, locally grown foods. Every week, eight farmers markets across Los Angeles support small-scale agriculture as well as food and beverage businesses while improving food security in local neighborhoods.
• Food Forward provides fresh surplus fruits and vegetables to those in need. Funding from Cedars-Sinai enables the organization to test and implement new, efficient methods of moving produce from the warehouse to more than 100 of Food Forward’s partnering organizations.
• Hollywood Food Coalition both prepares nightly meals for the unhoused in Hollywood, and routes surplus donations and other food throughout Los Angeles as the lead of a four-organization Collaborative Food Hub. Following the devastating January wildfires, the hub was able to mobilize to target areas with the greatest food shortages. More than 50 organizations that provide assistance to immigrant and low-income communities are on the waitlist for aid from the coalition. Cedars-Sinai has pledged support to help reduce that number.  

“Funding from Cedars-Sinai has been a lifeline for Hollywood Food Coalition,” said Arnali Ray, the organization’s executive director. “As our community faces economic uncertainty, SNAP instability and the aftermath of the wildfires, Cedars-Sinai’s flexible support has helped us expand warehouse operations, strengthen local networks and elevate our nightly meal service with our first professionally-trained chef so we can bring nutritious, culturally-relevant meals to those who need them most.”

Peter L. Slavin, MD, president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai, said Cedars-Sinai’s food equity initiatives will continue to follow a community-driven, two-part approach that supports both immediate relief and long-term sustainability.

“We care deeply about the people of Los Angeles and Southern California,” said Slavin, the David and Meredith Kaplan Presidential Chair. “We understand that good health and wellbeing require a variety of needs, including effective medical care and the most fundamental necessities, like food and shelter. Our initiatives reflect Cedars-Sinai’s time-honored mission to care for our community and many others around the world.”

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom: Cedars-Sinai Supports Local Nonprofits with $21 Million in Grants

Endowed chairs are faculty honors funded by donors to support the chairholder’s research or patient care programs at Cedars-Sinai. These positions further drive our medical advancements, said Shlomo Melmed, MB, ChB, executive vice president of Medicine and Health Sciences, dean of the Medical Faculty and the Helene A. and Philip E. Hixon Distinguished Chair in Investigative Medicine at Cedars-Sinai.

“Endowed chairs are among the highest honors a medical center can bestow,” Melmed said. “Each of these healthcare professionals is a respected leader in their field and works tirelessly to make scientific discoveries that can save lives, improve health outcomes, train the next generation of physicians and scientists, and set the standard for pioneering medical science.“

The LuEllen Margaret Edwards Chair in Otology and Neurotology is a newly established chair, with Mia Miller, MD, serving as its inaugural holder. Miller is director of the Acoustic Neuroma and Lateral Skull Base Program at Cedars-Sinai. Her research focuses on disorders of the ear, inner ear and vestibular system, which affects a person’s balance and spatial orientation. The acoustic neuroma program was created to further the expertise of Cedars-Sinai specialists who treat patients diagnosed with the non-cancerous, potentially devastating tumors. These growths can lead to hearing loss and vertigo and, progressively, can impact nerves that regulate speech, swallowing, and facial and eye movement.

Neil Bhowmick, PhD, research scientist at Cedars-Sinai Cancer, has been designated the Mark Goodson Chair in Oncology Research. The chair was formerly held by Phillip Koeffler, MD. Bhowmick, a professor of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, focuses on the role of certain cells in cancer initiation, progression and therapy resistance as they relate to cancers of the lungs, bladder, pancreas and prostate.

Xue (Sean) Li, PhD, now holds the Board of Governors Chair in Cancer Research, formerly held by Leland Chung, PhD. Li is director of the Center of Sex and Gender Cancer Research at Cedars-Sinai Cancer and professor of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. His research examines gender differences in bladder cancer as well as sex hormones, sex chromosomes, immunity, metabolism, microbiome and sex epigenetics—the study of certain inherited changes in gene expression.

Anjaparavanda Naren, PhD, has been named the Geri and Richard Brawerman Chair in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, formerly held by Zab Mosenifar, MD. Naren is director of Cystic Fibrosis Research at Cedars-Sinai and a professor of Medicine. He aims to develop better therapies to treat Cystic Fibrosis, a life-threatening genetic disorder that damages the lungs and digestive system. In this work, he is studying unique Cystic Fibrosis mutations in patients identified as more at risk of experiencing those rare anomalies—and who may not respond to the most traditionally effective treatments. 

Stephen Shiao, MD, PhD, now holds the Barth Family Chair in Cancer Genetics in honor of Beth Y. Karlan, MD. The chair was formerly held by Simon Gayther, PhD. Shiao is director of the Division of Radiation Biology, co-leader of the Cancer Therapeutics Program, professor of Biomedical Sciences and professor of Radiation Oncology. In his efforts, he analyzes the cells of some difficult-to-treat cancers, before and after radiation therapy combined with immunotherapy, to determine the most effective tumor-fighting immune responses prior to surgery.

“We could not make these merited distinctions without the contributions of our visionary donors,” said Arthur J. Ochoa, JD, senior vice president of Advancement and chief advancement officer for Cedars-Sinai. “They are pillars of the Cedars-Sinai community whose impact can’t be measured by the value of their contributions alone. We thank them for their respective investments in the health of our community and beyond.”

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom: Cedars-Sinai Ranks Among Top U.S. Hospitals for 10th Consecutive Year

During the fiscal year that ended June 30, Cedars-Sinai supported organizations working to reduce homelessness, increase access to healthcare and provide healthy and locally grown food to people across Los Angeles who are experiencing food insecurity.

“Cedars-Sinai is grateful to partner with nonprofits who understand that the health of Los Angeles relies on our steadfast commitment to each other,” said Erin Jackson-Ward, DrPH, executive director of Grantmaking and Social Impact for Cedars-Sinai. “From responding to the impacts of wildfires across the city to making sure every family experiences a healthy and joyous birth to housing and feeding our neighbors, we will continue to assist organizations showing up every day for our communities.”

As part of Cedars-Sinai’s Black Birth Equity grantmaking initiative, the medical center awarded $2 million to 13 organizations offering free or low-cost access to doulas and midwives, lactation support, mental health treatment and birth worker retention strategies. The funding included $200,000 to the Charles Drew University Black Maternal Health Center of Excellence. The center is developing a postpartum support program to train 100 students and providers in community-based models of care and to enable home visitation and behavioral health services for 400 families.

Cedars-Sinai earmarked $1.2 million in grants for the United Way of Greater Los Angeles to strengthen local social safety nets that are supporting a growing number of older adults experiencing homelessness. Services provided through the United Way include coordinated health and homelessness services, rental assistance, shared housing assistance and multigenerational housing opportunities.

A $500,000 grant to Pukúu Cultural Community Services and the Relatives Home Collaborative is supporting local Native American community-based organizations, Tribes and Tribal entities, also with the goals of decreasing homelessness and improving housing opportunities in Native American communities.

Since 2020, Cedars-Sinai’s grantmaking blueprint has focused on ensuring no Angeleno goes hungry. The medical center’s approach addresses food access not only as a health issue but as a tool to connect those in need to many vital resources.

Eleven organizations received $775,000 in grants to help eliminate food insecurity in South Los Angeles. The funding included $250,000 to the L.A. Food Policy Council to create a South L.A. food hub and farm cooperative, and $25,000 to ALMA Backyard Farms to broaden distribution of healthy food to vulnerable community members. 

In the aftermath of the devastating wildfires in January, the medical center allocated more than $250,000 toward wildfire relief and recovery efforts. That included contributions to the Los Angeles Fire Department Wildfire Emergency Fund and the Institute of Popular Education of Southern California Essential Workers Fund. Cedars-Sinai has pledged to continue collaborating with its many partners to assist with recovery needs throughout the long rebuilding process.

“As part of our enduring mission, Cedars-Sinai works shoulder-to-shoulder with community-based nonprofits that are building a better future for all Los Angeles residents,” said Peter L. Slavin, MD, president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai and the David and Meredith Kaplan Presidential Chair. “We pledge to continue bridging gaps to improve healthcare access and sustain vital services where people need it most.”

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom: Cedars-Sinai Builds Community Partnerships to Address Health Equity

New volunteers are always welcome and needed, said Michele Prince, director of Volunteer Services for Cedars-Sinai.

“Last year, volunteers donated more than 200,000 hours of service,” Prince said. “Along with providing emotional support to our patients, visitors, and staff, they are often an extra set of hands for our busy clinicians, saving them time to do higher-level clinical tasks.”

Jody Simon and Stuart Smith are two of the medical center’s 3,600 volunteers. They both say they receive far more than they give.

Simon began her volunteer service at the medical center’s flower delivery desk 10 years ago. During her three-hour shifts, she helped manage the intake of all manner of bouquets—flowers, fruit and balloons—that friends and family sent to patients.

“It was so busy, it would take three of us to handle the desk and deliveries to patient rooms,” said Simon.

Since then, she’s juggled a wide range of duties, alternating between the Beverlywood main campus and Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center. Some days, Simon calls patients to confirm appointments. Other days, she serves as the legally mandated layperson on the Institutional Review Board to make sure patients participating in clinical trials are fully consented.

Her favorite volunteer post? The Emergency Department. There, she admittedly encounters fewer smiles than at other posts, but relishes the same patient gratitude for having offered a sympathetic ear, a status update or the occasional cup of water and blanket. Her bedside manner brings such comfort and positivity to patients that she earned a Circle of Friends pin—one of Cedars-Sinai’s highest honors--after an anonymous patient donated in her honor.

“It’s my most prized possession and I wear it proudly,” said Simon.

She recalls the day a simple gesture brought one emergency patient to tears. “I wrapped a blanket around her as she awaited treatment, and she started to cry,” Simon said.“ She said, ‘I’m a single mom. No one ever takes care of me. Thank you.’”  

Cedars-Sinai also holds a special place in Simon’s heart for personal reasons. Both she and her mother were born at the former Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. All three of her children were born at Cedars-Sinai, and her aunt and grandmother both have ties to the medical center, dating back the late 1970s.

Stuart Smith's history with Cedars-Sinai also could fill the pages of a book. Until this past February, and for more than 42 years before that, he worked as a Cedars-Sinai microbiologist in the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine. His meticulous work focused on identifying bacteria growing in clinical patient cultures, and helped determine the appropriate antibiotics to treat infections. Smith, a clinical laboratory scientist, was on the frontline in the Microbiology lab during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, often requiring 12- and 13-hour days.

Over the years, Smith volunteered to play piano every Tuesday during his lunch break—standards and show tunes, mostly—for visitors in the Plaza Lobby. His shy personality meant he appreciated any recognition, but was challenged by it.

"I never wanted to be the center of attention," said Smith. "It always made me very self-conscious when people would clap or acknowledge me because I then realized, they're actually listening to me."

Smith knows that music can offer comfort during difficult times. Once, as he played, a visitor passing through the lobby paused to listen, clearly touched by the melody. Smith later learned the song had been a favorite of the man's mother—a song he hadn't heard since before she'd passed away.  "That was really moving for me," he said.

For more information on joining the Volunteer Services program at Cedars-Sinai, click the link to complete the online application.

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom: A Tale of Two Cedars-Sinai Volunteers

It was in 2023, when Sarah underwent brain surgery with Keith Black, MD, that her mother, Dana, began to uncover the depth of her family’s ties to Cedars-Sinai. What Dana thought were fragments of family history—memories of her grandmother Reba Dubin’s volunteer work and her aunt Maxine Dunitz’s philanthropy—turned out to be a remarkable story of multigenerational dedication to advancing healthcare, championing women’s leadership and transforming a city.

The Pioneering Spirit of Reba Dubin and Maxine Dunitz

Dana’s childhood revolved around Cedars-Sinai, largely because of Helping Hand, which her grandmother Reba founded. The medical center was a constant presence in the family’s conversations, and visits to her grandmother’s house were filled with stories of philanthropy and service. Reba’s impact had started in 1929 when she’d created Helping Hand at Cedars of Lebanon—decades before the hospital merged with Mount Sinai—as a volunteer-run gift shop that was the first woman-run non-profit in Los Angeles. But her contributions went far beyond selling gifts. She was a trailblazer dedicated to supporting women and children in need. Inspired by her own mother’s activism and leadership, Reba, who was a college-educated pharmacist at a time when the roles of women were constrained, was determined to make a difference.

