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Spring 2010

Chironian Spring/Summer 2010

New York Medical College

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Recommended Citation New York Medical College. (2010). Chironian Spring/Summer 2010. Retrieved from https://touroscholar.touro.edu/nymc_arch_journals/61

This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the NYMC Archives Publications at Touro Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Chironian by an authorized administrator of Touro Scholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. New York Medical C o l l e g e C h i r o n i a n S p r i n g / S u mm e r 2 0 1 0

“In the continual remembrance of a glorious past, individuals and nations find their noblest inspiration.”

—Sir William Osler, Aequanimitas

1 8 6 0 – 2 0 1 0 C h i r o n i a n S p r i n g / S u mm e r 2 0 1 0

FEATURES ALUMNI NEWS

— A TIMELINE OF NEW YORK MEDICAL 22 NOURISHING THE BONDS THAT KEEP COLLEGE HISTORY THE COLLEGE STRONG by Donna E. Moriarty, M.P.H. ’04 and by Andrea Kott, M.P.H. Kimberly Gaudin de Gonzalez 25 SIMULATED PATIENTS, 1 A LETTER TO THE COMMUNITY REAL PRACTICE by Karl P. Adler, M.D. and Ralph A. O’Connell, M.D. by Lynda McDaniel

2 PROTECTING CHILDREN, 26 MILESTONES INFORMING CAREGIVERS by Marjorie Roberts 26 KEEPING FIRST RESPONDERS “COMMUNICADO” by Lynda McDaniel 6 COUNTERING CHEMICAL THREATS: THE FINE ART OF HARD SCIENCE HE’LL TAKE MANHATTAN (AGAIN) by Marjorie Roberts 28 by Lynda McDaniel

9 LYME DISEASE: LEADERS, LANDMARKS, AND LOOKING AHEAD 30 2010 COMMENCEMENT & REUNIONS by Cynthia A. Read

32 IN MEMORIAM 14 TWO FORMER PRESIDENTS PAUSE TO REFLECT by Melissa Fox Pheterson

18 EXTREME VOLUNTEERS by Andrea Kott, M.P.H.

21 LEADING EDGE: HIGHLIGHTS OF CURRENT RESEARCH The charter is signed for the Homeopathic The College contributes to The first installation Medical College of the State of New York the war effort by establishing banquet of the in New York City, located in a stylish Base Hospital #48, a unit of College’s Iota neighborhood near Gramercy Park. The Metropolitan Hospital in France Chapter of Alpha 1917 1957

1860 first session will begin in the fall of that year. that was supported by volun­ Omega Alpha is teer doctors and nurses. held in the faculty dining room of Flower and Fifth Avenue Hospitals. The Alumni Associ­ With the laying of ation is founded for the cornerstone for the “chief object a new building at of promoting the Fifth Avenue and 1938 1883 interest and extend­ 106th Street, the ing the influence of Board of Trustees the College.” The Flower Free adopts the name Surgical Hospital New York Medical opens at York College, Flower and Avenue and 63rd Fifth Avenue Hospi­

1890 Street, making the tals, to reflect the College the first merging of the three medical school in institutions. New York to own a hospital.

To help supply the Alonzo Potter Burgess Holley, need for more physi­ a Haitian émigré and a gradu­ cians during World ate of Cambridge, becomes War II, an acceler­ the first black student to grad­ The medical college ated program is uate from the College, later becomes first in the launched by Dean becoming the Haitian Consul nation to establish J.A.W. Hetrick, M.D. to the Bahamas. ’18, allowing students

1888 a scholarship pro­ gram for the exclu­ to complete the four- sive use of minority year curriculum in three years.

students. One of the 1942 Students write and produce the first issue first recipients is of The Chironian, a publication intended Geraldine Burton to “reflect as accurately as possible the Branch, who earned teaching and work done at the college.” her M.D. in 1936. 1928 1884

An affiliation agreement is signed between When the Flexner Report results in the closing of 61 substan­ the College and what would later be dard medical schools, Dean Royal S. Copeland, M.D., defends named Metropolitan Hospital, originally homeopathy, the College’s founding principle. Though the a charity hospital located on what is now institution is spared, Copeland laments, “Flexner has sought Roosevelt Island. to injure us in the eyes of the world.” 1875 1909 The Basic Sciences College researchers announce their discovery that the heart Building opens, can repair itself after a heart attack, an achievement hailed allowing medical by The New York Times as “a landmark study.” students to complete

1972 their first two years 2001 of study on the Valhalla campus. After two years of After several years of construction, the providing the seed College opens the stock for the annual The Graduate School four-story Medical flu vaccine, a College of Basic Medical Education Center, microbiology and 2001 2009 Sciences is founded, which expands immunology lab is offering study leading library and research tapped by the CDC

1963 to Master of Science space and boasts a to develop a faster- and Doctor of Phil­ state-of-the-art gross growing H1N1 seed osophy degrees in Kathleen C. Morton, anatomy laboratory vaccine during a the basic medical M.D., is recruited on the top floor. resurgence of the sciences. from Johns Hopkins swine flu. University to become

1977 president of New York Medical College, the only woman ever to hold the institu­ tion’s highest office.

The Board of Trustees signs College faculty and adminis­ an agreement with trators host “Medicine at the New York Medical Westchester County Millennium,” a major confer­ College graduates for the College to ence that drew 600 partici­ the largest class in move to Grasslands pants who came to hear its 150-year history, alongside a new eminent speakers such as awarding 383 hospital, now known Judah Folkman, Mary-Claire advanced degrees as Westchester King, Luc Montagnier, in the biomedical

Medical Center. Sherwin Nuland, and others. 2010 sciences. 1970 1999

Jane Cooke Wright, M.D., a Following the September prominent cancer researcher, The Graduate School of 11 attacks, students and is named associate dean Health Sciences opens in faculty in all three schools at the College, making her response to a growing mobilize, treating patients the highest ranked African regional and national need at Saint Vincent’s Hospital, American woman at a nation­ for public health professionals, serving as paramedics, and ally recognized medical and awards its first degrees administering grief and

institution. three years later. 2001 trauma counseling. 1967 1980

(Special thanks to the Health Sciences Library.) TO THE COMMUNITY

On April 12, 1860, William Cullen Bryant, riveting the scientific community with At the launch of our Sesquicentennial a poet and editor of the New York their discoveries; and students who Year, we selected a phrase intended Evening Post, along with a small cohort continue to astound us with the depth to sum up all that New York Medical of the some of New York City’s leading of their compassion and commitment. College has to celebrate: “Building on citizens, were granted a charter for a You will also find a timeline of our histor- the excellence of our past.” It was our new medical college, which began its ical milestones that may surprise you reputation for academic distinction that life with the rather cumbersome name, with some of our “firsts.” helped attract our new sponsor, and it The Homeo­pathic Medical College of will be the continuation of that tradition But what about tomorrow? As we were the State o­f New York in New York City. of excellence that drives us toward a drawing closer to 2010, our 150th anni- bright future. That future will be made The first class of 59 students began versary year, there was some unease more secure by benefit of the increased their studies in October of 1860, attend- within the community of faculty, students, financial resources and the exciting new ing classes in three lecture halls and a alumni and staff about the future of New synergies that will result from our part- dissection room on the second floor of York Medical College. To quote from a nership with Touro. a building at 151 East 13th Street, at the letter sent to alumni earlier this year: corner of Third Avenue. The only other “Despite its remarkable history of For that is our ultimate goal: to build on medical school in New York City at that 150 years of academic excellence, the foundation this institution has estab- time was the College of Physicians and New York Medical College has not lished over a century and a half. Through Surgeons, part of what is now Columbia been immune to the pressures [of wars, epidemics, the disintegration of University. Jacob Beakley, M.D., profes- unprecedented financial challenges financial moorings and the changing sor of surgery, was named dean of facing free-standing medical schools.] landscape of health care, the shifting the faculty, and in 1862, Bryant himself …As a result, we have been actively opinions of society and politics, we at began a 10-year term as president of seeking a sponsor who is capable of New York Medical College continue to the Board of Council—the trustees. making a significant investment in work to ensure the institution’s continu- ing growth and prosperity as a leader Anniversaries have a way of calling our future. Today I am writing to let in biomedical education, research and attention to the original intentions of the you know that we have found that public health, now and for generations founders of an institution like ours. We sponsor in Touro College.” to come. look back over the challenges that were As the chief academic and executive faced, at the seminal achievements of officers of New York Medical College, we Sincerely, central figures, noting the names of can assure you it was a difficult decision luminaries who rose at various times to make, even accompanied as it was throughout the institution’s history. We by the advice, consent and participation are proud of them—pioneers, forward of many members of this community. thinkers, leaders—men and women with We solicited input from the members Karl P. Adler, M.D. a powerful vision and a deep commit- of the corporation representing the President and Chief Executive Officer ment to humanity that drove them to Archdiocese of New York, our sponsor make New York Medical College a great since 1978. We discussed our options and lasting educational institution. at countless meetings with trustees and In this special Sesquicentennial Edition dozens of advisory groups and subcom- of the Chironian, the venerable alumni/ mittees comprising all segments of the community; and we held face-to-face Ralph A. O’Connell, M.D. university publication first published by Provost and Dean, School of Medicine students in 1884, you will meet some of meetings with faculty, staff, chairs, pro- the people who have played a key role gram directors and students. We have in carrying on our illustrious history: taken this important step with the confi- former presidents of the College and dence that our actions today will pre- leaders of the Alumni Association; serve the greatness of our past and researchers who broke new ground in ensure the future stability of New York the study of Lyme disease and are still Medical College.

Spring / Summer 2010 | 1 Protecting Children, Informing Caregivers Spring / Summer 2010 Summer / Spring | 3 Protecting Children, Informing Caregivers

By Marjorie Roberts

The Children’s Environmental Health Center has a noble mission and a hefty challenge: protecting children from environmental pollutants and toxicants by reaching out to parents, educators and advocates in the community.

If you think it’s hard to be a kid these days, try being a parent. Asthma triggers abound Letting children play outdoors exposes them to Lyme disease, A major impetus for the center came from Allen J. Dozor, M.D., West Nile virus, and seasonal allergies. Even indoors, it’s not professor of pediatrics and division chief who oversees 10 very enough to lock up household poisons or install soft corners on busy pediatric subspecialists in the Department of Pediatrics the furniture. But now there is help for parents seeking a safer Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Sleep Medicine. In coopera- environment for their young ones, and it’s also available to tion with the children’s hospital, they currently evaluate some physicians and professionals whose careers revolve around 25 new patients each week and treat more than 12,000 children children. It is the Children’s Environmental Health Center of the with asthma in one of the largest clinical treatment sites in the Hudson Valley, a resource dedicated to the physical well being nation. These children are struggling for relief of their symptoms of children that the College operates through a partnership that usually are triggered by environmental contaminants—no with Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at Westchester Medical longer simply animal dander or pollen, these triggers can be Center, and Children’s and Women’s Physicians of Westchester. toxic chemicals found in plastic toys and baby bottles or a fresh coat of Well into its second year of operation, the center was developed polyurethane used to spruce up a by four faculty members who meet monthly, yet who find the gymnasium floor. time daily to make it successful. And, unanimously, they credit the organizations whose funding gave it the necessary start. “It was not enough to target their symptoms—the cough- “By providing the grant funding we need to operate, the ing and breathing difficulties,” West­chester Community Foundation, the Alfred E. Smith says Dr. Dozor. “We had to Founda­tion and the New York State Department of Health limit exposure to what was have demonstrated leadership and foresight,” says Amy causing the airway constric- Ansehl, R.N., M.S.N., director of public health practice in tion and inflammation.” the School of Health Sciences and Practice at the College. There also were non- Ms. Ansehl is also director of community outreach and educa- clinical goals, such as tion for the center, and is executive director of the Partnership educating pediatricians for a Healthy Population, part of the school’s Institute for in private practice and Public Health. updating medical school

The great outdoors is nothing to sneeze at when an allergy to pollen leads to a full-blown asthma attack—just one of many biological threats to children that led to the creation of the Children’s Environmental Health Center of the Hudson Valley. The New York Medical College team behind the center consists of Amy Ansehl, R.N., M.S.N., Allen J. Dozor, M.D., Diane E. Heck, Ph.D., and Robert W. Amler, M.D.

