More than 21% of first-year students last year at medical schools across the state were from underrepresented backgrounds, the first time the rate exceeded 20% since it has been tracked. Crain’s New York Business reported on the development, citing the Associated Medical Schools of New York’s statewide medical school enrollment report.Learn more.

 

Allison Brashear, MD, MBA, dean of the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine, has been appointed vice president for health sciences at the University at Buffalo and dean of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, President Satish K. Tripathi and Provost A. Scott Weber announced last month. Learn more.

 

What is it like to serve as a military physician? That’s what students from the College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM) learned from medical school alumni at “Medicine in the Military.” The virtual Q&A featured a U.S. Army physician currently serving at West Point and a former Army physician who is now in private practice in Long Island. Both are NYITCOM graduates who shared their experiences in the system known as “military medicine.” Learn more.

 

Medical students at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell are serving up a different kind of prescription, one filled with fresh fruits, veggies, and whole grains. The future doctors are part of the Health meets Food Culinary Medicine Curriculum adopted by over 50 medical schools and hospital-based residency programs across the United States. Learn more.

 

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has selected 11 medical schools to join a newly launched collaboration to eliminate racism and bias in medical education. The project—called Anti-Racist Transformation in Medical Education (ART in Med Ed)—will engage these schools in using training modules and tools that were developed at Mount Sinai to foster and manage anti-racist cultural change. The new collaboration was made possible by a generous grant from the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation. Learn more.

 

Alexa Walsh, a third-year student at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (TouroCOM), was named recipient of the 2021 Sullivan 180 Medical Scholarship, TouroCOM Executive Dean Kenneth Steier announced in October. This award promotes the practice of medicine in underserved areas by offering tuition assistance to a TouroCOM Middletown student who has demonstrated financial need, outstanding academic work and dedication to improving the health of the local community. Learn more.

 

To highlight the work of its students, CUNY Med is excited to announce our CUNY Med Student Spotlights. Each month CUNY will select one student to profile and showcase their excellent work and accomplishments in our program. This month, the CUNY Med Student Spotlight shines on M1 student Edouard “Eddie” Augustin. Eddie’s passion for athletics and witnessing close family members suffer from chronic illnesses led him to study health, fitness, and nutrition. His interest in health led him to study medicine. To Eddie, studying medicine is an opportunity to have a well-paying job while doing meaningful work that positively impacts his community. Learn more.

 

Gillian Hecht, New York Medical College (NYMC) School of Medicine Class of 2024, has two longstanding passions: medicine and cooking. Throughout her life–she relied on her hobby of cooking to decompress, but upon her acceptance into medical school–she decided to take it to the next level and earned a culinary certificate from the Kosher Culinary Center in Brooklyn during the summer leading into her second year. Dedicated to intertwining her two interests, she helped lead the way in establishing the Culinary Medicine Club and an Area of Concentration at NYMC for those with similar interests. Learn more.

 

International Health Month is held every October to engage 1st and 2nd year students in current global health discourse. Events included an insightful presentation from NYU faculty, Dr. Rajesh Vedanthan, and virtual presentations on COVID-19 from Dr. Marius Hedimbi, University of Namibia, and Dr. James Munthali, former Chair of the Department of Surgery at the Lusaka Teaching Hospital in Zambia. Students shared their global health research from the International Health Program and a panel of NYU faculty discussed careers in Global Health. 

 

Students, faculty, and alumni from the College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM) were among more than 4,600 physicians, medical students, and members of the osteopathic medical community who attended this year’s national Osteopathic Medical Education Conference (OMED). The annual conference, hosted by the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), is the world’s largest gathering of osteopathic physicians (D.O.s), a community that continues to grow at a record-breaking pace—up 80 percent since 2010. Today there are more than 168,000 D.O.s and osteopathic medical students in the United States. Learn more.

 

The Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University and the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell virtually hosted the fourth National Medical-Legal Trial Competition on October 8-11, 2021. Learn more.

