News from AMSNY

Students Advocate for Continued State Funding for AMSNY Programs

AMSNY Student Advocacy Day was February 25 in Albany, as 30 students and AMSNY program directors urged the state legislature to maintain current funding of $3.644 million for AMSNY Scholars in Medicine and Science and $1.25 million for the AMSNY Scholarship in Medicine. The students, from AMSNY Scholars in Medicine and Science programs across New York State, along with recipients of the scholarship, met with their local elected officials to share their stories and ended the day with an introduction on the floor of the New York State Senate by Senator Jamaal Bailey from the Bronx.

Highlights

Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo: Street Medicine Will Be a New Concentration for UB Family Medicine Residents

The Department of Family Medicine in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo is developing a program that trains physicians to provide high-quality, compassionate care to individuals experiencing homelessness and housing instability. UB is the only institution in New York State, and one of 24 nationwide, to be granted a $2.5 million award from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to establish the Primary Care Training and Enhancement – Residency Training in Street Medicine program. Learn More

Weill Cornell Medicine Launches AI to Advance Medicine Program

In an effort to unify the rapidly expanding set of academic activities investigating artificial intelligence (AI), Weill Cornell Medicine is launching a new AI to Advance Medicine initiative. Encompassing a Dean’s Lecture Series and Dean’s Grant Program, the initiative aims to provide the institutional infrastructure and services needed to support AI use safely and effectively among faculty, staff and students. Additionally, a new website will spotlight the latest AI initiatives improving patient care, advancing biomedical discovery and educating future physicians—ensuring innovation remains ethical, equitable and human-centered. Learn More

Medical Education

Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell: Zucker Medical Students Cultivate Compassion Through First-Hand Health Equity Lessons

Imagine the challenge: a blind patient hears their name called in a doctor’s waiting room, but then the nurse walks away and turns a corner, expecting the patient to follow; a Deaf patient in excruciating pain tries to explain their symptoms to their doctor and later, understand complex medical information all without a qualified sign language interpreter. Second-year students at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell are being trained to ensure these scenarios do not happen when they become doctors by way of the curriculum they are experiencing, which includes health equity and humanism. Learn More

Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo: Beyond the Knife Hosts Pioneering Dean, Surgeon

The patient before Andrea Hayes-Dixon, MD, a renowned cancer surgeon, was an African American male in his early 30s. He had abdominal cancer and had already been to several doctors. After reviewing his case, Hayes-Dixon began discussing surgery and a chemotherapy treatment plan for his stage 2 cancer. Treatment plan? The patient looked confused. He’d been told his cancer was stage 4, incurable — hospice was his best bet. Now Hayes-Dixon was the one surprised. Learn More

New York Medical College: HeLa Conference Explores Ethics, Equity, and Innovation in a Changing Health Care Landscape

New York Medical College and the Westchester Medical Center Health Network co-hosted the ninth annual HeLa Ethics Research and Access Conference and Research Symposium on February 11. The event’s theme, “The New Rules of Engagement,” featured research that investigated the engagement in an AI-world; the risks, tradeoffs, and opportunities in health policy; finances in health care, research priorities, lung cancer screening, and navigating barriers in endometriosis care. Learn More

Weill Cornell Medicine: Center for Human Rights Marks 15 Years of Helping People in Need

In the early aughts, when anesthesiologist Dr. Gunisha Kaur, M.D. ’10, was a medical student at Weill Cornell Medicine, she sought to help immigrants who were seeking refuge in the United States after experiencing persecution or torture in their home countries. It’s a passion drawn from a profoundly personal experience: As a daughter of Indian immigrants and an immigrant herself, she wanted to find a way to help people like her father, a Sikh who had been beaten by a mob in India and left for dead. Unfortunately, there was no forensic evaluation clinic to document asylum seekers’ injuries at Weill Cornell at the time. Learn More

Student & Alumni News

Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai: How An Interest in Cardiothoracic Surgery Is Shaping Caroline Tavolacci’s Path as a Surgeon-Scientist at Mount Sinai

Sooyun Caroline Tavolacci, MD, MSCR, is a third-year PhD student in the Clinical Research Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and a surgeon-scientist in training. Her dissertation research focuses on heart transplantation outcomes, specifically evaluating beating heart transplantation using ex-vivo heart perfusion and its impact on donor pool expansion, under the mentorship of Anelechi Anyanwu, MD, Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, and Natalia Egorova, PhD, Professor, Department of Population Health and Science. Learn More

Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons: CUIMC Students Travel to Albany to Meet State Legislators

For the fourth consecutive year, students from all four CUIMC schools traveled to Albany to deepen their understanding of the New York state legislative process and advocate for health policies they personally value. On Feb. 10, the contingent of 23 Columbia students met with more than half a dozen assembly members and state senators and several other officials, including Chloe Coffman, senior health policy advisor to Governor Kathy Hochul, and James V. McDonald, New York State Commissioner of Health. Learn More

Awards, Grants & Recognition

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Remains Among Top Institutions for NIH Funding