Spring / Summer 2010 | 3 Dr. Dozor listens to the lungs for congestion whether he is treating asthma or cystic fibrosis. Besides overseeing 10 pulmonologists in the Department of Pediatrics Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Sleep Medicine, the professor of pediatrics is associate physician-in-chief of Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at Westchester Medical Center.

curricula so that residents and fellows were prepared to treat Dr. Dozor’s concept. Working with clinicians at the medical asthma and its autoimmune complications. Still, Dr. Dozor center and representatives from the graduate school, the two yearned to do something more than just hiring more pulmo­ pediatric specialists established the Children’s Environmental nologists, but was at a loss for how to begin. Health Center of the Hudson Valley, which started operations in September of 2008. Enter Robert W. Amler, M.D., who joined the College in 2005 as dean of the School of Public Health, now the School of “All I can say is, it’s been a match made in heaven,” says Health Sciences and Practice, and professor of public health, Dr. Dozor. “I have been incredibly lucky to have [Dr. Amler] environmental health sciences and pediatrics. Dr. Amler, a jump start the program. I never realized what a movement public health leader in the U.S. Department of Health and there was to turn environmental health into a subspecialty… Human Services (HHS), previously had established the nation- I’m the director, but Dr. Amler provides the guiding spirit.” wide network of Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units The center operates with three clinical goals: (PEHSUs). Each PEHSU, supported by federal funds from HHS and from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is • Providing consultations for children with suspected or known a highly specialized clinical facility that draws talent from exposures to environmental toxicants. multiple disciplines to evaluate and manage hazardous envi- • Offering educational programs for children, families, schools, ronmental exposures in infants, children, and adolescents. communities and government agencies that emphasize the When Dr. Dozor learned of Dr. Amler’s background—the latter importance of minimizing exposure of children to environ- had directed numerous investigations of children and adults mental toxins and pollutants. exposed to environmental contaminants when he was chief • Conducting research to study the effects of environmental medical officer at the CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances contaminants on children’s health. and Disease Registry—the two men got together to explore the options. The PEHSU model appeared to fit neatly with Research is the province of Diane E. Heck, Ph.D., an experi- enced bench scientist who is studying community exposures to environmental agents, currently at work on antidotes to bio- logical and chemical weapons. Professor and chair of the Department of Environmental Health Science in the School of Health Sciences and Practice, Dr. Heck is involved in designing the studies, a tedious but critical chore when outside funding is needed. (A story about Dr. Heck begins on page 6.) Teaching the teachers There are two physicians in the pulmonary section who are particularly involved in consulting on children’s environmental health issues—Y. Cathy Kim, M.D., associate director of the children’s health center, and Agnes Banquet, M.D., assistant director. They are attending pediatric pulmonologists who work out of the main office suite in nearby Hawthorne, N.Y., and eight outreach offices throughout the Hudson Valley. Dr. Kim recently spoke before 20 directors of childcare programs at an educational seminar of the Child Care Resources of Rockland County. Insisting that environmentally triggered diseases are

Spring / Summer 2010 | 5 Convincing educators, lawmakers and leaders of influential organizations to step up measures to protect children from environmental dangers requires the ability to present one’s case with clarity and high impact. Students are taught to use some of the same techniques employed by marketers. Recently a team of M.P.H. students practiced their “pitch” before a gathering of doctors and healthcare administrators, including key members of the Children’s Environmental Health Center.

“We are seeing more and more diseases that can be linked to environmental exposures —asthma, neurodevelopmental disorders, obesity, endocrine and sexual development disorders and cancer.” —Y. Cathy Kim, M.D.

preventable, she provided simple steps to prevent toxic expo- Ms. Ansehl reveals she is actively trying to tie in with groups sures in daycare settings by alerting parents to the dangers with a social bent, such as the Jump Start Program, and medi- of plastics, pesticides, household chemicals, and in furniture cal support agencies such as the American Lung Association, and carpets, among other perils. which have goals in common. “The children’s center is putting evidence-based research into practice, taking all the science “We are seeing more and more diseases that can be linked to and translating it to the community and not just for research environmental exposures—asthma, neurodevelopmental disor- journals. We are out there, reaching the people,” she says. ders, obesity, endocrine and sexual development disorders “It’s called feet on the street!” and cancer,” she warns. Dr. Dozor concurs: “We did very well serving patients at envi- The seminar was only one of several programs planned by ronmental risk our first year, but we need to do better. The education and outreach director Ansehl to further the center’s American Lung Association has cited Westchester’s poor air primary purpose. During its first year of operation, she informs, quality as second only to New York City’s, which is the worst. the center provided targeted information to 5,800 patients and Do you know that 35 percent of us will be diagnosed with their families, including underserved and high risk communi- asthma some time in our lifetimes? We have all kinds of plans ties. Concentrating on health care providers, there were six for the future. It is very important to continue.” educational programs presented before 230 medical and pub- lic health professionals. As for patients, physicians performed “Because of the Children’s Environmental Health Center of the 84 clinical consults specifically for environmental assessments. Hudson Valley, parents and health professionals have someone to contact if a child has been exposed to something harmful, The principals have begun to coordinate their specialties. or has unusual symptoms that might be triggered by some- Dr. Heck developed health advisory reports on two dangerous thing in the environment,” adds Dr. Amler. “It’s good to have toxicants that are potentially harmful for children, who handle experts you can call, right here in Westchester.” n and “taste” just about everything, and can absorb the chemi- cals through their skin or their mouths. The two advisories warned about cadmium, used in the manufacture of children’s jewelry, and bisphenol A, better known as BPA, a common component of plastics, and were distributed to social agencies and media to help heighten awareness of the dangers.

Spring / Summer 2010 | 5 Countering chemical threats: the f ine a r t o f h a r d s cience

By Marjorie Roberts Every now and then, life brings us to a crossroads, forcing us to choose. Such a road less traveled by is something Diane E. Heck, Ph.D., knows about.

It has been years since Diane E. Heck, Ph.D., faced her moment laboratory work, she wasn’t sure she could commit to the total of truth about whether to pursue her love of art or her love of immersion necessary to make it a career. Her options were so science. She was passionate about both, but each had its disparate they amounted to an impossible choice. The end result downside. was that Dr. Heck put her bachelor of fine arts degree on the shelf and entered the world of science, never to paint again. Should she struggle to continue her fine arts painting after she discovered a problem with color blindness? On the other hand, The second coming of Diane Heck evolved from one of those could she tolerate spending every waking moment in the labo- family situations that tie up the psyche, for better or for worse: ratory, hunting for and testing toxic drugs to find antidotes that “My mother told me to shut up [about painting] and convinced would protect against chemical warfare? Although she loved me to go for a retraining program at the University of Pennsylvania

6 | CHIRONIAN / New York Medical College Spring / Summer 2010 | 7 Diane E. Heck, Ph.D., bottom center, oversees a laboratory where they are searching for antidotes to chemical weapons of mass destruction. Her colleagues in the Department of Environmental Health Science are (continuing clockwise) Hong-Duck Kim, Ph.D., assistant professor; Miranda Lalloo, M.P.H. ’10; Maria Trabgaris, Ph.D., lecturer; and Michael Shakarjian, Ph.D., assistant professor. Not shown is Anna Metrano, Ph.D., assistant professor.

called the Post-Baccalaureate Pre-Health Program. ‘You can do whatever you want to do,’ she told me, always supportive of everything I did.” And that is how the soft- spoken scientist remembers the impetus of her journey toward a doctoral degree in pharmacology and toxicol- ogy, all of which served as a preamble to her appointment in 2007 as professor and chair of the Department of Envi­ ronmental Health Science in the School of Health Sciences and Practice at New York Medical College. These days, she is the principal investigator on a $275,547 grant from the NIH aimed at developing counter measures against chemical threats. Colleagues find Dr. Heck warm and caring, attributes that help her cope with the sinister nature of the threats on which her research is focused. “I do drug development,” she says nonchalantly, waiting for the listener to respond with a follow up as to what kind of drugs she makes. Is it a weight loss miracle, a new recreational drug? “No, no,” she smiles. ”I’m working on an antidote to sulfur mustard.” If you are old enough to remember this weapon of mass

These days, Dr. Heck is the principal investigator on a $275,547 grant from the NIH aimed at developing counter measures against chemical threats.

destruction from the era of World War I, you may wonder why she is investigating such an old drug and not, say, sarin, ricin or even anthrax. Many toxins, no cures “After all this time, from World War I on, we still have nothing to use against what actually was called mustard gas,” she advises. “Two drugs have been concocted, but as of yet, nothing has developed from their research. We do have doxycycline, a tetracycline antibiotic that is half antibiotic and half anti-blistering agent.” Dr. Heck explains that clinical trials are underway by a large pharmaceutical

 Blistering burns from mustard gas can be severe enough to be fatal, even weeks after exposure. Victims who survive have an increased risk of developing cancer in later life. Photo courtesy of Dr. Steen Christensen, Bornholm Hospital, Denmark.

6 | CHIRONIAN / New York Medical College Spring / Summer 2010 | 7 company to determine if their new drug can stop the bone marrow suppression inflicted on people exposed to sulfur mus- tard. She is prohibited from naming the drug or its manufacturer. This search for an antidote originated with the Rutgers University Research Center of Excellence under the title CounterACT, an acronym for Countermeasures Against Chemical Threats. Dr. Heck’s laboratory is a study site for the program whose primary objective is evaluating compounds for efficacy in limit- ing sulfur mustard injury. The $20 million grant that funds CounterACT comes from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke section of the National Institutes of Health. Though CounterACT has not yet produced a slam-dunk, “we have identified potential agents, devised more than 50 new chemicals and modified more than 20 existing drugs,” she points out. “The doxycycline formulations are also entering trials. It takes years and lots of money to get a drug on the market.” Perhaps one day Dr. Heck will come upon When Dr. Heck talks about how her career has progressed, those hidden paintbrushes—she admits she she confesses, “I never had a great plan. What I did have was an interest in the biochemistry of sunlight on the skin, and up never threw them away—and will resurrect came nitric oxide. You go through many twists and turns and her dormant artistic side. But for now, you find something you like that you incorporate into your own just being part of a group that is working to work…Money is important too. You have to go where there is money.” She pauses slightly and adds, “And I had three chil- defend the nation from chemical attack is dren to raise.” As yet, none has chosen a career in science, one way she will measure her own success. but her daughter Prudence has a Ph.D. in math and is consid- ered an expert in knot theory. She is doing a post-doc at Rice University in Houston. Her eldest son, Noah, is an assistant And how is their search for a sulfur mustard antidote going? prosecutor with the Monmouth County (N.J.) district attorney’s “The closest we have come to a successful product is a spray- office, and her youngest son, Kalling, is a Ph.D. candidate in on plastic impregnated with doxycycline to treat the sulfur film studies at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. mustard burns,” Dr. Heck informs. As Dr. Heck discusses her career, she keeps changing the Ubiquitous talents subject, perhaps to ensure that she gets everything in. Still, That she seems to be everywhere is an understatement. she makes light of her success when she discloses that “I was Dr. Heck works closely with students—Dr.P.H. candidates and the first person to identify the value of nitric oxide production master’s students in environmental health science. She also in the skin. My interest goes all the way back to my Ph.D. thesis. leads the research arm of the fledgling Children’s Environ­mental NO regulates growth and differentiation in healthy skin, and it’s Health Center of the Hudson Valley (see story on page 3). involved in wound healing and inflammatory skin disorders like Allen J. Dozor, M.D., professor of pediatrics and clinical public psoriasis. I was part of the second generation of nitric oxide health who directs the center, welcomes her inclusion in the researchers. My studies concentrated on the skin, but I knew small group of faculty members who oversee the new center. all the investigators from the earlier group who won the Nobel “Dr. Heck is a tremendously important member of our team,” Prize for the role of nitric oxide in cardiovascular disease.” he says. “She has done groundbreaking research unraveling Climbing the Rutgers faculty ladder produced her first job as a the biochemical pathways that link environmental toxicants and research assistant professor of pharmacology and toxicology. human disease, and she is a critical faculty member for our It also shifted her studies toward dioxin and its mechanisms students of public health. Our goal is to establish a national of action, the enzyme catalase and photocarcinogenesis. Three reputation for our center in three equally important areas— years later, Dr. Heck was ready to accept the invitation of clinical care, education and research. Diane’s contributions in Robert W. Amler, M.D., dean of the School of Health Sciences all three areas have been enormous and she really has helped and Practice, to join New York Medical College and the job put our center on the map.” she says she “loves.” Surely invention is one way to define growth and time is another. There are three research scientists assisting Dr. Heck in her Perhaps one day Dr. Heck will come upon those hidden paint- laboratory—assistant professors Anna Vetrano, Ph.D., Hong- brushes—she admits she never threw them away—and will Duck Kim, Ph.D., and Michael Shakarjian, Ph.D. They are resurrect her dormant artistic side. But for now, just being part involved in pre-clinical toxicology studies with scientists at of a group that is working to defend the nation from chemical Rutgers and perform chemistry analyses with other associates attack is one way she will measure her own success. n of Dr. Heck at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Penn.