Through Helping Hand, she led initiatives to assist immigrants and refugees, provide medical support to the underserved and offer aid to low-income and expectant mothers. In an interview nearly 60 years after she established Helping Hand, Reba recalled visiting a woman’s apartment where a newborn slept in a dresser drawer for lack of a crib. She saw to it that the woman received a crib. Helping Hand also provided essentials for people in need, such as eyeglasses, artificial limbs and baby supplies—small gestures with big impacts. Over the coming decades, Reba’s work not only supported those who needed it most but also helped cement Cedars-Sinai as a major force for good in Los Angeles. One prominent example: In 1984, Helping Hand funded the first full-time endowed chair at Cedars-Sinai, the Miriam Jacobs Chair of Maternal Fetal Medicine.

Reba’s example inspired her niece, Maxine Dunitz, who first volunteered at Cedars-Sinai in 1948 as a teenager. Years later, Maxine took Reba’s dedication even further. Her generosity helped establish Cedars-Sinai’s Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute and endow the position held by Black, who serves as the institute’s director. Maxine donated the funds the same year her great-niece Sarah was born. She could not have known that one day, Sarah would walk through the doors of that institute and that Black would free the young woman of a brain tumor. 

Dana and Sarah: A Legacy Comes Full Circle

Dana and her siblings were born at Cedars-Sinai in the 1960s, but her relationship to the medical center became far more personal in 1996. That year, her newborn son Daniel was rushed to Cedars-Sinai for emergency cardiac surgery with Alfredo Trento, MD. Born with an exceedingly rare condition that entailed seven heart anomalies, Daniel underwent a life-saving operation at just 24 hours of age. Dana had never wavered on where to turn for his care.

Then, some 25 years later, her daughter Sarah faced a medical crisis of her own. Athletic, independent and full of life, Sarah had always taken care of her health and rarely needed to see a doctor. She had grown up with a sense of perseverance, shaped by the knowledge that her brother Daniel had defied the odds—and that her mom had borne two other girls, both of whom succumbed to medical conditions in the early months of their lives. When Sarah began having seizures—the same symptom that had presaged the tragic deaths of the sisters she never knew—her family reached out to Cedars-Sinai again. “Through gasps and tears, I asked if we could meet Dr. Black,” Dana recalls.

Uncomfortable in medical settings, Sarah was anxious until she met Black. Unlike in previous medical encounters, where she often felt dismissed, here was a doctor who treated her with respect and compassion. “Dr. Black made me feel seen as a person, not just a case,” said Sarah, recalling that the Patient Relations Department also supported her parents as they dealt with the terrifying prospect of another severely ill child. Sarah was diagnosed with a ganglioglioma, a type of growth that accounts for only 0.4% of all brain tumors.

In July 2023, she successfully underwent surgery with Black. While Sarah lay recovering in her room, Dana, a historian by training, wandered into Helping Hand. What happened next was one of the most powerful experiences of her life. She unexpectedly met a 91-year-old volunteer who remembered her grandmother, Reba, and who brought out scrapbooks dating back to 1929. As Dana turned the pages, she discovered a treasure trove of stories, images, programs and more, and learned the full scope of both Reba and Maxine’s roles in the medical center’s growth. “It was both surreal and deeply nourishing,” said Dana. “My aunt was the reason that the institute existed and that my daughter could see the famous Dr. Black right here in L.A.”

A Sense of Connection

Since receiving her diagnosis, Sarah had been asking herself existential questions: Who am I? Where do I fit in? As her mother shared her discoveries about the family’s history with Cedars-Sinai, Sarah felt an overwhelming sense of belonging—she was part of something bigger than herself. And she had survived a serious health threat thanks to the skill of a surgeon whose position was endowed by her great-aunt. Her own progress was inextricably linked to Cedars-Sinai’s century-long story of progress and growth, highlighting the ties between each patient’s journey and the journey of the institution itself.

Knowing what her ancestors had achieved—and what she owed them—made her even more determined to keep fighting. It deepened her commitment to giving back and embracing life fully. Four months after her surgery, Sarah went bike riding in India. Her remarkable recovery is yet another testimonial to the resilience that runs through her family—and to Cedars-Sinai’s commitment to providing the very best care, and to making progress toward that goal by making sure each patient makes progress in their own health journey.

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: Faces of Cedars-Sinai--Neurosurgeon Keith Black

Select artists are invited to sell their work at the Recover Art Exhibit and Sale, which will be open to the public Feb. 20–22, at Cedars-Sinai Thalians Health Center. All proceeds from those sales will go directly to the individual artists. Cedars-Sinai donors and employees can preview and purchase artwork on February 18 and 19.

The event is the brainchild of the medical center’s Advisory Council for the Arts, whose members are embedded in the tightknit Southern California creative community. Local arts organizations supporting the effort include Grief and Hope Los Angeles, the Museum of Contemporary Art Projects Council, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Institute of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, the Hammer Museum and the Bendix Building.

“During the fires, each time I’d log on to social media, I’d discover another friend who’d lost their home or another artist who’d lost their studio, or another who’d lost irreplaceable art and it was just devastating,” said John T. Lange, curator of the Cedars-Sinai art collection and arts program manager. ”The sale is our way to give back in a meaningful way, with artists displaying and selling their work to help get back on their feet.”

As part of the event, Cedars-Sinai also will sell artwork from the institution’s private collection of more than 5,300 museum-quality pieces. Those proceeds will benefit Grief and Hope Los Angeles, a fund organized by L.A. artists and gallery workers committed to helping peers impacted by the fires.

The exhibit and sale will feature more than 100 pieces of art. Prices start at about $20. The sale is open to the public from 11 a.m.–4 p.m. on Feb. 20–22. Admission and parking are free at Cedars-Sinai Thalians Health Center, located on the medical center’s main campus at 8730 Alden Drive in Los Angeles.

Read More on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: Employee Art Exhibit Spotlights Creativity

In his new role on the Pacific Council board, Ochoa, senior vice president of Advancement and chief advancement officer for Cedars-Sinai, will work alongside fellow board co-chair Robert W. Lovelace of Capital International, Inc., to bolster awareness of international policies centered around human rights, inclusivity, climate change and technology, among other key issues. 

“I’m honored and privileged to help drive the conversation about forward-thinking strategies and principles that guide global policy,” Ochoa said. “Organizations like the Pacific Council for International Policy help to strengthen the effectiveness of subnational diplomacy, bringing California’s vital perspective to the global policy debate.”

Ochoa has more than three decades of leadership in philanthropic outreach, community engagement and health equity under his professional belt. He began his career as a tax attorney, representing major corporations and nonprofit organizations. He later transitioned to healthcare, and now oversees all aspects of Cedars-Sinai’s fundraising campaigns that, to date, have raised more than $2 billion to support the medical center’s growing academic research enterprise.

“We are thrilled to welcome Art as our incoming board co-chair,” said Rich Goetz, board director and former board co-chair of the Pacific Council. “His exceptional leadership, experience and dedication to the Pacific Council make him the ideal person to help guide our organization into the future.”

Founded in 1995, in partnership with the University of Southern California and the Council on Foreign Relations, the Pacific Council on International Policy engages people from different industries and backgrounds to join foreign policy discussions to bring about global change. The council hosts roundtable discussions, participates in international delegations and covers foreign policy in its online magazine. 

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom: Cedars-Sinai Builds Community Partnerships to Address Health Equity

Cedars-Sinai has been named a Center of Excellence in Rare Neuroimmune Disorders, one of only 21 worldwide and two in California recognized for advancing research in immune-driven disorders of the central nervous system and providing the highest-quality comprehensive patient care.

The designation is awarded by the Siegel Rare Neuroimmune Association (SRNA), the patient advocacy group formerly known as the Transverse Myelitis Association.

“We’re proud to be known as an exceptional center offering streamlined access to specialists highly trained in addressing the varied and specific needs of patients with rare neuroimmune disorders,” said Paula Barreras, MD, assistant professor of Neurology and director of the new Center of Excellence at Cedars-Sinai. “This meaningful recognition by an organization that works with patients and the medical community helps us offer more people navigating these difficult conditions the services they need, without delay.”

The Center of Excellence in Rare Neuroimmune Disorders at Cedars-Sinai provides multidisciplinary, patient-centered care for people with:

• Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis
• Acute flaccid myelitis
• Idiopathic transverse myelitis
• Infectious myelitis
• MOG antibody-associated disease
• Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder
• Optic neuritis
• Neurosarcoidosis
• Paraneoplastic myelitis
  • Non-immune mimics of myelitis; vascular myelopathies; spinal cord stroke and spinal arteriovenous fistulas
  • Myelopathies of unclear cause

These often-complex disorders can affect the brain, spinal cord or optic nerve. Depending on the affected area, symptoms can range from muscle weakness, loss of balance and impaired vision to bladder or bowel incontinence and cognitive and communication changes.

“Because symptoms may span multiple physician specialties, patients who are not seen at a medical center with a multidisciplinary team are likely to experience delays on the road to an accurate diagnosis and treatment plan,” Barreras said.

Cedars-Sinai evaluates patients through comprehensive testing and imaging to pinpoint an accurate diagnosis. Patients are then connected with the appropriate on-site specialists and additional resources they may need, including social and neuropsychological services, help navigating insurance and medications, and physical therapy and rehabilitation.

Nancy L. Sicotte, MD, chair of the Department of Neurology and director of the Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology Program at Cedars-Sinai, as well as an expert in multiple sclerosis—a more common neuroimmune disease—said the designation also helps expand research and education efforts in rare neuroimmune disorders.

“Patients benefit because they have more opportunities to participate in research that can give them access to the most innovative treatments,” said Sicotte, the Women’s Guild Distinguished Chair in Neurology at Cedars-Sinai. “Our institution benefits from increased opportunities for research funding, and our research fellows benefit as they gain a greater understanding of the mechanisms of rare neuroimmune disorders and ways to improve outcomes for patients.”

In addition to Barreras and Sicotte, Cedars-Sinai’s specialist team for patients with rare neuroimmune disorders includes:

• Marwa Kaisey, MD, assistant professor of Neurology; multiple sclerosis specialist
• Omar Al-Louzi, MD, director of the Visual Outcomes Laboratory in the Department of Neurology; multiple sclerosis specialist with expertise in optic neuritis
• Swaraj Bose, MD, neuro-ophthalmologist and orbital surgeon
• Alexandra Dubinskaya, MD, urology specialist
• Mitzi Gonzales, PhD, neuropsychologist and director of Translational Research in the Jona Goldrich Center for Alzheimer’s and Memory Disorders
• Marcel Maya, MD, interventional neuroradiologist and co-chair of the Department of Imaging
• Christopher Boudakian, DO, medical director of the California Rehabilitation Institute
• Sadie Loera, social worker, Outpatient Neuroscience Department
• Laura Locke, NP, Department of Neurology
• Neurological rehabilitation team, including physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy

“I’m thankful for our enthusiastic and knowledgeable team of clinicians, and I’m proud we can provide world-class care to patients,” Barreras said. “I’m also grateful for increased awareness for rare neuroimmune disorders, which will lead to advances in research and improved treatments. Our goal is to ensure patients are not jumping through hoops to access good care and experience a better quality of life.”

Read more from Discoveries Magazine: No Time for MS

Cedars-Sinai announced today a $10 million gift to establish the David and Meredith Kaplan Presidential Chair, building on a history of visionary impact and dedication to advancing healthcare leadership and innovation across Los Angeles.

The inaugural holder of the chair is Cedars-Sinai President and CEO Peter L. Slavin, MD. The gift supports his leadership vision to continue to advance Cedars-Sinai’s mission as a model for quality care, research, education, and community service.

Slavin is completing his first 100 days at the helm of Cedars-Sinai. Over the last year, the nonprofit academic medical institution announced the creation of the Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University, surpassed a billion-dollar milestone in its fundraising campaign, developed plans for 56 additional beds to treat inpatients, worked to expand the Emergency Department and partnered with local nonprofits to bring greater visibility to critical issues like health equity.

“Meredith and I are so passionate about the cause of healthcare, specifically as it relates to Cedars-Sinai, and the David and Meredith Kaplan Foundation fully supports the direction Dr. Slavin is taking to elevate existing healthcare enterprises and brainstorm new ones,” said David Kaplan, co-founder of global investment management company Ares Management Corporation and chair of the Cedars-Sinai Board of Directors.

Meredith Kaplan, who co-leads the family’s philanthropic efforts, added, “What Dr. Slavin has shared about his goals and priorities for Cedars-Sinai, including plans for expansion in crucial areas like the Emergency Department, are touchpoints for us from a philanthropic standpoint. Our reasons for giving align with Dr. Slavin’s choices for allocation of resources.”

The Kaplans are longtime supporters of Cedars-Sinai, most notably donating $5 million in 2020 to establish the David and Meredith Kaplan Distinguished Chair in Children’s Health, held by Ophir Klein, MD, PhD, executive vice dean of Children’s Health and executive director of Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s. In 2015, the family donated $1.5 million to create the David and Meredith Kaplan Endowed Care Navigator in Emergency Medicine.