 

Community health fairs hosted and staffed by Harlem’s Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (TouroCOM) attracted people of all ages and colors for health screenings and education recently. On Friday, Oct. 22, about 250 visitors came to Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Building Plaza for blood pressure, glucose, vision and HIV screenings, as well as information on dental and foot care from Touro College of Dental Medicine and Touro’s New York College of Podiatric Medicine, and one-on-one talks about healthy eating. Learn more.

 

The University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry kicked off the 2021-2022 academic year. At the opening Convocation Ceremony, a number of Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience members were honored for various achievements, including named professorships. Neuroscience Graduate Program students were also recognized for various achievements. Congratulations to all! Learn more.

 

The Rudin Medical Ethics and Humanities Fellowship at NYU Grossman hosted its seventh annual project showcase on October 25, 2021. Presentations covered a range of interdisciplinary topics from ethical dilemmas in fertility preservation among minors to understanding the complex history of Filipinx physicians in America. To view a video of the event, click here and to browse presentations by past and present Rudin Fellows, along with selected publications, click here.

 

Albert Einstein College of Medicine has received a 2021 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education. Einstein is one of 51 U.S. medical schools, health colleges, and universities selected for this honor, which recognizes institutions that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion. The awardees will be featured in the December 2021 issue of the magazine. Learn more.

 

The National Academy of Medicine announced that three members of the Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons faculty—René Hen, PhD, Elisa E. Konofagou, PhD, and Jennifer Manly, PhD—have been elected to the academy. Membership in the National Academy of Medicine, formerly known as the Institute of Medicine, is one of the highest honors bestowed in the field of medicine. Members of NAM are elected by their peers in recognition of outstanding achievement. Learn more.

 

Joanna C. Pessolano, M.D. ’81, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at New York Medical College (NYMC) has been appointed as associate dean of student affairs in the School of Medicine (SOM). Since 2008, she has served in a variety of leadership roles in the SOM, including director of the Women’s and Gender Health theme in the M.D. Program and as advisory dean for the Wright House. Dr. Pessolano has also served as both site and clerkship director for the NYMC Obstetrics and Gynecology Clerkship for over 12 years. Learn more.

 

Gordon H. Baltuch, MD, PhD, has been named co-chief of the Division of Functional Neurosurgery and professor of neurosurgery at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and Columbia University Irving Medical Center/NewYork-Presbyterian. Baltuch specializes in the surgical treatment of movement disorders and was previously director of the Penn Center for Functional and Restorative Neurosurgery and professor of neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, where he had been a faculty member since 1996. Learn more.

 

Ask Mara McErlean, MD, what she’s enjoyed most about her more than 30 years at Albany Med and you’ll get an answer that tells the true story of the impact she’s had on Albany Medical Center, Albany Medical College and all those who have met her. Dr. Mara McErlean and associates pose in the Patient Safety and Clinical Competency Center“I’ve always enjoyed the one-on-one time teaching,” Dr. McErlean says. “I know that because of good training at Albany Med, medical students and residents went out and provided excellent care to thousands of patients.” Learn more.

 

The Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences was featured prominently in a story that aired on PBS Newshour on Oct. 13. Part of an ongoing series called “Rethinking College,” the story described how, since the start of the pandemic, there’s been a surge of interest in health sciences programs — from nursing to medicine to public health. The segment noted that many medical schools are seeing double-digit increases in applicants since the pandemic began and that the Jacobs School saw a 40% jump in the number of applications for the class that started at UB in August. Learn more.

 

Weill Cornell Medicine has been recognized as an Apple Distinguished School for 2021-2024 for continuous innovation in teaching and assessment. Apple Distinguished Schools are centers of innovation, leadership and educational excellence. They use Apple technology to connect students to the world, fuel creativity, deepen collaboration and make learning personal. Apple recognized Weill Cornell Medicine for its innovation in delivering medical education through Apple technology, including iPad, Apple TV, AirPlay, iMac, iCloud and more. Learn more.

 

Jill Biden, Ed.D., the First Lady of the United States, visited the Einstein campus yesterday to film a segment for Good Morning America (GMA). Dr. Biden, who was welcomed by Gordon F. Tomaselli, M.D., the Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean at Einstein, was interviewed as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Learn more.