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Call for an appointment 1-844-NYC-4NYC STAY CONNECTED. FOLLOW US. nychealthandhospitals.org
DOCTORS’ DAY 2019
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS
MEDICAL DIRECTORS
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/BELLEVUE NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/GOUVERNEUR
NATE LINK, MD JEFFREY N. NICHOLS, MD
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/CARTER NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/HARLEM
DAVID MARGOLIS, MD MAURICE WRIGHT, MD
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/COLER NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/JACOBI
SHERRY HUMPHREY, MD MICHAEL ZINAMAN, MD
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/CONEY ISLAND NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/KINGS COUNTY
TERENCE BRADY, MD STEVEN PULITZER, MD
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/ELMHURST NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/LINCOLN
JASMIN MOSHIPUR, MD ANITA SONI, MD
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/GOTHAM NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/MCKINNEY
HEALTH, BELVIS
ROBERT HOLLAND, MD
JOQUETTA D. PAIGE, MD
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/GOTHAM METROPOLITAN
HEALTH, CUMBERLAND
JOHN PELLICONE, MD
CYNTHIA BOAKYE, MD
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/NORTH
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/GOTHAM CENTRAL BRONX
HEALTH, EAST NEW YORK
CHINYERE ANGU, MD *
DAVID JOHN, MD
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/QUEENS
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/GOTHAM
JASMIN MOSHIPUR, MD
HEALTH, GOUVERNEUR
MORRIS GAGLIARDI, MD
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/SEA VIEW
MARIA PABLO, MD
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/GOTHAM
HEALTH, MORRISANIA
JOSEPH WILLIAMS NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/WOODHULL
EDWARD FISHKIN, MD
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/GOTHAM
HEALTH, SYDENHAM
REBA WILLIAMS, MD
*INTERIM CMO
DOCTORS’ DAY 2019 April 30, 2019 WELCOME MITCHELL KATZ, MD President and Chief Executive Officer MACHELLE ALLEN, MD Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer NATALIA CINEAS, DNP, RN, NEA-BC Chief Nurse Executive
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS
2019 DOCTORS’ DAY RECIPIENTS
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/BELLEVUE NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/
GOTHAM HEALTH, CUMBERLAND
AMIT UPPAL, MD
MAGALIE PIERRE-LOUIS, MD
Section Chief, Pulmonary, Critical Care,
& Sleep Medicine Pediatric Attending
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/CARTER NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/
GOTHAM HEALTH, EAST NEW YORK
YELENA SULER, MD
LLOYD P. HASKES, OD, FAAO
Chief, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
Chief, Eye Care Services
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/COLER
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/
XIANG NONG LUO, MD, GOTHAM HEALTH, GOUVERNEUR
FAAPMR
NATHANIEL LIM YAO, MD
Attending Physician, Internal Medicine
Primary Care Physician,
Family Medicine-Integrative Medicine
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/CONEY ISLAND Chief Medical Information Officer
ARISTOTLE LYSSIKATOS, DDS, MS,
FAGD
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/
Attending Dentist GOTHAM HEALTH, MORRISANIA
Program Director of the Dental Practice BELKIS J. VIZCAINO-REYES, MD,
Residency Program MPH, FAAP
Attending Physician, Pediatrics
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/ELMHURST
MARITZA BROWN, MD NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/
Associate Program Director, GOTHAM HEALTH, SYNDENHAM
Inpatient Medicine FRANCISCO SANTONI, MD
Director of Inpatient Hemodialysis Internist
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/ NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/GOUVERNEUR
GOTHAM HEALTH, BELVIS
ANDREA N. COTLER,
OYEBISI JEGEDE, MD OD, FAAO
Attending Physician, Infectious Disease Director of Eye & Vision Services
and Internal Medicine
Chief of OptometryNYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/HARLEM NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/QUEENS
CLARICIO DE CASTRO, MD M. MARGARET KEMENY,
Attending Anesthesiologist
MD, FACS
Director, Pain Management Service Director, Cancer Center
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/JACOBI NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/SEA VIEW
SHELDON H. TEPERMAN, MOHAMMAD KHALID, DDS
MD, FACS Chief of Dental Service
