News and Events

In the weeks since “sheltering at home” began, we seem to be living in an eternal present. Because our most recent memories of anything different – or “out of the new ordinary” – are weeks old, we have a funny sensation that early March was only a moment ago.

NYMC Faculty News: Ira J. Bedzow, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine and director of the Biomedical Ethics and Humanities Program

"The Spiro Wave is not meant to replace ventilators completely, but it expands the functionality of a manual resuscitator bag," Albert Kwon, anesthesiologist at Westchester Medical Center, and member of the Spiro Wave effort, said in a Spiro Wave press conference.

Faculty News: Albert H. Kwon, M.D., assistant professor of anesthesiology

Scientists still have a lot to learn about immunity to the coronavirus. The World Health Organization has said there currently isn't evidence to prove people can't get reinfected with the virus — and even if they do have some protection after recovering from the virus, it's unknown how long that may last. Labs are working on developing a vaccine but it will take time.

Faculty News: Robert G. Lahita, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine

For a short time, New York state officials enacted controversial guidelines that again tested the inherent tension that the COVID-19 pandemic is causing between our country’s most deeply cherished values – respect for multiculturalism and religious freedom, and the state’s responsibility to promote the common good.

NYMC Faculty News: Ira J. Bedzow, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine and director of the Biomedical Ethics and Humanities Program

Gary P. Wormser, M.D., the chief of infectious diseases at Westchester Medical Center and a professor at New York Medical College, is familiar with Dr. Ostfeld's theory. "That, combined with the nice weather, and people now beginning to get out in the nice weather, will undoubtedly bring people into contact with more ticks," he says.

Faculty News: Gary P. Wormser, M.D., professor of medicine, microbiology and immunology, and pharmacology, and vice chair of medicine for research and development

While the need for safety and saving lives during this pandemic has increased our usage of telehealth, we are seeing that it's capability to address everyday medical needs will make it part of our lives for good. Telehealth has always been a viable solution within our healthcare system, but now, in our new normal, we look to telehealth not just for convenience, but for its safety and flexibility.

BioInc@NYMC News: Samant Virk, M.D., founder and chief executive officer of MediSprout, a BioInc client

Please join us on Thursday, May 14, 3:00 PM EST for AMWA’s first parallel event as an association affiliated with the United Nations Department of Global Communication. This event was originally scheduled as part of the UN Commission on the Status of Women and is now being presented virtually by Zoom webinar. 

Faculty News: Padmini Murthy, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., M.Phil., CHES, professor of public health and global health director and clinical assistant professor of family and community medicine

The interconnectivity of the world has never been more evident than at present as illustrated by the COVID crisis. As a professor, often I have told my graduate students in public health that we need a passport and visa for travel but not a disease as it can cross geographic boundaries easily and often undetected. This fact has been highlighted by the recent global onslaught of pandemics in the past decade.

Faculty News: Padmini Murthy, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., M.Phil., CHES, professor of public health and global health director and clinical assistant professor of family and community medicine

The “new normal” that is setting in with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed a structural weakness at many universities across the country. While no one can predict a black swan event, in fairness, this pandemic and the changes that universities have to make to respond to it were not unpredictable.

NYMC Faculty News: Ira J. Bedzow, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine and director of the Biomedical Ethics and Humanities Program

For a short period of time, New York state officials enacted controversial guidelines that again tested the inherent tension that the COVD-19 pandemic is causing between our country’s most deeply cherished values — respect for multiculturalism and religious freedom on the one side and the state’s responsibility to promote the common good on the other.

NYMC Faculty News: Ira J. Bedzow, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine and director of the Biomedical Ethics and Humanities Program

People all over the United States are voicing their anger over some of the public health policies that states and local governments are enacting to slow the spread of COVID-19. They are protesting and calling for public demonstrations of civil disobedience.

Ira Bedzow, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Medicine, director of the Biomedical Ethics and Humanities Program, and UNESCO chair of bioethics at New York Medical College and Adam E. Block, Ph.D., assistant professor of public health at New York Medical College School of Health Sciences and Practice.

We are approaching a potential inflection point of political and economic instability that may have dire social consequences. While many among us who haven’t left our homes in weeks to months are beginning to see this time as one that calls for solidarity, there has also been a rise in extremist sentiment, on both the left and the right. 

NYMC Faculty News: Ira J. Bedzow, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine and director of the Biomedical Ethics and Humanities Program

In February and early March, the nation watched as COVID-19 swept through Life Care Center, a nursing home that became the early epicenter of the outbreak in Washington state. One home, 35 deaths, 129 infections.

NYMC Faculty News: Ira J. Bedzow, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine and director of the Biomedical Ethics and Humanities Program

The arc of our country’s moral universe, bending toward justice, has steadily sought to broaden the practical application of the words of our Declaration of Independence, “that all men are created equal.”

NYMC Faculty News: Ira J. Bedzow, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine and director of the Biomedical Ethics and Humanities Program

The arc of our country’s moral universe, bending toward justice, has steadily sought to broaden the practical application of the words of our Declaration of Independence, “that all men are created equal.”

NYMC Faculty News: Ira J. Bedzow, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine and director of the Biomedical Ethics and Humanities Program

As the weeks are turning into months, the weight of the COVID-19 pandemic is getting more and more difficult to bear. It is not simply that we are cooped up in our homes, frustrated and stressed, without an outlet to forget what’s going on around us.

NYMC Faculty News: Ira J. Bedzow, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine and director of the Biomedical Ethics and Humanities Program

Imagine trying to hold your breath. Some of us can hold it only for a few moments, others for a bit longer. Now imagine trying to hold your breath as someone starts taking the air out of your lungs. The impulse to breathe becomes much stronger.

Ira Bedzow, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Medicine, director of the Biomedical Ethics and Humanities Program, and UNESCO chair of bioethics at New York Medical College and Adam E. Block, Ph.D., assistant professor of public health at New York Medical College School of Health Sciences and Practice.

The COVID-19 pandemic facing this city will test our country’s most deeply cherished values: respect for multiculturalism and religious freedom on the one side and the state’s responsibility to promote the common good on the other. This inherent tension is quite literally an issue of life and death.

NYMC Faculty News: Ira J. Bedzow, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine and director of the Biomedical Ethics and Humanities Program

As US hospitals grapple with the influx of infected patients, this war analogy is creating a morally problematic way of thinking about how to allocate resources to the critically ill. In a war, we want to treat and return the strongest and fiercest soldiers to the battlefield to kill the enemy. 

NYMC Faculty News: Ira J. Bedzow, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine and director of the Biomedical Ethics and Humanities Program

Dr. Ira Bedzow, a biomedical ethics expert teaching at New York Medical College in Westchester County, described the bed-capacity expansion push in New York as a reaction to the COVID-19 fallout in Italy, where the virus overran hospitals and forced doctors to ration care based on survival odds.

NYMC Faculty News: Ira J. Bedzow, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine and director of the Biomedical Ethics and Humanities Program