50 Years and Counting: SUNY Downstate Employee Celebrates a Milestone
Nov 18, 2010
Showing no signs of slowing down, Janet Halpern celebrated her 5Oth anniversary at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University by dancing the Twist. At this year’s Employee Recognition Luncheon for staff who have contributed ten or more years of service, Ms. Halpern alone could attest to having witnessed five decades in Downstate’s history.
Ms. Halpern has enjoyed a remarkably varied and challenging career at Downstate. In 1960, she was hired by the public relations department to help raise funds for a new teaching hospital. Thanks in part to her efforts, University Hospital at Downstate opened in 1967. A photograph taken at the time shows Ms. Halpern among the eager onlookers as Governor Nelson Rockefeller delivered his congratulatory remarks.
Ms. Halpern’s skills were next put to use by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology to record patient outcomes. She installed the first enterprise asset management (EAM) equipment that sorted codes and used punch cards to run statistical analyses. Her facility with data management came to the attention of then Downstate President Joseph K. Hill, PhD, who asked her to evaluate the use of newly introduced IBM machines.
After some months of training at IBM learning Fortran, an early programming language especially suited for numeric and scientific computing, Ms. Halpern began training researchers at Downstate to use computers in their work. She also co-wrote a program known as THOMIS (Total Hospital Manager Information Systems) that introduced computational methods into hospital administration. Later she helped develop other applications to compile student records and academic profiles.
Following her success at Computer Services—now Information Services—Ms. Halpern was charged with modernizing Downstate’s telecommunications system. This mammoth undertaking involved upgrading all phones from analog to digital, replacing the old switchboard with an electronic switching system, and installing modern consoles staffed by a team of operators under her direction.
Ms. Halpern attempted to retire 15 years ago but was persuaded to return to Downstate as manager of the Faculty Student Association Theater Ticket Service. She approached this new role with the same “can do” attitude she brought to her previous assignments, and students, staff, and alumni continue to enjoy the benefits.
The Employee Recognition Luncheon is hosted each year by Downstate President John C. LaRosa, MD, as a thank you to staff for their valuable service. At this year’s event, held November 3, 2010, Ms. Halpern received a standing ovation from her fellow celebrants. More than 370 employees observed an anniversary milestone this year.
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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.