Trauma Medical Director Vice President of Medical and
Dental Board
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/KINGS COUNTY
ANDREW G. WINER, MD NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/
SIMULATION CENTER
Chief of Urology NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/CONEY ISLAND
REGINA HAMMOCK, DO
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/LINCOLN Program Director, Emergency Medicine
Residency
PRONOY KUMAR ROY, MD
Unit Chief, Inpatient Psychiatry
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/WOODHULL
ERSHAD ELAHI, MD
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/MCKINNEY
Vice Chief, Emergency Department
INNA SOSINA, MD
Attending Physician
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/METROPOLITAN
JENNIFER M. HARLEY, MD
Chief of Gastroenterology and
Hepatobiliary Diseases
Director, Gastroenterology and
Hepatology Fellowship Programs
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/
NORTH CENTRAL BRONX
LORENZO L. SCOTTI,
DPM, DABFAS
Director of PodiatryCELEBRATING OUR DOCTORS, 2019
In our rapidly changing health care landscape,
with digital advancements to improve patient
care and innovative strategies to strengthen
our financial outlook, there is one thing that
remains constant: the steadfast dedication of
our doctors. Every year, with our celebration
of Doctors’ Day, NYC Health + Hospitals
honors an outstanding selection of physicians
MITCHELL KATZ, MD who are blazing exciting paths toward a
PRESIDENT AND CEO new era of health care delivery for our
patients. Nominated from 23 facilities located
throughout this great city, these doctors are
among the thousands that uphold the system’s
promise to care for all.
This year’s honorees include: Pediatricians,
Primary Care Physicians, Optometrists,
Dentists, ER Doctors, and more. They represent
a range of specialties that ensure we can meet
the needs of every person who comes to us for
care. Beyond their medical specializations, our
Doctors’ Day honorees share a rich immigrant
MACHELLE ALLEN, MD heritage, tracing their roots to nations such
CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER
as Nigeria, China, Russia, Bangladesh, the
Dominican Republic, Pakistan and others. Their
diverse background reflects the breadth of
nationalities that we find among the millions of
patients we treat.
Aside from diversity, our doctors are unique
in their embrace of this special calling to
serve the public good. They are worthy of our
recognition and unqualified gratitude.
Today and every day, we salute you, our
doctors, for your excellence, your sacrifice and
your commitment to our patients. As a Primary
Care Physician and an Obstetrician, both of us
are proud and honored to stand with you as
we continue our mission and commitment to
helping New Yorkers live their healthiest lives.
Congratulations to all of you.AMIT UPPAL, MD Section Chief, Pulmonary, Critical Care, & Sleep Medicine, Associate Chief of Medicine, Director of Medical ICU NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/BELLEVUE A Driving Force for Safety Dr. Amit Uppal is hailed by “Delivering high-quality, cutting- colleagues as a driving force for edge care to all members of our quality and safety whose leadership society gets right to the core of why I at Bellevue has helped revolutionize became a physician,” he says. “There care -- from boosting outcomes in are very human moments when sepsis patients to deployment of you connect with patients, there are a Threatened Airway Protocol and cognitive challenges that change the “airway boxes” that are now in use way you think, and there are physical hospital-wide. demands that push you to improve.” He has had “dramatic experiences” Dr. Uppal earned his B.S. at John at Bellevue, sheltering and Carroll University and his M.D. at evacuating patients during Hurricane The Ohio State University College Sandy and caring for an Ebola of Medicine and Public Health. Virus patient. But his “proudest He completed his Internal Medicine accomplishments,” Dr. Uppal says, internship and residency at University have come from working on a of California, Irvine; a fellowship in team “that made substantial and Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine fundamental changes to the way we at NYU, and a Master’s in Health deliver care. Our efforts with regard Professions Education at Maastricht to sepsis and airway safety impact University, Netherlands. patients on a large scale and in a sustained way.” Coming from a family of doctors, Dr. Uppal always knew medicine was his calling, and he finds working in the city’s public health system “incredibly rewarding.”
