News and Events

If you suspect a tick bite, watch for “an expanding red rash at least two inches in diameter,” says Dr. Gary Wormser, chief of infectious diseases at Westchester Medical Center. While that’s the most common physical sign, other symptoms may arise, like facial paralysis, fever and more. Seeing a doctor quickly (and bringing the tick for identification) is key and getting help—if you have Lyme, you’ll get antibiotics—is the best way to advocate for yourself, he says.

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

Lawmakers are demanding an investigation into an old conspiracy theory that the government weaponized ticks and caused the spread of a debilitating disease that infects an estimated 300,000 Americans each year.

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

There are a number of reasons healthcare is so expensive in the U.S. and many of the issues that cause these rising costs require big-picture solutions beyond one patient or doctor. But there is one way that healthcare organizations, doctors and their patients could help lower costs. In fact, they could make a doctor visit cheaper than a Starbucks Latte.

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

Altruistic kidney transplants, in which the donor is neither a relative nor a spouse, are rare. Of the 79 living donor kidney transplants performed since 2014 at Westchester Medical Center, the flagship of Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth), only three cam from donors with limited prior relationships.

NYMC Faculty: Thomas Diflo, M.D., professor of surgery

On October 14 2015, dental consultant Renee Saltzman was watching her daughters Emilie and Ella, Respectively 7 and 8 at the time, during their weekly equestrian lessons. Emilie had been struggling to keep an unfamiliar horse under control. Then, without warning, and with great force, she was thrown. Renee ran to her unconscious daughter and found she was not breathing. 

NYMC Faculty: Avinash L. Mohan, M.D., assistant professor of neurosurgery

Creating, improving and custom-packaging a product under the highest standards of manufacturing is good practice. But when that product is the human cell, such improvements can help fight disease, repair damaged tissue and save lives. 

NYMC Faculty: Mitchell S. Cairo, M.D., professor of pediatrics, division of pediatric hematology, oncology and stem cell transplantation, and professor of medicine, pathology, microbiology and immunology, and cell biology and anatomy

Held at Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, the 40th Annual Westchester Medical Center Gala celebrated the 15th birthday of Maria Fareri Children's Hospital, the only all-specialty children's hospital in the Hudson Valley. The evening included a cocktail reception, dinner and a performance by a choir made up of patients from the past 15 years, including formerly conjoined twins.

NYMC Faculty: Michael Gewitz, M.D., professor of pediatrics, vice chairman of the Department of Pediatrics and physician-in-chief of Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital

Babies delivered at HealthAlliance: Broadway Campus in Kingston, a member of the Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth), can now benefit from the expertise of the top neonatologists at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital, a fellow WMCHealth member in Valhalla, with a top-rated Level IV Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (RNICU).

NYMC Faculty: Edmund F. LaGamma, M.D. '76, professor of pediatrics, division of newborn medicine and professor of biochemistry and molecular biology

Principal William Latson of Spanish River Community High School in Palm Beach County, Florida was removed from his position and reassigned to a different position in the Palm Beach County school district after refusing to admit that the Holocaust was a “factual, historical event.”

NYMC Faculty: Ira Bedzow, M.A., Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine and director of Biomedical Ethics and Humanities Program

We all know that the sun can cause sunburn, but it's easy to forget that concrete surfaces, strollers, metal bleachers, slides and other play equipment also can burn sensitive skin after just one to three seconds of exposure.

NYMC Faculty: Francis V. Winski Jr., M.D., clinical assistant professor of surgery and otolaryngology

For infants and toddlers, having a closed-off pool area is the key to safety. "Build or install a self-latching gate with childproof locks and, ideally, an audible alert when motion is detected in the water," says Darshan Patel, MD, Chief of the Pediatric Emergency Department at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital, a member of the Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth).

NYMC Faculty: Darshan D. Patel, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics, family and community medicine, and emergency medicine

"Broken heart syndrome -- which is, in fact, a real thing -- is when someone finds out some shocking news, typically terrible news, and there's a massive release of these stress hormones that are released into the bloodstream, and the heart is then bombarded with these stress hormones," said Dr. Matthew Lorber, a psychiatrist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York.

NYMC Faculty: Matthew W. Lorber, M.D., M.P.A., clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences

On October 11th, Jeffrey will give a presentation on "Serving Those Who Have Served Us: Why and How to Market Veterans' Healthcare to Your Community" at Becker's Health IT + Revenue Cycle 2019.

NYMC Faculty: Jeffrey L. Brown, M.D., clinical professor of pediatrics

Seeing your primary care doctor for your annual physical or because you're being slammed with a virulent case of the flu is one thing. Visiting a cardiologist for the first time for possible heart issues is another. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. for men and women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: About 610,000 people die of heart disease in the U.S. annually.

NYMC Faculty: Julio A. Panza, M.D., professor of medicine

After refusing to admit that the Holocaust was a “factual, historical event,” Principal William Latson of Spanish River Community High School in Boca Raton, Fla., was removed from his position and reassigned to a different position in the Palm Beach County school district.

NYMC Faculty: Ira Bedzow, M.A., Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine and director of Biomedical Ethics and Humanities Program

When healthcare providers are evaluating and upgrading their resuscitation programs, they often focus on cardiac care. That’s understandable, since even in the medical community resuscitation is often seen as primarily focused around patients presenting with heart attacks or other cardiac-related issues. However, this lifesaving activity is vital to improve outcomes in many other patient conditions as well, says Dr. David Markenson, Chief Medical Officer for the American Red Cross Training Services and Medical Director at the New York Medical College Center for Disease Medicine, which he co-founded in 2005.

NYMC Faculty: David Markenson, M.D., medical director of the Center for Disaster Medicine

Health care today is changing in ways that have the potential to undermine its ethical foundations. To manage these changes effectively, leaders must develop the complex skills necessary to give “voice” to the core values of health care in this evolving landscape. This entails, first, recognizing the competing ethical values underlying the challenges they face. Next, leaders must be competent in analyzing complex ethical dilemmas. Third, and perhaps most challenging, they must learn to develop and implement realistic strategies that can maintain the core values of health care in a rapidly-changing climate. To train values-driven leaders in these critical skills, we have created an ethical leadership program for health care that is based on the Giving Voice to Values (GVV) methodology. This article will make the argument for developing a version of GVV aimed at those in leadership positions in the health care field and briefly describe the program.

NYMC Faculty: Ira Bedzow, M.A., Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine and director of Biomedical Ethics and Humanities Program

The renovations may seem like minor cosmetic adjustments, but many studies published over the past couple of years from communities across the United States have found that urban-remediation efforts can both reduce gun violence and other crimes like vandalism and increase time that residents spend outdoors.

NYMC Faculty: Stephan M. Carlson, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences

Identifying the reasons for poor financial performance of health plans is important for startups and health plans expanding their markets and for state and federal regulators who aim to promote competitive markets, for health insurance. This is especially important during a time when 112 members of the House of Representatives have cosponsored HR 1384, the Medicare for All Act of 2019, which would eliminate health insurers from all U.S. markets.

NYMC faculty: Adam E. Block, Ph.D., assistant professor of public health in the Division of Health Policy and Management

We must ban, not simply pause embryonic gene editing before someone decides to forge the very biological nature of future generations, threatening their health and hijacking their identities before they are even born.

NYMC faculty: Stuart A. Newman, Ph.D., professor of cell biology and anatomy and medicine