Dr. Carmen Renee’ Green, M.D., a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, is the new dean of the CUNY School of Medicine (CSOM) at The City College of New York. She is the second dean of the Harlem-based medical school established in 2015 in partnership with Bronx-based St. Barnabas Hospital (a part of the SBH Health System). Learn more.

 

National data indicates that about a fifth of medical students, practicing physicians and medical school faculty members in the United States are Asian-American. But that proportion shrinks at the top of medicine’s academic ranks, at a cost to individuals, institutions and healthcare at-large, according to new commentary by the deans of Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Learn more.

 

Albany Medical College students and faculty members paid tribute to more than 200 people who died and donated their bodies to the College’s Anatomical Gift Program for medical education. A ceremony was held graveside by the college’s plot at the Albany Rural Cemetery, where flowers were placed by medical students as donors’ names were read. Students and the program’s director, Michael Smith, M.D., shared brief remarks in honor of the donors, which were recorded and will be shared with families. Learn more.

 

On Friday, August 6, 2021, four students celebrated a momentous occasion—completing the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine’s Zucker Pipeline Program. The Zucker Pipeline Program (ZPP), which began in 2019, was launched as a three-year, summer intensive, academic enrichment program designed to provide high achieving, economically disadvantaged college students who are interested in a career in medicine a chance for direct enrollment to the Zucker School of Medicine. These four impressive young people made up the inaugural class of the program, and are the first to graduate from it. Learn more.

 

“Science is nature’s art,” Mariana Espinosa-Polanco said. The art and psychiatry major is a rising senior at The City College New York (CCNY) and one of the eight scholars in the inaugural class of NEUROCITY. “I graduate in December and plan to continue to pursue science because of this experience.” Learn more.

 

Four years ago, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai launched a culture transformation initiative to eliminate racism and bias from its medical education program. Now, Mount Sinai is looking to share its Racism and Bias Initiative, which includes a virtual leaning platform, with eight to ten other medical schools, with the support of a new grant from the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation. Learn more.

 

As he mourned the loss of two family members to complications of COVID-19 and grew weary from isolating in his studio apartment last year, Jehron Pura-Bryant doubled down on his goal to become a physician. The pandemic had reinvigorated his aspiration “to be at the forefront of healthcare” and served as a call to action to help others. Learn more.

 

On Aug. 20, the 140 members of the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) Class of 2025 were welcomed into the profession of medicine at the school’s annual White Coat Ceremony. For the first time in the medical school’s 254-year history, the incoming MD students recited their own Class Oath, updating the Hippocratic Oath to better reflect the values they wish to uphold as they enter their medical training. Learn more.

 

In the presence of hundreds of family, friends, and faculty who attended via livestream, NYU Grossman School of Medicine welcomed the Class of 2025 during its White Coat Ceremony on Thursday, August 12. The ceremony, which is co-sponsored by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, marks the beginning of the formal process of medical training and is considered a rite of passage in the journey toward becoming a doctor. During the ceremony, students are brought to the stage and “cloaked” in their first white coat. Learn more.

 

As U.S. clinicians battled the COVID-19 delta variant, the College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM) ushered in hundreds of medical students who will one day join these heroes on the frontlines.During ceremonies in Long Island, N.Y., and Jonesboro, Ark., members of NYITCOM’s Class of 2025 received their first white coats. Widely viewed as the official start of medical school, the white coat has served as a symbol of cleanliness, trust, and healing since the late 1800s. Learn more.

 

The Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University welcomed its incoming 2021 class at the annual White Coat Ceremony on August 15. A total of 136 students for the first time donned their white coats and took the Hippocratic Oath at a ceremony in the Staller Center. They begin their medical training during a year that marks the 50th anniversary of the school. Learn more.

 

As a child, Noelle Desir, 23, suffered from severe eczema. She and her family tried everything to bring the skin condition under control, but without insurance, all they could do was visit the emergency room when she had a flare-up. Finally at age 12, her father, an immigrant from Haiti, secured health insurance for both of his daughters, making it possible for Noelle Desir to see a dermatologist. To Desir’s surprise, the doctor was Black and female, like her. Learn more.