 “This continuing partnership with the Kaplans is so meaningful to Cedars-Sinai and to me personally as the holder of this new leadership chair,” Slavin said. “Their contributions have fortified our efforts as an academic medical center to bring the best care, training, and scientific research to our patients, our community, and the world. We thank them for the past and present achievements that their transformative gifts and volunteer service have facilitated, and we also thank them for the impact their philanthropy will have on the future of this temple of healing.”

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom: Celebrating the Season with Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s

The contribution names The Todd M. Morgan Family Lobby, the area where Emergency Department patients await treatment. The department’s ongoing expansion project is part of the medical center’s longstanding commitment to enhancing capacity, access and efficiency to best serve patients and the community.

“My entire family and I understand the escalating need for adequate resources to meet demand in the Emergency Department,” said Todd Morgan, a founding member of investment firm Bel Air Investment Advisors LLC, and a lifetime member of Cedars-Sinai’s Board of Trustees. “We want to aid in that effort and hope that this gift speaks to our dedication to doing our part for the Cedars-Sinai community.”

Sam Torbati, MD, co-chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine, and the Levin/Gordon Chair in Emergency Medicine in honor of Joel M. Geiderman, MD, said the gift comes at a pivotal time.

“The Morgan family’s vision and responsiveness to the needs of our Los Angeles communities is unwavering,” said Torbati. “They have an acute awareness of the provisions required for those depending on our ED for timely, compassionate and lifesaving care.”

Phases of the Emergency Department expansion project, scheduled to be completed in late 2026, include adding 16,550 square feet and constructing 40 additional care rooms. New features also will include a critical care suite with six state-of-the-art rooms equipped to provide care for critically ill patients, a dedicated room specially designed to treat critically ill children, and a behavioral care unit to treat patients with mental health needs.

“When people walk through the Emergency Department doors, The Todd M. Morgan Family Lobby is their first stop before seeing a physician for critical care,” said Arthur J. Ochoa, JD, senior vice president of Advancement and chief advancement officer for Cedars-Sinai. “The Morgan family’s incredible gift helps ensure that patients will be as comfortable as possible as they await much-needed care. They will certainly feel the impact and influence of the Morgans’ selfless contribution.”

Read More on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: Behind the Scenes: Cedars-Sinai Emergency Room

The Karsh family’s contribution will advance care and research across the field of interventional cardiology at the medical center. Interventional cardiology is a branch of medicine focusing specifically on minimally invasive, catheter-based procedures to correct structural heart problems such as leaking valves. The gift is in honor of Martha’s mother, Sybil Lubin, a now-healthy and active 94-year-old who experienced a catastrophic mitral valve rupture two years ago. She credits Raj Makkar, MD, and the interventional cardiology team at Cedars-Sinai with saving her life.

Makkar is the inaugural director of the Karsh Division of Interventional Cardiology and will also serve as the Karsh Distinguished Chair in Interventional Cardiology. An authority in advanced catheter-based therapies, Makkar’s team of experts treat more than 10,000 patients annually. Makkar says his mission is to perform and teach other physicians how to perform these advanced therapies so that many more patients can and will benefit.

“Our interventional cardiology programs are available around the clock to provide urgent care to those who need it most,” said Makkar. “Thanks to the incredible generosity of the Karsh family, we not only are able to sustain this critical service but also enhance and grow it. Their gift makes them true partners in our mission, helping us continue to provide the highest level of care, and we are deeply grateful for their support.”

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death globally, as cited by the World Health Organization. Cedars-Sinai ranked #1 in California and #6 nationally for Cardiology, Heart & Vascular Surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s "Best Hospitals 2024-25" listings. The newly established interventional cardiology division will treat conditions including valvular defects, electrical rhythm disorders, heart muscle dysfunctions and congenital heart disease.

The Karsh family says mindful merging of a common mission is the basis for their partnership with Cedars-Sinai. “’Education, Community, Democracy’ is a motto of our foundation,” the family said. “With this gift, we aim to amplify our commitment to both our community and medical education. Ultimately, what we hope to contribute to the world of medicine on a global scale with Cedars-Sinai is a powerful testament to what results from intention put into action.”

Peter L. Slavin, MD, president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai, expressed his gratitude for the Karsh family’s generosity and commitment to the highest quality care.

“The Karsh family has an enduring commitment to transformative medicine, and they’re building an even more profound legacy of philanthropy with the Karsh Division of Interventional Cardiology,” said Slavin. This new gift adds to their past visionary contribution that birthed the nationally ranked Karsh Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Both enterprises address vital areas primed for innovative, groundbreaking advancements with the resources required for our patients.”

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom: Smidt Heart Institute Advances Valve Replacement

“Our model, called the Unified Structural and Functional Connectivity model, provides a step toward mapping how different parts of the brain functionally communicate,” said Wei Gao, PhD, director of Neuroimaging Research and professor of Biomedical Sciences at Cedars-Sinai and senior author of the study. “The model shows that certain structural pathways, especially in networks related to emotions, self-awareness, and sensory processing, are heavily used for brain communications. The model also enhances our understanding of how these interactions relate to cognitive function.”

The investigative team—led by Gao, study co-author Pascal Sati, PhD, director of the Neuroimaging Program and associate professor of Neurology, and first author Arzu Silemek, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow supervised by Gao and Sati—found that certain areas serve as crucial hubs, with a significant corridor facilitating overall brain connectivity. They believe this mapping of brain communication could inform future research on cognitive processes and neurodevelopmental disorders. Clinically, they suggested it could improve physicians’ diagnostic tools by providing insights into how structural changes affect brain function, potentially leading to better-targeted interventions for conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and other cognitive disorders.

Additional author: Haitao Chen

Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (R01DA042988 and R01DA043678) and by Cedars-Sinai Precision Medicine Initiative Award and institutional support (to W.G.).

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

Schaeffer and his wife, Irina—entrepreneurs and philanthropists—are longtime Cedars-Sinai supporters. They give from the heart, for the heart. Over the last 15 years, the couple has donated $20 million to Cedars-Sinai’s Smidt Heart Institute. In 1996, George underwent a quadruple bypass at the medical center, performed by Director Emeritus of Thoracic Surgery, Alfredo Trento, MD, who is also vice chair of Outreach and Business Development in the Department of Cardiac Surgery, and the Estelle, Abe and Marjorie Sanders Chair in Cardiac Surgery.

“That was 28 years ago, and the plumbing is still good,” said Schaeffer, who, along with his wife, owns and operates People’s Trust Insurance Company in Florida and Aloxxi International Corporation, a beauty brand in Los Angeles. He’s also the founder and former owner of OPI nail products.

“Cedars-Sinai treated me very well and, more importantly, contributed to my longevity,” added Schaeffer. In fact, he said the surgery saved his life and compelled him to make “a little bit of a contribution.” That transformative $10 million gift, made in 2011, named the George W. Schaeffer Lobby inside what would become the Susanne and Ervin Bard Pavilion at Cedars-Sinai. The pavilion houses Smidt Heart Institute as well as the Samuel Oschin Cancer Center.

In 2019, the Schaeffers donated another $7 million to create the Irina and George Schaeffer Cardiothoracic Surgery Fund and $3 million to establish the Irina and George Schaeffer Distinguished Chair in Cardiothoracic Surgery in honor of Alfredo Trento, MD, held by Joanna Chikwe, MD, chair of Cardiac Surgery at Cedars-Sinai. The Schaeffers also donate to medical centers across Southern California and causes around the world, including a hospital and underground emergency shelter in Haifa, Israel.

When asked why he gives so generously, Schaeffer replied, “America has given me and my family so much, and this may sound corny, but this is my and Irina’s way of saying ‘thank you’ to the greatest country in the world.”

“The Schaeffers exemplify selfless and visionary giving, and the Cedars-Sinai family and the patients we serve are so grateful for their many contributions to advance heart care and research,” said Arthur J. Ochoa, JD, senior vice president of Advancement and chief advancement officer for Cedars-Sinai.

“I’m very happy when I can change somebody’s life for the better, not only through better healthcare, but other life experiences as well,” said Schaeffer, who routinely awards scholarships and computers to employees and their children. “Irina and I feel that education is the key to a better quality of life that is, sadly, beyond the reach of many families.”

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: Planned Giving—An Enduring Legacy

Delirium causes confusion and behavior changes, affects millions of patients each year and can increase a patient’s risk of long-term neurological problems. It is common in hospitalized patients who are placed on ventilators to assist their breathing.

“Microglia, the resident immune cells in the brain, can be destructive to brain cells in some neurological diseases, but also can be protective,” said Shouri Lahiri, MD, director of the Neuroscience Critical Care Unit and director of Neurocritical Care Research in the Department of Neurology at Cedars-Sinai and senior author of the study. “While previous research has suggested that the action of microglia may cause or worsen delirium, we found that the opposite is true. When we depleted levels of microglia in laboratory animal experiments, delirium-associated brain changes and behaviors increased. And when we restored microglia levels to normal, the changes were almost completely reversed.”

Medications that activate neuron-protecting microglia could be one option for managing delirium. Investigators previously determined that a protein called interleukin-6 damages neurons, and future studies could clarify whether it or other proteins activate neuron-protecting microglia. Future research is also planned to help determine the conditions under which microglia can cause damage to neurons, said Lahiri, an associate professor in the departments of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Biomedical Sciences.

First authors: Landon Scott, Kevin D. Winzey

Additional authors: Debbie Moreira, Catherine Bresee, Jean‐Philippe Vit, Warren G. Tourtellotte, S. Ananth Karumanchi, and Shouri Lahiri

Funding: F. Widjaja Foundation

Follow Cedars-Sinai Academic Medicine on LinkedIn for more on the latest basic science and clinical research from Cedars-Sinai.

Each year, Cedars-Sinai provides grant funding—$27.2 million during the last fiscal year—as part of its community outreach initiatives supporting dozens of nonprofit organizations across Los Angeles. The medical center was recognized as the largest non-foundation grantmaker to L.A. County charities in 2023, as part of the Los Angeles Business Journal’s annual Corporate Philanthropy rankings.

In the latest sign of its commitment, Cedars-Sinai recently convened more than 80 nonprofit grant recipients to culminate a multi-year Health Equity Grant Program. The gathering featured groups including LA Family Housing, the Venice Family Clinic and Homeboy Industries—nonprofits working to improve the lives and opportunities of Angelenos.

“All of these organizations represent a crucial part of the picture of services offered in our L.A. communities and are deeply committed to equitable health outcomes in partnership with Cedars-Sinai,” said Arthur J. Ochoa, JD, senior vice president of Advancement and chief advancement officer for Cedars-Sinai.

The grant program and its capacity-building efforts address health equity by examining the changing landscapes of Cedars-Sinai’s community partners, including those centered on recruitment and retainment of a diverse workforce, data intelligence to inform equity outcomes, and adherence to healthcare policies to provide high-quality services. The recent convening of nonprofits underscored this shared mission.

“Gathering to celebrate the work of these nonprofits and troubleshoot issues impacting them provides invaluable insights for identifying actionable solutions that make a difference across the health and social service sectors,” said Erin Jackson-Ward, DrPH, executive director of Grantmaking and Social Impact for Cedars-Sinai.

Moving the needle toward greater equitability in care is also a credit to alliances formed across the Cedars-Sinai Health System, which is expanding its health equity efforts across the L.A. region and beyond.

In 2022, Cedars-Sinai launched a Black Birth Equity program, providing grants to local, community-based organizations focused on reducing inequities in Black maternal and infant health. A groundbreaking hypertension study led by Cedars-Sinai’s Smidt Heart Institute, starting in 2015, also was the first to scientifically prove the effectiveness of bringing medical treatment directly to patrons of Black barbershops.

“The medical center is working to galvanize partnerships across the community to ensure that we are delivering inclusive care and addressing structural disparities,” said Christina Harris, MD, vice president and chief health equity officer for Cedars-Sinai.

Cedars-Sinai will continue to develop these community partnerships as part of an institutional effort to expand grantmaking and health equity. Future convenings will serve as an outlet for community clinics, homeless services providers and social service organizations to reflect on shared successes, challenges and lessons learned while helping underserved communities. 

“Cedars-Sinai values the shared, mission-driven health equity initiatives with our nonprofit partners for the benefit of all Southern Californians,” Ochoa said.  

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: A Giving Mission - Cedars-Sinai Community Benefit Program

These cells are located in the hippocampus, the brain area affected in the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease, the earliest symptoms of which are working memory deficits.

