Ninth Symposium Presents the Latest Information on COVID-19
The symposium largely focused on vaccines.
Faculty experts from New York Medical College (NYMC) and the Touro College and University System (TCUS) presented "What Have We Learned? How Can We Use What We Have Learned?" on January 12, the ninth symposium in the series on COVID-19 via a webinar. The symposium largely focused on vaccines. “We are at an interesting touchpoint: a record number of cases, some improvements in therapy vaccines coming on board…and new mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 virus,” said Alan Kadish, M.D., president of TCUS and NYMC. “We are still learning but with the advent of targeted therapy and the advent of vaccine therapies, we are rapidly approaching a point where scientific advances have made a significant therapeutic impact.”
Moderated by Edward C. Halperin, M.D., M.A., chancellor and chief executive officer, NYMC, and provost for biomedical affairs, TCUS, the symposium covered an array of topics including: self-care of health care providers during a pandemic by Stephen Ferrando, M.D., Har Esh Professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences; new COVID-19 therapies and antibody cocktails by Marisa A. Montecalvo, M.D., director of Health Services and professor of medicine; the logistics of large-scale vaccination of a population by Robert W. Amler, M.D., M.B.A., dean of the School of Health Sciences and Practice and vice president for government affairs; the power of the state to require people to be vaccinated by Lila Kagedan, M.Ed., MTS, assistant professor of medicine and director of biomedical ethics, School of Medicine (SOM); the ethics of the allocation of scarce health care resources by Dr. Halperin; frequently asked questions and answers about the COVID-19 vaccines by Kathleen DiCaprio, Ph.D., assistant professor of medical microbiology and immunology, Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine; and pregnancy or potential pregnancy and the COVID-19 vaccine by Karen M. Murray, M.D., assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology and associate dean for admissions, SOM.