SUNY Downstate News August 2017

August 1-7 World Breastfeeding Week!

SUNY Downstate Announcement: Rainer W. G. Gruessner, MD, FACS, FICS, has been named Chair of surgery and Clarence & Mary Dennis Professor of Surgery at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. The announcement was made by Carlos N. Pato, MD, Dean of the College of Medicine at SUNY Downstate. “Dr. Gruessner is a nationally renowned surgeon and clinical innovator, a prolific academic, a committed educator, and a successful and experienced department chair, having most recently served as chair of surgery at the University of Arizona and later as chief of transplantation at SUNY Upstate Medical University.”

SUNY Downstate Health Fair: For health screenings for blood pressure, sugar test, cholesterol, HIV/AIDS, stroke screening, breast education and more. The Health Fair will be held at Family Health Services at 840 Lefferts Avenue from 10:00 A.M to 4:00 P.M on August 19, 2017.

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony: President Wayne J. Riley will participate in a formal ribbon cutting ceremony and reception to mark the opening of the new Bone and Joint Center, which will expand Downstate’s capacity to provide advanced care for common and complex musculoskeletal disorders. The event is August 23, 2017 at 10:00 A.M., at University Orthopedic Associates New Bone and Joint Center, 760 Parkside Avenue. Innovations in Medicine: Downstate prides itself on innovations in medicine and healthcare to provide patients with the best care possible. Below is examples of the exceptional and advances Downstate had been making in healthcare:

– Professor of Medicine at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Dr. Edward Quadros, created the Folate Receptor Antibody Test (FRAT™) to detect folate receptor antibodies. “The development of FRATTM could well turn out to be a seminal work that will improve the lives of many people, especially children and pregnant women,” said Boas Gonen, president and CEO of Iliad Neurosciences. “The test is essential for the diagnosis of cerebral folate deficiency, and is extremely useful in identifying patients with autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia, and major depression who could benefit from high-dose folinic acid therapy.” To read more of Dr. Quadros’s work click here.

– Fogarty International Center, supporting the National Institutes of Health, has issued seven new awards through its HIV Research Training Program to build HIV research capacity at institutions in low- and middle-income countries. This round of grants, expected to total $8.1 million over five years, will train researchers in Mozambique, the Philippines, Rwanda, South Africa, Ukraine and Zambia. In Ukraine, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, led by Principal Investigator Dr. Jack Dehovitz, will help to train local investigators to conduct implementation science research to identify best practices for managing new HIV infections.

– SUNY Downstate researchers Drs. Stephen L. Macknik and Susana Martinez-Conde received an award from The National Science Foundation to study restoring vision. “With their award, Stephen L. Macknik, PhD, and Susana Martinez-Conde, PhD, both professors of ophthalmology, neurology, and physiology and pharmacology at SUNY Downstate, will seek to restore vision by genetically modifying neurons in the brain and then stimulating them with light, a method called optogenetics.” To read more on their research click here