“Working and long-term memory are different types of memory that were previously thought to be supported by different parts of the brain,” said Ueli Rutishauser, PhD, director of Neural Science and Medicine and professor of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Biomedical Sciences at Cedars-Sinai and senior author of the study. “Based on this study and our previous work, we have concluded that the hippocampus, long known to support long-term memory, is often essential for working memory as well. In fact, neurons in the hippocampus that we have named ‘persistently active cells’ are critical for both types of memory. Protecting or restoring these cells could help in treating the devastating effects of memory disorders.”

Additional authors: Jonathan Daume, Jan Kamiński, Yousef Salimpour, Andrea Gómez Palacio Schjetnan, William S. Anderson, Taufik A. Valiante, Adam N. Mamelak

Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (U01NS117839 to U.R.), a Postdoctoral Fellowship by the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (to J.D.) and a Postdoctoral Award by the Center for Neural Science and Medicine at Cedars-Sinai (to J.D.).

Follow Cedars-Sinai Academic Medicine on LinkedIn for more on the latest basic science and clinical research from Cedars-Sinai.

The CurePSP designation means a medical center offers multidisciplinary clinics and movement disorder expertise for patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), corticobasal degeneration (CBD) and multiple system atrophy (MSA).

“These disorders are similar to Parkinson’s disease, but are more rare,” said Yvette Bordelon, MD, PhD, who is part of the Movement Disorders Division in the Department of Neurology at Cedars-Sinai, and is director of the new Cedars-Sinai CurePSP Center of Care. “This designation will help consolidate our resources and outreach for patients with these disorders, generate additional interest in research and fuel community education.”

Movement disorders affect parts of the brain that control the body’s ability to walk and coordinate movements. Among other symptoms, these disorders can also cause tremors, slowness, rigidity, difficulty with speaking, swallowing, balance and, in some patients, problems with cognition.

“People with PSP, CBD or MSA often confront diagnostic delays, barriers to participating in clinical trials, and lack of familiarity with their disease among healthcare professionals,” said Jessica Shurer, director of clinical affairs and advocacy at CurePSP. “With its long history of comprehensive care and the strong collaboration between the movement and cognitive teams, Cedars-Sinai is well positioned to serve the large and diverse Los Angeles community with these diseases and will help to advance the thought leadership of the CurePSP network.”

Bordelon said each of these neurodegenerative disorders is defined by specific prominent symptoms:  

• Progressive supranuclear palsy often manifests in eye movement difficulties caused by abnormal clumps of tau protein, which have also been implicated in Alzheimer’s disease. It also often involves unexplained falls and difficulty with impulsivity and decision-making.
• Corticobasal degeneration also is associated with abnormal tau protein accumulation and causes challenges with word-finding and the loss of the ability to perform complex movements, such as using eating utensils or buttoning clothes.
• Multiple system atrophy is caused by abnormal clumps of the alpha-synuclein protein, similar to Parkinson’s disease. MSA disrupts involuntary bodily processes, such as heart rate and blood pressure, and leads to clumsy walking and slurred speech.

“There is perfect synergy between being a CurePSP Center of Care and our existing Neurobehavior and Movement Disorders programs,” said Sarah Kremen, MD, director of the Neurobehavior Program at Cedars-Sinai, and co-director of the Center of Care. “We have a full complement of specialists to help patients manage cognitive and behavioral symptoms of these rare conditions, as well as access to leading-edge translational research for those with neurodegenerative illnesses.”

The new center will take advantage of the robust pipeline of clinical trials at Cedars-Sinai, as well as a monthly multidisciplinary movement disorders clinic that brings together patients and neurologists, neuropsychologists, social workers, and specialists in physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy.  

“Cedars-Sinai Neurology embraces a holistic approach to patient-centered, multidisciplinary care coupled with access to novel, cutting-edge research opportunities,” said Nancy L. Sicotte, MD, chair of the Department of Neurology and the Women’s Guild Distinguished Chair in Neurology at Cedars-Sinai. “Our department has grown tremendously in recent years with this focus in mind, and with our current team of providers, it is well positioned to serve patients as a CurePSP Center of Care.”

Cedars-Sinai is one of just four Centers of Care in California; the other three are in Palo Alto, San Francisco and San Diego.

“Incredible advances in our understanding of these disorders in recent years have put us on the cusp of identifying meaningful and effective therapies to integrate into our care of patients,” Bordelon said. “This designation will fuel additional research opportunities and brings a level of distinction we're very proud of.”

Follow Cedars-Sinai Academic Medicine on LinkedIn for more on the latest basic science and clinical research from Cedars-Sinai.

“In older adults, higher levels of amyloid beta and tau have been associated with poorer memory and cognition," said Mitzi Gonzales, PhD, director of Translational Research in the Jona Goldrich Center for Alzheimer’s and Memory Disorders at Cedars-Sinai and lead author of the study. “Our study found that this was also true in adults age 55 and younger—a period thought to be important for prevention. We also found higher levels in individuals with a higher genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease. Future studies should examine memory and cognitive changes over time and look at why some individuals remain mentally sharp despite having high levels of these proteins, to provide important clues about maintaining cognitive health over the lifespan.”

The findings highlight the importance of understanding the effects of amyloid beta and tau proteins on memory and thinking abilities at earlier ages. The work could also help focus dementia-prevention efforts in younger at-risk populations.

Additional authors: Adrienne O’Donnell, Saptaparni Ghosh, Emma Thibault, Georges El Fakhri, Sudha Seshadri, Jeremy Tanner, Claudia L. Satizabal, Charles S. Decarli, Keith A. Johnson, Alexa S. Beiser, Matthew Pase.

Funding: National Institutes of Health, Grant/Award Numbers: N01-HC-25195, HHSN268201500001I, 75N92019D00031; National Institute on Aging, Grant/Award Numbers: RF1AG059421, R01AG054076, R01AG049607, R01AG033090, R01AG066524, R01NS017950, R01AG077472, P30AG066546; National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia Investigator, Grant/Award Number: GTN2009264. 

Follow Cedars-Sinai Academic Medicine on LinkedIn for more on the latest basic science and clinical research from Cedars-Sinai.

Cedars-Sinai has exceeded a $1 billion benchmark in a fundraising campaign anchored by three impactful gifts that directly support innovation in medical research, clinical care and academic leadership. The campaign, launched in 2018, is an essential part of the medical center’s patient-focused mission to provide the highest-quality care while training future generations of medical professionals and pioneering scientific breakthroughs.

“This is a transformative time for Cedars-Sinai as an academic medical institution,” said Arthur J. Ochoa, JD, senior vice president of Advancement and chief advancement officer for Cedars-Sinai. “Every dollar raised through this fundraising campaign solidifies our legacy and mission of healing and uplifting our patients and the community.”  

Cedars-Sinai received three major donations in as many years—each totaling $100 million or more. These major gifts reinforce the medical center’s status as a global leader among academic medical institutions. The campaign continues to be bolstered by the generosity of donors of all levels and from all over the world.

In August 2022, a $100 million gift from the Shapell Guerin Family Foundation established Cedars-Sinai’s Guerin Children’s, a major initiative in children’s health that provides a continuum of advanced care, from newborn to adolescent ages to adulthood. Physicians and scientists at Guerin Children’s deliver highly specialized multidisciplinary care, conduct pioneering research and oversee education and training programs across Cedars-Sinai’s network of hospitals and affiliates throughout the region.

A $143 million planned gift, from the estate of Susanne and Ervin Bard, became the largest in Cedars-Sinai history, in March 2023. In honor of the Bards’ generosity, Cedars-Sinai renamed the former Advanced Health Sciences Pavilion as the Susanne and Ervin Bard Pavilion—home to internationally renowned institutes, centers and research facilities, including Smidt Heart Institute and the Samuel Oschin Cancer Center.

In June, a $100 million gift from philanthropists Jim and Eleanor Randall established the Jim and Eleanor Randall Department of Surgery. The impactful gift will propel advances in surgical care, training and research. Cedars-Sinai is internationally known for its leading-edge surgical innovation across many disciplines, with surgeons performing more than 32,000 operations annually. These include lifesaving cancer, gastrointestinal, transplant, vascular, chest, trauma, otolaryngology (ENT) and reconstructive plastic surgeries.

Cedars-Sinai tied for #1 in California two years in a row and has been named to the Honor Roll for the ninth consecutive year in U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hospitals 2024-25” rankings.

President and CEO Thomas M. Priselac charted the course for this success. After 30 years at the helm, Priselac is retiring in October from the role he helped define.

“My tenure has been dedicated to making a difference in the lives of the millions of people we are privileged to care for and to making a difference in the lives of the physicians and staff of Cedars-Sinai,” said Priselac, the Warschaw Law Chair in Healthcare Leadership. “It’s deeply and personally profound to appreciate what this historic, billion-dollar campaign has achieved and will continue to achieve for our exceptional institution.”

James Lippman, fundraising campaign chair and immediate past chair of Cedars-Sinai’s board of directors, agreed. “Cedars-Sinai is making an indelible impact in the healthcare space on a local and global scale, and this is greatly attributed to our dedicated staff and community leadership,” said Lippman. “Part of this enduring legacy is our fundraising campaign, which has seen four record-breaking years that will benefit the collective health of our treasured Los Angeles community.”  

Read more on the Newsroom: Cedars-Sinai Secures Global Healthcare Accreditation

“The retina, a layer of tissue at the back of the eye, is part of the central nervous system and is directly connected with the brain,” said Maya Koronyo-Hamaoui, PhD, professor of Neurosurgery, Neurology and Biomedical Sciences at Cedars-Sinai and senior author all three studies. “It has similar cell types and vascular structures to the brain, but is not shielded by bone, so it is more accessible to noninvasive imaging. Our latest research unearths new details about the eye-brain connection.”

Tau

Tau is a protein that helps stabilize the structure of nerve cells in the brain and the retina and is one of the key markers of Alzheimer’s disease. When tau disengages from nerve cells it can form tangles that interfere with cellular function and contribute to cognitive decline.

In a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Acta Neuropathologica, Koronyo-Hamaoui and fellow investigators compared retinal tissue from 45 patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s-related cognitive impairment or dementia with tissue from 34 individuals with normal cognition or non-Alzheimer’s forms of dementia.

Investigators found that higher levels of abnormal tau in the retina corresponded to levels of tau in the brain, other brain changes related to Alzheimer’s disease, and cognitive decline.

Vessels and amyloid plaques

Clumps of a protein called beta-amyloid, also known as amyloid plaques, are another hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.

In a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Acta Neuropathologica Communications, Koronyo-Hamaoui and co-investigators used leading-edge imaging and image-processing technology to compare amyloid plaques in the retinas of living patients who had early-stage cognitive impairment with those in individuals who had normal cognition.

Thirty-four patients underwent retinal and brain imaging, and cognitive testing. Analysis in 28 patients revealed two to three times as many plaques clustered near blood vessels in the retinas of patients with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s disease when compared with individuals with normal cognition. The numbers and position of the plaques correlated with cognitive decline and physical changes in the brain.

Diagnosis in development

Koronyo-Hamaoui’s team also published a review article in the peer-reviewed journal Progress in Retinal and Eye Research that detailed additional Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers that have been identified in the retina.

These include reduced blood flow, deposits of amyloid-beta proteins inside blood vessel walls, damage to the barrier that prevents harmful substances from entering retinal tissue, inflammation, and damage to nerve cells.

“Imaging technology now being developed will allow us to see these changes in patients in clinical settings,” said Keith L. Black, MD, chair of the Department of Neurosurgery and the Ruth and Lawrence Harvey Chair in Neuroscience at Cedars-Sinai and co-author of these studies. “This technology, which is noninvasive and affordable, allows us to see changes in the cells and blood vessels in tremendous detail.”

Black and Koronyo-Hamaoui envision this technology as a tool to screen patients in primary care settings, with those who show features suggestive of Alzheimer’s disease referred for additional testing, such as a PET brain scan or cerebrospinal fluid or blood test. The technology could also assess disease progression and the effectiveness and safety of new treatments.

Visit Research News and follow Cedars-Sinai Academic Medicine on LinkedIn for more on the latest basic science and clinical research from Cedars-Sinai.

has galvanized its commitment to helping historically marginalized communities, allocating $27 million in grants to support programs providing housing stability, food security, accessible care and health equity across the Los Angeles region.

The medical center’s community benefit priorities for the fiscal year that ended June 30 reflect its deep commitment to the health and wellbeing of all Angelenos. 

A $1.35 million grant to the Center for Care Innovations will bring together a cohort of street medicine teams, community clinics and housing providers to design and pilot interventions that meet the immediate medical needs of people experiencing homelessness, while connecting them with ongoing health and housing resources.

The medical center also awarded $750,000 to The People Concern and Homeless Outreach Program Integrated Care System (HOPICS). They will pilot an innovative housing acquisition strategy—a cost-effective approach to making units quickly available for people experiencing homelessness so they can move from shelters to long-term housing.  

