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Two Downstate Faculty Promoted to Highest SUNY Rank:

Jun 19, 2009

Dr. Edmund Bourke and Dr. Carl I. Cohen Named SUNY Distinguished Professors for Teaching and Service

Brooklyn, NY - Two faculty physicians at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University have been named distinguished professor, the highest academic rank within the State University of New York. Edmund Bourke, MD, has been named distinguished teaching professor, and Carl I. Cohen, MD, distinguished service professor.

“The rank of SUNY distinguished professor is reserved for faculty who have made major contributions to the State University and to their professions,” explains Dr. John C. LaRosa, MD, president of SUNY Downstate. “We are extremely proud of Dr. Cohen and Dr. Bourke for their achievements, which bring honor to themselves and to our institution.”

Throughout his 15-year tenure at SUNY Downstate, Dr. Bourke has been a role model to medical students and residents for his breadth of knowledge, clinical experience, and unusual ability to connect with patients and their families. His expertise in nephrology and investigations into the mechanisms of renal tubular phosphate transport and other findings have greatly influenced the direction of work in the field. Voted Teacher of the Year by graduating students, his lectures are often SRO. During his tenure as chairman of medicine, from 2003-2009, he greatly strengthened the department and especially its residency program, which now attracts the majority of its residents from US medical schools and among Downstate’s own graduates.

Dr. Cohen is director of geriatric psychiatry and one of the nation’s leading experts on the needs of older adults with schizophrenia and other forms of mental illness. He was one of the first in his profession to address the needs of mentally ill homeless people. At Downstate, he established one of the first geriatric psychiatry divisions in the country, the first psychiatry fellowship in New York City in treating older adults, and the Geriatric Psychiatry Clinical Center, a principal site for patient care, student education, and clinical research. He also founded the Brooklyn Alzheimer’s Disease Assistance Center, the first of its kind in the borough.

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About SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University

Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn is one of four academic health centers (AMCs) in The State University of New York (SUNY) 64-campus system and the only SUNY AMC in New York City dedicated to health education, research, and patient care for the borough’s 2.7 million residents. Its flagship hospital, University Hospital at Downstate (UHD), is a teaching hospital and benefits from the expertise of Downstate’s exceptional medical school and world-class academic center research facilities. With a staff of over 800 physicians representing 53 specialties and subspecialties, Downstate offers comprehensive healthcare services to the community.

UHD provides high-risk neonatal and infant services, pediatric nephrology, and dialysis for kidney diseases and is the only kidney transplantation program in Brooklyn. Beyond its clinical expertise, Downstate houses a range of esteemed educational institutions, including its College of Medicine, College of Nursing, School of Health Professions, School of Graduate Studies, and School of Public Health. Downstate fosters innovation through its multifaceted biotechnology initiative, the Biotechnology Incubator and BioBAT, which support early-stage and more mature biotech companies.