Shout Outs
By Office of the President | Sep 3, 2024
Elevating Healthcare with Deeper Disability Awareness
Join the School of Health Professions (SOHP) Dean’s Lecture Series (5th Edition) for the 2024-2025 academic year, focusing on the complexities and realities of living with a disability. In a time when nearly 100 million Americans are living with a disability, as reported by the CDC, healthcare professionals must deepen their understanding of this critical concept.
SOHP dean and professor Allen Lewis, Ph.D., CRC, will lead this year’s first session, “The Nature of Disability and Definitions,” on September 25 at 5:00 PM. Register here to secure your spot, enhance your knowledge, and improve patient care, and stay tuned for more details on sessions two through nine, which are coming soon.
Dr. Alison Baird Honored by the American Academy of Neurology
Congratulations to Alison Baird, M.D., Ph.D., FRACP—Professor of Neurology, Vice-Chair for Mentoring, Professor of Physiology/Pharmacology, Medical Director of the Downstate Stroke Center, and Director of the Division of Cerebrovascular Disease and Stroke—on having her career highlights and awards featured at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology. This recognition celebrates her exceptional contributions to stroke research and leadership.
As a distinguished stroke neurologist, Dr. Baird seamlessly integrates her clinical practice with ongoing NIH-funded research focused on innovative approaches to early stroke diagnosis and treatment. She has earned numerous accolades during her career, including the prestigious Michael S. Pessin Stroke Leadership Prize, also from the American Academy of Neurology.
Screening for a Cause: Prostate Cancer Awareness in Harlem
On Saturday, August 3, Downstate Urology Department vice chair and associate dean for clinical affairs Brian Keith McNeil, M.D., MBA, FACS, joined forces with the Morehouse School of Medicine’s Prostate Cancer Precision Prevention Program Team, the Mt. Sinai Robert F. Smith Mobile Prostate Cancer Screening Unit, community volunteers, and members of the R. Frank Jones Urological Society for a prostate cancer education and screening event in Harlem. This event occurred during the National Medical Association’s annual convention and scientific assembly.
Daniel Hale Williams Society Wins Regional and Institutional Awards
The SUNY Downstate SNMA Chapter—Daniel Hale Williams Society (DHWS)—has been recognized with two prestigious awards this year. At the 2024 SNMA Annual Medical Education Conference, DHWS was honored as the Chapter of the Year for Region IX, a testament to their unwavering commitment to supporting underrepresented minorities in medicine (URiM) through impactful academic and community programming.
This accolade follows their recent recognition as the Student Organization of the Year at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, which was awarded in May. The Daniel Hale Williams Society, named after the pioneering African American surgeon, has consistently promoted diversity and inclusion within the medical field. Their efforts include mentoring programs, community outreach initiatives, and academic support for URiM students.
These awards highlight DHWS’s dedication to fostering an inclusive environment at SUNY Downstate and their ongoing efforts to make a difference in their institution and the broader community. Congratulations to the Daniel Hale Williams Society members for their outstanding achievements and continued commitment to excellence in medical education and service!
Thank you to the DHWS faculty advisor, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, and Director of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, Ramon E. Gist, M.D., FAAP, for guiding these young professionals.
SEEDS Program Cultivates the Next Generation of Diverse Downstate Surgeons
L to R: Qianxue “June” Chen, Jodi-Ann Edwards, M.D, Surgery PGY4, Emmaly Gutierrez and Robert “Bob” Kurtz, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Surgery at Downstate and former chief of Surgery and Trauma at Kings County Hospital Center, who is an advocate of DEI initiatives at Downstate and nationally
The Summer Experience to Enhance Diversity of Students (SEEDS) program at SUNY Downstate’s Department of Surgery significantly impacts diversifying the surgical field. Now in its fourth year, SEEDS is a gateway for students from underrepresented backgrounds to gain hands-on experience in general and specialized surgical practices.
This summer, second-year medical students Qianxue “June” Chen and Emmaly Gutierrez were selected to participate in the SEEDS program, where they received an intensive introduction to the fast-paced world of surgery.