These community investments come at a critical time for the Los Angeles region, where, after five years of increases, the most recent homeless count showed a slight decrease across the county. 

“The crisis of homelessness has been decades in the making, but we are heartened by collective efforts to turn the tide in Los Angeles,” said Erin Jackson-Ward, DrPH, executive director of Grantmaking and Social Impact for Cedars-Sinai. “Joining forces with nonprofits in this region bolsters our mission to be change-makers through healthcare and community outreach.”

Cedars-Sinai also granted $450,000 to True Colors United to launch a project developed by a group of youth leaders who have experienced homelessness in Los Angeles. This initiative focuses on LGBTQIA+ young people and youth of color. The project will identify opportunities to prevent and respond to youth homelessness, while training a network of young people to advocate for local housing solutions in their neighborhoods.

Eradicating food insecurity also remains a focus of Cedars-Sinai’s giving. A $100,000 grant to the nonprofit Food Forward will strengthen a network of more than 250 organizations at 300 fresh produce distribution sites across the county. The partnership will help ensure Angelenos have a healthy and adequate food supply.

This year, the medical center’s Black Birth Equity grantmaking initiative included a $750,000 grant to the LA Partnership for Early Childhood Investment. The funding will establish a Doula Hub infrastructure to train and reimburse doulas hired to support women during childbirth—an effort that will bolster public-private momentum around connecting people with birth workers.

Additionally, Cedars-Sinai is helping to implement trauma screening and care practices through $100,000 in funding to the nonprofit ONEgeneration’s Grandparents As Parents (GAP) program. GAP addresses the barriers and challenges faced by grandparents working to gain guardianship of their grandchildren to avoid foster home placement.

“Cedars-Sinai is fortunate to have the financial resources to provide assistance and forge stronger relationships with hundreds of local nonprofits,” said Thomas M. Priselac, president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai. “Our goal has always been to bring greater visibility to outstanding causes and their impactful work.”

Read more on the Newsroom: Cedars-Sinai Health System Generates Broad Economic Impact

“Abstraction allows us to ignore irrelevant details and focus on the information we need in order to act, and inference is the use of knowledge to make educated guesses about the world around us,” said Ueli Rutishauser, PhD, professor and Board of Governors Chair in Neurosciences at Cedars-Sinai and co-corresponding author of the study. “Both are important parts of cognition and learning.”

Humans often use these two cognitive processes together to rapidly learn about and act appropriately in new environments. One example of this is an American driver who rents a car in London for the first time.

“The English drive on the right-hand side of the car and on the left-hand side of the road, the opposite of the way we do in the U.S.,” Rutishauser said. “For someone from the U.S., driving in London means reversing many of the rules they have learned, and making that mental shift requires abstraction to focus on driving-sidedness, and making inferences to avoid pulling directly into oncoming traffic.”

In the study, investigators worked with 17 hospitalized patients who had electrodes surgically implanted in their brains as part of a procedure to diagnose epilepsy. In total, the researchers recorded the firing of thousands of brain cells as participants performed an inference task on a computer.

Looking at the activity of so many brain cells required the use of artificial intelligence to extract the responses that were relevant, allowing investigators to see the coordination between the neurons during successful inference.

“These are high-dimensional geometrical shapes that we cannot imagine or visualize on a computer monitor,” said Stefano Fusi, PhD, a principal investigator at Columbia University’s Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute and co-corresponding author of the study. “But we can use mathematical techniques to visualize simplified renditions of them in 3D.”

During the recordings, participants were repeatedly shown four pictures—a person, a monkey, a car and a watermelon. In response to each picture, they were asked to press a left-hand or right-hand button. Individuals then received a “correct” or “incorrect” message.

Through repetition, participants eventually learned the correct response for each of the four pictures. At that point, the rules of the game were reversed without the participants being informed, and the opposite response for each picture was counted as correct.

After the switch, some participants were able to quickly figure out the rule change and infer the correct responses without relearning them, meaning they performed inference.

Investigators saw striking geometric patterns in the brains of those participants. Groups of neurons were firing together, much like birds flying in formation or a crowd of people spontaneously taking up a chant at a sporting event. The way the neurons coordinated their activity and encoded the relevant information indicated that the subjects had gained the conceptual knowledge needed to perform the task. Investigators saw no such patterns in the brains of participants who were not successful in using inference.

“Building conceptual knowledge is an important aspect of learning,” said Hristos Courellis, PhD, a researcher at Cedars-Sinai and first author of the study. “In our study, we identified a neural basis for this process, which in cognitive psychology is referred to as abstraction.”

Some subjects were initially not able to perform inference from experience with the task alone. For these subjects, investigators provided verbal instructions that allowed the subjects to then infer the correct answers.

“A remarkable discovery was that the same neural geometries emerged in participants who received verbal instructions as in those whose ability to infer was based on experiential learning,” said Adam Mamelak, MD, director of the Functional Neurosurgery Program and professor of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai and co-author of the study. “This crucial discovery shows that verbal input can result in neural representations that otherwise might take a long time to learn through experience.”

The study, which relied on data from Cedars-Sinai and the University of Toronto, was led by Cedars-Sinai and conducted as part of a multi-institutional consortium funded by the National Institutes of Health’s The Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies Initiative, or The BRAIN Initiative.

“This study provides new insights into how our brains allow us to learn and carry out tasks flexibly and in response to changing conditions and experiences,” said Merav Sabri, PhD, program director for The BRAIN Initiative. “These insights build on the body of knowledge that could one day lead us toward interventions for neurologic and psychiatric conditions that involve deficits in memory and decision-making.”

A surprise to investigators was the discovery that these particular patterns of brain activity emerged only in the hippocampus, a region deep in the center of the brain that is known to be crucial for the formation of new long-term memories.

“Our finding expands our knowledge of the role of the hippocampus in learning,” Rutishauser said. “This is the first direct demonstration of the involvement of the human hippocampus in the learning of abstract knowledge and inference behavior. Many neurological conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia, affect this brain region, and our finding could help explain the impaired decision-making we see in these patients.”

Additional Cedars-Sinai authors include Juri Minxha, and Chrystal M. Reed.

Other study authors include Araceli R. Cardenas, Daniel Kimmel, Taufik A. Valiante, and C. Daniel Salzman.

Funding: This work was supported by The BRAIN Initiative through the NIH Office of the Director (U01NS117839 to U.R.) and the Simons Foundation Collaboration on the Global Brain (to S.F., and U.R.).

Follow Cedars-Sinai Academic Medicine on LinkedIn for more on the latest basic science and clinical research from Cedars-Sinai.

“I am excited to have Dr. Tuchman as a partner in elevating and building the Cedars-Sinai Spine Center,” Skaggs said. “I have enjoyed partnering with Dr. Tuchman in research, educating the next generation of spine surgeons, and in the operating room. It takes a comprehensive team including both neurosurgical and orthopedic spine expertise to build on our foundation of leading-edge research while at the same time providing the highest-quality clinical care.” 

Tuchman, an assistant professor of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai, attended medical school at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and completed his neurosurgery fellowship at the University of Southern California. Before joining Cedars-Sinai in 2018, Tuchman also completed a spine deformity fellowship at Columbia University Medical Center in New York.

It was during his residency that Tuchman discovered the complexity, challenges and rewards of providing adult spinal care, and he did extra training in treatment of spinal malalignments and deformities such as scoliosis, sagittal plane deformities and flat back syndrome.

“These surgeries have impressive impacts on people’s quality of life,” Tuchman said. “The spine is the center connection point for your extremities and brain, and anytime there's a structural issue, it can cause devastating consequences. With reconstructive spine surgery, we can often restore function and relieve pain, taking someone who is basically homebound, or even bedridden, and getting them back out into the world.”

Tuchman also conducts research focused on outcomes for spine surgery patients, and treats adult patients with rare spinal conditions such as achondroplasia, a genetic condition that truncates the growth of the arms and legs and is the most common form of short-limbed dwarfism.

He said proper selection of spine patients—and treatments—is paramount. An open dialog between the patient and the surgeon is essential so that the patient feels comfortable expressing their wants and needs and the surgeon can adapt a treatment plan to address those things.

“One of the biggest challenges for a spine surgeon is determining whether we can genuinely help,” Tuchman said. “If a patient’s spine problem is not going to respond well to spine surgery, then that person shouldn't have spine surgery, and if a spinal malalignment isn’t affecting the patient’s quality of life, perhaps it does not need to be treated.”

Keith L. Black, MD, chair of the Department of Neurosurgery and the Ruth and Lawrence Harvey Chair in Neuroscience at Cedars-Sinai, said that the robust resources of Cedars-Sinai and Cedars-Sinai Spine Center also are key factors in quality care.

“Spine surgery is a team sport and we have internists, cardiologists, physical and occupational therapists, anesthesiologists, surgical technicians, pain specialists, hospitalists, and top-notch nurses working with our surgeons to care for hundreds of spine surgery patients each month,” Black said. “Dr. Tuchman taking the reins as co-leader means continued excellence for the team and the best possible outcomes for our spine patients.”

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: Seeking a Second Opinion for a Spine Condition

Funded by a gift from the Lippin Family Trust and launched by the Tower Cancer Research Foundation, The Ronnie Lippin Cancer Support and Navigation Project is part of Cedars-Sinai Cancer’s Community Outreach and Engagement. Eligible patients do not need to receive their cancer care from Cedars-Sinai to participate.

The project was established in honor of the late trailblazing music publicist and manager Ronnie Lippin, who died of breast cancer in 2006. Her husband, Dick Lippin, founder of The Lippin Group public relations firm, established the grant in collaboration with the foundation.

“I see Tower Cancer Research Foundation and Cedars-Sinai as my partners in a pioneering venture that I believe enriches the lives of people needing a guiding hand through this very difficult period in their lives,” Lippin said.  

The project funds two “navigators”—multilingual specialists who are fluent in Spanish, Korean, Tagalog and Swahili. The navigators guide patients through all stages of cancer treatment—including arranging transportation to and from medical appointments, accompanying patients to those appointments, and scheduling screenings and treatments. If mental health assistance is required, navigators also offer referrals to qualified professionals. 

“Cedars-Sinai Cancer serves one of the most diverse patient populations in the country,” said Dan Theodorescu, MD, PhD, director of Cedars-Sinai Cancer and the PHASE ONE Foundation Distinguished Chair. “This new program is in line with our commitment to serve all patients, and will provide patients with a trusted partner who understands their culture and can guide them through this challenging diagnosis in their primary language.”

Any Los Angeles County resident is eligible to participate in the program, free of charge, regardless of financial or citizenship status, age, sexual identity, belief system or education level. Project leaders are intending to reach geographic areas and groups across Los Angeles County that are documented as having higher rates of late-stage diagnoses.

A 2022 Cedars-Sinai study published in Frontiers of Oncology showed that ethnic groups in Los Angeles had high rates of particular cancers. For example:

• Black people have higher rates of prostate cancer, triple-negative breast cancer and pancreatic cancer than people who identify with other groups.
• Latinos have higher incidence rates of certain cancers, including liver cancer and late-stage melanoma than non-Latino white people.
• Rates of breast cancer among Koreans have increased more significantly than among people who identify with other groups.  

“This project’s whole-person approach to helping cancer patients will chip away at disparities by providing timely access to treatment, and equitable allocation of survivorship tools—all provided by trusted navigators working in the community,” said Zul Surani, associate director of Community Outreach and Engagement, and an administrator of the Cancer Research Center for Health Equity at Cedars-Sinai Cancer. “Culturally tailored navigation across the cancer continuum is a massive undertaking and has proven effective through decades of research, and this program aims to reduce the cancer burden across Los Angeles neighborhoods.”

To participate in the program, patients should fill out the Ronnie Lippin Cancer Support and Navigation Project application.  

Read more from the Newsroom: Annual Report Highlights From Cedars-Sinai Cancer

“After several decades of research, we understand that Alzheimer’s disease is not going to be easy to conquer,” said Zaldy Tan, MD, MPH, director of The Maxine and Bernard Platzer Lynn Family Memory and Healthy Aging Program. “There is no magic infusion, injection or pill that will cure it, but there are tactics to prevent or reduce one’s risk for it. While we continue to search for a viable path for stopping this disease in its entirety, prevention is of the utmost importance.”

An estimated 6.7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease, according to the National Institutes of Health. As advances in medicine and disease prevention are helping more people live longer and reach the age—65 and older—at risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, Cedars-Sinai’s healthy aging program focuses on personalized risk profiling using clinically validated tools.

Risk factors for developing Alzheimer’s disease or dementia include family history of the disease, a gene called APOE4, diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, unhealthy weight, history of traumatic brain injury or head trauma, and social isolation.

