May 2013 News from the Medical Schools

The Associated Medical Schools of New York (AMSNY) brings you the following compilation of the most recent updates and news from its sixteen member institutions. AMSNY is engaged in highlighting efforts of the schools in areas including, but not limited to, medical education, training, and research.

For the e-newsletter, click here.

Medical School Enrollment Projected to Reach 30 Percent by 2017

May 3, 2013 – According to results of the annual medical school enrollment survey by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), which was released during the 9th Annual Physician Workforce Research Conference, U.S. medical school enrollment is projected to increase 30 percent by 2017 to 21,434. The survey also found that 40 percent of medical school deans surveyed expressed “major concern” about enrollment outpacing the number of available residency training positions.

For the full report, click here.
^{© 2013 Association of American Medical Colleges. All rights reserved.}

Vice President Cain Receives Value Award for Inclusion

May 2, 2013 – “Michael E. Cain, MD, vice president for health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, has been honored with a Leadership Buffalo Value Award for inclusion. These annual awards honor community leaders who embody one of Leadership Buffalo’s four core values: inclusion, service, diversity and openness to change.”

For the full story, click here.
^{© 2013 University at Buffalo. All rights reserved.}

Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine’s Medical Scholars Pipeline Program Recognized Under Top 10 by DiversityInc Magazine

April 26, 2013 – DiversityInc ranks the Top 10 Hospital Systems according to hospitals’ commitment to promoting diversity. The North Shore-LIJ Health System’s Hofstra School of Medicine’s Medical Scholars Pipeline Program was recognized for ensuring a more diverse pipeline for medical professionals. The five-year summer academic program prepares students from traditionally underrepresented groups for college and medical school, and gives students support to become physicians or other health professionals.

For the full story, click here.
^{© 2013 DiversityInc. All rights reserved.}

10 Med Schools That Receive the Most Applications

April 23, 2013 – East Coast institutions continue to round out the list of top 10 medical schools – all private – that receive the most applications, according to data submitted to U. S. News in 2012 by 114 ranked schools. New York University School of Medicine and New York Medical College were among the top 10 of 2012-2013, among which the average number of applications was approximately 10,812, more than double the overall average of applications received.

For the full story, click here.
_{© 2013 US News & World Report LP. All rights reserved.}

Match Day News, Photos, Videos from NY Medical Schools

The Associated Medical Schools of New York (AMSNY) announced last month that 2,160 graduating New York State medical students successfully “matched” to residency training programs within the state and across the country. Featured on AMSNY’s website is a compilation of released news, photos, and videos from the medical schools.

For AMSNY’s press release on 2013 Match Day, click here.

For news, photos, and videos from the medical schools, click here.

Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine and St. Lukes-Roosevelt Hospital Center Address Adolescent Mental Health

May 7, 2013 – Approximately 50 students, faculty and staff from the Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (TouroCOM), St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, and the local medical community participated in a forum held recently on adolescent mental health held at TouroCOM titled: “Adolescent Mental Health: A Triad of Intervention.” A panel of behavioral health experts convened to discuss interventions with children and adolescents who suffer from mental illness.

For the full story, click here.
^{© 2013 Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine. All rights reserved.}

The Changing Face of Medical School Admissions

May 2, 2013 – Though medical schools have traditionally relied on undergraduate science grades and the MCAT to select applicants, several schools such as the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have been engaging in “holistic review,” by which they assess grades and scores in the context of life experiences, socioeconomic status, cultural and ethnic background, gender identity and the medical school’s particular mission.

For the full story, click here.
^{© 2013 The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.}

Faculty Members at Albert Einstein College of Medicine Elected to National Academy of Sciences

May 1, 2013 – “Two faculty members at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Robert Singer, Ph.D., and William Jacobs, Jr., Ph.D., were among the select scientists who will be inducted into the Washington-based organization at a ceremony in April 2014.”

For the full story, click here.
^{© 2013 Albert Einstein College of Medicine. All rights reserved.}

Med School’s Curriculum Stresses Ultrasound Skills Early in Medical Education

April 25, 2013 – “Second-year medical student Fiore Mastroianni and first-year student Jacquelyn Nestor from the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine recently took part in an ultrasound conference which took a look at how ultrasound is being currently used in medical education. The students spoke about their experiences with ultrasound as an integral part of the first and second year curriculum at the medical school, where they start learning the basics of ultrasound on the second day of school.”

