HeLa Conference Explores Ethics, Equity, and Innovation in a Changing Health Care Landscape

 “Times are changing,” said Mill Etienne, M.D. ’02, M.P.H., FAAN, FAES, vice chancellor, associate dean for student affairs, and associate professor of neurology and of medicine. “We see lots of different laws and different technology coming out and because of that we need to modify the way we think, the way we approach our problems, the way we approach our learners, and the way we approach our patients."

NYMC and Horace Greeley High School students, residents, fellows, faculty, presented on a wide range of research during a poster presentation session, with visitors from the New Visions Program and Macaulay Honors College at CUNY. Three students were awarded and selected to present oral presentations on their research. Kyla Holbrook, SOM Class of 2027, presented on the street medicine strategies for substance use for the homeless population; Amber Zhao, SOM Class of 2027, presented on the attitudes of trans and gender diverse individuals towards pregnancy; and Aarti Jain, SOM Class of 2027, presented on the trends and disparities in the utilization of middle meningeal artery embolization for chronic subdural hematoma.

“While some conversations may challenge us, when approached with care, can deepen understanding,” said Matilde Roman, Esq., senior vice president and chief equity, inclusion, and diversity officer at WCMHealth, who facilitated the event alongside Dr. Etienne. “This space exists to support thoughtful exchange, shared responsibility, and meaningful learning beyond today.”

“We are living in a new world, and we need to understand the new rules of engagement,” said Neil W. Schluger, M.D., dean of the School of Medicine, who provided opening remarks. “We have tools at our disposable that were unimaginable for most of us, even a year ago… We have to think about how we can use these tools to do our jobs better.”

Kenneth W. Jenkins, Westchester County executive, praised the groundbreaking research taking place at NYMC and said the HeLa Symposium underscores the importance of “getting involved in equity and ensuring there is a more intentional, targeted focus on ethics in research.”

Presenter Joshua Budhu, M.D., M.P.H., a member of the Nicholls-Biondi Diversity Clinical Scientist Faculty Scholar and associate program director of the Neuro-Oncology Fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, delivered the lecture, “When Coverage Changes, Outcomes Change: Access and Financial Toxicity at the Bedside.” He examined the financial structures that shape health care delivery, reviewed recent changes in insurance coverage over the past year, and explored how these shifts directly impact patient access, treatment decisions, and outcomes at the bedside.

Keynote speaker Tracey A. Milligan, M.D., M.S., FAAN, FAES, FANA, professor and chair of the Department of Neurology, NYMC, presented, “Human First: New Rules of Engagement in an AI-Enabled World.” She emphasized that AI is an accelerant—amplifying what already exists within a system. Well-designed systems improve more rapidly, but flawed incentives can scale just as quickly, and both bias and insight spread at unprecedented speed. She framed these challenges within the ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice.

Presenters

When Coverage Changes, Outcomes Change: Access and Financial Toxicity at the Bedside 
Joshua Budhu, M.D., M.P.H.
Assistant Member, Nicholls-Biondi Diversity Clinical Scientist Faculty Scholar, Associate Program Director, Neuro-Oncology Fellowship, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Walking the Tightrope: Risks, Tradeoffs, and Opportunities in Health Policy in 2026 
Adam E. Block, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Public Health, School of Health Sciences and Practice, NYMC

Whose Pain Counts? Navigating Barriers to Endometriosis Care
Gylynthia E. Trotman, M.D., M.P.H. 
System Chief, Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, Westchester Medical Center Health Network / Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital

Taking the Long View on Research Priorities – Our Students are Watching
Owen Garrick, M.D., M.B.A.
Former Dean of Clinical Trials, Mayo Clinic

Who We’re Missing—and How We Re-Engage in Lung Cancer Screening
Natoushka Trenard, M.D., M.P.H.
Assistant Professor of Medicine, NYMC

Poster Session Presentations

Enhancing the Pipeline to Neurology in a Scalable, Accessible Manner: Creation of a Pilot Virtual Neurology Curriculum for College Students
Author (s); Mia T. Minen, M.D., M.P.H.; Ramisha Aymon; Jane Ekhtman; Aarti Katara; Naomi Lebowitz; Khushalee Oza; Ishah Yusaf; Rachel Marie E. Salas, M.D., Med; Raddy L. Ramos, Ph.D.

The Impact of Screen Media Activity on Adolescent Cognition and Brain Development: An ABCD study
Author(s); Livia Low, Kayleigh Esparza

Inflammatory Biomarkers in Acute Ischemic Stroke: Assessing the Prognostic Value of Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio for Functional Recovery Outcome
Author(s); Jude Al-Mufti

Parents' Psychosocial Experiences Learning about Their Infants' Genetic Risk of Autism and Related Disorders
Author(s); Matthew S. Lebowitz Ph.D.,, Renald Dambreville, Rebecca Siegel, Melanie Wall, Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele, Wendy Chung, Paul S. Appelbaum

Uncovering the Practice of Care in Life and Death at the Inca site of Farfán, Peru
Author(s): Ahmed Al-Samak, Diya Gupta, Andrew Nelson, M.D.

