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Department News

Resident Appointed to Editorial Board

  • Congratulations to Dr. Anusha Lekshminarayanan, PGY 3, on being selected as a Section Editor of the Resident-Fellow Section of the American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation beginning in 2020.

Department Faculty Member Appointed to Hospital Research Committee

  • Congratulation to Dr. Eric Altschuler on being selected to serve on the Metropolitan Hospital Research Committee effective July 2, 2020.

Class of 2020 Graduates in Virtual Ceremony

  • Congratulations to our graduating senior residents! Each are going on to fellowship training programs next year: Dr. Mahmut Kaner (Spinal Cord Injury, UT Houston), Dr. S.M. Monir Mohar (Interventional Pain Management, Utica, NY) and Dr. Sonika Randev (Interventional Pain Management, NY, NY). We wish them the best on their next endeavors.  We will miss them, but know they will do great and continue to contribute back to the Department!

  • Each NYMC / Metropolitan PM&R resident received a custom plaque recognizing their exceptional service during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The Department of Rehabilitation Medicine transitioned their inpatient beds during the surge in NYC to assist in the care of acute COVID-19 patients. Residents also volunteered in the medical annex and critical care units.

Department appoints new Director of Clinical Research

Eric L. Altschuler, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine, has been appointed the new Director of Clinical Research. Prior to joining the faculty of NYMC, Dr. Altschuler was an associate professor of PM&R at Temple University School of Medicine. He is a Hertz Foundation Fellow and applied physicist. Dr. Altschuler’s primary interest is in basic and clinically applied cognitive neuroscience.

Department presents 18 poster abstracts at the 2020 combined AAP / ICRM meetings in Orlando Florida

Congratulations to residents: Drs. Balkaya, Fernandez, Lekshminarayanan, Meng, Gerguis, Lamagna, Sanchez, Tam, Kaner, Mohar and Randev and attendings Drs. Alejandro, Wei, Altschuler, Brahmbhatt and Islam on acceptance of a combined 18 posters for presentation at the 2020 meetings of the AAP / ICRM in Orlando, March 4-6, 2020!

PM&R continues to produce record numbers of published manuscripts and abstracts

  • Congratulation to residents Drs. Sonika Randev and Anusha Lekshminarayanan, speech therapists Lara Goldstein and Kara Morgenstern, and attending Dr. Eric Altschuler on the publication of their paper: Clinical Conundrum: Severe oropharyngeal dysphagia, Dysphagia 2020 Mar 4. doi: 10.1007/s00455-020-10101-6.
  • Congratulations to Dr. Altschuler on publishing a short Correspondence, Scientists Think on the Move, in Nature 580, 590 (2020)

  • Congratulations to residents Drs. Balkaya, Fernandez, Gerguis, Kaner, Lamagna, Lekshminarayanan, Meng, Mohar, Randev, Sanchez, faculty Drs. Brahmbhatt, Islam, Diamond and Altschuler and Dr. Michael Frankenthaler, Chief of Pain and Palliative Medicine at Metropolitan Hospital, on publication of their correspondence, When Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Became Medicine-Life in the Time of Coronavirus Disease of 2019, Am J Phys Med & Rehabil., 99: 480-481, 2020.

  • Congratulations to Residents Drs. Eric Tam and Mahmut T Kaner, physical therapist Cristi M. Magracia, NYMC student Haley Thompson and attending Dr. Eric Altschuler on two new publications in the American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, their Video Gallery paper, Subtle Dysmetria After a Hemorrhage in the Basal Ganglia and Lentiform Nucleus, Am J Phys Med & Rehabil 99: E70, 2020., and their second paper, Rehabilitation after Complete Hemisensory Loss: Report of Two Cases. Am J Phys Med & Rehabil 99:86-90. 2020 Jan;99(1):86-90.

  • Congratulations to residents Choi, Dr. Pham, Dr. Kaner Dr. Mohar, Dr. Tam, Dr. Lamagna, Speech Therapist Lara Goldstein, Occupational Therapist Rasha Kakish, Physical Therapist Tammy He, NYMC medical student Emily Hon and attending physicians Drs. Brahmbhatt, Islam and Altschuler on their presentation of nine posters at the February 2019 Association of Academic Physiatry meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

A new resident rotation in interventional pain management is introduced

We are pleased to announce a new clinical rotation in Interventional pain management at NYC-H&H/Coney Island Hospital under the direction of Steven Yap, M.D.  Dr. Yap is Director of Pain Management at Coney Island Hospital and is board certified in Anesthesiology and Pain Management.

Residents continue to excel in scholarly activities

  •  Congratulations to resident Monir Mohar, NYMC medical student Bronwyn Long, Metropolitan Attendings Drs. Didita and Altschuler on the acceptance of their paper. “Rehabilitation Course and Specification of Dysmetria of a Patient with Ataxia, Dysmetria, and Hemiparesis Following a Stroke in the Corona Radiata: A Case Presentation” PM&R 2018 Sep;10(9):974-978.
  • Congratulations to residents Choi, Dr. Pham, Dr. Randev, Dr. Kaner and Dr. Mohar, resident alumnus Dr. Sampathkumar (2017), NYMC medical student Bronwyn Long, attending physicians Drs. Brahmbhatt, Didita and Altschuler on their presentation of five posters at the February 2018 Association of Academic Physiatry meeting in Atlanta, GA and at Metropolitan Hospital’s Research Day.

  • Congratulations to resident Charlotte Pham on winning a scholarship to attend the 2018 International Pelvic Pain Society Meeting!

  • Congratulations to resident physicians Pham, Dr. Randev and Dr. Kaner, physical therapist Orlando Quiroga and attending physicians Dr. Islam and Dr. Altschuler on acceptance of their abstracts for presentation at the 2018 Annual Assembly of the American Academy of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation in Orlando, Florida.

The NYMC PM&R residency training program celebrates its 66th year on September 9, 2018

Established in 1952, the NYMC residency is one of the oldest and longest standing training programs in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. It was formed five years after the practice of PM&R received specialty board status under the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS).

Residency introduces a new clinical rotation at the Hudson Valley VA Hospital Center at Castle Point beginning July 1, 2018

The new rotation will offer residents significant additional exposure and training in interventional procedures, pain management, integrative medicine, prosthetics/orthotics fitting and fabrication and electrodiagnostic medicine.

Faculty member is named Associate Editor of the American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Congratulations to Dr. Altschuler on being named an Associate Editor of the American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. In 2018 Dr. Altschuler received formal recognition from NYMC for his high usage publication, Animal assisted therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder: lessons from "Case Reports" in media stories. (Military Medicine 2018, 183: 11-13).

Faculty member publishes in the journals Nature and NEJM

Congratulations to Dr. Eric Altschuler on the following two publications in, “Sherlock Holmes - a family likeness?:” in Nature 551, 33, 2017 and “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder” in N Engl J Med 2017; 377:1795-1797