Building on their longtime commitment to social justice, equity and diversity, Louise and Leonard Riggio have made a $5.6 million gift to Weill Cornell Medicine to establish a named scholarship for medical students with financial need who are Black. This scholarship, which will be awarded as part of Weill Cornell Medicine’s debt-free scholarship program for all financially eligible medical students, will cover the full cost of attendance for all four years of medical school. Learn more.

 

Upstate Medical University has announced a $25 million estate gift—its largest in history—to benefit the university’s College of Medicine. In recognition of the gift, the College of Medicine will be named the Alan and Marlene Norton College of Medicine at Upstate Medical University. Alan Norton is a 1966 alumnus of the Upstate College of Medicine. Learn more.

 

The Association of American Medical Colleges defines members of populations underrepresented in medicine “relative to their numbers in the general population.” Diversity motivates key clinical and professional educational goals that can be sources of common ground when conflict emerges about which kinds of diversity should matter most and how applicants’ memberships in minoritized groups should be regarded in admissions processes. Dr. Rosa Lee discusses how medical school admissions should drive health care workforce diversity. Learn more.

 

Joseph D. Zuckerman, MD, chair of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, runs one of the country’s largest and most diverse residency programs. He’s one of the leaders making the positive changes that lead to more diversity in the field. As Dr. Zuckerman told STAT, keys to the program’s success are numbers, money, and a commitment to diversity not only from the top, but from those at all levels of the program. Learn more.

 

The Syracuse Community Health Center (SCHC) has announced it will partner with Upstate Medical University to develop an Urban Family Medicine Residency Program. The new residency program aims to increase the number of primary care providers trained to support the needs of urban patients and to attract diverse residents, especially those in traditionally underrepresented groups. The SHCH, a state-licensed Diagnostic and Treatment Center serving more than 30,000 patients in the Greater Syracuse area, received a grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) that is making the collaborative program possible. Learn more.

 

“War has been a driving factor for the evolution of medicine throughout human history. From the development of basic hygiene to our advanced trauma protocols, the military has driven our need for advanced medical innovation,” said Mill Etienne, M.D. ’02, M.P.H., vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion, associate dean of student affairs and associate professor of neurology and of medicine. As a Captain in the U.S. Navy Reserves, it was Dr. Etienne’s firsthand experience in the U.S. military that inspired the creation of a new elective on the impact of war on medicine at New York Medical College.  Learn more.

 

When Michelle Tran is not pursuing her MD/PhD degree with a specialization in cancer immunology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, she is busy helping Asian Americans protect themselves against hate crimes through Soar Over Hate, the non-profit she created last March. Soar Over Hate has since raised more than $100,000 and distributed more than 24,000 protective noise-making devices primarily to elderly and vulnerable Asian Americans in New York City and San Francisco—as well as to the Mount Sinai Health System’s essential health care workers who commute to work. Learn more.

 

Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine Middletown (TouroCOM Middletown) second-year student Simal Ali has been recognized by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine for her efforts in promoting the specialty on campus. She formed a special interest group that now has more than 110 members. Ali explains to The DO how lifestyle medicine intersects with the osteopathic philosophy and what her group is doing to impact health in surrounding communities. Learn more.

 

Working in the food-processing industry, specifically during a worldwide pandemic, has its challenges. When Tyson Foods created the new position of chief medical officer to help address employee health and safety and mitigate the spread of COVID-19, Claudia Coplein was the person for the job. Joining Tyson in January and based at the company headquarters in Springdale, Ark., Coplein is focused on expanding the culture of employee health, safety, and well-being, in addition to helping lead the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more.

 

Isidora I. Monteparo, a member of the School of Medicine (SOM) Class of 2022 at New York College (NYMC), joined the New York Air National Guard at age 17. Now, nine years later, she is close to graduating from NYMC, having achieved her goal of securing a military residency in diagnostic radiology. While at NYMC, she has not only nurtured her passion for medicine, but also for art, as art director of NYMC’s Quill and Scope magazine. Her artwork is currently on display in the Health Sciences Library. Learn more.

 

Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System have been awarded a three-year, $447,000 grant to grow their addiction medicine education and training programs for medical students and residents. The grant, from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), will fund a new curriculum focused on the diagnosis and care for people with opioid use disorder (OUD), including guidance about medications for addiction treatment (MAT), particularly buprenorphine. Learn more.

Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons: Moving the Needle on Gender Equity

 

The Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons traces its origins back to the time of the American Revolution, but it was only a century ago that women were brought into the fold of medical education at Columbia. The first woman faculty member, Rosalie Slaughter Morton, MD, joined the medical faculty in 1916, and the college’s first women students matriculated a year later in 1917, graduating in 1921. Learn more.

 

Albert Einstein College of Medicine has named Janice Thomas John, D.O., M.S., M.P.H., as its inaugural assistant dean for integrated medical education. Dr. John, who is currently an assistant professor of science education and pediatrics at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and pediatrician in the Northwell Health System, will begin her new role at Einstein in January 2022. Learn more.

 

New York Institute of Technology President Hank Foley, Ph.D., announced that Patrick M. O’Shaughnessy (D.O. ’99) has been appointed to the university’s Board of Trustees. O’Shaughnessy is the most recent alumnus to join the institution’s governing board. A resident of Dix Hills, N.Y., O’Shaughnessy is president and chief executive officer of Catholic Health, an integrated health system serving hundreds of thousands of Long Islanders each year. Catholic Health comprises nearly 17,000 employees, six acute care hospitals, three nursing homes, a home health service, a hospice, and a network of physician practices. Learn more.

 

Katrina Armstrong, MD, the Jackson Professor of Clinical Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Professor of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Chair of the Department of Medicine and Physician-in-Chief at Massachusetts General Hospital, has been appointed to lead Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Learn more.

 

Mark D. Hicar, MD, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, has been named a fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). Fellowship in the IDSA is one of the highest honors in the field of infectious diseases; it recognizes distinguished clinicians and scientists around the globe who have achieved professional excellence and provided significant service to the profession. Learn more.

 

In mid-December, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University launched a transformative rebranding campaign that reflects its long-term vision for advancing education, research, and clinical care while honoring Downstate’s historical legacy of achievement. “This rebrand is our effort to capture our true spirit, the prominence of our contributions, and the value of Downstate on the local, national, and global stages,” said Wayne J. Riley, M.D., MPH, MBA, MACP, President of SUNY Downstate. Learn more.

 

Mount Sinai’s Center for Stress, Resilience and Personal Growth (CSRPG) has expanded its resilience training program to people in its surrounding communities through a partnership with faith-based organizations in Harlem, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens, all disproportionately affected by COVID-19. The Center, the first of its kind, was launched by the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City during the height of the pandemic in April 2020 to address the mental health and overall well-being of front-line health care providers. Learn more.

 

The way we grieve is so personal. It is often influenced by our individual beliefs, cultures and traditions. There is no right way to grieve, and it can be difficult for medical providers to know how best to support patients and their families during times of loss. This is especially true if the providers do not share the same beliefs or understand what is most important to the patient during that time. In a quest to develop greater cultural humility with respect to the many different cultures represented within the Northwell Health footprint, a group of faculty, students and staff at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell performed an original play, Each in Our Own Way, written by Nicholas Spendley. Learn more.

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