Chancellor Hosts Virtual Town Hall Meeting
NYMC and TCUS leadership gave a virtual State of the Campus update to the community on December 22.
Edward C. Halperin, M.D., M.A., chancellor and chief executive officer of New York Medical College (NYMC) and provost for biomedical affairs at Touro College and University System (TCUS), hosted a virtual town hall meeting on December 22, to provide updates on several fronts concerning the campus, including the emergence of the Omicron variant, admission numbers and searches for new chairs.
With a main topic of concern being a surge in COVID-19 cases across the United States, predominately due to the Omicron variant, Robert W. Amler, M.D., M.B.A., dean of the School of Health Sciences and Practice and vice president for government affairs, spoke on testing scenarios on campus. “Let's remember the real objective is to prevent COVID-19 on campus and deal with it quickly when it does happen,” he said while also stressing the importance of vaccinations in reducing transmission.
Lori Solomon, M.D. ’99, M.P.H. ’09, clinical associate professor and chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine and director of the Family Health Center, reminded the NYMC community that the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Janssen vaccines are all available at the Center in primary and booster doses.
The State of the Campus touched upon application numbers at NYMC and Touro College of Dental Medicine, which have had to adapt once again to the fluid circumstances regarding COVID-19 infections, and the School of Medicine curriculum redesign currently taking place.
“We are moving rapidly into the design phase of our curriculum to ensure that the curriculum that will be implemented in August 2022 is meaningful, exciting and continues to engage our students, promoting all of the aspects of our curricular vision,” said Jennifer L. Koestler, M.D., FAAP, senior associate dean for medical education.
Presentations also covered the completed search for a vice chair of research in the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, and the search to fill three new positions in the Graduate School of Basic Medical Sciences to bolster research capacity.
The town hall concluded with a questions and answer session hosted by Dr. Halperin, which included discussions on the status of in-person learning on campus, the increased demand for COVID-19 testing and booster shot efficacy.