The Cedars-Sinai program is open to anyone 40 to 60 years old with at least two of these risk factors, and anyone 60 or older who doesn’t have signs of Alzheimer’s disease or dementia but wants to protect their brain health.

Prior to their first clinic visit, patients complete a questionnaire that delves into their physical activity, diet, social networking, history of physical and emotional trauma, and level of education, among other things.

During the clinic visit, Tan and colleagues perform a detailed physical and neurological exam and cognitive tests. They also assess each patient’s grip strength, how many times they can sit in a chair and stand up again unsupported in 30 seconds, their level of frailty and risk of falling. Some patients are sent home with digital devices to continuously measure blood pressure, sleep patterns and oxygenation during sleep.

“These are things that are not necessarily asked about in primary care, or even in general neurology clinics,” said Tan, who is also medical director of the Jona Goldrich Center for Alzheimer’s and Memory Disorders and the Carmen and Louis Warschaw Endowed Chair in Neurology at Cedars-Sinai. “We use clinically validated tools to evaluate each individual’s risk and resilience factors. And based on that information, we teach them strategies to reduce their risk and maintain brain health.”

The team includes a dietitian to help participants improve their eating habits, a health psychologist who assists with behavior change issues such as smoking cessation, sleep specialists, and an occupational therapist who helps participants understand how their brains work and offers cognitive training to improve memory habits. Patients also can be referred to other specialists, including those from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai, as brain and heart health are closely linked, Tan said.

“Studies show that as many as 40% of cases of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias can be prevented or delayed with the right clinical guidance,” said Nancy L. Sicotte, MD, chair of the Department of Neurology and the Women’s Guild Distinguished Chair in Neurology at Cedars-Sinai. “We launched this program to help our patients optimize their brain health throughout life, and also to push the science forward through continued translational research.”  

Tan noted that recommendations and referrals are personalized and specific to each patient. He said that everyone is different, and while some people have more areas to improve on and others have fewer, everyone has something.

“We want to help people take preventive action as early as possible,” Tan said. “Delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s disease for even five to eight years is tantamount to a cure for many people, because the greatest risk is in those ages 80 and up. Those who delay onset until their late 80s might avoid it altogether.”

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: When Should I Be Concerned About Memory Loss?

The gift establishes the Jim and Eleanor Randall Department of Surgery and marks a milestone in the medical center’s mission to serve the specialized needs of patients in Los Angeles and beyond.

“Eleanor and I believe deeply in Cedars-Sinai’s vision and the exceptional work being performed by the Department of Surgery team,” said Jim Randall. “We wish to continue fostering lifesaving campaigns and extend this gift with that full intention.” 

Cedars-Sinai is internationally known for its leading-edge surgical innovation and research across many specialties, including major lifesaving cancer, gastrointestinal, transplant, vascular, chest, trauma, otolaryngology (ENT) and reconstructive plastic surgeries. The medical center performs more than 32,000 operations each year across all disciplines and also is well known for its clinical expertise in gastroenterology, cancer, neurology, cardiology and pulmonary care.

“This amazing gift strengthens our research and training programs and provides critical resources to push the boundaries of surgical medicine,” said Cristina R. Ferrone, MD, chair of the Jim and Eleanor Randall Department of Surgery and the Linda and Jim Lippman Chair in Surgical Oncology.

The Randalls are longtime supporters of Cedars-Sinai and have partnered on several campaigns and enterprises. This gift also establishes the Jim and Eleanor Randall Chair in Surgery in honor of Edward H. Phillips, MD.

Phillips is executive vice chair of the Jim and Eleanor Randall Department of Surgery and the Dolly Parton Chair in Surgical Innovation in honor of Edward H. Phillips, MD. A pioneering authority in surgical medicine, Phillips has spent more than four decades leading Cedars-Sinai’s programs and is an internationally recognized developer of novel surgical techniques and laparoscopic instrumentation used in minimally invasive procedures.

“We are inspired by the dedication and trailblazing work of Dr. Ed Phillips, whose extraordinary commitment to excellence in patient care serves as an example to the medical world at large,” Jim Randall said.

Thomas M. Priselac, president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai and the Warschaw Law Chair in Healthcare Leadership, added, “This amazing gift from the Randall family reinforces Cedars-Sinai’s position as a leader in academic medicine. It also ensures we remain at the forefront in training future generations of surgical specialists. The Randalls’ visionary investment builds on this institution’s quest to pioneer new surgical methods and technology that will save lives.”

This could lead to new applications for the therapy, allowing it to influence higher-level functions such as learning and memory.

“Deep brain stimulation has typically been used to overexcite or shut down all neurons in a target area,” said Costas Anastassiou, PhD, associate professor of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Biomedical Sciences at Cedars-Sinai and senior author of the study. “We found that by varying the shape of the electrical pulse waves we apply, we can selectively influence specific neuron types while leaving others unaffected.”

In the study, investigators applied electrical fields to individual cells in tissue samples from the visual cortex and the hippocampal regions of the brains of patients and laboratory mice. The investigators recorded the activity of excitatory and inhibitory neurons, which act as the gas pedal and brakes, respectively, in brain circuits.

Results showed that different electrical wave frequencies influenced the timing of spikes, which are changes in electrical voltage that travel down neuron fibers and are transmitted to other neurons. Anastassiou called spikes “the coin of communication between neurons.”

“We found that electrical frequencies that influenced one cell type did not necessarily influence another, and vice versa,” Anastassiou said. “Surprisingly, the effects on each cell type were the same in both brain areas we examined, and in both species—though more pronounced in humans than in mice.”

Given that previous research has found that higher-level functions in the brain require coordination and communication between different cell types, the ability to manipulate this communication could be of great importance, Anastassiou said.

“This study offers new understanding of how to stimulate the human brain to promote or suppress specific activity patterns, and could pave the way for new directions in basic research and clinical applications,” said Keith L. Black, MD, chair of the Department of Neurosurgery and the Ruth and Lawrence Harvey Chair in Neuroscience at Cedars-Sinai. “These results offer the possibility for electrical protocols that are more selective, more controlled, and allow for different parts of the brain neural network to be manipulated in different ways.”

Investigators are now working to determine the exact mechanisms required to produce various results in the brain, and to replicate their brain tissue experiments in living patients.

“This data supports the idea that electrical brain stimulation could be used in new ways that target specific groups of brain cells,” said Adam Mamelak, MD, director of the Functional Neurosurgery Program at Cedars-Sinai. “This gives us an exciting opportunity to imagine new uses for this therapy and the chance to address disorders involving learning and memory.” 

Other Cedars-Sinai authors involved in the study include Konstantinos Kozalakis, PhD.

Funding: This work was supported by National Institutes of Health grants R01 NS120300 and RO1 NS130126.

Conflict of interest: Anastassiou is listed as an inventor on a patent application related to this work.

Learn more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: A Patient’s Journey With Deep Brain Stimulation

The S. Mark Taper Foundation Rabbit Garden is one of four gardens that make up a 5,000-square-foot outdoor area. The garden features rabbit-shaped seating and fresh greenery, providing a relaxing environment for inpatients and their families to enjoy.

“The impact of childlike touches at Guerin Children’s, like the S. Mark Taper Foundation Rabbit Garden, should not be underestimated,” said Arthur J. Ochoa, JD, senior vice president of Advancement and chief advancement officer for Cedars-Sinai. “The garden delights and uplifts the spirits of young patients every day—such a significant part of what we strive to do at Cedars-Sinai.”

Guerin Children’s is full of other whimsical touches, from a video wall and vibrant artwork to an interactive playroom.

Ophir Klein, MD, PhD, executive director of Guerin Children’s and executive vice dean of Children’s Services, said the garden is an example of the importance of balancing treatment with emotional support.

“Successfully caring for patients medically is just part of what we work so hard to achieve at Guerin Children’s,” said Klein, the David and Meredith Kaplan Distinguished Chair in Children’s Health. “We want children to be well physically, but also to be happy and hopeful, as they receive the best-quality, most compassionate care.”

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: How to Choose a Pediatrician

How do you know you’re having a stroke?

Know the symptoms, says Shlee S. Song, MD, director of the Comprehensive Stroke Center and the Telestroke Program at Cedars-Sinai.

Unfortunately, while many people are on the lookout for well-known symptoms such as paralysis on one side of the body or face, some 20% of strokes don’t cause those symptoms, Song said. Called posterior circulation strokes, they occur in the arteries that supply blood to the back of the brain and are often mistaken for other ailments.

Song sat down with the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom to discuss the signs and symptoms of this under-recognized type of stroke.

How are symptoms of posterior circulation stroke different from the symptoms that people recognize for other stroke types?

Patients with posterior circulation stroke can appear as if intoxicated or on a rocking boat, with dizziness, loss of balance and coordination, and nausea. Posterior circulation stroke can also cause larger blind spots, double vision, hearing loss, and trouble with swallowing.

To help people recognize signs of all types of stroke, we use the acronym BE FAST. This stands for “balance” and “eyes,” which are signs of posterior circulation stroke, plus “face,” “arms,” and “speech,” which are more commonly recognized stroke signs. The T is for “time,” because if you suspect someone is having a stroke, it is time to call 911.

What makes posterior circulation strokes particularly dangerous?

Because of the more subtle symptoms to witnesses or bystanders, these strokes are more likely than other stroke types to be misdiagnosed or delayed in diagnosis. It's very common for these patients to miss the time window for treatment—which can mean permanent disability or even death. Some people assume the tipsiness and loss of balance are due to a sedative or sleeping pill they took, or maybe an inner ear issue. Because of the gastrointestinal symptoms, some patients may assume that it is something they ate, or a GI infection. People experiencing vision changes might go first to the ophthalmologist or optometrist. Sometimes even patients who come to the emergency department have their diagnosis delayed because they are in a bed or on a stretcher, and it takes some time to determine that they have loss of balance or coordination because walking assessments are not often part of stroke screening.

How can people tell the difference between posterior circulation stroke and these other conditions?

While a gastrointestinal infection, inner ear problem or vision problem usually comes on gradually and builds over time, strokes happen suddenly. Stroke symptoms hit patients like a lightning bolt, out of the blue.

What treatments are available for posterior circulation stroke?

If a patient has a clot, we have drugs that can dissolve it and get the blocked vessel open. If the patient’s clot is too large to be dissolved with medication, our interventional colleagues can go in with a catheter and remove the clot. If a patient has a burst blood vessel, we can make sure their blood pressure is controlled and reverse the action of any blood thinners they might be taking. This prevents blood from accumulating in that smaller area in the back side of the head, where space is limited. Swelling that can occur after a posterior circulation stroke can compress critical brain structures.

What are the risk factors for posterior circulation stroke?

Some are similar to risk factors for other stroke types. Uncontrolled high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes all increase risk for stroke. For posterior circulation stroke, sudden trauma to the neck can also increase risk for artery dissection. Common causes of this include car accidents, whiplash injuries and sports neck trauma. These types of injuries can cause a tear in the inner wall of an artery. Clots can form around the vessel tear and block blood flow.

So be gentle with the neck. Avoid chiropractic neck manipulations and deep tissue massage at the neck, because such critical blood vessels are there. Take care with inversions in yoga and Pilates, and in martial arts classes where there might be twisting or hyperextending of the neck. If it feels uncomfortable, that's your body signaling to say this neck turn is probably a little too much.

And if you are injured, especially if you experience any loss of function, no matter how temporary, you need an appropriate evaluation. This should include blood vessel studies to look at the flow inside the blood vessels, so that we can see if there is a vessel tear or blockage.

Learn more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: Strokes That Are Treatable—and Beatable

as director of Electromyography.

Jabari comes to Cedars-Sinai from the University of Kansas Medical Center, where he was associate director of the Neuromuscular Medicine Fellowship.

“We are delighted to add Dr. Jabari’s expertise in neuromuscular medicine and as a mentor to the next generation of neuromuscular clinicians to our department,” said Nancy Sicotte, MD, chair of the Department of Neurology and the Women’s Guild Distinguished Chair in Neurology at Cedars-Sinai. “His planned collaboration with our Department of Pathology is certain to help further our understanding of these disorders and improve outcomes for patients.”

The breadth and depth of neuromuscular medicine—dedicated to treating a broad variety of genetic, neurodegenerative and autoimmune disorders affecting the nerves and muscles—helped attract Jabari to the specialty.

“We have a good understanding of some of these disorders, but are still learning about others,” Jabari said. “Neuromuscular medicine offers an opportunity to conduct research and translate our results to better care for our patients. This research can include electrodiagnostic studies and studies of nerve, muscle and skin biopsies, making good use of my training and interest in pathology.”

Electromyography is a diagnostic tool used to detect neuromuscular abnormalities and help diagnose neuromuscular disorders.