8 | CHIRONIAN / New York Medical College Lyme Disease: Leaders, Landmarks, and LOOKING Ahead

By Cynthia A. Read

Nearly 30 years after a New York Medical College physician-researcher first met a formidable foe called Lyme disease, the College has built a global reputation for advancing understanding and treatment of the disease.

When Gary P. Wormser, M.D., diagnosed In 1985, Dr. Wormser recruited Durland believed that College researchers and his first case of Lyme disease, he could Fish, Ph.D., who set up a medical ento- clinicians had the expertise and drive not have guessed that the College was mology laboratory in nearby Armonk, to help him position the university as a about to become world-renowned for N.Y. Dr. Fish recalls, “Both [Gary and I] leader in Lyme disease research. He its expertise in the country’s most com- believed that Lyme disease was about started by enlisting Richard D. Levere, mon tick-borne infection. It was 1981, to become a significant public health M.D., then chairman of the Department and the spiral-shaped bacteria, or spiro- problem in the region because I, as an of Medi­cine, to develop a Lyme disease chetes, dubbed Borrelia burgdorferi, had entomologist, knew the prevalence of program that would be based in the just been identified as the cause of Lyme infection in ticks and he, as an infectious department’s Division of Infectious disease—and the tiny deer ticks known disease clinician, knew the outcome of Diseases with Dr. Wormser at the helm. to carry the infectious agent were just infection in his patients.” The unlikely The program grew slowly, and in 1989, beginning to burgeon in Westchester. pair of scientists, who agree that at first using funds raised through targeted they could scarcely understand what efforts by Dr. Connolly, the College was Now, some 29 years and nearly 200 the other was talking about, became able to offer seed money for small Lyme research grants later, the name of New lifelong friends and collaborators, even disease research projects to attract new York Medical College has become syn- after Dr. Fish accepted a position at Yale researchers. onymous with many of the most impor- University, where he is now professor of tant advances in the research, diagnosis One of the proposals came from Ira epidemiology of microbial diseases in and treatment of Lyme disease. Schwartz, Ph.D., then a professor of the School of Public Health. Like other physicians in the region in But at New York Medical College, more the early 1980s, Dr. Wormser began needed to be seeing more and more patients with a done. John J. tick-borne ailment that came with flu-like Connolly, symptoms and a characteristic bull’s-eye Ed.D., who rash, signs of an emerging infectious was then disease that had a lot of doctors and president of public health officials very worried about the College, its virulence and pervasiveness.

Ixodes scapularis, commonly known as the deer tick, has wrought havoc in the Northeastern United States over the past 30 years. As the primary vector for Lyme disease, it also carries parasites that transmit babesiosis, human granulocytic anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis and Borrelia burgdorferi.

8 | CHIRONIAN / New York Medical College Spring / Summer 2010 | 9 The clinic was intended as a one-summer experiment. But that first evening, a dozen patients were waiting for the ribbon-cutting to be over so they could be treated.

biochemistry and molecular biology, who had learned about Lyme disease after his wife had gotten a rather nasty insect bite on a hike in the woods. “Her doctor said it might be Lyme disease—something I’d never heard of,” Dr. Schwartz, now chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, recalls, “so I went to the library and read about it. Several days later I heard that research fund- ing was available for a molecular biologist wanting to work on Lyme disease. I thought the coincidence too providential to ignore.” By 1990, more than a dozen researchers were engaged in the study and treatment of Lyme disease, and today scores of faculty, research associates, postdoctoral and research fellows and graduate students comprise the teams of principal investiga- tors who routinely secure NIH or other funding to study Lyme and related tick-borne infectious diseases. From field to patient to public In the mid-1980s, while Dr. Fish and his team were dragging fields with white cloths to collect deer ticks for their research, people who suspected they might have Lyme disease were crowding doctors’ offices and emergency rooms. In 1989, Dr. Wormser was authorized by the commissioner of hospitals to start an evening walk-in Lyme clinic in Westchester County Medical Center’s ambulatory care space after it closed for the day. The clinic was intended as a one-summer experiment, and no one knew quite what to expect when it opened. But that first evening, a dozen patients were already lined up and waiting for the ribbon-cutting to be over so they could be treated. The clinic was off and running. Throughout that summer, the clinicians saw an average of 58 people each evening, 5 days a week. Adding a patient load of several hundred to a practice that could only be conducted after hours was not something Dr. Wormser had signed up for. Believing that clinical research was a key component to stemming the rampant spread of the disease, he insisted on making the clinic do double duty as a source for clinical research studies as well—at the time, a unique approach for a disease clinic. His stand paid off. Now in its 22nd year, the clinic has provided the basis for an untold number of research studies. As the College’s Lyme disease research program continued growing, President Connolly saw the need for increased public

Lyme disease researchers Robert Nadelman, M.D., Ira Schwartz, Ph.D., Gary P. Wormser, M.D., and John Nowakowski, M.D., along with Raymond Dattwyler, M.D. (inset) and other New York Medical College scientists, have published seminal studies on nearly every aspect of Lyme disease and other tick-borne infections.

Continued on page 12.

10 | CHIRONIAN / New York Medical College Felipe C. Cabello, M.D. (right foreground), leads a team that studies the genetic aspects of Lyme disease. They are, from left: Larisa Ivanova, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow, Harriett Harrison, research technician, Henry P. Godfrey, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pathology, and Alexandra Tomova, M.D., Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow.

The Molecular Labyrinth

The deer tick infected with the spirochete Together they are working to identify, that causes Lyme disease is so small as characterize and develop novel genetic to be almost invisible when it is attached and in vitro systems to better understand to its human host. But to understand how the biological functions of Borrelia genes. Borrelia causes its damage, and to have Of particular interest are those genes that any hope of treating or even preventing enable the spirochete to escape the natu- these effects, one must look even closer. ral defenses of its hosts and so cause As Felipe C. Cabello, M.D., professor of infection, as well as the interactions with microbiology and immunology, explains it, the tissue environment that are involved “Today our understanding comes from in causing damage in the acute phase of unraveling the genetic thread and follow- Lyme disease, its evasion of the immune ing the trail from gene to protein, protein system, and its persistence if the initial to function, function to infection, and infection is untreated. finally from infection to disease. By con- Dr. Cabello and his collaborators are necting these entities to one another and creating genetic libraries that will provide back again, through the molecular laby- the basis for identifying a large number rinth, we have the power to inactivate of mutant genes. Down the road, under- genes, change bacteria, and understand standing these genes could lead to the genetically how infection occurs.” development of better antibiotics and a Dr. Cabello has studied many disease- truly effective vaccine. causing bacteria, but has focused on the They are also seeking to create new Borrelia genes since he received some of genetic and immunochemical tools for New York State’s first funding for Lyme studying Borrelia burgdorferi and analyz- disease research in the early 1990s. In ing the biological determinants of the 2009, he received NIH stimulus funding pathogenesis of Lyme disease. These for his study, “Regulated Expression of would build on the many tools already B. burgdorferi Virulence Genes,” collabo- developed in the Cabello laboratory, tools rating with Henry P. Godfrey, M.D., Ph.D., that have become critical to studies not professor of pathology, Stuart A. Newman, only at the College but for researchers at Ph.D., professor of cell biology and anat- other institutions studying the insidious omy, and his department chairman, Ira spirochete. Schwartz, Ph.D. —Cynthia A. Read

Spring / Summer 2010 | 11 Continued from page 10. understanding, as well as fundraising co-authored by Dr. Fish, appearing to support research. In 1991 he started in 1988 in the American Journal of the American Lyme Disease Foundation, Epidemiology. The numerous firsts and which was originally aimed at raising landmark achievements have estab- seed money for Lyme disease research- lished much of what is now known ers (a boon that enabled Dr. Schwartz about the disease process and its treat- to secure his first NIH grant to study ment, about strategies for prevention, Lyme). The foundation continues to and about Borrelia burgdorferi and the provide reliable, scientifically accurate ticks that carry it. information for patients, the medical It was College scientists who demon- community and government agencies, strated that a single dose of doxycycline although it no longer raises funds. after a tick bite will prevent Lyme, that Teamwork and collaboration a 10-day treatment is as effective for From the beginning, teamwork and col- early infection as a 20-day treatment, laboration across disciplines have been and that ceftri­axone is effective against hallmarks of the College’s research pro- late Lyme (Dattwyler). They elucidated gram. In addition to Dr. Wormser and how the disease-causing spirochetes Dr. Schwartz, key members of the team spread through the human bloodstream now include professor of microbiology to cause damage in the body at sites and immunology Felipe C. Cabello, distant from the initial tick bite (Wormser, Back in the microbiology lab, the genetic M.D., professors of medicine Raymond Schwartz, Nadelman). They published manipulation of B. burgdorferi has been Dattwyler, M.D. and Robert Nadelman, a critical appraisal of “chronic Lyme an ongoing source of breakthroughs by M.D., and associate professor of medi- disease” in the New England Journal of Drs. Schwartz and Cabello. They were cine John Nowakowski, M.D. Over Medicine, and concluded that a second the first to prepare Borrelia microarrays, the years, the list has included other episode of Lyme’s hallmark bull’s-eye experimental tools for measuring which scientists, from both basic and clinical rash is likely from a second tick bite— genes are active when the Borrelia are departments, who have helped advance a recurrent infection unrelated to the in ticks and then in the bloodstream global understanding of the disease. original one (Wormser, Nadelman). of infected humans. They introduced “For all the discussion these days about genetic markers and reporter genes, In 2002, Dr. Wormser was asked to run trans­lational research,” says Dr. Schwartz, and described genes that are important the International Conference on Lyme “this is one area where New York in the ability of the Borrelia to escape Borreliosis and Other Tick-Borne Medical College has a clear, strong link the natural defenses of its mammalian Diseases in New York City, cementing between the bench and the bedside. hosts. They also developed an in vitro the College’s reputation as a leader in The result is an extraordinarily produc- tissue model of Borrelia infection, as Lyme research. In 2005, Dr. Dattwyler tive environment.” He adds, “Working well as a method to “type” strains of was a key participant in developing the with Gary Wormser has been the best Borrelia, which they used to show that CDC’s diagnostic guidelines, and the thing that ever happened to my career. different strains had varying capacities following year, Dr. Wormser headed the Together we have authored 51 papers to cause more serious disease. Infectious Diseases Society of America since 1992. That’s a very fruitful (IDSA) expert panel that updated clinical Improving diagnosis, preventing partnership.” practice guidelines on treating Lyme infection Landmark achievements disease. [Ed. Note: In late April, an Nationwide, and in Europe as well, many A PubMed search for studies of tick- independent review panel appointed to more scientists are now studying Lyme related infections by College authors settle an investigation by the attorney disease. This creates more ideas, more yields 176 results, with the first article, general of Connecticut issued a report discoveries, more opportunities for col- “Prevalence of Ixodes dammini near confirming the validity of the 2006 IDSA laboration—and more competition for the homes of Lyme disease patients treatment guidelines for Lyme disease.] increasingly scarce research dollars. in Westchester County, New York”

12 | CHIRONIAN / New York Medical College In 1988, Durland Fish, Ph.D., associate professor and director of the Medical Entomology Laboratory in the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine at New York Medical College, was the subject of a 4-page article in Sports Illustrated that warned hikers and outdoors enthusiasts against an insidious infection that could be spread by the bite of an insect no bigger than a pinpoint. Dr. Fish, who roamed the woods and fields of Westchester to collect ticks for his studies, became a modern day prophet, warning of the dangers of the insect and the disease, which were climbing toward epidemic proportions by the late 1980s.

(Photo reprinted with permission.)

