SUNY Downstate president Wayne Riley appointed to the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Board of Trustees
Apr 19, 2018
Karen E. Watson, communications and health policy expert, also named as Trustee
Brooklyn, NY—SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University and The Arnold P. Gold Foundation Board Chair Richard C. Sheerr today announced that SUNY Downstate President Wayne J. Riley, M.D. was appointed as a Trustee to the Board of New Jersey-based Gold Foundation, an organization that champions the human connection in healthcare. Appointed as a Trustee along with Dr. Riley was Karen E. Watson, a communications and public policy expert in health and wellness.
“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Riley and Ms. Watson, both outstanding leaders in the healthcare arena who understand so fully why this is an urgent time in history to stand up for humanism,” said Richard I. Levin, President and CEO of The Arnold P. Gold Foundation, a leading nonprofit that works with organizations and clinicians around the world to support humanistic patient care. “We look forward to working with them both to help push the future of healthcare in the direction of more empathetic, compassionate care for both patients and the whole healthcare team – an absolutely critical mission in our era.”
“I am honored to join the Gold Foundation as a Trustee,” said SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University President Wayne J. Riley, MD. “The foundation’s work is most significant in a fast-evolving world where a greater need exists for compassion and connection with patients. I look forward to working with Ms. Watson and my fellow Trustees to sustain Arnold Gold’s legacy of this nurturing approach to patient care.” “I’m thrilled to be engaged with the Gold Foundation,” said Ms. Watson. “In a time of radical technological change and advancement in medicine, the human connection between health professionals and patients and the mission of the foundation have never been more important.”
About The Arnold P. Gold Foundation
The Gold Foundation is a nonprofit organization that champions the human connection in healthcare. For 30 years, the foundation has worked to infuse compassion and empathy in medicine, engaging medical schools, health systems, companies and individual clinicians around the world. The foundation is perhaps best known for the now iconic White Coat Ceremony, which marks the start of training with a recognition of the importance of caring compassionately for patients, and the Gold Humanism Honor Society, which has more than 30,000 members selected for their humanistic care. Read more about the Arnold P. Gold Foundation here.
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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.