Although the coronavirus pandemic has upended many people’s plans, it does not appear to have stopped aspiring doctors from pursuing their dreams and submitting medical school applications, some say. Medical school officials from across the U.S. say that they are receiving just as many applications this year as last year, and some med schools report that they have gotten at least 10% more applications so far this year than at the same point last year. Learn more.

In the six months since our world has transformed-the looming and persistent danger of COVID-19 has taken the United States by storm, inflicting unimaginable burdens on our national healthcare system and resulting in the devastating loss of more than 170,000 American lives, to date. Though globally, the world has adopted the “in this together” mantra, the unequal consequence and impact COVID-19 has had on marginalized communities-particularly the Black community-has been impossible to ignore.  Learn more.

CLIMB, an innovative and comprehensive diversity program at the University at Buffalo that provides intensive mentoring experiences for biosciences students from undergraduate through postdoctoral levels, has received an award from INSIGHT into Diversity magazine. The magazine’s 2020 Inspiring Programs in STEM Award honors colleges and universities that encourage and assist students from underrepresented groups to enter the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).  Learn more.

Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine’s (TouroCOM) highly successful after-school science enrichment program for high school students, MedAchieve, is the recipient of the 2020 “Inspiring Programs in STEM Award” from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. The honor is the third such award TouroCOM has received from the national publication, the oldest and largest reporting on inclusion in higher education. It also marks the second year in a row TouroCOM has received the STEM award, which celebrates colleges and universities that inspire and encourage students from underrepresented groups to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).  Learn more.

Nearly 16,000 high school, college and medical students from all over the world including Canada, Brazil, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Portugal, Puerto Rico, South Korea, and the US, have ambitious plans this summer. These students enrolled in a new virtual education forum called “BRAINterns,” hosted by the department of neurosurgery at Lenox Hill Hospital. The series, which launched July 1 and ended August 26, is geared for students interested in pursuing diverse careers in healthcare.  Learn more.

More than 60 students from New York Medical College (NYMC) and the Touro College and University System participated in the Student Workshop: The Craft of Op-Ed Writing, on August 19, presented by the NYMC Office of Public Relations. The Zoom workshop was created, amidst the nationwide protests against deep-rooted racial inequity, to empower students to use their written voice to express themselves and engage in dialogue. Learn more.

At the first-ever virtual White Coat Ceremony on Aug. 13, 140 members of the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) Class of 2024 were welcomed into the Columbia community. Each year, new medical students are cloaked in white coats and recite the Hippocratic Oath at this event. This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students participated in the ceremony’s traditions via Zoom from their homes.  Learn more.

Swarna Jeewajee was 8 years old when she lost her hearing due to complications from chronic ear infections. Yet she always felt comforted and well cared for by the healthcare professionals who treated her growing up in Quatre-Bornes, Mauritius, the island nation located off the southeast coast of Africa, as well as by the physician who restored her hearing with surgery two years ago – experiences that piqued her own interest in healing the sick. Learn more.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine welcomed a new class of 183 medical students to campus last month with a week of orientation activities that stressed values of community, diversity, and commitment to patient care. Just five months after the COVID-19 pandemic struck the Bronx, Einstein leaders created the nearly all-virtual orientation program and announced a streamlined and enhanced medical school curriculum for all classes.  Learn more.

A Haitian-American immigrant who did not have physician role models in her family, TouroCOM-Middletown student Lynn Allyssa Désiré, OMM-II, found her greatest challenge when applying to medical school was finding mentors. A winner of the 2020 Sherry R. Arnstein Minority Student Scholarship from the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, Désiré now advocates for resources – like a “mentorship app” – to facilitate networking. “The best way to recruit and retain underrepresented minority students is to show them that they are not alone in their journey,” she says.  Learn more.

Congratulations are in order for Adriana (Dree) Kavoussi and John Heard, fourth-year students in the College of Medicine, who recently were awarded “Best of Cool Ideas 2020” honors from the University of Southern California’s annual Innovations in Medical Education Conference. Learn more.

Shanti D’Souza, a graduate student in the Department of Immunology and Microbial Disease, has been awarded a 2020 Kalman/AFAR Scholarship from the American Federation for Aging Research for her research project on the biology of aging.  Learn more.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and medical student clinical rotations were canceled, Shreya Makkapati, School of Medicine Class 2021, knew she wanted to continue some form of patient care. That opportunity arose in early April when she was approached by Aishwarya Raja, a medical student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, whom she met through a group for Indian females in medicine.  Learn more.

Each year, the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) recognizes individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions to the osteopathic medical profession through leadership, excellence, achievement, and dedication. This year, the NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine Center for Global Health was selected to receive the AOA’s prestigious Strategic Team Award and Recognition (STAR Award) in honor of the Center’s efforts to advance the principles and practice of osteopathic medicine.  Learn more.

Several faculty members were recognized for their contributions to the educational life of the College, either through their teaching, mentoring of learners or the development of instructional methodology, with the annual Sosa Awards. The awards were presented at the College’s virtual commencement ceremony earlier this year to the following faculty.  Learn more.

Dr. John Leonard, an esteemed physician-scientist who specializes in lymphoma research and treatment, has been named senior associate dean for innovation and initiatives at Weill Cornell Medicine.  Dr. Leonard will lead the institution’s efforts to foster a dynamic culture of entrepreneurship and innovation and promote commercialization opportunities for inventions developed by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.  Learn more.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System today announced that Edward Chu, M.D., M.M.S., has been named director of the National Cancer Institute-designated Albert Einstein Cancer Center, vice president for cancer medicine at Montefiore Medicine, professor of medicine and of molecular pharmacology; and will hold the Carol and Roger Einiger Professorship of Cancer Medicine at Einstein. In these roles, Dr. Chu will unite Einstein and Montefiore’s cancer programs into a fully integrated research and clinical enterprise. Learn more.

As one of the most distinguished surgeons in America, Seymour I. Schwartz, M.D., edited and co-wrote the textbook used to teach generations of young doctors and led the surgical societies that shaped the profession. He also remained influential well into his oldest years by continuing to write, teach, and to commit his time to physicians in Rochester and across the globe, who honored him as a national “icon” in 2017. Schwartz, 92, died August 28, 2020, at the home of his son in St. Louis, Mo.  Learn more.

Over 70 episodes of our award-winning health education radio talk show, Well Said with Dr. Ira Nash, are available to stream instantly.  Learn more.

The Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC) at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center has been competitively renewed as a designated Comprehensive Cancer Center by the federal government’s National Cancer Institute (NCI), the largest funder of cancer research in the world. Originally funded in 1972, the HICCC gained comprehensive status in 1979. The most recent renewal marks more than 40 years since the HICCC has maintained its status as a comprehensive cancer center. Learn more.