For the full story, click here.
^{© 2013 Hofstra University. All rights reserved.}

New York Institute of Technology Awards Advertising Assignment to Devito/Verdi

April 25, 2013 – “New York Institute of Technology, a leader in 21st Century global education, has awarded its advertising account to the New York agency DeVito/Verdi. The multi-million-dollar advertising assignment for the private, non-profit institution of higher learning will focus on traditional and digital advertising designed to elevate the brand’s awareness as it seeks to appeal to a growing number of prospective students.”

For the full story, click here.
^{© 2013 New York Institute of Technology. All rights reserved.}

Barbara Ross-Lee, D.O. Named “Physician of Distinction”

April 24, 2013 – The Nassau Physicians’ Foundation honored New York Institute of Technology Vice President for Health Sciences and Medical Affairs Barbara Ross-Lee, D.O., as a “Physician of Distinction” at its 2013 annual dinner on April 27. Ross-Lee is the first osteopathic physician to be presented with the award in the foundation’s 10-year history.

For the full story, click here.
^{© 2013 New York Institute of Technology. All rights reserved.}

Kenneth Davis, MD, President and CEO of the Mount Sinai Medical Center, Spoke on the Future of Medicine at the Aspen Ideas Festival in New York City

April 19, 2013 – Dr. Kenneth Davis spoke on “The Future of Medicine” at an Aspen Ideas Festival preview on April 16, at The Studio Museum in Harlem. Mount Sinai is the first medical center to sponsor the festival, which will be held June 26 to July 2 in Aspen, Colorado. Corby Kummer, Senior Editor of The Atlantic, interviewed Dr. Davis on topics ranging from cancer biology and immunotherapy, to the future of psychiatry, the direction of medical education, and also discussed the role of advance directives in lowering health care spending in the last six months of life.

For the full story, click here.
^{© 2013 The Mount Sinai Hospital. All rights reserved.}

New York Medical College Purchases Building, Expands Campus Reach

April 10, 2013 – “New York Medical College has announced the purchase of a 248,000-square foot building in Hawthorne, N.Y., which houses a 115-seat auditorium, a cafeteria with an 80-seat outdoor dining plaza and a 720-space parking lot to provide upgraded and more flexible space planning for its growing enterprise.”

For the full story, click here.
^{© 2013 Touro College and University System. All rights reserved.}

Weill Cornell Medical College Teams With Medigait to Get the Elderly, Sufferers of Parkinson’s and Multiple Sclerosis “Back on their Feet”

May 6, 2013 – A team of researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College and MediGait have collaborated to create the first program to tackle the problem of severe anxiety resulting from falls. The program attacks the anxiety on two levels: a 30-day cognitive behavioral intervention program called “Back on My Feet” and a home training tool called GaitAid to help seniors improve their walking balance.

For the full story, click here.
^{© 2013 PR Web. All rights reserved.}

Discovery May Help Prevent Chemotherapy-Induced Anemia

May 5, 2013 – “Cancer chemotherapy can cause peripheral neuropathy—nerve damage often resulting in pain and muscle weakness in the arms and legs. Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have discovered that chemo also induces an insidious type of nerve damage inside bone marrow that can cause delays in recovery after bone marrow transplantations.”

For the full story, click here.
_{© 2013 Albert Einstein College of Medicine. All rights reserved.}

Price Versus Health: UB Recruits Shoppers for Groundbreaking Study on How Food Prices Affect What We Buy

May 2, 2013 – “University at Buffalo Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics Leonard H. Epstein, PhD, has established a large-scale, Internet-based experimental grocery store to develop evidence-based science about how people decide what to buy. The goals of the study are to assess how shoppers’ purchasing decisions respond to changes in price and to assess whether or not better nutrition information at the point of purchase will encourage shoppers to change food purchasing behaviors.”

For the full story, click here.
_{© 2013 University at Buffalo. All rights reserved.}

NIH Awards $40 Million in Grants to Reduce Stroke Disparities in the U.S.

May 1, 2013 – “Four research centers, including the New York University Langone Medical Center and Columbia University Medical Center, will develop high-impact culturally tailored interventions aimed at lowering stroke risk among racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. The centers are expected to receive $40 million in funding over five years, contingent on the availability of funds from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the National Institutes of Health.”

For the full story, click here.
_{© 2013 Columbia University. All rights reserved.}

Children at Risk for Type 1 Diabetes Help Scientists Stave Off the Disease

May 1, 2013 – “More than 1,000 Western New York children who are at risk of developing Type 1 diabetes are helping scientists at the University at Buffalo and Women and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo (WCHOB) find ways to prevent, delay or reverse the disease. They are participants in TrialNet, an international network of researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health.”