 

With three episodes completed and a fourth coming soon, Upstate’s own podcast for students interested in healthcare careers has debuted on Apple Podcasts. Launched by co-hosts John Cote and Andrea Price, when they were first-year students in the Upstate Medical University College of Medicine, “Admission Granted” had been available at https://www.upstate.edu/podcasts/admission-granted/ since May. Learn more.

 

A different type of bedside manner is being taught at a New York medical school, but you won’t find it in a classroom. The program, written and developed by Deirdre Hamling and Bonnie Malajian of Raven hill Farms, involves students interacting with horses. NBC New York’s Gilma Avalos reports. Learn more.

 

Over the course of several rainy, muggy summer months in Syracuse, a team from Upstate Medical University trekked across the city offering COVID-19 vaccines to people who might otherwise have trouble accessing the shot. The team of medical students, mentored by self-described Upstate “street doctor” Sunny Aslam, MD, approached homeless people, visited shelters and went door-to-door in some of the city’s poorest and most vulnerable neighborhoods. Learn more.

 

Vaccines and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on education were the focal points of the 14th edition of the COVID-19 Symposium series, presented by New York Medical College (NYMC) and Touro College and University System (TCUS). Hosted by Edward C. Halperin, M.D., M.A., chancellor and chief executive officer of NYMC and provost for biomedical affairs at TCUS, the symposium took a closer look at how the pandemic changed medical education, how early childhood educators adjusted to virtual learning, how to move forward with reintroducing students in the classroom, as well as the latest on vaccine protection and vaccine safety in pregnancy. Learn more.

 

Six current and former medical students at Albert Einstein College of Medicine have won a national leadership award for a new community project aimed at educating Bronx residents and fellow students about the importance of vaccines for various diseases, including COVID-19, influenza, and pneumonia. The grant from Alpha Omega Alpha (AΩA), the national medical honor society that promotes leadership, community service, and professionalism, will support the establishment of the student-created Einstein Community Corps Program to execute the new initiative. Learn more.

 

When Anne Taylor, MD, joined Columbia’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons in 2007, the school had no professional development programs for faculty. In the 14 years since joining VP&S as vice dean for academic affairs, Dr. Taylor has created faculty development programs to support the professional development needs of all faculty, but has included programs for women and diverse faculty that have earned recognition from the NIH and, most recently, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). Learn more.

 

Unable to gather in person last year, Albany Medical College students participating in the Family Medicine Interest Group (FMIG) created a makeshift kitchen studio and live-streamed a virtual Cooks for a Cause workshop, teaching area children healthy recipes that they could easily make at home. The beloved Teddy Bear Hospital Day, to which hundreds of children bring their teddy bears to Albany Med for a check-up each year, was recreated through a series of online videos. Learn more.

 

After a lengthy national search, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has appointed Rainier P. Soriano, MD, as Senior Associate Dean for Curricular Affairs in Medical Education.

Board certified in Geriatric Medicine, Dr. Soriano is a tenured professor in Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Medicine, and Medical Education at Icahn Mount Sinai. Learn more.

 

When Stacey A. Watt, MD, heard that Michael E. Cain, MD, was stepping down as dean of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, she tried to think of a way to honor the man who had done so much for her and for so many others associated with the school. She settled on building him a replica of the Jacobs School building made entirely out of Lego pieces.Learn more.

 

Over the summer, the NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM) Science Technology Entry Program (STEP) partnered with two organizations that inspire young students from elementary school through high school. The Envision National Youth Leadership Forum in Medicine offers immersive career exploration and leadership development programs for high school students across top college campuses around the country. The Glen Cove Youth Bureau provides a safe and welcoming environment so that youth, families, and the entire community achieve their potential. Learn more.

 

Cortney McElroy is interested in a career in nursing, but as a young deaf adult, she didn’t know what was possible until this summer. A new internship program at UR Medicine’s Wilmot Cancer Institute introduced her to medical professionals who are deaf — and now she feels empowered to work toward that goal. Learn more.

 

New York Medical College and Landmark Medical Center in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, announced an academic affiliation designating the hospital as a teaching site for the education of NYMC’s graduate medical students. The partnership establishes a residency program in internal medicine at the medical center and will be NYMC’s first partnership of this kind in Rhode Island, growing its network of affiliated sites. Learn more.