Ana Berlin, MD

Dr. Tanhehco is Associate Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center/NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. She has been a faculty member and attending physician in the Division of Transfusion Medicine and Cellular Therapy since 2012. She is the Director of the Cellular Therapy Laboratory and Assistant Director of Transfusion Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Tanhehco received her BA degree in Biological Sciences with concentrations in Microbiology and Molecular and Cell Biology from Cornell University in 1999. She then pursued graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine where she earned her PhD degree in Viral Oncology in 2004. Her interest in clinical care and medicine led her to the University of Pittsburgh where she obtained her MD degree in 2008. She subsequently pursued residency training in Clinical Pathology (2008-2011) and fellowship training in Blood Banking/Transfusion Medicine (2011-2012) at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. While at the University of Pennsylvania, she also obtained a MS degree in Translational Research (2010-2012). She is board certified by the American Board of Pathology in both Clinical Pathology and Blood Banking/Transfusion Medicine. Dr. Tanhehco’s clinical and research interests focus on cellular and gene therapies for malignant and non-malignant disease particularly sickle cell disease. She is interested in strategies to optimize patients and procedures for apheresis collections of mononuclear cells and hematopoietic progenitor cells to minimize patient adverse events and improve cell yields for drug product manufacturing. She is also interested in methods to improve processing and cryopreservation of mononuclear cell and peripheral blood stem cell products. Dr. Tanhehco is an active member of several professional societies including the Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies, American Society for Apheresis, International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy, College of American Pathologists, and American Society for Clinical Pathology. She has authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications.

Dr. Gomes is a board-certified neuroradiologist with specific clinical and research interests in the neuroimaging of children and patients with epilepsy. He is an associate professor of radiology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Dr. Gomes received his MD, as well as a PhD in neuroscience, through the Medical Scientist Training Program at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He completed a medical internship at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, followed by diagnostic radiology residency and neuroradiology fellowship training at Montefiore Medical Center. He has previously served as assistant professor of radiology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center and associate professor of radiology at New York Medical College/Westchester Medical Center.

Dr. Ana Berlin is a dually-trained general surgeon and palliative care physician who thrives on the diagnostic, therapeutic, and ethical dilemmas that so commonly accompany urgent, emergent, and high-stakes surgical problems. Her interest in prognostication, communication, and decision-making in the surgical setting has driven her to forge a unique path at the intersection of surgery and palliative care. Throughout her career, she has worked to promote the incorporation of ethics, professionalism, and palliative care into surgical education and practice. Her research on surgical outcomes, palliative care utilization, and communication in surgical decision making has helped define triggers to aid in the identification of vulnerable patients for whom early concurrent palliative care is most appropriate, and to guide the development and evaluation of tools that help patients, families, and surgeons navigate difficult treatment decisions and formulate goal-concordant care plans. Dr. Berlin’s interest in pursuing systems-based approaches to promoting cultural change and quality improvement in health care has shaped her efforts to develop curricular interventions and clinical pathways to help surgeons provide compassionate, patient-centered care that minimizes the hazards and maximizes the value of surgical treatment.