Both improved diagnosis and novel Dr. Cabello also received ARRA funding public health concern. This gives College methods of preventing infection are the to support his research on the biological researchers, clinicians and diagnostic targets of studies now underway at the functions of Borrelia genes. (See side- experts much more important work still College, with molecular genetics being bar on page 11.) to do, building on the foundation already a key tool. established. Of course, preventing infection is an Dr. Schwartz, who has two long-standing optimal solution. The first human vac- Dr. Wormser sums up by saying, NIH grants, recently received supple- cine, Lymerix, developed by SmithKline “Working in the Lyme disease field has mental funding through the American Beecham, was pulled from the market been an exciting and many-faceted Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, in 2002 because of poor sales. But fur- experience. I feel privileged to have also known as stimulus funding). He ther back in the Lyme disease chain is been able to contribute toward a better and his colleagues are studying how the an opportunity to control or eliminate understanding of the infection.” He human immune system responds to the infection in the mammalian hosts might even be scanning the horizon for infection with Borrelia. “We were the first for Borrelia. Dr. Dattwyler is currently the “next big thing” in tick-borne disease. group to show that Borrelia induces an working on an oral mouse bait vaccine, Besides Lyme, the deer tick transmits innate immune response through inter- which would eliminate Lyme at the a rickettsia-like infection called HGA action with certain molecules on the source—in the ticks that bite humans— (ehrlichiosis), which was first recognized surface of immune system cells. We and would be safer for the environment in Westchester County in 1995, one are exploring whether we can use this than pesticides. year after its initial discovery in the human response to improve diagnostic Midwest. More recently, there has Looking ahead tests,” he says. He believes that the been the emergence in Westchester While Lyme disease is treatable in any application of molecular genetics and of babesiosis—a potentially lethal infec- stage, it is especially desirable to inter- genomics to a study of the bacteria, the tion transmitted by the deer tick. “So,” vene early, thus reducing the develop- tick, and humans could eventually lead says Dr. Wormser, “the story of New ment of later complications such as to novel vaccine targets. Dr. Schwartz York Medical College and tick-borne facial palsy, meningitis, carditis or arthri- also has a study in collaboration with infections is far from finished.” n tis. But as long as the incidence of Lyme Dr. Wormser to create a more accurate disease continues to grow in the U.S. Lyme disease test based on genetics, and Europe, it remains a significant rather than the presence of antibodies.

Spring / Summer 2010 | 13 Two former presidents pause to reflect By Melissa Fox Pheterson

14 | CHIRONIAN / New York Medical College Spring / Summer 2010 | 15 One rescued New York Medical College from financial crisis, laying the groundwork for excellence. The other built on this legacy to achieve global acclaim and success in serving the community. Both men will be remembered for their visionary leadership, their extraordinary commitment, and for the unique stamp each has left on the College.

John J. Connolly, Ed.D., President, 1981–1992 It was 1981, and New York Medical College was in a situation that could best be described as dire. The divestiture of Flower and Fifth Avenue Hospitals and a costly move from New York City to Westchester County had left the institution strapped and teetering on the brink of financial collapse. The university needed a leader who could turn it around, then build it up, ensuring that the College not only survived, but thrived. The Board of Trustees turned to John J. Connolly, Ed.D., a man whose track record and business savvy were well known. Was Dr. Connolly, in his third year as a trustee, ready to undertake the challenge of a successful reversal of the College’s fortunes? “I knew I could make a difference for the College, a magnificent institution with a rich history. It would have been a shame to see it go under,” he says. “I saw it as a wonderful, exciting challenge.” Dr. Connolly drew confidence from his tenure as president of Dutchess Community College, and as chairman of the board of St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie, where he’d already led a successful turnaround.

14 | CHIRONIAN / New York Medical College Spring / Summer 2010 | 15 “Everyone wanted the institution to survive and prosper. We all knew it was of paramount importance to not only save New York Med, but also to make it a superior medical school.” —John J. Connolly, Ed.D.

technology and administrative support Joining forces for the cultivation and recruitment of The next step on the path to excellence, top-notch basic science researchers. he says, was for the College to capi­ Once the commitment was made to talize on its faculty by bringing them raising the profile of research, he says, together in a collegial, supportive atmo- The lynchpin, he explains today, was “fundraising followed easily.” sphere, one that would help foster ideas making the College financially stable, for new approaches in medicine. To that “Our alumni, board members, people in and building from there on its tradition end, Dr. Connolly was the guiding force the community were ready and willing,” of excellence. Fortunately, he found behind the College’s institutes and Dr. Connolly recalls. “It was really just a himself flanked by superb leaders: for- centers that united faculty from different matter of putting the programs in place mer trustee Emmett O’Sullivan, chair of departments with specific areas of to give donors opportunities to support the finance committee, Thomas Martin, expertise. “We created [the Centers of the school. Success breeds success.” Esq., the College’s general counsel Excellence] to give opportunities for col- “who really knew how to straighten out Applying funds strategically, the univer- laboration among faculty with common legal entanglements,” he says, and John sity was able to expand its facilities (one interests,” he says. Castle, chairman of the Board of Trustees, boon was the transfer of buildings that New areas of expertise began to emerge, a colleague whose friendship would would serve as student housing to including medical ethics (later called bio- seed the ground for Castle-Connolly College ownership, at no cost), promote ethics) and the study of Lyme disease. Medical Ltd., a medical resource enter- research and bolster student financial The latter came about through a fortu- prise where Dr. Connolly is now presi- aid. “It’s inspiring how much alumni itous meeting of minds among infectious dent. The new president also reached have supported the school,” says disease specialists, entomologists, rheu- out to county executives, including for- Dr. Connolly. mer lieutenant governor Alfred DelBello, matologists and molecular biologists, in By the mid-1980s, the College had who had a keen interest in bringing what amounted to ground zero for the begun to turn around, enjoying great Westchester its first medical school. little known infectious disease that was progress in the size and stature of its beginning to spread throughout the “Everyone wanted the institution to sur- faculty, quality and amount of funded northeast, especially in New York and vive and prosper,” Dr. Connolly says. “We research, caliber of students, and the Connecticut. may not have always agreed on every- strength of its endowment. With the “Here we were in [Westchester County,] thing, but we all knew it was of paramount institution returning to sound financial the epicenter of this emerging epi­ importance to not only save this place, footing, Dr. Connolly turned his attention demic known as Lyme disease,” says but also to make it a superior medical to advancing its mission of critical care. Dr. Connolly. “We set up an institute for school.” That resolve never wavered, In the aftermath of Flower and Fifth treatment, diagnosis and research, an even when President Connolly was Avenue Hospitals’ being converted to a area in which the College could and compelled to raise tuition by 40 percent. specialty hospital with which the College did become a global leader—which it was affiliated but no longer owned, he More of everything still is to this day.” (See story on page 9.) helped the university build its network Equally vital, of course, was increasing Eventually that center became the Lyme of affiliated hospitals, expanding it to revenue—and that meant more dona- Disease Diagnostic Center with West­ 35 hospitals and healthcare facilities tions, a larger endowment, and signifi- chester Medical Center, and Dr. Connolly that ranged throughout the tri-state cant increases in research funding. established the American Lyme Disease area. “Our hospital affiliations meant Foundation to fund research there. “One thing I learned quickly was how we could offer a tremendous variety of “The nation looked to us for leadership,” the reputation of a medical school is training experiences for medical students, he says. based on rigorous research,” says residents and fellows,” he asserts. Dr. Connolly, who made a point of assigning funds to develop the space,

16 | CHIRONIAN / New York Medical College Spring / Summer 2010 | 17 “In just a few years, we moved from a largely northeastern population to enrolling students from 44 states. We rose to the top tier in terms of the caliber of our students.” —Harry C. Barrett, D.Min., M.P.H.

Harry C. Barrett, D.Min., M.P.H., President and Chief Executive Officer, 1992–2006

For the 14 years he served as president Reputation building of New York Medical College, Harry C. Dr. Barrett recognized the importance Barrett, D.Min., M.P.H., was the chief of research to an institution’s reputation, from all over the country and burnishing architect of what was described in the and understood the need for enhanced the university’s reputation for student 2002 annual report as “perhaps the 10 research facilities and faculty resources. quality. “We realized we were doing a most progressive and productive years in During his tenure, research grants dou- fundamentally good job but in a limited the history of New York Medical College.” bled, and the College raised more than geographic region. We had no national $60 million in total, including the univer- profile,” Dr. Barrett says. He led initia- From his first days in the corner office, sity’s first $1 million, $2 million and $5 tives that focused the entire College Dr. Barrett began to restructure the uni- million gifts. He played a key role in the community on ambitious goals, such as versity with the intention of building its building of the first new structure on securing the first university-wide accred- reputation and improving its research campus in more than a decade: the itation by the Middle States Commission profile. Aided by the leadership of four-story, 55,000-square-foot Medical on Higher Education, and achieving full Catherine S. Halkett, M.P.H. ’87, then Education Center. The $33 million proj- accreditation by the Liaison Committee director of university planning, he ect provided new instructional space on Medical Education, a key indicator of promptly initiated the first comprehen- for medical students, increased the excellence among medical schools. sive, university-wide strategic planning research footprint by 18,000 square initiative and a top-to-bottom financial Top tier feet, doubled the size of the library and reengineering, one with unprecedented To broaden student diversity, he made added a state-of-the-art gross anatomy breadth and far-reaching impact. the decision to decline state funding that laboratory, underwritten by alumni fund- required the College to accept a high In a nod to his predecessor, Dr. Barrett raising efforts, on the top floor. observes, “Dr. Connolly left me a legacy percentage of New York State residents. Dr. Barrett’s tenure coincided with seis- of strong financial stability. The reengi- “I wanted us to be free to encourage mic shifts in medicine, including the race neering allowed us to get a real sense of the best and brightest from all over the to sequence the human genome. Within the institution’s mission, and to determine country to attend,” he says. “In just a two years of becoming president, he the strategic direction, long-term, of the few years, we moved from a largely signaled his strong support of biotech- three schools. And the end result was to northeastern population to enrolling nology, an industry that was beginning have the entire New York Medical College students from 44 states. This radically to flourish throughout Westchester and community aligned behind our goals.” changed the nature and position of the tri-state area. He established a The strategic plan, which was regularly the medical school, and we rose to the Technology Development Division to updated throughout his tenure, resulted top tier in terms of the caliber of our cultivate collaborations between univer- in significant increases in fundraising students.” To build on that momentum, sity researchers and biotechnology and research grants, improvements to Dr. Barrett worked closely with Julie companies. It was a move that would buildings and grounds, and steady Kubaska, M.S., then director of alumni eventually result in dozens of collabo­ improvement in student performance relations, to cultivate relations with rative partnerships, helping to position on every scale of quality measurement. alumni. He also founded the President’s the College as a prime mover in the Circle and the President’s National As the College adjusted to its new sta- burgeoning industry and revitalizing its Advisory Council to draw in donors who tus as a university, Dr. Barrett appointed role in the corporate community. would contribute their expert counsel as Ralph A. O’Connell, M.D., to serve as well as their financial backing. With a goal of refining the institution’s provost, bringing the medical school brand, Dr. Barrett set about creating a and the two graduate schools under the true intellectual center, recruiting faculty auspices of a chief academic officer. Continued on inside back cover.

16 | CHIRONIAN / New York Medical College Spring / Summer 2010 | 17 Extreme Volunteers

By Andrea Kott, M.P.H.

IF SAVING THE WORLD HAPPENS ONE STEP AT A had struck four months ear- lier. The physical destruc- TIME, THEN SEAN KIVLEHAN, A THIRD-YEAR M.D./M.P.H. tion, human suffering and lack of basic healthcare STUDENT, IS MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. services and supplies made the streets of Hell’s Kitchen seem well-off paramedic textbooks, and earning Sean Kivlehan, by comparison. Class of 2011 enough to afford an apartment in a Manhattan high-rise. “In America you call 911 and an ambu- Unlike other voyagers on a similar path, lance shows up five minutes later,” Sean Kivlehan needs no compass. Kivlehan knew a bachelor’s degree Kivlehan says. “In Kashmir, people die Long before he ever thought of going and a stronger foundation in science of diarrhea and strep throat. I felt so to medical school or getting a degree would help him advance his career useless as a paramedic. I didn’t know in public health, he knew where he was and, at age 23, he enrolled at Hunter anything about water sanitation or vac- headed: working as a paramedic to College in New York City. Impressed cinations.” The day after he returned to “improve the greater good of society.” with his aptitude, his professors urged New York, he decided to take the MCAT After trips to earthquake-ravaged him to apply to medical school. He was exams to qualify for medical school. Pakistan and most recently, Haiti, intrigued, yet daunted. Luckily, life made Kivlehan knew that having a joint the decision for him. Meanwhile, paramedics with whom degree in medicine and public health Kivlehan had worked in Pakistan were In 2006, balancing a 19-credit course would allow him to make a more global attracting media attention, first from load and full-time ambulance work, contribution. “Emergency care is just 60 Minutes, then from People maga- Kivlehan joined a group of paramedics a very small piece of a larger health- zine. Donations starting pouring in, on a three-week trip to Kashmir in care system and what needs to be and they founded NYC Medics, Pakistan, where a devastating earthquake done in the world,” he says. “I want to improve the healthcare system for the world and I felt I couldn’t do that as a paramedic.” There was a time when being a para- medic was all Kivlehan wanted. His passion helped him become an emer- gency medical technician (EMT) the summer after high school, and within a few years was working full-time in the Bronx and later in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen. He was teaching advanced CPR and emergency life support to residents, nurses and medi- cal staff at New York-Presbyterian Hospital; running the EMT education program at Saint Vincent’s Hospital; co-authoring, editing and reviewing

(Background Photo by Sean Kivlehan.)