YELENA
SULER, MD
Chief, Rehabilitation Medicine
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/CARTER
Motivated by Her Patients
Dr. Yelena Suler joined NYC Born and raised in Moscow, Russia,
Health + Hospitals in 2000 when Dr. Suler credits her mother, “a very
she was recruited for the Cardiac respected doctor in a local clinic,”
Rehabilitation program at Coler- with inspiring her to pursue a medical
Goldwater Memorial Hospital. She career. “Her ability to help people
was quickly recognized for her in life-threatening situations made
expertise, compassion and putting medicine a very attractive field to
the needs of patients first. me,” Dr. Suler says. “I wanted to have
Her responsibilities expanded over the same power, the same ability to
time to include clinical oversight of save someone’s life.”
the Rehabilitation Medicine program, Dr. Suler graduated from Moscow
and in 2013 she was chosen to help State University of Medicine and
staff the new Henry J. Carter Specialty Dentistry with a medical degree and
Hospital and Nursing Facility, worked for 11 years at the Moscow
where she is involved in the care Center for Emergency Medical
of nearly every patient. Her clinical Care. She married and had two
contributions, combined with her sons and eventually migrated to the
leadership skills, have made Dr. Suler United States, where she gained a
“indispensable” to Carter. In recent specialty in Physical Medicine and
years, she has served as President of Rehabilitation. She started at Coler-
the Medical Staff and has assisted with Goldwater in 2000 as a physiatrist,
clinical oversight of surgical specialty and moved up from Attending
services, all while maintaining a full Physician to Chief of the Department,
consultative case load. then moved to Carter.
“My biggest motivation,” says Dr.
Suler, “is the success of my patients.
The ability to restore someone’s life
gives me the highest professional
satisfaction.”XIANG NONG LUO, MD, FAAPMR Attending Physician, Internal Medicine NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/COLER An Early Calling to Help Dr. Xiang Nong Luo is praised as an He earned his Doctor of Medicine outstanding multi-specialty physician degree at Hunan Medical University, who has assumed a variety of roles Changsha, Hunan, China, followed at Coler -- managing patients with by a Master of Medicine degree complex medical issues, improving in Experimental Oncology at dementia care and working with the the university’s Cancer Research physical therapy department. Institute. Dr. Luo spent four years He has assumed a leadership role as a Research Associate in the in the Department of Medicine, Department of Medicine at Mount where he has assisted in preventing Sinai Medical Center and worked at unnecessary hospitalizations and Coler-Goldwater and Carter facilities recently took on the challenge of as an Attending Physician in Physical improving the rehabilitation and Medicine and Rehabilitation, before nursing facility’s dementia care coming to Coler in 2016. program. He has also provided The China of Dr. Luo’s childhood was specialty consultations to NYC poor and short of doctors. Because of Health + Hospitals since 2000, and the shortage, his 7-year-old brother works diligently with Coler’s Physical died from diphtheria. “Since then I Therapy department to improve the swore I wanted to be a doctor when I speed and accuracy of consults and grow up, to help patients,” he says. assist with prosthetics and orthotics. Dr. Luo says he is proud to see Dr. Luo is also appreciated for imparting patients recover following his his Internal Medicine expertise to treatment. “When I see the patient, the staff through formal and informal I always think of what I should do education, and for his eagerness to if she or he was my mother, father, cover other units and support his sister or brother. I have to do my colleagues. In addition to his health best to help.” system work, he has been in private practice in Queens for 14 years.
ARISTOTLE LYSSIKATOS, DDS, MS, FAGD Attending Dentist, Program Director of the Dental Practice Residency Program NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/CONEY ISLAND Better Dental Care for Brooklyn Dr. Aristotle Lyssikatos came to NYC and represents his colleagues on the Health + Hospitals/Coney Island in Facility-Based Collaborative Council, 2015 to establish a dental residency developing research projects with program, and under his leadership staff and residents. In 2015, Dr. the program has quickly become Lyssikatos was designated one of the one of the most desired residencies country’s top young dentists under for dental school graduates in the 40 by Incisal Edge Magazine. city. With some 75,000 patient Dr. Lyssikatos says he’s proud to be encounters in its first four years, the part of a health system devoted to program has also had an impact on bringing care to people who often dental health in the community it have complex medical and social serves. “By the time of graduation, needs. “We have patients with great our dental residents consistently