Shout-Outs
By Office of Communications & Marketing | Oct 11, 2022
Joseph N. Cunningham, Jr. Mentorship Award
Jeffrey P. Weiss, M.D., Ph.D., FACS, Urology Department chairman, and professor received the Joseph N. Cunningham, Jr.
Mentorship Award. This honor is granted each year by the Brooklyn and Long Island
Chapter of the American College of Surgeons for “fidelity to the worthy purpose of
educating a generation of surgeons.”
Dr. Weiss is the Past President of the ACS BK/LI Chapter and served on the Board of Governors to the ACS from our region from 2011 to 2014). For the past ten years, Dr. Weiss has also served as head of the Committee on Applicants, which interviews and vets all candidates for fellowship in the ACS.
Lifetime Membership to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
The IEEE Board of Directors selected Michael J. Levinton, M.S., FM&D Capital Projects director, to receive a Lifetime membership to the professional
association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering. Mr. Levinton has
been an IEEE member for more than 40 years, starting as a student member in 1977.
The Lifetime Member special honor is reserved for those who have distinguished themselves through sustained and lasting contributions to IEEE. They are among the most active, engaged, and influential volunteers, serving as reviewers, editors, and conference organizers and in various leadership roles throughout the 400,000-plus member organization.
Mr. Levinton, who earned his Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and certification as an Energy Engineer from Polytechnic Institute, joined Downstate in 1984.
Alpha Omega Alpha Pharos Poetry Award
Joya Ahmad, a second-year College of Medicine student, is now a published poet! Her poem, Anatomy of Grief: For Anna-Christina, was awarded first place and published in the Summer 2022 Issue of the Pharos Poetry Magazine.
Neuroscience, Magic, and Misinformation
Ophthalmology faculty Robert G. Alexander, Ph.D., Stephen L. Macknik, Ph.D., and Susana Martinez-Conde, Ph.D., published “What the Neuroscience and Psychology of Magic Reveal about Misinformation” in the September issue of open access journal, MDPI. The article presents a primer on how some of the same cognitive and perceptual techniques used by magicians to mislead audiences and create illusions are used in social media to frame stories spreading fake news.
(click download PDF for the full article)
Study: Risk Factors for Substance Use Disorders
Psychiatry assistant professor Peter B. Barr, Ph.D., who is the Institute of Genomic Health’s foremost expert on social determinants of health, was lead author of a multi-institutional study. Clinical, Environmental, and Genetic Risk Factors for Substance Use Disorders: Characterizing Combined Effects Across Multiple Cohorts, published in the October 4, 2022 issue of Molecular Psychiatry, included input from 13 university centers. Downstate co-authors on the study included Drs. Chella Kamarajan, Sivan Kinreich, Jacquelyn L. Meyers, and Bernice Porjesz.
Downstate at the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology
Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences assistant professor Lori Hoepner, Dr.Ph., MPH, represented Downstate at the 34th Annual Conference of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology, held in Athens, Greece. Dr. Hoepner presented a poster on “Awareness and Perception
of Plant-Based Diets at an Urban Community College.”
OT Students Participate in Community Adaptive Fishing Event
Downstate’s Occupational Therapy Program students participated in an adaptive fishing event hosted by Independence Care Systems and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, last month, joining members of the disability community in a fun and insightful day of fishing. By interacting with people with disabilities in a social setting, students gained experience in how tasks may be modified to increase participation in recreational activity. They also heard first-hand from disability community members and advocates about the barriers and biases they encounter, including in healthcare systems.
Radiology Residency Program Wins Top Prize at vRAD ABR "Jeopardy"