18 | CHIRONIAN / New York Medical College Spring / Summer 2010 | 19 a not-for-profit 501 C3 with a board of see rubble around every corner, to to return this summer and, once he directors and an international cyber- see arms and legs sticking out of col- earns his M.D./M.P.H., to be part of the network of volunteers. The group now lapsed buildings, to smell dead bodies. larger public health picture there and comprises EMTs, paramedics, nurses, It’s frightening how quickly we accept elsewhere in the world. He doesn’t physician assistants, public health spe- these things as normal.” expect his joint degree to afford him a cialists and physicians who respond to Manhattan high-rise or the easy ability Kivlehan, who is considering residen- disasters all over the world. The most to repay his student loans, but it will cies in surgery and emergency medi- harrowing volunteer trip in recent months position him to do his small part in sav- cine, might have stayed on in Haiti was a visit to earthquake-ravaged Haiti, ing the world. “I never want to be told were it not for his studies, his ongoing where Kivlehan and his colleagues that I don’t understand or I don’t have paramedic duties and his part-time job spent 10 days in January. “When adequate training or am not qualified to with a textbook publisher. He hopes something happens we put the word push something through,” he says. out,” Kivlehan says. “The organization focuses on immediate solutions: reduc- ing fractures, debriding wounds, deliv- “The greatest part about living in the ering babies. So that’s what we did.” Within two days of the Haiti earthquake, Western world is that you grow up NYC Medics arrived with $30,000 in believing in yourself and your dreams.” donations, along with medical and sur- gical supplies, tents, food and water. That’s how Vedika Nehra was raised: “The strangest thing,” Kivlehan says, “was how quickly it became normal to believing that she could turn her ideas about helping people into reality.

Vedika Nehra, Class of 2010

Having such encouragement, as well as the means to pursue her dreams, is a privilege that children in developing countries rarely experience. Born to a family of crop farmers in the rural state of Haryana in India, Nehra knows this firsthand. “I’ve seen both sides,” says the fourth-year medical student, whose father’s work as a botanist moved the family all across the globe: first to Saskatchewan, Canada, then to Melbourne, Australia, during her middle school years, and finally to St. Louis, Mo., where she attended the (Background Photo by Vedika Nehra.)

18 | CHIRONIAN / New York Medical College Spring / Summer 2010 | 19 Since launching the foundation, Nehra and the handful of medical, public health and pharmacology students who have joined her have been working to raise $4,000 for books and $3,000 for medical supplies.

University of Missouri-Columbia and She raised a little money, filled a couple Since launching the foundation, Nehra earned her undergraduate degree in of suitcases with new and gently-used and the handful of medical, public biochemistry and creative writing. art supplies donated by the College health and pharmacology students community. She brought them to the who have joined her have been work- “When I was teaching in India three village in Haryana where her extended ing to raise $4,000 for books and years ago, I realized that most of my family still lives. “My students in India $3,000 for medical supplies that she rural students had never been asked had never seen construction paper, plans to bring to the clinic—a separate what they would like to be when they and only the oldest ones had desks,” room on the side of her grandfather’s grow up,” she says. “Government Nehra recalls. What they needed was, house—when she returns this summer. schools in rural India are in shambles she says, “a place to explore their and a proper education has become It may not sound like much, she says, thoughts, ideas and ambitions.” difficult. Children at a very young age “but for every dollar I get, we can buy were becoming jaded by school and Haryana, like much of India, lacks doc- two or three books and several packets no longer believed in their own poten- tors, nurses and basic medical care. of medical supplies.” And every child, tial. They had dreams just as I did The need is urgent, given the region’s parent and grandparent she reaches when I was a child, but few resources prevalence of infectious and water- represents another small step toward to achieve them.” borne diseases as well as many non- a better life. communicable diseases typical in Hoping to reach those children, Nehra “I have two homes, India and America,” Western countries. In addition, many started a not-for-profit organization she says, “and I have one dream, to would-be physicians decide to go dedicated to providing health and edu- be able to provide for the underserved abroad to attend medical school, or cation assistance to rural communities. in both countries. Our India project is emigrate to the United States or Europe The Nehra-Savent Foundation, named just the first step of many that need to after finishing medical school in India. for her paternal and maternal grand- be taken.” n parents, is currently raising funds to “In my state in India there isn’t a single support two projects that will benefit child psychiatrist,” says Nehra, who six medically underserved villages in begins an unusual three-part residency Haryana: a clinic to provide free pri- this summer in pediatrics, adult and mary health care and education, and child psychiatry at Rhode Island a children’s library at the local public Hospital in Providence. “I chose the school, which serves approximately triple board program because I want 600 kindergarteners through twelfth to be a physician of the body and the graders. mind. In underserved areas, just as anywhere, mental health is just as Nehra started the foundation in October important as physical health. The pri- 2009 after an earlier experience in mary difference is that it is difficult to Haryana had convinced her to do more. treat the mind without first taking care It was 2006 and she had just finished of the body’s basic needs.” her first year of medical school. Capable of providing only minimal medical care, she decided to offer what she could.

20 | CHIRONIAN / New York Medical College Spring / Summer 2010 | 21 Leading Edge H ighlights of C urrent R esearch

No such thing as a “safe” Researchers make gains in Mushroom may shrink bladder cigarette? predicting suicidal behavior and prostate tumors Using the same technique they devel- How can you tell if a patient who has Mushrooms continue to grow their oped to document the harmful effects suicidal thoughts is at imminent risk to reputation as cancer fighting agents of tobacco products, New York Medical act on them? A New York Medical among other health benefits, most College researchers have found that College expert on suicide has developed recently from research conducted by cigarettes made without tobacco or a method for predicting when a person is Sensuke Konno, Ph.D., associate pro- nicotine may be more carcinogenic at acute risk of killing herself. Researcher fessor of urology at New York Medical because they actually induce more Herbert Hendin, M.D., a clinical pro- College. Published in the British Journal extensive DNA damage than tobacco fessor of psychiatry at the College who of Urology, the study reveals that the products. The technique has been heads a nonprofit organization called maitake mushroom can shrink bladder awarded U.S. patent No. 7,662,565. Suicide Prevention Inter­national, has and prostate tumors by as much as revealed the results of using a verbal 75 percent. Previous research had sug- Using laser scanning cytometry (LSC) instrument that can predict acute risk gested they can cut the risk of breast technology to measure DNA damage for suicidal behavior with greater accu- cancer by two-thirds. response to the smoke from commer- racy than ever before. cially available tobacco- and nicotine- The research team had used tiny free cigarettes, the research team, led by Dr. Hendin’s team studied 283 veterans amounts of concentrated maitake Zbigniew Darzynkiewicz, M.D., Ph.D., at the Michael DeBakey VA Medical extract before, but it was effective only professor of pathology and medicine, Center in Houston, Tex. The men were in high doses. Maitakes, which can expected to find the alternative products primarily outpatients and not selected grow to 20 inches across, are common were less hazardous than regular for being at risk for suicide. Using an in Chinese and Japanese cooking. They tobacco cigarettes. However, their data instrument known as the Affective States have also been used to treat blood suggest exposing cells to smoke from Questionnaire (ASQ), investigators were pressure and liver disease. In Dr. Konno’s tobacco- and nicotine-free cigarettes able to identify patients at acute risk study, it was also combined with a tiny leads to formation of double-strand DNA (within three months) of suicide with more amount of interferon, apparently also breaks (DSBs). Since DSBs are poten- accuracy and fewer false positives than effective only at high doses. tially carcinogenic, the data indicate that were found in previous studies using But when maitakes and interferon were smoking tobacco- and nicotine-free cig- conventional assessment instruments. combined at the low dose, the research- arettes is at least as hazardous as those The ASQ was developed in an earlier ers found that the growth of bladder containing tobacco and nicotine. study of patients who committed suicide cancer cells was suppressed by 75 per- The authors conclude that their method- while in treatment, and measures the cent. The fungus acts in a similar way ology to assess the potential carcino- presence of intense emotional states, to certain cancer drugs which block genic properties of tobacco smoke can such as anxiety, rage, desperation, the body’s production of the hormone be applied to evaluate the effects of cig- abandonment, loneliness, hopeless- estrogen. The researchers believe the arettes and cigarette surrogate products ness, self-hatred, guilt and humiliation. use of the maitake mushroom may help on human health, and might serve as These states, described as intolerable improve the quality of life for cancer tools for regulatory agencies such as and uncontrollable, often led to patients patients by reducing the dose of con- the Food and Drug Administration or, expressing fear they were “falling apart.” ventional therapies. in the case of environmental smoke, by Just before taking their own lives, these “Synergistic Potentiation of Interferon Activity with the Environmental Protection Agency. patients averaged more than three times Maitake Mushroom D-Fraction on Bladder Cancer the number of intense affects than com- “DNA Damage Response Induced by Exposure of Cells.” British Journal of Urology, April 2010. Online at parably depressed nonsuicidal patients. Human Lung Adenocarcinoma Cells to Smoke from http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/ The ASQ scores of those patients were Tobacco- and Nicotine-Free Cigarettes,” Cell Cycle, 122590057/PDFSTART high enough to correctly predict their June 2010 (Volume 9, Issue 11). Online at suicidal behavior. http://www.landesbioscience.com/journals/cc/article/ JorgensenCC9-11.pdf. “Role of Intense Affects in Predicting Short-term Risk for Suicidal Behavior: A Prospective Study.” The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, Volume 198, Number 3, March 2010. Abstract available online at http://tinyurl.com/2b2749t.

20 | CHIRONIAN / New York Medical College Spring / Summer 2010 | 21 Julie Kubaska, M.S., left, Vice President of Development and Alumni Relations, knows alumni better than most— so well, in fact, she could almost be an honorary alumna herself. She serves side by side with current and former presidents of the Alumni Association: Saverio S. Bentivegna, M.D. ’50, Louis Fierro, M.D. ’60, Eileen Dieck, M.D. ’86, Joseph Dursi, M.D. ’59, and Michael Antonelle, M.D. ’62 (inset)

22 | CHIRONIAN / New York Medical College Spring / Summer 2010 | 23 Nourishingthe bondsthaTkeepthe collegestrong By Andrea Kott, M.P.H.

Of his four years as president of the New York Medical College The Alumni Association Alumni Association, Joseph F. Dursi, M.D. ’59—with notice- able pride—recalls securing a 99-year lease for the Alumni serves as a two-way Center and raising the funds to renovate it. “It was a burned- out building when we first got it,” Dr. Dursi says of the struc- support system between ture, which is owned by the County of Westchester. “The fire the College and its alumni, department used to use it to practice fire drills. They used to “The Alumni set fires to rooms and jump out the windows, so the place Association and it provides a means of was really a horrible mess.” serves as a two-way sup- fostering relationships. After a vigorous campaign of letter-writing, chapter meetings port system and fundraising, the Alumni Association raised more than between the —Eileen Dieck, M.D. ’86 $400,000 to gut and remodel the building, now a stately College and home base for medical school alumni meetings and celebra- its alumni, and tions. “We did this all on our own,” says Dr. Dursi, associate it provides a means of fostering relationships. This is dean for continuing medical education and director of health instrumental in creating a lasting bond, that sense of services, who led the organization from 1981 to 1985. “The family, of history, and a sense of belonging that has been organization is rightfully proud of that achievement and I was very important to the College,” says current president, Eileen glad to be instrumental in making it happen.” Dieck, M.D. ’86. Calling students “future alumni,” she adds, “It’s imperative that students and new alumni understand they are part of something larger, both as professionals and as members of the College community.” Getting started The Alumni Association began in 1883, just 23 years after the medical school opened its doors. All medical students become members upon graduating, while graduates of the Pre-Internship Program (formerly Fifth Pathway) and residency programs are associate members. Today, the association serves approximately 10,000 members nationwide. Besides its president, who serves an initial two-year term and may be elected to two additional one-year terms, its leadership consists of a 15-member Board of Governors. During the past century the association’s role has expanded, but its focus, according to Julie Kubaska, M.S., vice president of development and alumni relations, has remained steady: to support the College, foster goodwill among alumni, and In its 127-year history, the association has done much to be contribute to the betterment of medical student life. “The proud of. In addition to transforming the campus building, steadfast group of people who have supported this institution alumni have refurbished a gym and lounges for students, for nearly its entire history has been the alumni, the Asso­ supported summer student internships and raised funds of ciation and the Board of Governors,” says Ms. Kubaska, all kinds for the College. Indeed, though the list of its mate­ whose 25 years as director of alumni relations has kept her rial accomplishments is long, it’s the association’s intangible in close contact with hundreds of alums, many of whom she work—the emotional support it provides students and the knows personally. feeling of connection it sustains for anyone who has earned Indeed, declares Past President Louis Fierro, M.D. ’60, a medical degree from New York Medical College—that may “Alumni are the biggest contributors to the Annual Fund, be its greatest triumph.