Temporal Shifts in the Relationship Between Social Support, Financial Stress, and Blood Pressure
Author(s): Noel Tomy, Benjamin Shwartzman, Amit Banerjee M.D.

From MASH Units to Street Medicine: Implications for Veterans Experiencing Homelessness
Author(s): Maximilian Fanter, Chase Goldberg

CP-ALS: A Novel Cross-Population Framework for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Genomic Analysis & Modeling
Author(s): Emily Vu

Evidence gaps and clinical Implications: Oral Health in Traumatic Brain Injury Care
Author(s): Margo Gellman, Seun Orenuga, Ashley Chopra, Rahim Hirani, M.S.; Eric A Wachs, Tatyana Gitlevich, Mill Etienne, M.D. ‘02, M.P.H.

Prevalence and Predictors of Anxiety Among Academic Faculty in General and Health Professions
Author(s); Anietie Andy, Natasha Tonge, Marina K. Holz, Ph.D., M.P.H. '23, Dr.P.H. '24

Tetanus Prevention and Public Health Disparities in Disaster Contexts: A U.S. and Global Review
Author(s): Olivia Stala, Suhana Patel, Christian Donlon, Shehroz Hussain, Rahim Hirani, M.S., Mill Etienne. M.D. ‘02, M.P.H.

Strokemind
Author(s): Stella Myers

The "Old Wound" and the Absolute Terror: Attitudes of Trans and Gender Diverse Individuals Towards Pregnancy*
Author(s): Atara Schulhof, Amber Zhao, and Bianca Stifani, M.D., M.P.H.

Utilization of Public Genomic Data to Predict Cross-Resistance Patterns of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: A Machine Learning Approach
Author(s): Anya Khurana

Clinical Applications of Vagus Nerve Stimulation Across Neurologic, Psychiatric, Sleep, and Inflammatory Disorders
Author(s): Mahnoor Naeem, Anthony Marzitelli, Dhanwantari Chowdhury, Kelly Fisher, Harrison Field, Rahim Hirani, M.S.; Mill Etienne, M.D. ‘02, M.P.H.

Trends and Disparities in Utilization of MMA Embolization for Chronic Subdural Hematoma from 2015 to 2022: A Cross-Sectional Study of 29,290 Hospitalizations*
Author(s): Aarti Kishore Jain, Aryan Malhotra, Nimrod Gozum, Chirag D. Gandhi, M.D.; Merritt D. Kinon M.D.

An Exploration of Healthcare Students' Knowledge of Disabilities
Author(s); Carolyn Joyce, Patricia M. Curtin, Favour Omobhude, Kristina H. Petersen, Cindy Peraza, Dennis Paul, Alexandra Suponitsky, Shreeya Agrawal, Julia Zhang, Eliana Felder

Challenges in Clinical Translation of Brain Computer Interfaces for the Detection of Cognitive Function Following Severe Pediatric Brain Injury
Author(s); Patricia Curtin, Ludvik Alkhoury, William Watson, Sudhin Shah

Street Medicine Strategies for Substance Use: Effective Interventions for the Homeless Population*
Author(s): Kyla Holbrook, Aditya Kancharla, Lance Morden, Rahim Hirani, M.S.; Mill Etienne, M.D. ‘02, MPH

Tracing the Spread of Health Misinformation: Ivermectin Narratives and Public Search Behavior on YouTube
Author(s): Atikul Miah, Dhruba Podder, Olivia Stala BS, Homa Seyedmirzaei, Rahim Hirani M.S.; Mill Etienne, M.D. ‘02, M.P.H.

*=selected for oral presentation

Named in honor of Henrietta Lacks, whose unwitting contribution to science revolutionized medicine, the annual conference serves as a platform for ongoing discussions on critical issues including research ethics, informed consent, privacy, and compensation. Lacks, tragically diagnosed with cervical cancer and passing away at 31 years old in 1951, unknowingly provided the world with an invaluable gift. Her cancer cells, known as HeLa, was the first immortal cell line, or group of tissue samples that could survive in a lab and reproduce indefinitely, leading to advances including the polio vaccine, cancer treatments and in vitro fertilization. In 2023, Lacks’ family settled its lawsuit against biotechnology company Thermo Fisher Scientific over its claim that the company had been “unjustly enriched” by its use of her cells.

The video from the HeLa Conference and other NYMC events are available on the NYMC YouTube Channel.