Press releases

Yale-New Haven Hospital news release
Release date: May 4, 2004
Media contact: Bill Gombeski, 203-688-2488

Pulitzer Prize awarded to Wall Street Journal series highlighting Yale research into thoracic aortic aneurysm

A series of articles in the Wall Street Journal focusing on thoracic aortic aneurysm was recently awarded the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory writing. The series was based in large part on clinical and research information provided by John Elefteriades, M.D., of Yale’s Center for Thoracic Aortic Disease, chief of Yale University’s cardiothoracic section and chief of cardiovascular surgery at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

The prestigious prize was awarded to Wall Street Journal Chicago Bureau Chief Kevin Helliker and reporter Thomas M. Burton, who penned the series of articles that spotlighted diseases of the aorta, such as aneurysm and dissection. Helliker, 45, turned his attention to the matter when he was diagnosed with an aortic aneurysm that was discovered inadvertently through a routine CT scan. The awards committee for the top prize in journalism noted that Helliker’s and Burton’s story examining aneurysms was "groundbreaking." The Pulitzers, awarded by the Pulitzer board through Columbia University, also carry a $10,000 prize.

Corps members with NCCC are trained at the northeast region’s training base in Perry Point, MD, in the areas of first aid, disaster relief, civic engagement and team building. The members range in age from 18 – 24, and complete 1,700 hours of service during their 10-month term with NCCC.

"This is only the second project of this nature in the ten-year history of the national service program," said Monica Davis, community relations specialist for NCCC. "This new relationship with Yale-New Haven Hospital is the result of three years of work and research in identifying and creating a partnership in the northeast. The benefits for both parties are tremendous as our corps members are able to give that extra attention to patients, families and the medical staff while also gaining an incredible experience."

For this series of articles, Dr. Elefteriades provided statistics, information and commentary based on clinical and research work conducted at Yale University and assorted findings from its patient aneurysm database—possibly the world’s largest. This information was conveyed in a series of lectures and interviews with the Wall Street Journal reporters. All of the figures and visuals used in the articles were from Yale’s scientific publications on the topic of aortic diseases.

The Yale aneurysm team is proud to have assisted in this series. Helliker and Burton, through their prize-winning work, have brought these previously unheralded lethal diseases into the consciousness of the American public.

Yale-New Haven Hospital is a 944-bed, not-for-profit hospital serving as the primary teaching hospital for the Yale School of Medicine. Yale-New Haven was founded as the fourth voluntary hospital in the U.S. in 1826 and today, the hospital complex includes Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital and Yale-New Haven Psychiatric Hospital, with a combined medical staff of about 2,400 university and community physicians practicing in more than 100 specialties.

Reporters: For more information on this release, including any names mentioned in the piece, contact Bill Gombeski, 203-688-2488.

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Last revised: October 7, 2004 (mv)

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