While in the program, June and Emmaly interacted with chairs, chiefs, and other key leaders in the Surgery department. Their hands-on experience included patient care in clinics and office hours, morning rounds, conferences, and operating room cases. They also had the opportunity to shadow trauma or general surgery interns and participate in overnight trauma calls.
Jodi-Ann Edwards, M.D., a PGY4 general surgery resident and research fellow, co-created SEEDS in collaboration with Carla Boutin-Foster, M.D., MSc, Associate Vice President for Institutional Equity, and Shemeika Bowman, Assistant Director of the Office for Institutional Equity, emphasize the importance of the program.
Dr. Edwards highlights the program’s crucial role in addressing the underrepresentation of Black and Hispanic individuals in medical schools, surgical training programs, and faculty positions, despite these groups making up nearly a third of the U.S. population.
The Center of Excellence in Diversity at SUNY Downstate funds SEEDS through a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant.
Building the Next Generation of Academic Physicians
BNGAP—Building the Next Generation of Academic Physicians—was founded in 2008 to support underrepresented groups in academic medicine and biomedical research. The idea is simple: when healthcare professionals reflect the diversity of our communities, everyone benefits. Diverse teams connect better with vulnerable populations, leading to more equitable care. Despite progress, groups like Black people, Hispanics, Native Americans, LGBTQ individuals, Asians, and women remain underrepresented in academic medicine.
At Downstate, the student-led BNGAP chapter is making great strides. Led by a dedicated E-board—President Lisa Scott (COM ’24), Vice President Rushani Cameron, Secretary Christopher Magloire, Treasurer Juanita Gomez, and Research Liaison Alissa Belzie (COM ’24)—the chapter hosted its first student-led symposium during the 2023-24 academic year. This event, spearheaded by MS2 students Rushani Cameron and Christopher Magloire, allowed nine College of Medicine students to present their research, many for the first time.
The symposium introduced diverse students to academic medicine as a career and provided resources to explore this path. Attendees engaged with respected educators like Dr. Carla Boutin-Foster, Dr. Christopher Roman, Dr. Crystal Marquez, Dr. Jenny Libien, and Dr. Marlene Camacho-Rivera, strengthening faculty-student partnerships. The event highlighted the importance of biomedical research in improving patient care.
Our BNGAP team is committed to empowering students from underrepresented groups to get involved in research and share their work. We aim to expand this event, bringing in faculty and students from other regional BNGAP chapters, making it a premier annual event at Downstate.
Thank you to the 2023-24 E-board, the Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA), and BNGAP for their incredible partnership. Special thanks to faculty advisors Crystal Marquez, M.D., Associate Dean of the Office of Diversity Education and Research Carla Boutin-Foster, MD, MSc., and the presenters and participants.
Enhancing UVB Treatment
Christopher S. Lange, S.B., D.Phil., KCOM, Professor of Radiation Oncology in the College of Medicine and School of Graduate Studies, participated in the 2024 American Society for Photobiology Biennial Meeting, where he co-chaired the opening panel on “Narrowband UVB and Photodynamic Therapy” alongside his student, Marigdalia Ramirez-Fort, M.D., CEO of Biofort.io. Together, they also presented four sessions.
In the first two sessions, “Lessons from Ionizing Radiation Radiobiology with Potential Applicability to Photobiology,” they explored how quantitative models from radiation therapy, including an algorithm co-developed by Dr. Lange, can inform safe dosing parameters. They discussed the Otashevsky & Lange DSB (Double Strand Break) Model, which explains cell-survival curves at the genomic level and offers insights into optimal treatment doses and timing for radiation therapy.
The subsequent two sessions explored how to apply these radiation-based algorithms to narrow-band ultraviolet-B (nbUVB) treatment. Physicians commonly use nbUVB, a specific range of ultraviolet light, in phototherapy to treat virus-related benign skin conditions like psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. However, researchers are still studying the optimal tissue depth doses for nbUVB treatment for these and other viral infections.
Dr. Lange highlighted how insights from ionizing radiation algorithms, including his own, could refine nbUVB dosing formulas, potentially enhancing therapeutic outcomes and reducing side effects in this type of therapy.