hardships, and the emphasis is always tell me that this was one of the best on their needs,” he says. “This system experiences of their lives,” says Dr. allows us to care for our patients Lyssikatos. “Meanwhile, our patients without constraints. That is why I am have been very appreciative of the not just a doctor here but a patient compassionate care they receive as well. We have talented doctors from our program.” who work together and genuinely Dr. Lyssikatos graduated with honors care about their colleagues, and we from New York University College have an executive team that is very of Dentistry in 2005 and served as approachable and goal-oriented. We dental director of Newark Community have a group of dental residents who Health Centers for nine years before enjoy learning and dental attendings joining Coney Island. In addition to who have a passion to teach.” his clinical work, he has published research articles in the Journal of Oral Health and Community Dentistry
MARITZA BROWN, MD Associate Program Director, Inpatient Medicine Director of Hemodialysis NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/ELMHURST Speaking with Compassion Dr. Maritza Brown’s compassionate Dr. Brown received her B.S. from approach to patient care is CUNY’s Medgar Evers College and appreciated by those she treats her M.D. from the Universidad del and the future physicians she trains. Noreste in Mexico. Her postdoctoral She has served in a variety of key training – internship, residency, leadership roles since she arrived at and nephrology fellowship – was Elmhurst in 2008, and is known for at Brookdale Hospital/Downstate excelling in all of them. Medical Center. Dr. Brown, a nephrologist, is She traces her ambition to study Associate Program Director of medicine to her childhood days Inpatient Medicine and Director of translating for her grandmother, who Hemodialysis. She is also Clerkship spoke little Spanish, during doctor’s Site Director for the Icahn School appointments in Costa Rica. Dr. of Medicine at Mount Sinai. As a Brown was “awed by the doctors’ medical educator, she has received knowledge,” she says. “I wanted to be Elmhurst’s Distinguished Ward like them.” Preceptor Award multiple times. Compassion for patients resonates She is also a distinguished leader with Dr. Brown as a critical in the larger medical community, component of care. “Many of our serving on the National Kidney patients speak very little English, Foundation Advisory Board, and as and come here with very advanced an IPRO Chronic Kidney Disease disease, and have limited health Project Advisor. literacy,” she says. “They are fearful Working at Elmhurst, she says, of what the doctor might tell them. “allows me to fulfill two of my greatest Speaking to them with compassion passions -- direct patient care and helps to allay some of this fear and being a part of the education of our permits them to make informed young physicians, being a role model.” decisions.”
OYEBISI JEGEDE, MD Attending Physician, Infectious Disease and Internal Medicine NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/ GOTHAM HEALTH, BELVIS Fighting Disease, from Nigeria to the Bronx A few years after earning her medical “The central thing to me—and I wrote degree in her native Nigeria, Dr. this all the way back in my graduate Oyebisi (Bisi) Jegede decided school application—is that health care she wanted her career to focus should be affordable and accessible on improving the treatment of to everybody. At that time in Nigeria, HIV and other infectious diseases. a lot of people were dying without Immigrating to the United States care so that is how I got interested in in 2002, she earned a Ph.D. in working in a public health system.” cellular and molecular biology at At Belvis, Dr. Jegede has quickly the Cleveland Clinic, spent several become known as a kind-hearted years as a researcher in labs that doctor who has an exceptional way were trying to develop new drugs with patients. “What’s important to for HIV and hepatitis C, then served me is getting people to buy in to a residency in internal medicine. their care,” she says. “To do that, my Eventually she moved to New approach is to speak to them in a way York for a Masters in translational they will understand -- less jargon, science—the application of laboratory more straightforward information, discoveries to patient treatment—at what the prognosis will be with and The Rockefeller University. “I wanted without intervention and what they to do clinical studies to develop new can do to make things better. Once therapies and also have the flexibility people understand what is at stake, to be able to practice medicine,” she whether it is an HIV patient or a says. “The best of both worlds.” diabetic patient, they’ll be the one In 2017, Dr. Jegede’s long road led to tell you, ‘This is what I’m doing.’ to NYC Health + Hospitals/Gotham They take ownership and if they make Health, Belvis, where a position for an progress that’s their achievement.” infectious disease specialist had been open for some time. It was a good fit.
