The Department of Medicine News and Events 2020

The Department of Medicine is pleased to share a recent publication from Nirvani Goolsarran, MD, FAC, (Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Associate Vice Chair for Quality, Patient Safety, and Compliance and Associate Program Director, Internal Medicine Residency) and colleagues regarding the Internal Medicine Residency Patient Safety Quality Council and its impact on residents.

 The Department of Medicine is thrilled to announce the promotion of Sahar Ahmad, M.D.,   to Associate Professor of Medicine with tenure.

 Dr. Ahmad is a well-respected faculty member of The Department of Medicine, and the Director   of Ultrasound & Critical Care Education at Stony Brook University.

Please join The Department of Medicine in welcoming our new Palliative Care faculty attending physicians.

Laurie Anderson, MD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine

The Department of Medicine is thrilled to announce that Huda Salman, M.D, Ph.D., was awarded a clinical trial research grant from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, one of only six FDA grants whose focus is to enhance the development of medical products for patients with rare diseases. Dr. Salman’s R01 FDA/NIH R01 grant is titled “CD4 Redirected Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Therapy for CD4 Positive T Cell Neoplasms.” The grant totals $3.1 million over four years.

Dr. Hal Skopicki, distinguished faculty member in the Department of Medicine in the Renaissance School of Medicine, and Chief of Cardiology at Stony Brook University Hospital, can now add one more distinction to his long list of accolades: the leader of the Heart Failure and Cardiomyopathy Center that received the 2020 American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Heart Failure Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award.

The Department of Medicine is thrilled to announce the promotion of Joshua Miller, MD, MPH, to Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine in the division of Endocrinology and Metabolism.

The Department of Medicine has the distinct pleasure of announcing the appointment of Dr. Grace La Torre, Assistant Professor of Medicine, as Director of the Stony Brook Palliative Care Service and Section of Palliative Care in the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology.

The Department of Medicine is thrilled to announce the following: Nirvani Goolsarran, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Associate Program Director of the Internal Medicine Residency, and Associate Vice Chair for Quality, Safety and Compliance, Department of Medicine, was awarded the Stony Brook University Presidential Mini Grant for 2020-2021.

The Department of Medicine is thrilled to announce that, once again, Stony Brook Primary Care has received PCMH recognition.

What is a PCMH NCQA® practice? PCMH practices (patient-centered medical homes) recognized by the NCQA® (National Committee on Quality Assurance) exemplify a different kind of care, where improved coordinated services for patients and increased satisfaction among providers are just some the ingredients for an overall improved system.

The Department of Medicine is pleased to announce that four of our distinguished physicians, from both the divisions of Gastroenterology and Primary Care, participated in Stony Brook Medicine's powerful "Save Our Masks" campaign in May 2020.

The overall "Save a Mask, Save Our Supply, Stay Safe" message conveyed the importance of unifying our efforts, conserving our masks and ensuring our continued safety. 

Stony Brook University student, Jesse Pace, who has spent four years as an integral part of the Mallipattu Lab in the nephrology division, has been honored with the 2020 Provost's Award for Academic Excellence.

This award is given annually to a very select number of graduating seniors who have shown true academic excellence, not just in the classroom, but also through research, creative activities or through building a stronger academic community.

Dr. Lisa Strano-Paul, Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Department of Medicine, Assistant Dean for Clinical Education, and Director of Primary Care Clerkship, is wearing another hat these days: she’s the Course Director for the Renaissance School of Medicine COVID-19 Service Learning elective.

The Department of Medicine is pleased to announce that Dr. Farrukh Koraishy in the nephrology division has received a SUNY research seed grant for his proposal, “Characterization of AKI and testing the use of Losartan in hospitalized patients with COVID-19.”

The Department of Medicine is thrilled to announce the Stony Brook Internal Medicine Chief Residents for academic year 2021-2022:

Imran Chaudhri
Michael Lum
Aditi Malhotra
Brandon Ng

These four outstanding physicians are recognized by students, peers, and faculty for their excellence in patient care, medical knowledge, professionalism, and interpersonal skills. They have demonstrated superb leadership skills and are wonderful ambassadors for Stony Brook ​Medicine. 

Dr. Bettina Fries, Chief, Infectious Disease division, and Professor of Medicine, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology in the Department of Medicine, has had to play many leadership roles during the current crisis, with her expertise needed at every turn to fight the global pandemic.

Match Day 2020 was the first of its kind for The Renaissance School of Medicine: it was a Virtual Match Day, broadcasted live on Stony Brook Medicine’s Facebook page, due to the social distancing guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19. 

Although it was a first of its kind for the School of Medicine, the “Zoom Party” still captured the raw emotion (in real-time) of the School of Medicine's MS4s as they learned where their residency assignments will be.

The Stony Brook University Heart Institute was awarded an Outstanding Patient Experience Award from the Committee for Outpatient Experience.

This bi-annual award given to outpatient locations is based on Press Ganey results, whose mission is "to support healthcare providers in understanding and improving the entire patient experience."

The Department of Medicine is honored to announce that Dr. Susan Lane, Vice Chair for Education and Internal Medicine Residency Program Director has been elected to serve as President-Elect of the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine (APDIM).

"Hot Topics in Motility" is a conference jointly provided by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the New York Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. 

The Department of Medicine has announced the recipients of the 2020 DoM Pilot Project Grant awards.

These recipients were selected from a slate of many meritorious applications, and collectively represent a group of really exciting research projects.
The five funded projects and their principal investigators are:

On February 5^th, The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) announced the winners of the inaugural round of The John A. Hartford Foundation Tipping Point Challenge, a national innovation and quality improvement challenge sponsored by CAPC and The John A. Hartford Foundation.