22 | CHIRONIAN / New York Medical College Spring / Summer 2010 | 23 hands down.” request to the Alumni Asso­ Like many School of Medicine ciation. “The students did all alumni, Dr. Fierro, a retired the legwork and we raised the anesthesiologist, supports funds to renovate the space the College in several capac- and provide the equipment,” ities. He is a former faculty Dr. Dieck explains. member and College trustee, There is more to the associa- and served twice as Alumni tion’s work than raising funds Associ­ation president (from and sprucing up buildings. 1989 to 1993 and from 1999 Keeping its ever-growing to 2004). He continues to network of members up serve on the Board of to date on the College is Governors. another mission-critical task. What started casually as “It’s about keeping the net- an organization that once work alive and promoting published Chironian and charged members $50 a year is now a major source THE STEADFAST GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE SUPPORTED THIS INSTITUTION of fundraising muscle for FOR NEARLY ITS ENTIRE HISTORY HAS BEEN THE ALUMNI, THE the College. “We used to collect $30,000 in dues and ASSOCIATION AND THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS. —JULIE KUBASKA, M.S. $60,000 in annual funds,” says Dr. Dursi, describ­ing the association’s once “meager” fundraising capabilities. the image of the College in the best way that you can,” says By the time his tenure ended, the association was raising Dr. Dursi. $100,000 in dues annually and more than $400,000 in annual Throughout the year, the association holds regional meetings funds. “Success begets success,” he declares. “We’ve kept with its six national chapters. “The Alumni Association keeps the ball rolling and, much to the credit of succes­sive presi- people together,” says Dr. Antonelle, a College trustee who dents and the leadership of the Board of Governors, we also edited Chironian for 11 years, when the association pub- became the largest giving group in the College.” lished it as an alumni periodical. (The magazine, now a com- Michael Antonelle, M.D. ’62, a private practice gastroenterol- bined university/alumni publication, is written and produced ogist who led the association from 1993 to 1997, agrees that semi-annually by the Office of Public Relations. Several its greatest contribution has always been in fundraising. “We alumni serve on the editorial board.) would travel to national meetings of all the big medical soci- At the same time, the association and its chapters are impor- eties—orthopedics, urology, internal medicine—and we’d tant resources for students—who are just beginning to con- hold small cocktail parties for the College,” Dr. Antonelle sider their futures—by providing guidance about residencies recalls. “We developed big donors at those meetings. People and where to practice. “Alumni are available to give advice were impressed with us.” to all students because we have alumni all over the United Annual dues have risen to $100, a rather modest increase States,” says Saverio S. Bentivegna, M.D. ’50, professor of after more than a century. The alumni have funded numerous surgery, who is senior associate dean of the Pre-Internship projects and renovations, including a new computer lab, the Program and was association president from 1978 to 1979. Frances Spear Pathology Lab, the Alumni Chair in Biochem­ All agree that the reciprocity between the Alumni Association istry, the Gross Anatomy Laboratory, and the very popular and its future members is crucial to its success. “We support Student Fitness Center. the student body in any way that’s appropriate—they’re the Student advocacy next generation that will do what we’re doing now,” says The association gathers many of its ideas for projects from Dr. Dursi. “If they have a good memory of what was done for the medical students, who communicate through the Student them, hopefully they’ll return the favor to their alma mater Senate and whose president attends meetings of the Board when they’re in our position.” of Governors. “We never turn a deaf ear to the students,” Ms. Kubaska agrees. “We all come and go,” she says, “but says Dr. Fierro. once you’re an alum, you’re always an alum. And you care The impetus for the gym renovation, for example, began when about what happens to this school.” n students approached the Student Senate, which relayed the

24 | CHIRONIAN / New York Medical College Spring / Summer 2010 | 25 a lUMNI N E WS

simulated patients, real practice By Lynda McDaniel

Haru Okuda, M.D. ’99 Board any airplane, from a jumbo jet to a puddle jumper, and you can buckle up with confidence that your pilots have logged hundreds of practice hours on simulation equipment. In most academic teaching hospitals and emergency rooms, however, the patient becomes the practice equipment. Haru Okuda, M.D. ’99, believes that’s an outmoded way to learn— and practice—medicine. As the executive director of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) Institute of Medical Simulation and Advanced Learning, he and his side- kick, Al, are planning some big changes. “We need a better way to train residents. Patients are not there to be practiced on,” Dr. Okuda explains. “We need to improve the quality of care and make the process safer.” That’s where Al comes in. He’s a simulated patient, or “sim”— a computerized medical mannequin named after Alan Aviles, Haru Okuda, M.D. ’99, believes using more scenarios with simulated patients will chief executive of HHC, a nonprofit public corporation funded give medical professionals a better way to practice their skills and responses. by the City of New York. Simulation training for some conditions has been used in medicine for 40 years. Now, though, Dr. Okuda “At first they are uncomfortable and giggling,” he says. “‘It’s wants to make sims regular members of hospital staffs. just a plastic dummy,’ they say. But when the scenario reveals He began by visiting an assortment of centers around the itself and the dummy gets sicker, everyone on the team gets country to learn more about sims while serving as the associ- serious about taking care of the patient.” ate residency director for the Emergency Medicine Residency Dr. Okuda will be boarding an airplane soon for Orlando (and Program at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan, where later Phoenix and San Francisco) where he’ll emcee Sims Wars, he completed his residency in emergency medicine. (He still a program he developed that could be called American-Idol- works part-time in the Mount Sinai emergency department.) meets-medical-education. Al will be there, too, as teams of He learned that simulation training gives doctors and nurses, doctors and nurses compete on stage in simulation scenarios at any stage of their education, the time to work through before a large audience. A panel of expert judges gives input, issues and practice techniques, and the value of hearing a and the audience gets to vote on the best team. critique of their actions and responses. In spite of his passion for his work, Dr. Okuda knows who “We’ve had so much great feedback from interns who say comes first: his wife, Hemie, and his twin daughters, Yumi and they’re happy to be able to practice their skills and procedures. Miya. Since the four-year-old girls took up the violin, he has They feel more comfortable and confident that they can now dusted off the violin he studied classically for two decades. take care of a real patient,” Dr. Okuda says. “Simulation is a wonderful tool for training beginners and for keeping senior “Instead of Tchaikovsky and Beethoven, I mostly play Disney clinicians competent. It just makes so much sense not to theme songs now,” he says, chuckling. “It’s more rewarding. practice on our patients.” The girls get so excited.” Since January 2009, Dr. Okuda has been developing the $10 Next to his family, his patients and students matter most to million, 10,000-square-foot training facility at the Jacobi Medical Dr. Okuda. He’s concerned that medical students are often Center in the Bronx, which is modeled after similar medical undervalued and wants to help change that impression. learning centers at Harvard University, the Mayo Clinic, and the “I love training first-year med students—they’re still naïve in North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System. When it opens an innocent and energized way,” he says. “I’ve seen some this fall, the center will be the first multidisciplinary simulation go through the traditional model and come out the other side center in New York City. hardened. They’ve lost compassion and the ability to com­ Al and the 10 other sims at the institute breathe, bleed, and municate. I want to reverse that—one learner at time.” n sweat like humans. Dr. Okuda enjoys watching senior doctors and nurses respond to the mannequin’s simulated life force.

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MI L ES T ONES Keeping First Responders A l u MNI ACHIEVEMEN T S “Communicado” By Lynda McDaniel

In this section of Chironian, we include all the news you send us—make sure it’s legible! Stuart Goldstein, M.S. ’89 When Stuart Goldstein, M.S. ’89, woke up on September 11, Submit your Class Notes online at http:// 2001, his life was like a split screen: half filled with gratitude www.nymc.edu/AlumniAndDevelopment/ for his two kids and half torn apart by a recent divorce. Secure/address.asp or mail your news to Times were tough, and they were about to get even tougher. Alumni Relations, New York Medical College, A couple of hours later, Goldstein, a second Grade Detective Investigator for the Technical Assistance Response Unit 40 Sunshine Cottage Road, Valhalla, NY 10595. (TARU) in New York City, was setting up satellite communi- cations on the corner of West and Liberty streets across from the World Trade Center. Two planes had already struck when he heard a rumble. “I thought it was a third plane coming, but it was the first building falling,” Goldstein recalls. “I got trapped in the World Bradley S. Cash, M.D. ’95, Financial Center, and for about 20 minutes I thought I was the00s is proud to celebrate the fifth dead. I thought about my kids, my failed marriage. Then I anniversary of SpineOptions Nimish Naik, M.D. ’06, will thought, all right, if this is the way it’s going to be, so be it.” start a fellowship in neph­ in White Plains, N.Y., a com- rology at the University of prehensive non-surgical It wasn’t the end, of course, but it also wasn’t his first brush Pittsburgh in July. center for the treatment of with disaster. Goldstein has made a career of working plane neck and back pain, where and train crashes, and was on the scene of the 1993 World After being in private practice he is medical director and Trade Center bombing. He finds himself in dangerous situa- for two years, Arie E. Pelta, co-founder. tions by choice, in part because of his 1989 master’s degree M.D. ’01, is now on the full- in emergency medical services (EMS) administration from Lisa M. Vieira, M.D. ’95, is time teaching faculty in the the Graduate School of Health Sciences (now the School of the new medical director at general surgery residency Health Sciences and Practice). After graduation, he applied Urgent Care of Southbury, program at Atlanta Medical to the New York City Office of Emergency Management (OEM) Conn. She is also an assis- Center. He is also clinical for a communications coordinator position. assistant professor of surgery tant medical examiner for the at the Medical College of state and a clinical instructor “I sent my resume as a goof,” he says. “I mean, why would Atlanta. Dr. Pelta is a Fellow of emergency medicine at they take me? But the inspector who interviewed me was so of the American College of the University of Connecticut impressed by my New York Med degree. I remember him Surgeons and lives in Atlanta School of Medicine. telling me, ‘This job was written for you.’” with his wife Alyssa and their Marc Danziger, M.D. ’92, is Goldstein worked at OEM for eight years, focusing on the children Avigayil, 8, Elisheva, in a full-time group practice, communication side of rescue operations. While there, he 7, Yehuda, 5, and Rachel, 2. New York Urological Associ­ created a radio channel called ALERT (Agency Liaison Stephen Chen, M.D. ’00, ates in Manhattan, with admit­ Emergency Radio Trunk) that allows responders to talk to reports he is in private prac- ting privileges, at Lenox Hill one another. Hospital and New York tice in neuroradiology in Las “Before ALERT, when a firefighter, police officer and EMS Presbyterian-Cornell. Vegas, Nev. person went to the scene of disaster, they couldn’t commu- nicate with each other. They all had different frequency radios,” he explains. “I developed ALERT after we had a train acci- the the 90s 80s dent in 1992 and no one knew where the train was. After a Gary Kaml, M.D. ’96, is Gregory Jarrin, M.D. ’89, mayoral investigation, they determined we had a lack of practicing at Hospital St. says working in northeastern interagency communication among responders in New York Raphael in New Haven, Arizona with the Navajo and City. Now instead of everyone carrying 50 different types of Conn., where he is the chief Hopi peoples is extremely radios, they can carry one.” of trauma surgery. He and his rewarding. He writes: “The wife Nadine are expecting 11th Annual Navajo Area their first child in April. Surgeon’s Conference was