For the full story, click here.
_{© 2013 University at Buffalo. All rights reserved.}

Brain Region May Hold Key to Aging

May 1, 2013 – “While the search continues for the Fountain of Youth, researchers may have found the body’s “fountain of aging”: the brain region known as the hypothalamus. For the first time, scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University report that the hypothalamus of mice controls aging throughout the body. Their discovery of a specific age-related signaling pathway opens up new strategies for combating diseases of old age and extending lifespan.”

Weill Cornell Reaches $1.3 Billion Goal for its Pioneering Discoveries that Make a Difference Campaign

April 30, 2013 – “Weill Cornell Medical College has reached its goal of raising $1.3 billion, completing the highly ambitious Discoveries that Make a Difference Campaign. This campaign was thought to be the largest fundraising effort ever undertaken by a medical school when it was launched in October 2006, as part of Cornell University’s comprehensive capital campaign — which recently reached the $4 billion milestone.”

First Simulation-Based Robotic Surgery Curriculum Successful

April 26, 2013 – “UB researchers have helped develop and evaluate the first simulation-based training curriculum for robotic surgery, which has been shown to effectively train surgeons in key skills. According to a study published in Urology, those trained with the Fundamental Skills of Robotic Surgery curriculum demonstrated greater precision in surgical skills than those who did not receive training.”

Hitting ‘Reset’ in Protein Synthesis Restores Myelination, Suggests New Research for Misfolded Protein Diseases, Such As CMT, Alzheimer’s

April 26, 2013 – Neuroscientists at the University at Buffalo’s Hunter James Kelly Research Institute procured a potential new treatment strategy for patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, which results from misfolded proteins in cells that produce myelin; it affects the peripheral nerves, and is among the most common of hereditary neurological disorders. They show how turning down synthesis of a protein improves nerve, muscle function in common neuropathy.

CTRC Colloquium Showcases Novel Technologies, Pilot Studies

April 26, 2013 – For the second year, the UB Clinical and Translational Research Center (CTRC) showcased award-winning studies and technologies developed by UB researchers and collaborators during the 2013 Clinical and Translational Research Colloquium. These interdisciplinary projects show promise to translate quickly from the research stage to clinical use as improved treatments or medical procedures.

Research Symposium Leads to Medical Advances

April 24, 2013 – “Biomedical researchers, industry leaders and policymakers joined together to discuss ways to build collaborations among Capital Region institutions that will be able to translate basic scientific research into practical, commercial health care applications. The symposium was sponsored by the NY CAP Research Alliance, created to foster biomedical research in the Capital Region as part of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Council initiative.”

Radioactive Bacteria Targets Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer

April 22, 2013 – “Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have developed a therapy for pancreatic cancer that uses Listeria bacteria to selectively infect tumor cells and deliver radioisotopes into them. The experimental treatment dramatically decreased the number of metastases (cancers that have spread to other parts of the body) in a mouse model of highly aggressive pancreatic cancer without harming healthy tissue.”

Cancer Centers Racing to Map Patients’ Genes

April 21, 2013 – “Major academic medical centers in New York and around the country are spending and recruiting heavily in what has become an arms race within the war on cancer. The investments are based on the belief that the medical establishment is moving toward the routine sequencing of every patient’s genome in the quest for “precision medicine,” a course for prevention and treatment based on the special, even unique characteristics of the patient’s genes.”

Clinical Trials for Cellulite Treatment on the Horizon

April 16, 2013 – “Projected to start in the second half of 2013, researchers at Stony Brook University plan to begin phase IIa placebo-controlled clinical trials using a drug treatment method developed here to treat cellulite. The treatment method is licensed to BioSpecifics Technologies Corp. (“BSTC”), sublicensed to Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (“Auxilium”), and uses clostridial collagenase histolyticum (“CCH”), an injectable form of the enzyme collagenase.”

Stony Brook Specialist Freezes Nerves to Knock Pain Out Cold

April 15, 2013 – “For the millions of Americans who rely on pain medications for neuralgia, a condition where nerves damaged by surgery, traumatic injury, or diseases such as diabetes cause chronic pain, an emerging non-pharmacological treatment may offer relief. By placing a tiny ball of ice on damaged nerves by way of a minimally invasive interventional radiology treatment called cryoneurolysis, William Moore, MD, a thoracic interventional radiologist at Stony Brook University School of Medicine, is able to safely short circuit chronic pain caused by nerve damage.”

Highlights

Education & Training

Research