Some neuromuscular conditions are acquired, while others are inherited. Jabari’s specific interest is in autoimmune neuromuscular disorders. He was principal investigator of a recent study of a new therapy for inclusion body myositis, a disease with inflammatory and degenerative features. The condition causes progressive muscle weakness and currently has no approved treatment. He has also been involved in clinical trials of other inflammatory myopathies and clinical care for Sjogren’s syndrome, a rheumatological condition where the immune system attacks glands that make moisture in the eyes and mouth, and is also known to cause multiple neurological complications.

Jabari attended medical school at Tishreen University in Syria, then completed his neurology residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and his fellowship in neuromuscular medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: Specialized Care for Neuromuscular Disorders

Cedars-Sinai memorialized the day with its 40th Annual Yom Ha’Shoah Holocaust Remembrance Day Commemoration at the medical center on May 6th. An endowment from the Roya and Joel Geiderman Family Trust supports the hospital’s annual tribute, as well as The Joel Geiderman, MD, Lectureship.

“Cedars-Sinai sincerely thanks the Geiderman family for their generous support of this annual commemoration,” said Arthur J. Ochoa, JD, senior vice president of Advancement and chief advancement officer for Cedars-Sinai. “Especially now, the remembrance of one of the darkest chapters of human history is critically important.”

Geiderman is co-chair of the Cedars-Sinai Department of Emergency Medicine, medical director of the Emergency Department and professor of Emergency Medicine. He also serves as vice chair emeritus of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

“Events like the Yom Ha’Shoah commemoration, the Martin Luther King Day celebration and other community outreach efforts, including those for the unsheltered, exemplify this institution’s commitment to working for the greater good,” said Geiderman. “My family considers it a gift to be able to contribute to those efforts.”

This year’s keynote speaker was Malka Z. Simkovich, PhD, a respected scholar and authority on Jewish history and the Hebrew Bible. Simkovich is director of Catholic-Jewish Studies, as well as the Crown-Ryan Chair of Jewish Studies at Catholic Theological Union. She’s also a Leon Charney Fellow at the Yeshiva University Center for Israel Studies and a Kogod Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute. She’s authored numerous books, receiving the 2019 Association of Jewish Libraries Judaica Reference Honor Award for one of her works. Her latest book, Letters from Home: The Creation of Diaspora in Jewish Antiquity, will be released in June 2024.

“With profound sincerity and deep sorrow, Cedars-Sinai stands with the world in remembrance of the many souls lost during the horror of the Holocaust,” said Thomas M. Priselac, president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai, and the Warschaw Law Chair in Healthcare Leadership. “As an institution founded on the tenets of the Jewish faith, we share in the dedication of this day to eschew the spirit of hate that resulted in the Holocaust.

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: Kindertransport Saved This Volunteer from Nazi Germany | Cedars-Sinai

On Christmas Eve 1976, outside Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Lipman, a bright-eyed 14-year-old, tagged along with her mother to the movies. On the marquee: A Star Is Born, featuring Academy Award winner Barbra Streisand.

That day marked the genesis of a lifelong Streisand admirer committed to helping others in the entertainer’s honor. Mesmerized by Streisand’s captivating performance, Lipman saved every penny from after-school and weekend babysitting and lawn mowing jobs to see the film, totaling 163 trips to the theater.

“I used to take two buses to the mall where the theater was located,” said Lipman. “Then, I would stay to see, like, four showings at a time, and get emotional every time. I’d just cry my eyes out.”

Decades later, Lipman’s biggest dream would come true. She’d been socking away every spare dollar from paychecks and birthday gifts to attend all of Streisand’s rare and coveted tours over the years—across the U.S., Europe and Israel.

One day, on a whim, Lipman wrote a message on a hotel towel: “Thank you, Barbra. We love you!” She planned to sneak away from her nosebleed seat—the only ticket she could afford—and hoist the sign near the stage in hopes that Streisand would glimpse her heartfelt message. It happened at a show in Madison Square Garden. Mid-performance, Streisand spotted the towel and gave a shout out to Lipman on the spot. On a tour stop in Amsterdam, after several towel sightings, one of Streisand’s representatives approached Lipman to extend an invitation to meet the icon.

“They escorted me backstage and all of a sudden, I look over and she’s standing right next to me,” Lipman shared. “She was the nicest, most down-to-earth person.” Lipman says Streisand asked why she set aside so much money to see her shows, to which Lipman replied, “there’s nothing I’d rather spend my money on.”   

It wasn’t long before Lipman launched her peer-to-peer fundraising effort to support the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center—both as a nod to the entertainer and a way to help end gender disparities in cardiac care. Lipman had learned that was the catalyst for the center coming to fruition in 2012. Streisand partnered with C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD, the center’s director, and a nationally recognized expert in women’s cardiac care, to establish the eponymic enterprise. Streisand has long championed Cedars-Sinai’s initiatives, funding women’s heart disease research and underwriting the Barbra Streisand Women's Cardiovascular Research and Education Program, the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center, and the Women’s Heart Alliance.

“Cedars-Sinai is both honored and grateful to build upon our relationship with Barbra Streisand to effect positive change in the diagnosis and treatment of women impacted by heart disease,” said Bairey Merz, who holds the Women’s Guild Endowed Chair in Women’s Health. “Robin’s efforts are so heartwarming, and reinforce our objectives to advance medical discovery and equitable treatment of women seeking cardiac care.”

Lipman’s fundraising began with a symbolic wink to the entertainer’s birthday of April 24^th. Her target goal that year was exactly $4,024.24. Lipman leveraged the power of social media, announcing her campaign to her network of friends. She would far surpass that initial target amount. This year, on Streisand’s birthday, Lipman presented a novelty check to the Streisand center for $24,424.24, with the cumulative amount raised topping $27,000.

“Robin Lipman set a goal, then worked exceptionally hard to raise more than six times that number,” said Arthur J. Ochoa, JD, senior vice president of Advancement and chief advancement officer at Cedars-Sinai. “I can proudly say, on behalf of the entire Cedars-Sinai family, Robin has developed her very own fan base in the hearts of everyone benefitting from her selfless philanthropy, and every member of our healthcare community.”  

Lipman has deemed the Streisand center her forever cause and says the campaign will continue indefinitely. Ageless and evergreen.

Read more in Discoveries: Women’s Health Research Draws First Lady’s Attention 

Bela Bajaria runs the show at Netflix. Gillian Zucker holds court for the Los Angeles Clippers. Both Bajaria and Zucker are trailblazing forces in industries traditionally dominated by men.

With A-list celebrities, including host Kevin Hart and presenter Mindy Kaling celebrating the guests of honor, the Board of Governors held its 2024 event on Saturday, April 20th, with generous support from lead financial sponsor, City National Bank, and host sponsor, Warner Bros. Discovery. 

Adam Selkowitz, chair of the Board of Governors, says the honorees were thoughtfully selected based on their records of excellence in leadership roles. “We’re incredibly lucky to be honoring Bela and Gillian—decision-makers known for their dynamic, creative and innovative thinking that is emblematic of the research we support at Cedars-Sinai,” said Selkowitz. “Our last campaign to support the Board of Governors Innovation Center was like building the rocket; now, with this new campaign, it’s time to blast off.”

Bajaria, chief content officer for Netflix, is this year’s recipient of the 2024 Visionary Award. Born in London to South Asian parents, Bajaria moved to the U.S. with her family when she was 9. She’s held several leadership roles since joining the streaming service in 2016, including head of Global TV, the division that manages shows like the Emmy award-winning Squid Game. She’s been recognized by The Hollywood Reporter in its 2023 Women in Entertainment Power 100 list, was named one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2022 and also made Fortune’s list of Most Powerful Women four years consecutively, beginning in 2020. Bajaria serves on the Paley Center’s L.A. Board of Governors and the board of L.A.’s Saban Community Clinic, a Cedars-Sinai partner that offers free health services to those in need.

“I was an Indian immigrant growing up in America. Not seeing myself on screen and what that meant is very personal to me,” said Bajaria. “The vision of authentic and very culturally specific storytelling is our goal at Netflix. Now, more people from underrepresented groups are behind the camera and when you have that, you really see that represented in front of the camera.”

Gillian Zucker is president of the L.A. Clippers and Intuit Dome, the team’s new arena. She is this year’s recipient of the 2024 Inspirational Leadership Award. Her rise to the top has literally been on the fast track. Before accepting her position with the Clippers in 2014, she spent nine years as president of the Auto Club Speedway racetrack in Fontana. Zucker was recently named to Los Angeles Magazine’s L.A. Woman list. She’s lent her expertise to numerous boards, including the Los Angeles Sports Council and the Young Presidents’ Organization.

“I’m very proud to say that I think female leaders are a lot less rare than they used to be,” said Zucker. “If you have a calling or passion about something, just go for it. You don’t necessarily have to look for someone who looks like you in that role.”

The Board of Governors is Cedars-Sinai’s primary fundraising group. Proceeds from the Sunset Soiree will benefit the board’s Innovation to Impact initiative. The campaign’s goal is to raise $60 million to accelerate research and development of treatments for challenging illnesses impacting children, cancer, diabetes, neurological conditions and autoimmune disorders.

“Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors is so fortunate to showcase the impactful leadership of these two honorees,” said Thomas M. Priselac, president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai, and the Warschaw Law Chair in Healthcare Leadership. “We applaud the myriad achievements of our honored guests and look forward to the tremendous strides they will continue to make in their personal and professional lives.”  

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom: Study Identifies How Diabetes Slows Healing in the Eye

The study detailing their discovery was published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature.

“We have identified for the first time a group of neurons, influenced by two types of brain waves, that coordinate cognitive control and the storage of sensory information in working memory,” said Jonathan Daume, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar in the Rutishauser Lab at Cedars-Sinai and first author of the study. “These neurons don’t contain or store information, but are crucial to the storage of short-term memories.”

Working memory, which requires the brain to store information for only seconds, is fragile and requires continued focus to be maintained, said Ueli Rutishauser, PhD, director of the Center for Neural Science and Medicine at Cedars-Sinai and senior author of the study. It can be affected by different diseases and conditions.

“In disorders such as Alzheimer's disease or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, it is often not memory storage, but rather the ability to focus on and retain a memory once it is formed that is the problem,” said Rutishauser, who is a professor of Neurosurgery, Neurology and Biomedical Sciences at Cedars-Sinai. “We believe that understanding the control aspect of working memory will be fundamental for developing new treatments for these and other neurological conditions.”

To explore how working memory functions, investigators recorded the brain activity of 36 hospitalized patients who had electrodes surgically implanted in their brains as part of a procedure to diagnose epilepsy. The team recorded the activity of individual brain cells and brain waves while the patients performed a task that required use of working memory.

On a computer screen, patients were shown either a single photo or a series of three photos of various people, animals, objects or landscapes. Next, the screen went blank for just under three seconds, requiring patients to remember the photos they just saw. They were then shown another photo and asked to decide whether it was the one (or one of the three) they had seen before.

When patients performing the working memory task were able to respond quickly and accurately, investigators noted the firing of two groups of neurons: “category” neurons that fire in response to one of the categories shown in the photos, such as animals, and “phase-amplitude coupling,” or PAC, neurons.

PAC neurons, newly identified in this study, don’t hold any content, but use a process called phase-amplitude coupling to ensure the category neurons focus and store the content they have acquired. PAC neurons fire in time with the brain’s theta waves, which are associated with focus and control, as well as to gamma waves, which are linked to information processing. This allows them to coordinate their activity with category neurons, which also fire in time to the brain’s gamma waves, enhancing patients’ ability to recall information stored in working memory.

“Imagine when the patient sees a photo of a dog, their category neurons start firing ‘dog, dog, dog’ while the PAC neurons are firing ‘focus/remember,’” Rutishauser said. “Through phase-amplitude coupling, the two groups of neurons create a harmony superimposing their messages, resulting in ‘remember dog.’ It is a situation where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, like hearing the musicians in an orchestra play together. The conductor, much like the PAC neurons, coordinates the various players to act in harmony.”

PAC neurons do this work in the hippocampus, a part of the brain that has long been known to be important for long-term memory. This study offers the first confirmation that the hippocampus also plays a role in controlling working memory, Rutishauser said.

This study was conducted as part of a multi-institutional consortium funded by the National Institutes of Health’s Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies Initiative, or the BRAIN Initiative, and led by Cedars-Sinai. The data in this study is pooled across Cedars-Sinai, the University of Toronto, and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, resulting in a statistically powerful study that a single institution could not accumulate on its own given the difficulty of these experiments.