MAGALIE PIERRE-LOUIS, MD Pediatric Attending NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/GOTHAM HEALTH, CUMBERLAND The Great Communicator Dr. Magalie Pierre-Louis exemplifies She went on to medical school at some of the most important qualities Temple University, returned to New of a doctor who practices in a York for her pediatric residency at community as diverse as the one she Albert Einstein, and spent 14 years serves at NYC Health + Hospitals/ as an attending pediatrician at Gotham Health, Cumberland. “I clinics in Brooklyn before joining the think every doctor should have Cumberland team in 2007. compassion and be considerate of Colleagues laud Dr. Pierre-Louis as the particular needs and cultures of a strong advocate for her patients their patients,” said Dr. Pierre-Louis. who is always seeking innovative Those aspects of her approach are ways to deliver the best care to her one reason she’s earned a reputation young patients and their families. among both staff and patients for Sometimes it’s as simple as going being a great communicator. the extra yard to connect with them— Dr. Pierre-Louis, a pediatrician who calling an adolescent patient herself grew up in Haiti, cares for many to find out why they missed an families who speak her native Creole. appointment, for instance. Her Spanish-speaking patients also She recalls a teenage boy with a appreciate her ability to talk with them subtle abnormality that led her in their first language. It’s all in service to refer him to a specialist, who of Dr. Pierre-Louis’s fierce commitment diagnosed an unusual genetic to making Cumberland’s pediatric condition, called Klinefelter’s clinic a place that fosters strong Syndrome that can affect various personal and therapeutic relationships aspects of development. “As a result between staff and patients. of my discovery he had the proper “I always wanted to be a pediatrician, workup and treatment,” she says. since my own childhood,” Dr. Pierre- “That was a case where I was proud Louis says. She immigrated to New that I could really make a difference York when she was 18 and began in my patient’s life.” pursuing her dream at City College.
LLOYD P.
HASKES, OD, FAAO
Chief, Eye Care Services
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS / GOTHAM
HEALTH, EAST NEW YORK
Caring for the Eyes of East New York
Ask Dr. Lloyd Haskes what he loves engagement with diabetic patients
about being an optometrist at NYC and improving their management of
Health + Hospitals and he might tell vision-related conditions.
you about the patient who came into In addition to his clinical duties
his clinic one day years ago, confused at East New York, Dr. Haskes is a
about why an outside provider had full-time clinical professor at the
prescribed eye drops. Dr. Haskes facility’s affiliate, the SUNY College
did a complete workup and found of Optometry, his professional alma
that the patient had glaucoma. He mater. He earned his D.O. degree
carefully explained the condition, there in 1987, following his father
its treatment and prognosis. “I’ll into the field.
never forget the hugs I received,”
Three decades later, Dr. Haskes
Dr. Haskes says, “as well as the nearly
has seen thousands of patients and
10-year doctor-patient relationship
trained hundreds of doctors but
since then.”
his daily mission remains constant:
Dr. Haskes is the chief of eye care To make sure his team sees every
services at NYC Health + Hospitals patient as an individual, addresses
/ Gotham Health, East New York, all their needs, answers all their
and director of the center’s family questions, sends them home better
practice/ocular disease residency off than when they came in. “Because
and externship program with SUNY. of the immense size of our system,
Overseeing a clinical center that sees with a lot of moving parts, a patient
more than 350 patients a month, Dr. may feel overlooked,” he says.
Haskes has had an important impact “My goal every day is for our patients
on the awareness and treatment of to leave our care smiling. Nothing
ocular disease in the East New York feels better than being told, ‘Doc,
community. Known for his proactive don’t ever leave East New York.’ ”
approach, he’s recently been focused
on stepping up his department’sNATHANIEL LIM
YAO, MD
Primary Care Physician,
Family Medicine-Integrative Medicine
Chief Medical Information Officer
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/
GOTHAM HEALTH, GOUVERNEUR
EMR Champion
Dr. Nathaniel Yao, Primary Care Dr. Yao is considered an extraordinary
Physician at Gotham Health, team player, teacher and colleague
Gouverneur and Chief Medical whose talents and dedication have
Information Officer at Gotham Health, produced significant improvements
is passionate about treating patients benefiting providers and patients.
and developing the potential of IT Patients also respond to his caring,
to improve care. A computer whiz easygoing style and professionalism.
since childhood, Dr. Yao, uses his IT Dr. Yao earned his B.S. in Biomedical
skills to help colleagues navigate Science at The Sophie Davis School
medical databases, and to fine-tune of Biomedical Education at The City
the functionality of electronic medical College of New York and his M.D.
records. As Gotham Health’s CMIO at The School of Medicine at Stony
he works to improve EMR as a critical Brook University Medical Center.
tool in delivering quality care.
