At Downstate, Dr. Ko is forming a new multidisciplinary team to become a center of excellence. He is currently involved in new program development; training and education of cardiothoracic surgery residents, general surgery residents, and medical students; and the admissions committee of Downstate’s College of Medicine.

Dr. Ko is active in new York’s large Chinese American Community. He is the president of the Chinese American Medical Society, having spent eight years on the board of directors, where he was also treasurer and vice-president.

Through this thousand member-organization, Dr. Ko has contributed to many community services such as health education seminars, and fairs. The society initiated “healthy heart” food education program for local restaurants, annual free flu vaccination, and financially supported many community based research programs related to hepatitis, metabolic syndrome, osteoporosis, HIV and others.

Dr. Ko presides over 10 scholarships and research grants for Chinese-American medical students annually. He currently serves on the board of directors for the American Cancer Society—East Asian Unit in Flushing, Queens. The Unit serves as a community resource for education, healthcare referral, counseling, and cancer support groups. He is currently the president of the China Aids Fund, which has had two successful fund raising galas in New York.

Dr. Ko recently helped Downstate’s Chinese-American medical students to organize the first free flu vaccine program in Brooklyn’s Chinatown. As president of Chinese American Medical Society at Downstate, Dr. Ko works closely with the Charles B. Wang Chinatown Health Clinic and the Chinese American Independent Physician Association to launch groundbreaking community-based research on ethnic differences in medical illnesses among Chinese-Americans.

Past Ellis Island Medal of Honor recipients include six presidents of the United States, Nobel Prize winners, athletes, leaders of industry, artists, and others whose work has made a lasting impact on humanity.

Paul Rava, who will graduate in May with an MD/PhD degree, and Maria Freytsis, CNM, MPH, who graduated in August 2007, were among those honored by interim SUNY Chancellor John B. Clark at a celebration in Albany earlier this month.

Paul Rava was recognized for outstanding research and scholarly achievements. His thesis research—published in four peer-reviewed, first-authored original papers, two co-authored papers, and three invited review articles—examines the evolution of different lipid transfer activities of MTP (microsomal triglyceride transfer protein) and their role in apoB-lipoprotein and CD1d biosynthesis. Considered the outstanding thesis of the year, it earned him the 2007 Robert F. Furchgott Award for Research Excellence, named after the professor emeritus at Downstate who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1998.

Maria Freytsis already had an impressive resume before entering the Midwifery Program. In addition to providing training and health services to women in China, Antigua, Guatemala, and Kosovo, she is co-founder and board president of Friends of the Birth Center, a grassroots organization formed after the only birthing center in Manhattan closed in 2003. While enrolled at Downstate, she continued to volunteer as a public health worker, helping villagers in Indonesia affected by the tsunami. An excellent student, she pioneered a new clinical site for the Midwifery Program at the Developing Families Birth Center in Washington, DC, to provide quality care for underserved patients.

Each year, schools within the State University system are encouraged to submit nominations for the Chancellor’s Award. SUNY Downstate was permitted two, based on its student enrollment. Students graduating between June 2007 and May 2008 were considered for the award.

“We want people to understand hospitals are all about culturally diverse health care and healing,” says Maria Yomtov, RN, MSN, CDE, director of the Center for Community Health Promotion and Wellness. “Our focus is very positive. Doctors, nurses and staff have one mission and that’s to help people of all cultures get the best care possible.”

Keeping hospitals in the spotlight is part of the tradition of National Hospital Week, a celebration of care that dates back to 1921. That year, a magazine editor in Chicago suggested an annual “open house” where an apprehensive public could see first hand the vital work performed inside hospitals.  The idea spread across the country and helped change the perception about hospitals from places of illness to places of healing. Today, National Hospital Week is the nation’s largest health care celebration.

This year, University Hospital health fair organizers have selected a theme that emphasizes the healing process: “National Hospital Week—Where Healing Happens Every Day.”  Attractions at the health fair include free health screenings and information, entertainment for children and adults, and activities highlighting the cultural diversity of the community SUNY Downstate serves.

For more information about University Hospital’s 2008 Cultural Health Fair call 718-270-2020 or 718-270-3739.

Dr. Henderson will speak at the ceremony for the College of Medicine, School of Graduate Studies, and Graduate Public Health Program at 4:00 pm and Dr. Grady will speak at the ceremony for the College of Nursing and College of Health Related Professions at 12:00 noon.

Dr. Grady will be awarded an honorary doctor of science degree for her contributions to research and nursing education. Lily S. Hsia, retired professor and chair of midwifery at the College of Health Related Professions, will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters degree in recognition of achievements in midwifery education and her service to SUNY Downstate.

At the later ceremony, honorary doctor of science degrees will be awarded to Joseph E. Murray, MD, who conducted the world’s first successful kidney transplant in 1954 and won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1990, and to Marc Goldstein, MD, a 1972 graduate of Downstate’s College of Medicine who is a pioneer in male reproductive surgery at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

Dr. Henderson, who already holds an honorary degree from the State University of New York and many other schools, will receive SUNY Downstate Medical Center's Ailanthus Award.

Hosted by WNBC news anchor Lynda Baquero, the gala will honor television personality Larry King,” Ray Suarez, writer and senior correspondent for “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” and legendary journalists/TV producers Joseph and Shirley Wershba.

Downstate College of medicine alumnus Dr. Max Harry Weil, co-founder of the Weil Institute of Critical Care Medicine, and acclaimed historian Robert C. Dallek also will be among the honorees. New York State Senator Martin J. Golden is a special guest. All proceeds from the gala, which will take place at the elegant Vanderbilt at South Beach, Staten Island, will benefit medical research initiatives.

Celebrate Downstate is bringing together top medical authorities and researchers in their fields, along with distinguished business and community leaders, for an elegant evening of recognition and celebration. It is the first in a series of annual events to highlight the medical center’s leading role in education, science, and patient care.

Proceeds from the gala fundraiser will help advance basic and clinical research at Downstate, birthplace of some of the major breakthroughs in modern medicine. The first full-body human images using MRI were made at Downstate, and nitric oxide’s role as a signalling molecule in the cardiovascular system was discovered in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Furchgott, winner of the Nobel Prize for medicine. Dr. Furchgott’s work has paved the way for new treatments to improve cardiovascular and reproductive health.

Douglas Lazzaro, MD, chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology and event chairman for Celebrate Downstate, is confident that this level of success can be sustained and even exceeded. “Recognized for its contributions to medical science in the last century, Downstate is one of today’s leaders in neuroscience and biotechnology,” he says. “Additional funding will advance all of our outstanding ongoing research, help us unravel the causes of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and epilepsy, and find new treatments for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, macular degeneration and other serious illnesses.”