"One of the aims of the BRAIN Initiative is to uncover—through the use of innovative technologies—properties of the human brain that have so far been difficult, if not impossible, to study,” said Dr. John Ngai, PhD, director of the NIH BRAIN Initiative. “Here, by leveraging unusual opportunities supported by the initiative to illuminate complex processes in humans, the Rutishauser Lab is shedding light on the way certain neurons support how memories are stored in the brain—a process that is far from understood in devastating brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.”

Other Cedars-Sinai authors involved in this study include Jan Kaminski, Umais Khan, Michael Kyzar, Chrystal Reed, and Adam Mamelak. Also involved in the study were Andrea Schjetnan and Taufik Valiante of the University of Toronto, and Yousef Salimpour and William Anderson of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Funding: This work was supported by a German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina Postdoctoral fellowship, a Cedars-Sinai Center for Neural Science and Medicine Postdoctoral fellowship, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke BRAIN initiative grants number U01NS103792 and U01NS117839, and National Science Foundation grant number BCS-2219800.

Conflict of interest: Authors declare no competing interests.

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: When Should I Be Concerned About Memory Loss?

Neuroprosthetics, a technology that allows the brain to control external devices such as robotic limbs, is beginning to emerge as a viable option for patients disabled by amputation or neurological conditions such as stroke. Cedars-Sinai investigators, in a study published in the peer-reviewed journal

“Neuroprosthetics have largely tapped the brain’s outermost cerebral cortex. The cerebellum has a well-known role in movement but has been ignored in neuroprosthetic research,” said Tanuj Gulati, PhD, assistant professor of Biomedical Sciences and Neurology and researcher in the Center for Neural Science and Medicine at Cedars-Sinai, and senior author of the study. “We are the first to record what is happening in the cerebellum as the brain learns to manipulate these devices, and we found that its involvement is essential for device use.”

Patients who use neuroprosthetic devices have electrodes permanently implanted in the portion of the brain—usually the cerebral cortex—that controls movement for the function the device is replacing. This technique can be used to help patients control a robotic limb, a motorized wheelchair or a computer keyboard, among other devices.

To learn how the cerebellum helps in learning neuroprosthetic control, Gulati and his team trained laboratory rats to use only their motor cortex activity to move a neuroprosthetic tube that delivered them water. The rats had electrodes implanted in the motor cortex and the cerebellum, and investigators listened in on the activity of neurons in both brain regions during the experiments.

“We found that activity of the neurons in the cerebellum was coordinated with the motor cortex, and that activity in the cerebellum was critical for neuroprosthetic task performance,” said Aamir Abbasi, PhD, a postdoctoral scientist in the Gulati Lab and the first author of the study.

Investigators next used an advanced technology called optogenetics to selectively silence different neuron populations in the laboratory rats’ brains during experiments. Optogenetics delivers light-sensitive proteins into brain cells, allowing light exposure to control these cells’ activity.

When they silenced neurons in the outer layer of the cerebellum, where the cerebellum receives input from other brain regions, they found that the laboratory rats had a difficult time learning to control movement of the pipe. When they silenced neurons deep in the cerebellum, which are responsible for outward communication from the cerebellum to the motor cortex, the rats had difficulty maintaining accurate control of the pipe.

“These results could help make neuroprosthetics an option for patients with damage to the motor cortex due to brain injury, stroke or diseases such as Parkinson’s or multiple sclerosis,” said Nancy L. Sicotte, MD, chair of the Department of Neurology and the Women’s Guild Distinguished Chair in Neurology at Cedars-Sinai. “It’s possible that, eventually, implants in the cerebellar region could be used to help these patients manipulate external devices.”

It’s an exciting era for neuroprosthetics, said David Underhill, PhD, chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Cedars-Sinai.

“There is a lot of buzz about neuroprosthetic technology, but there are still many unsolved problems,” Underhill said. “This study suggests that some of those could be resolved by involving the cerebellum as well as the motor cortex to help patients gain use of neuroprosthetic devices more quickly and improve their ability to control them accurately.”

Other authors involved in the study include Rohit Rangwani, Daniel W. Bowen, Andrew W. Fealy, and Nathan P. Danielsen.

This work was supported by American Heart Association postdoctoral fellowship 897265, American Heart Association predoctoral fellowship 1018175, American Heart Association career development award 847486, National Institutes of Health grants R00NS097620 and R01NS128469, National Science Foundation grant 2048231, and a Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Center for Neural Science and Medicine postdoctoral fellowship.

No conflicts of interest to disclose.

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: Bolster Your Brain by Stimulating the Vagus Nerve

The Rutishauser Lab collaborates with several leading universities and medical centers, including the California Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Toronto, Boston Children’s Hospital and the University of Colorado at Denver. A key aspect of this collaboration is open data-sharing. Cedars-Sinai is part of the National Institutes of Health BRAIN Initiative Research Opportunities in Humans Consortium, representatives of which recently penned an article for the peer-reviewed journal Neuron on the benefits of data-sharing.

“Dr. Rutishauser’s work advances our understanding of the workings of the human brain and also connects Cedars-Sinai with top medical institutions across the country and beyond,” said Jeffrey Golden, MD, vice dean of Research and Research Education at Cedars-Sinai. “Work of this caliber simply isn’t possible if institutions guard their discoveries and data, encumbering collaboration.”

Rutishauser, who holds the Board of Governors Chair in Neurosciences, sat down with the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom to discuss the role of data-sharing and scientific collaboration in his work and the broader scientific community.

What type of data does your lab’s research generate, and how has it advanced our understanding of the human brain?

Our data is acquired from patients with epilepsy who are undergoing depth-electrode monitoring, which means they have tiny electrodes surgically inserted into the brain to monitor seizure activity.

We use these recordings of the electrical pulses sent between individual neurons within the brain to study how the brain records and recalls memories, how we make decisions, and how these processes go wrong under certain conditions. For example, we have discovered how we monitor our own behavior for errors using this approach.

The same data, which is rare and difficult to acquire, can also be used to study many other aspects of the human brain, but this is only possible if the data is made accessible to other investigators inside and outside of Cedars-Sinai.

What is the current state of data-sharing in human neuroscience?

Funding agencies and journals require that research teams make their data available to others. However, they require sharing of only the exact data needed to reproduce a given study, often only on request.

This requirement is often viewed as a burden by investigators. But in our recent editorial, we point out the many benefits of investigators sharing all of their data freely and in a standardized format, so it is easily accessible. We found that when we, as the data producer, released data in this way, we discovered new collaborators who used our data to explore questions we had never thought about. Within our own lab, using a standardized data format also facilitated reuse of that data. And schools and universities have even used the data for teaching purposes.

Why is cross-institutional collaboration so important to the future of science?

Collaborating and sharing data is a way for us to broaden our impact. One of the inherent difficulties of the work I do is that the experiments are challenging to perform and the number of patients available is limited. To increase the amount of data available, we collaborate with research groups at other institutions. This allows us to perform large, well-powered studies and increases confidence in our findings by replicating findings at other institutions.

What challenges need to be overcome to increase data-sharing in neuroscience?

There are three challenges. First, the field has to agree on a standard data format. While there are formats that could fill this requirement, there’s no universal agreement on which should be the standard format. The use of a single standard data format in the field of neuroimaging, for example, shows the immense benefits of the practice. Second, we need data archives where very large files can be uploaded, stored and made available. Third, and perhaps most challenging, investigators must be willing to openly share their data.

What is your advice for investigators who want to share their data?

I strongly advise using a standardized data format. We chose to use the Neural Data Without Borders (NWB) format. Develop an expectation in your lab that when a project is finished, your team will export the data in that format, document it and publicly release it upon publication.

Strickler launched her own art studio shortly after graduating from the prestigious School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the late 1980s. She painted murals at more than 100 Chicago restaurants, hotels, nightclubs and bars, and relocated to Southern California shortly before her seizures began in 2007.

“Every month or so, I would have another seizure and wake up in the hospital about four days later,” Strickler said. “Little by little, the business I had built up came to a halt. After a seizure caused a major car crash where, thankfully, no one was killed, I had to give up driving. My life was absolutely leveled.”

Jeffrey M. Chung, MD, director of the Epilepsy Program at Cedars-Sinai, met Strickler in 2019 when she was referred by a former Cedars-Sinai resident.

“Syril had been prescribed many different medications and they were not controlling her seizures, which were frequent and severe,” Chung said. “If a patient’s seizures aren’t controlled by the first two medications they try, there is less than a 5% chance that additional medications will help. It was time to look into other treatment options.”

To locate the exact point in Strickler’s brain where her seizures were originating, the epilepsy team first monitored her seizure activity using EEG electrodes attached to her scalp. When that didn’t yield enough information, Adam N. Mamelak, MD, director of the Functional Neurosurgery Program at Cedars-Sinai, implanted electrodes at various locations in Strickler’s brain to make more precise recordings possible.

During a hospital stay of several days, Strickler also volunteered to assist Cedars-Sinai investigators by performing experimental tasks similar to computer games while they recorded the activity of cells in different regions of her brain—something possible only in patients who are undergoing invasive EEG monitoring.

“The data from these experiments is rare and precious, and allows us to discover how the brain works,” said Ueli Rutishauser, PhD, director of the Center for Neural Science and Medicine at Cedars-Sinai. “We have used this data to gain insights into how the brain records and recalls memories, how it makes decisions, and how these processes go wrong in certain conditions. And for the patients, we’ve found it is uplifting and empowering, because it gives them the chance to contribute to science and possibly help develop new treatments that help future patients.”

Strickler said that working with the research team helped brighten her time in the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit. “We had a great time, and I still keep in touch with them,” she said. “It was neat that I got to be involved in that.”

If a patient’s epileptic seizures originate from a single point in the brain, surgeons can remove a tiny portion of tissue at that point to stop them. Because Strickler’s seizures were coming from two points, Mamelak suggested an alternative treatment called neuromodulation.

“We found that most of Syril’s seizures were originating in the right hippocampus, but some were coming from the left,” Mamelak said. “We placed permanent electrodes in each of those locations. They are connected to a tiny device implanted in her skull that detects seizures just as they are starting and delivers electrical pulses to shut them down.”

Mamelak said that advanced imaging and robotic surgery have significantly reduced the risks from these procedures, and that patients have more treatment options than ever before. Chung noted that long-term neuromodulation with the device used to treat Strickler results in at least a 50% reduction in seizures for more than 70% of patients. Strickler has been seizure-free for more than a year.

“I’m busy painting again and am about to graduate from Ventura Adult and Continuing Education with a certificate in print and web design. I just started a new job doing video painting tutorials for an L.A.-based manufacturer of plasters and decorative paints,” Strickler said. “And after 6 ½ years without a driver’s license, I am able to drive. I feel like I’ve been given an absolute miracle.”

Chung, who has now begun weaning Strickler off her anti-seizure medications, urges patients who have tried more than two medications and are still having seizures to seek out an evaluation at an epilepsy center.

“With a proper evaluation, you can learn what your options for treatment are and make a conscious choice,” Chung said. “The saddest thing is when we have options that could stop a patient’s seizures, and they're not being evaluated for those options.”

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: Personalized Epilepsy Treatment for Each Child

The leading periodical of the philanthropic sector ranked the $143 million planned gift from the estate of Susanne and Ervin Bard as the 18^th largest donation of the year.  

To honor the Bards, one year ago, members of Cedars-Sinai leadership, including president and CEO Thomas M. Priselac, participated in the ribbon cutting for the Susanne and Ervin Bard Pavilion at Cedars-Sinai.

“We continue to celebrate this monumental occasion, which honors the history of Cedars-Sinai and galvanizes the future of an institution known for pioneering scientific research, educational programs to help define the future of healthcare, and forward-thinking community initiatives,” said Priselac, the Warschaw Law Chair in Healthcare Leadership. “We have the Bard family to thank for that.”

The Susanne and Ervin Bard Pavilion is home to the Smidt Heart Institute and the Samuel Oschin Cancer Center, as well as the Women’s Guild Simulation Center for Advanced Clinical Skills. The Bards’ donation also supports groundbreaking translational and clinical research advanced in the laboratories and clinics of our Neurosciences program.

“The generosity of the Bard family allows Cedars-Sinai to broaden its mission to provide compassionate healthcare and advance biomedical discovery for the benefit of Los Angeles, its surrounding communities and beyond,” said Arthur J. Ochoa, JD, senior vice president of Advancement and chief advancement officer at Cedars-Sinai.  

Natives of Hungary, Susanne and Ervin Bard were longtime supporters of Cedars-Sinai and believed deeply in the Hebrew concept of giving, known as tzedakah. Mrs. Bard spent years volunteering in various Cedars-Sinai departments after her husband’s passing in 2006 and prior to her death in 2021. The Bards’ impactful and visionary gift is now part of their profound and enduring legacy.

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: Planned Giving: An Enduring Legacy