26 | CHIRONIAN / New York Medical College Spring / Summer 2010 | 27 well attended and I encour- Joseph S. Cervia, M.D. ’84, age any physicians, espe- was the keynote speaker at In 1998, Goldstein was transferred to the Technical Assis­ cially general surgeons, to NYMC’s 14th Annual Medical tance Response Unit. On the new job, he was greeted by contact me if they have a Student Research Forum. the commanding officer of the counterterrorism division. desire to work for the Indian He presented “Matters of “He said, ‘Look who’s here. It’s Stu from TARU. Hmmm… Health Services.” the HAART: Gleanings on TARU Stu.’” Goldstein says, laughing. “That’s my name now. life, immunity, and cardio- Patrick Birrer, M.D. ’88, is I answer the phone that way, and when I arrive at the scene metabolic risk from the study working full-time in emergency of some disaster, I say, ‘TARU Stu on the air. What’s up?’” of HIV.” medicine. He also works in hyperbaric medicine and Scott Gordon, M.D. ’82, helps staff a medical clinic announces the movie for the homeless. He is mar- RoboDoc, which he co-wrote ried with two sets of twins and produced, has been and has fond memories of released on DVD. “If you NYMC and his classmates. don’t like malpractice attor- neys, you’ll love RoboDoc,” Michelle A. (Grosz) Multz, Dr. Gordon writes. He plays M.D. ’87, is now working out the role of Dr. von Schmeckel of several hospitals on Long in the movie. Island. Her husband Alan is chairman of medicine at Brian Solow, M.D. ’82, is Nassau University Medical currently vice president and Center, their daughter Rachel senior medical director of Pre­ started high school and their scription Solutions, a national son Daniel is in fourth grade. pharmacy benefit manager. Detective Stuart Goldstein, M.S. ’89, establishes communications systems for James E. Cremins, M.D. ’87, emergency responders. He recalls with pinpoint accuracy where he set up a writes: “Things are going well the70s satellite unit near Ground Zero on September 11, 2001. in Hagerston, Md. My gastro- enterology practice is thriving John T. Repke, M.D. ’78, the Impressed with Goldstein’s savvy, the commanding officer, and my young family is get- 1999 NYMC alumni medal assistant chief John Colgan, took him under his wing, offer- ting older—my oldest is look- of honor recipient, is in his ing new challenges and opportunities, such as designing ing at colleges. My best to eighth year as chairman of a new command post. TC, Duffy, Sally, Claudio and the Depart­ment of Ob/Gyn at Professor Grundel [John C. Penn State University College Since then, Goldstein has designed three command posts Grundel, M.D., former clinical of Medicine. He also directs ranging in size from a “very, very big box ambulance” to a instructor of medicine]. post-graduate courses in huge bus that cost more than $850,000. He also has served maternal-fetal medicine for the as head hostage negotiation technician for 12 years. Not the Doris R. Pastore, M.D. ’85, American College of Obste­ negotiator, he stresses, but the technician who makes sure after working at the Mount tricians and Gyne­cologists, the negotiator “can talk to the bad guy.” Sinai Adolescent Health and is the editor for obstetrics Center Wellness program, “It’s like in the movies. I get the phone into the building, drill for Harrison’s Online. He recently joined the Adoles­ holes in the floor and stick cameras through vents,” he says. and his wife, Jaque, will cent Young Adult Medicine “That movie, The Negotiator, with Samuel L. Jackson and celebrate their 30th wedding practice on East 90th Street Kevin Spacey? It did a pretty accurate job of showing the anniversary in June. in New York City. kinds of things I do.” Douglas A. Byrnes, M.D. ’77, Classmates Mark Cerbone, Since 9/11, Goldstein has suffered four bouts of pneumonia, has been elected president M.D. ’84, Mario Tagliagambe, two requiring hospitalization. He’d like to find a job in the of the medical staff at M.D. ’84, and Kevin federal sector doing what he does now, but if that doesn’t Huntington Hospital in Delahanty, M.D. ’84, have work out, he’s happy to stick with the NYPD. Huntington, N.Y. entered a lottery for a seat “I guess I’m not ready to retire. My daughter, Samantha, is on Sir Richard Branson’s ready for college and my son Thomas is in high school. My inaugural Virgin Galactic/SS2 kids are my priority. They live only 10 minutes away, and spaceflight. If one of them they’re my pride and joy,” he says. “After 9/11, I got a differ- wins, they have agreed to ent perspective on life. I became very spiritual. I remember proudly wear a NYMC sweat- thinking to myself, if I can survive a terrorist attack, then I shirt during the flight. can survive a divorce. Life goes on. You have to have the attitude that when one door closes another opens.” n

26 | CHIRONIAN / New York Medical College Spring / Summer 2010 | 27 a lUMNI N E W S

Stuart J. Kaufman, M.D. ’77, and his wife Debby have been living in Tampa since 1981. Their son Jonathan will be joining the Kaufman Eye Institute in 2013 after com- pleting his ophthalmology residency at Texas Tech Uni­ versity. Their daughter Jaclyn is an associate consultant for Diamond Con­sult­ing and Technology in Chicago. William A. McGann, M.D. ’77, is director of the orthopedic residency program and chief of orthopedics at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center, Although he is now acting dean of the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical San Francisco. Education, Eitan Friedman, Ph.D. ’71, is still an active researcher and Mark Mishkin, M.D. ’76, quintessential New Yorker. writes his son Aaron is in his second year at NYMC. Robert Stern, M.D. ’76, and his wife, Anita, have two He’ll Take Manhattan (Again) grandchildren, Elijah Hayden By Lynda McDaniel and Judah Shai. He joined Health Quest in Pough­keep­ sie, N.Y., where he practices ob/gyn. Eitan Friedman, Ph.D. ’71 Robert V. Blake, M.D. ’75, Ten years ago, after an absence of almost just north of the George Washington celebrated his 60th birthday two decades, Eitan Friedman, Ph.D. ’71, Bridge. I’m only five miles from Manhattan.” on his daughter Liz’s wed- finally made it back to the city he loves. ding day. He has opened an Dr. Friedman’s return ticket came in 2000 antique car museum near His bond with New York City started in when the Sophie Davis School of Bio­medi­ Allentown, Penn. Visit his web- 1957 when he emigrated from Israel at cal Education of the City University of New site at www.oldspokes.com. age 13. After earning a B.A. from Brooklyn York (CUNY) offered him the job of chair- College and a Ph.D. in pharmacology from man of the Department of Physiology and Catherine Dunn, M.D. ’75, New York Medical College, he chose to Pharmacology. Last year, he accepted the is still working two days a stay in the Big Apple. He spent 16 years at position of acting dean while the school week at King County Jail in New York University School of Medicine, conducts a search for a new dean. Seattle, where the work is completing his postdoctoral work in neuro­ always interesting and chal- “It’s a challenging and interesting job— psychopharmacology and later serving lenging, she says. Her older very different from my earlier career,” as an associate professor, teaching daughter is living and working Dr. Friedman says. “The previous dean pharmacology to medical students and in San Francisco as a home- was here for 20 years, and during that psychopharmacology to residents. lessness prevention counselor time medical education has dramatically and her younger daughter Then came an offer he couldn’t refuse changed. I now have the opportunity to just started graduate school from the Medical College of Pennsylvania. look at the school at large and revitalize it. at UNC, Chapel Hill. Dr. Friedman left his fair city and spent 17 It’s been nine months, and I’ll be at this years in Philadelphia as professor and position possibly for another year.” Steven Weinstock, M.D. ’74, director of molecular pharmacology and will celebrate his 40th wed- Sophie Davis is not like traditional medical head of neurochemistry. All the while, he ding anniversary with his wife schools. Students enter the seven-year and Naomi, his wife of 42 years, missed Shelley. He is practicing GI program out of high school and in five “the city.” and still swimming. years they earn a Bachelor of Science “During those years in Philadelphia, my degree and complete the first two years of wife and I visited New York at least once their medical education. They finish their a month,” Dr. Friedman recalls. “I’m a New clinical training at one of the cooperating Yorker at heart. I now live in Tenafly, N.J., medical schools in the area, and New York Medical College is one of them.

28 | CHIRONIAN / New York Medical College Spring / Summer 2010 | 29 Jeffrey Hall Dobken, M.D. ’73, Richard Hirsh, M.D. ’69, is a member of the Committee continues his international “Our model of medical education differs from the traditional on Biomedical Ethics for the mammography teaching proj- in that we expose our students to a heavy dose of social Medical Society of New ects. In 2010 he will organize medicine and cultural sensitivity,” says Dr. Friedman. “We Jersey. He is an allergist with projects in Jordan, Kosova tend to accept a larger proportion of underrepresented the Respiratory Group in and in Hanoi, Vietnam. Visit minorities. Our emphasis is on educating them and encour- Little Silver, N.J. his website at www.radiology- aging them to choose primary care as their career path.” mammography.org. Irwin Hametz, M.D. ’73, About half of their graduates do choose internal medicine, reports that his practice, Glen Joshpe, M.D. ’69, family practice or ob/gyn, the specialties that comprise pri- Hametz and Picascia Derma­ has published a book, One mary care. Over the school’s 36-year history, the goal of tology, has just hired another Doctor’s Life, a series of light- serving minorities has also been met; approximately 40 NYMC alumnus, Jason H. hearted vignettes from his to 50 percent of its graduates are Hispanic and African Miller, M.D. ’02, who com- ancestral roots in Russia to American. The school also mandates that graduates work pleted his dermatology resi- the streets of the Bronx and in underserved areas in New York for the first two years of dency at the University of from “Woodstock Doc” to life their residency. “It’s part of the payback for the tuition break Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer in the Catskills. students get for starting their medical education at Sophie Center in Houston. Davis,” Dr. Friedman explains. Elizabeth Muss, M.D. ’68, Leon D. Freedman, M.D. is in solo private practice, Not surprisingly, the Friedmans spend their spare time in ’72, writes his son Daniel with preventive medicine a Manhattan, taking in the restaurants and culture. They have is applying for next year’s major part of her approach. a subscription to the New York Philharmonic, enjoy off- entering class at NYMC. “By showing young smokers Broadway productions, and take in a couple of operas every changes in the carotid and Laura S. Stemmle, M.D. ’72, season. Family also figures prominently in their lives. The peripheral arteries from and Donald W. Stemmle, Friedmans have three children; they all became physicians. smoking, even at a young M.D. ’72, have three lovely age, many will stop.” Her “They claim I brainwashed them,” Dr. Friedman says with a grandchildren and their technique of taking BP while mixture of humor and pride. “Our daughter, Ronit, is a gyne- daughter is carrying on their patient is standing was cologist; our middle son, Oren, is a facial plastic surgeon; great profession of pediat- mentioned in an editorial and our younger son, Ariel, is a radiologist.” rics. Sadly, they mourn the in Clinical Cardiology by Throughout his career, Dr. Friedman has maintained an active passing of their great NYMC C. Richard Conti, M.D. She research lab. Over the past 35 years he has received contin- mentor Harold Cole, M.D., is married to a restaurateur uous NIH funding from multiple grants. “I’m very proud of professor emeritus of family from Milan and they own that fact,” he says. “I’m a researcher at heart, and I still run and community medicine, Allegretti in Manhattan. an active lab, even with my administrative responsibilities.” and Laura’s uncle, who died last November. Albert J. Bajohr Jr., M.D. ’67, His research interests include the role of altered cellular sig- retired from his practice of nal transduction in the etiology of bipolar illness and in the Elliot Davidoff, M.D. ’71, general and vascular surgery mechanism of action of mood stabilizers. He is also investi- senior and founding partner on January 1, 2009. He had gating the characterization of a novel brain dopamine recep- of an ophthalmology prac- practiced in Sebring, Fla. tor that couples to phospholipase C and the molecular tice in Newark, Ohio, is on since 1974. He and his wife mechanisms involved in mediating the morphological and the faculty of Ohio State spend winters in Florida and behavioral effects of in utero exposure to cocaine. University. He has taught summers at their house on cataract surgery in China and Dr. Friedman adds that he hopes to remain in academia for Long Island. All of their sons Ethiopia with ORBIS Inter­ a few more years and then retire happily to travel and enjoy are now married and they national and participated in his family. “Italy is my favorite country to visit. It’s so easy to enjoy their three grandchil- a cataract project in Ecuador be a tourist there—the food, the scenery, the people,” he dren. “Retirement is wonder- with SEE International. muses. “But I really look forward to spending more time with ful,” he writes. my grandchildren. We have four now, and they are a source Thomas Graboys, M.D. ’70, Richard S. Klein, M.D. ’67, of great pleasure.” n has moved into “retirement clinical assistant professor of mode” and is working on his medicine, has published his second book. second book, Surviving Your Doctors: Why the Medical the60s System Is Dangerous to Your Health and How to Get David Herz, M.D. ’69, has Through it Alive. been recognized by Cam­ bridge Who’s Who for show- ing dedication, leadership and excellence in all aspects of neurosurgery. Continued on page 32.

28 | CHIRONIAN / New York Medical College Spring / Summer 2010 | 29 2010 Commencement & Reunions

Page 30 Photos

Members of the Class of 1985 received Elsa-Grace V. Giardina, M.D. ’65, proudly The Class of 1960 celebrated their jubilee silver diplomas at the Alumni Reunion held wore her 2010 Alumni Association Medal reunion and received gold diplomas. at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers of Honor. on May 22. Page 31 Photos Class of 1985 reunion co-chairs Thomas Three generations from one family of NYMC Pacicco, M.D. ’85, Elaine Grammer-Pacicco, Henry I. Saphier, M.D. ’61, one of this year’s grads gathered for Commencement: M.D. ’85, Debra Lastarria, M.D. ’85 and Alumni Association Medal of Honor recipi- Forris Beecham Chick, M.D. ’46, Emilio Lastarria, M.D. ’85, were happy to ents, and Marieanna Saphier. Jeffrey Forris Beecham Chick, M.D. ’10, greet former classmates. and Jeffrey Beecham Chick, M.D. ’75. Class of 1960 reunion co-chairs Thaddeus Karl P. Adler, M.D., president and Figlock, M.D. ’60 and Reginald Greene, Dr. Adler welcomed Lila Nachtigall, M.D. ’60 chief executive officer, congratulated M.D. ’60, helped make the evening a and Richard Nachtigall, M.D. ’57. Ellen Nestler, M.D. ’85, and Jeffrey success. Nestler, M.D. ’85.