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, part of the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, continues to rank among the top institutions for National Institutes of Health (NIH) research funding, sustaining its overall standing as No. 11 nationally. Including grants and contracts, the School received $501.7 million from the NIH in the most recent federal fiscal year, placing it in the 99th percentile among private U.S. medical schools in research dollars per investigator, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Learn More

Faculty News

Albany Medical College Welcomes Dr. Jaime Ortiz as Chair of Anesthesiology

Jaime Ortiz, MD, MBA, has joined Albany Medical Center as chief of Anesthesiology and chair of the Department of Anesthesiology and professor of Anesthesiology at Albany Medical College. Dr. Ortiz brings expertise in regional anesthesia, acute pain management, and medical acupuncture, a non-invasive option helpful in reducing post-operative nausea and for patients with acute pain. He specializes in ultrasound-guided peripheral nerve blocks. Learn More

New York Medical College: Kartik Prabhakaran, M.D., to Lead Department of Surgery

Kartik Prabhakaran, M.D., M.H.S., FACS, has been named The Felicien M. Steichen, M.D., Chair of Surgery at New York Medical College (NYMC) and Chair of the Department of Surgery at Westchester Medical Center, one of NYMC’s major clinical affiliates. A nationally recognized trauma surgeon and academic leader, Dr. Prabhakaran will assume his new role in July. Learn More

Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University: Anisha Kumar, MD, Joins Stony Brook Surgery’s Division of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (ENT)

Dr. Anisha Kumar joined the Stony Brook Medicine Department of Surgery’s Division of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (ENT) on February 2, 2026. Dr. Kumar will also work closely with Stony Brook University’s AI Innovation Institute. “I’m excited to join the faculty at Stony Brook and to further precision surgical care with machine learning in collaboration with the Stony Brook University AI Innovation Institute,” said Dr. Kumar. Learn More

Albany Medical College Welcomes New Chair of Urology, Dr. Lara MacLachlan

Urologist Lara MacLachlan, MD, has joined Albany Medical Center and has been appointed Falk Family Chair of the Department of Urology, professor of urology, and chief of the hospital’s urology service. In this role, she becomes Albany Medical Center’s first female chair of urology, and is one of nine women currently serving as chair of urology at an academic medical center in the U.S. Learn More

Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University: Welcoming Dr. Kehan Ren, Division of Hematology Oncology

We are excited to introduce a new faculty member in the Division of Hematology and Oncology. Kehan Ren, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University and will also serve as Assistant Director of Basic Cancer Research within the Division of Hematology and Oncology. Dr. Ren received his B.S. in Laboratory Medicine from Capital Medical University (Beijing) and his Ph.D. in Pathology from Fudan University. Learn More

Other News

Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell: Fostering the Future – Zucker School of Medicine Hosts Second-Annual NextGen Healers Healthcare Career Day

On Friday, February 13, 2026, the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell hosted its second-annual NextGen Healers Healthcare Career Day, a day of interactive learning focused on the medical field within the halls of a real medical school. Over 100 third-grade students and teachers from the Bayview Avenue School of Arts and Sciences in Freeport, NY, visited the Zucker School of Medicine for the opportunity to meet medical students, connect with real-life healthcare professionals and learn more about an array of medical disciplines, including internal medicine, nursing, emergency medicine, ultrasound, anatomy, physical therapy and more. Learn More

Albert Einstein College of Medicine: Einstein Serves Community in Remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King

Albert Einstein College of Medicine honored the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. from January 19 to 21 with a series of service-themed events at Bronx nonprofit groups. As real-feel temperatures dipped into single digits, students, faculty, and staff headed outside to pack produce and groceries and distribute clothing and food across the borough. “Our MLK Week of Service pays tribute to Dr. King and helps fulfill his call for compassion and hope,” said Yaron Tomer, M.D., the Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean at Einstein and chief academic officer at Montefiore Einstein. Learn More

Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons: Speakers and Archives Headline CUIMC’s Black History Celebrations

CUIMC celebrated Black History Month with several inspiring talks and a guided tour of archival photographs and documents related to CUIMC’s own Black history.The celebration began on Feb. 10 at the CUIMC Faculty Club, where the Department of Medicine hosted “A Century of Black History Commemorations,” marking the 100th anniversary of the first Black history celebrations. The event featured a lecture by the Reverend Rashad Raymond Moore, PhD, senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Learn More

Albert Einstein College of Medicine: Dr. Martha E. Pollack to Deliver Keynote Address at Einstein’s 2026 Commencement

Martha E. Pollack, Ph.D., president emerita of Cornell University and a renowned computer scientist specializing in artificial intelligence (AI), will deliver the commencement address at Albert Einstein College of Medicine’s graduation ceremony. The event will take place May 20, 2026, in David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center in Manhattan.“Dr. Pollack’s role in advancing AI from theoretical to practical and ethical applications in higher education and healthcare is extremely relevant for today’s graduates,” said Yaron Tomer M.D., the Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean at Einstein and chief academic officer at Montefiore Einstein. Learn More