30 | CHIRONIAN / New York Medical College Spring / Summer 2010 | 31 Alumni Association Board of Governors

2010 Commencement & Reunions Officers Eileen (Lee) M. Dieck, M.D. ’86 President Mario F. Tagliagambe Jr., M.D. ’84 President Elect Charles W. Episalla, M.D. ’88 Vice President John R. Addrizzo, M.D. ’64 Treasurer Robert J. Furey, M.D. ’62 Archivist

Elected Governors Matthew A. Bank, M.D. ’95 Thomas D. Cerabona, M.D. ’82 John M. Cosgrove, M.D. ’83 Caroline A. Fierro, M.D. ’95 Joseph L. Giamelli, M.D. ’02 Henry I. Saphier, M.D. ’61 George C. Shapiro, M.D. ’88

Faculty Governor Leonard J. Newman, M.D. ’70

Past Presidents Dennis J. Allendorf, M.D. ’70 Michael A. Antonelle, M.D. ’62 Saverio S. Bentivegna, M.D. ’50 Joseph F. Dursi, M.D. ’59 Louis E. Fierro, M.D. ’60 Rita F. Girolamo, M.D. ’51* Cyrille H. Halkin, M.D. ’45* Henry P. Leis, Jr., M.D. ’41* David T. Mininberg, M.D. ’61 E. Edward Napp, M.D. ’33* Christopher F.X. Riegler, M.D. ’88 Seymour Schlussel, M.D. ’51* (Photos by John Vecchiolla, Commencement Photos Inc.) Lawrence B. Slobody, M.D. ’36* Martin L. Stone, M.D. ’44 Alumni Association President Eileen (Lee) Dieck, Members of the Class of 2000 reunited for a fun Paul Tartell, M.D. ’52* M.D. ’86, and her husband William Dieck, M.D. ’83. and festive evening. Member Emeritus Louis E. Fierro, M.D. ’60, a member of the Board Lucille Taverna-Giardina, M.D. ’71, left, and of Trustees and a past president of the Alumni Victoria L. Cook, M.D. ’82, got ready to help hood Philip A. Marraccini, M.D. ’50 Association, led the processional at the College’s their graduating offspring, J. Daniel Giardina, 151st Commencement ceremony at Carnegie Hall M.D. ’10 and Jacqueline Cook, M.D. ’10. Vice President, Development on May 26. and Alumni Relations Joseph F. Dursi, M.D. ’59, and Keith Tobin, M.D. ’85. Julie A. Kubaska, M.S. Ralph A. O’Connell, M.D., provost and dean of the School of Medicine, gave the Commencement *Deceased address that touched on the College’s illustrious history.

30 | CHIRONIAN / New York Medical College Spring / Summer 2010 | 31 a lUMNI N E W S

Continued from page 29.

Harvey G. Masor, M.D. ’65, writes his daughter Danielle IN MEMORIAM is in her first year at NYMC. Alan Wecksell, M.D. ’65, Michael B. McCabe, M.D. James A. Holleran, M.D. Faculty retired on Labor Day 2009. ’99 (Fifth Pathway), died ’56, died May 31, 2009. He October 8, 2008. He was 52. was 78. James E. Cimino, M.D., Stuart Mackler, M.D. ’63, an clinical professor of medi- orthopedic surgeon, travelled Keyhan Farian, M.D., Albert Dolinsky, M.D. ’51, cine and director of the to Haiti in February to help M.P.H. ’95, died January died February 13, 2010. He Palliative Care Center at the earthquake victims, 19, 2010. She was 80. was 92. Calvary Hospital, died on accompanying a group from Robert P. Newman, M.D. ’70, William Gatlin, M.D. ’50, February 11, 2010. Operation Smile, a medical died April 10, 2010. He died January 10, 2010. He Harold Cole, M.D., profes- volunteer organization. was 66. was 86. sor emeritus of family and Robert A. Bennett, M.D. ’62, Dwight M. Pagano, M.D. ’78, Harriett F. Hanley, M.D. ’50, community medicine and is now fully retired and enjoy- died July 1, 2009. He was 56. died April 21, 2010. She of pediatrics, died on ing art classes, book clubs, was 86. November 21, 2009. travel and his grandchildren. Steven B. Tamarin, M.D. ’77 (Fifth Pathway), died Robert C. Wolfe, M.D. ’49, Paul R. Dince, M.D., former Howard Jewell, M.D. ’62, November 30, 2008. died December 1, 2009. He clinical professor of psychia- will mark 20 wonderful years was 84. try and behavioral sciences, of retirement this year. He Vincent A. Spagna, M.D. ’74, died in January 2010. died April 26, 2010 in Dublin, Russell “Rusty” C. and his wife Marian just cele- John Kent Davis, M.D., brated their 60th wedding Ireland. He was 61. Johnson, M.D. ’47, died May 16, 2010. He was 87. associate professor of anniversary and he invites George I. Stern, M.D. ’74, clinical pediatrics from his classmates to contact him died January 4, 2010. He Myron E. Freedman, M.D. 1977 to 2008, died on at [email protected]. was 68. ’47, died February 6, 2010. February 9, 2010. He Howard Harrison, M.D. ’61, Richard J. Scotti, M.D. ’69, Walter T. Hausheer, M.D. was 70. is still working one day a died November 23, 2009. ’47, died December 23, Peter Alexander Duncan, week at a local VA clinic. He was 66. 2009. M.D., former assistant pro- Harvey A. Reback, M.D. ’61, Burton Grebin, M.D. ’66, Adrian F. Persico, M.D. ’47, fessor of pediatrics, died still practices internal medi- died January 24, 2010. He died February 8, 2010. He on September 25, 2009. cine full-time in a hospital- was 68. was 88. He was 93. based group with no plans Mahin Hassibi, M.D., for- to retire. Jaime Olivo, M.D. ’64, died Robert G. Randall, M.D. ’46, October 15, 2009. He was 70. died January 3, 2010. He mer professor of clinical James A. Walker, M.D. ’61, was 88. psychiatry and behavioral writes he will miss his John A. Mussio, M.D. ’63, sciences, died January 25, friend and classmate Allen died August 10, 2009. He Mae Schneider Horowitz, 2010. She was 72. Langhorne, M.D. ’61, who was 72. M.D. ’45, died August 30, 2008. Samuel S. Kasoff, M.D., passed away in July of 2009. Lester H. Berkow, M.D. ’62, former chairman of the Roy Gerritsen, M.D. ’60, died May 8, 2010. He was 74. Joseph S. Rechtschaffen, Depart­ment of Neuro­ M.D. ’45, died May 30, says: “See ya at the 50th Buck J. Williams, M.D. ’60, surgery, died on December 2008. He was 88. Class Reunion!” died July 2, 2009. He was 74. 7, 2009. John J. Reilly, M.D. ’45, Rainer V. Guggenheim, Richard H. Keates, M.D., died November 27, 2009. M.D. ’58, died August 9, former professor of ophthal- He was 88. 2009. He was 77. mology, died at the age of Kurt Elias, M.D. ’44, died 77 on January 26, 2010. Frank F. Holmberg, M.D. ’58, March 1, 2010. He was 91. died November 19, 2009. Seymour Levine, M.D., He was 76. Robert S. Bailey, M.D. ’43, professor emeritus of died October 21, 2009. He pathology, died on April 2, George C. Muscillo, M.D. was 93. 2010. He was 86. ’58, died May 10, 2010. He was 77. Milton B. Brown, M.D. ’41, Diana Oquendo, M.D., for- died September 11, 2009. mer assistant professor of He was 92. obstetrics and gynecology, died January 18, 2010. She was 55.

Continued on inside back cover.

32 | CHIRONIAN / New York Medical College C h i r o n i a n Continued from page 17. Continued from page 32. Spr i ng / Summ er 2010 As work progressed on the Jack Shapiro, M.D., former Editor MEC, Dr. Barrett also funneled assistant professor of clinical Donna E. Moriarty, M.P.H. ’04 $5 million into rebuilding facili­ medicine, died on October 1, ties for the Graduate School of 2009. Writers Health Sciences, enhancing its Kimberly Gaudin de Gonzalez Melissa F. Pheterson Aaron Louis Southren, M.D., status as a resource for public Andrea Kott, M.P.H. Cynthia A. Read professor emeritus of medicine, health programs. “From day Lynda McDaniel Marjorie Roberts died on February 18, 2010. one,” he says, “our mission to Lori-Ann Perrault He was 83. expand health sciences educa­ Editorial Board tion made a difference in the Administration Doris Bucher, Ph.D. Alberto Nasjletti, M.D. lives of people in Westchester. Catharine Crea James O’Brien, Ph.D. It had a footprint right in the Arthur Hull Hayes Jr., M.D., Eileen M. Dieck, M.D. ’86 Matthew A. Pravetz, O.F.M., Rhea Dornbush, Ph.D. Ph.D. ’88 community.” died on February 11, 2010. The former commissioner of Candace Ford, M.S. ’09 Stephen Rotman, M.D. ’10 As a bulwark against the erosion Michael Goligorsky, M.D., Ph.D. Ira Schwartz, Ph.D. the Food and Drug Adminis­ of values, Dr. Barrett encour­ Thomas Hintze, Ph.D. ’80 Michal Schwartzman, Ph.D. tration was provost and dean aged a mandatory ethics course Julie A. Kubaska, M.S. Gary P. Wormser, M.D. of New York Medi­cal College for medical students that even­ Edmund La Gamma, M.D. ’76 from 1983 to 1986. He was 76. tually expanded to the entire Design Curran & Connors Photography William Taufic four-year curriculum. He also Trustees led the transformation of the Administration Karl P. Adler, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer existing ethics program into Digby W. Barrios, died on Ralph A. O’Connell, M.D., Provost and Dean, School of Medicine a Bioethics Institute, led by April 10, 2010. He served on Francis L. Belloni, Ph.D., Dean, Graduate School of Basic the internationally recognized the Board of Trustees from Medical Sciences physician/ethicist Daniel P. 2006 to 2007. He was 72. Robert W. Amler, M.D., Dean, School of Health Sciences and Practice Sulmasy, O.F.M., M.D., Ph.D. Vice President, Government Affairs Early on, Dr. Barrett also helped Office of Public Relations promote a successful initiative Donna E. Moriarty, M.P.H. ’04 Associate Vice President, to meet the nation’s need for Communications more primary care physicians. Lori-Ann Perrault Public Information Editor The initiative was bolstered by Kevin R. Cummings, M.P.S., M.P.H. ’00, Director, Web Communications a grant from the Robert Wood Please direct all inquiries to: Johnson Foundation to run clini­ New York Medical College/Chironian, Valhalla, NY, 10595. We autho- cal training in smaller settings rize the use of any material with attribution to New York Medical such as a physician’s office. College. Chironian is published semi-annually by the Office of “That’s the front-end of care,” Public Relations. We welcome reader feedback. Contact us at he says, “the human face.” (914) 594-4536 or at [email protected]. That program, today known as New York Medical College Affiliates the Primary Care Preceptor Academic Medical Center University Hospital Program, still helps account for Westchester Medical Center Metropolitan Hospital Center nearly 40 percent of medical students choosing primary care Specialty Hospitals careers over more glamorous The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary and lucrative specialties. St. Vincent’s Hospital Westchester Hospitals Even today, memories of his Benedictine Hospital Richmond University years as president can ener­ Calvary Hospital Medical Center gize Dr. Barrett. “It was, and Good Samaritan Hospital, Saint Joseph’s Medical is, such a vibrant, intellectual Suffern Center, Yonkers community,” he says in praise Greenwich Hospital St. Vincent’s Medical of the faculty and administra­ Kingston Hospital Center, Bridgeport tion. “They continue to draw on Montefiore Medical Center, Sound Shore Medical Center North Division of Westchester all the talent that exists here Mount Vernon Hospital Terence Cardinal Cooke Health and do whatever they can to Northern Westchester Care Center enhance the College’s reputa­ Hospital Center VA Hudson Valley Health tion. And the students—they Norwalk Hospital Care System just keep raising the bar. This Phelps Memorial Hospital Center alone ought to instill pride in Ambulatory Care Programs every single person who works Center for Comprehensive Health Practice or studies at this institution.” n Westchester Institute for Human Development New York Medical College

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