He was inspired to study medicine by
One of his most memorable NYC the doctor who treated him and his
Health + Hospitals experiences, family members, at very reasonable
Dr. Yao says, was realizing that his cost, after they came to the U.S., from
teamwork with other providers the Philippines.
to substantially improve clunky
“Being able to take care of families,
prescription-writing software boosted
and experiencing their trust when
their ability to help patients. The
your patient brings their newborn to
city’s public health care teams “do
you as well as their grandma . . . is
more with less,” he notes. “We deliver
humbling,” he says. “I would not have
that world-class care when we work
it any other way.”
closer and depend on each other’s
strengths.”BELKIS J. VIZCAINO-REYES, MD, MPH, FAAP Attending Physician, Pediatrics NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/ GOTHAM HEALTH, MORRISANIA A Morrisania Grandmother For Dr. Belkis Vizcaino-Reyes, her York to continue her education with proudest moment—and it comes with a Master’s in public health from increasing frequency these days—is Columbia University, followed by a when a patient she began treating pediatric residency at Bronx-Lebanon years ago has a child herself and Hospital, a second residency in social wants Dr. Vizcaino-Reyes to be their pediatrics at Montefiore Hospital pediatrician. “That is when I become and a fellowship at the nationally what I call a ‘Morrisania grandmother,’ recognized Mount Sinai Adolescent “ she says. “I feel honored and proud Health Center. to start the cycle all over again.” At Morrisania, Dr. Vizcaino-Reyes is Dr. Vizcaino-Reyes joined the known for her easy smile, warmth, pediatric service of NYC Health + compassion and commitment to a Hospitals/Gotham Health, Morrisania public health system that doesn’t turn 26 years ago after a long and anyone away. “Health care is a right, determined journey to become not a privilege,” she says. “I like the the doctor her mother wanted to fact that I do not have to think about be. “She is my inspiration,” says Dr. finances when I see my patients.” Vizcaino-Reyes, who grew up in the Dr. Vizcaino-Reyes was instrumental Dominican Republic. “She was never in the founding of the Facility-Based able to become a doctor because of Collaboration Council at Morrisania the circumstances of her life. I took and worked with her team to develop over her dream and made it a reality. and implement a project to improve All my life the only thing I wanted to the flow of newborns in the pediatrics do was become a doctor.” department. She earned her medical degree from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo in 1981 after an arduous seven-year pursuit. A few years later, she came to New
FRANCISCO SANTONI, MD Internist NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/ GOTHAM HEALTH, SYDENHAM Caring for the Latino Community in Harlem Colleagues praise Dr. Francisco That commitment resonates today as Santoni for his commitment to he serves a medically disadvantaged exemplary care and for his service community “with higher morbidity to the Hispanic community in and mortality rates due to less access Harlem. He is recognized as the to primary prevention and pre- highest-performing physician at morbid care, and discontinuity of Sydenham this year on his chronic care,” he says. disease metrics in both diabetes and Accountability in the practice of hypertension. medicine is an essential value for Beloved at Sydenham since joining Dr. Santoni. “Excellence is ideal but the medical staff in 1994, Dr. Santoni not always obtainable,” he says. serves as a medical advocate for the ‘However, accountability in our Spanish-speaking population served work and its product is essential for by the community health center. delivering the best health care that He champions collaborative care of we can.” patients with both mental health and What motivates his commitment chronic disease and was an early to practice medicine, he says, is adopter and champion of “cycle “knowing that when a patient leaves time” improvements. my room I have done my best to He trained in Internal Medicine and achieve the goals of all medical care: Cardiology at New York Medical to relieve suffering, to prevent future College and at Hospital Damas in suffering or to prolong life.” Ponce, Puerto Rico. He credits his family doctor in the South Bronx, “who treated me and many others regardless of the ability to pay,” for inspiring him to become a physician.
ANDREA N.
COTLER, OD, FAAO
Director of Eye + Vision Services,
Chief of Optometry
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/GOUVERNEUR
A World Crisp and Alive
Blending clinical expertise with a at American Academy of Optometry
warm, supportive manner, Dr. Andrea meetings and academic venues.
N. Cotler oversees Eye Care services She has worked at Gouverneur
and provides care for residents of since 2016 and counts as one of
NYC Health + Hospitals/Gouverneur. her proudest accomplishments,
She is known as a dedicated doctor improvements to patient access to
who will rearrange her schedule ophthalmic diagnostic equipment
to meet residents’ needs including used to screen for and manage sight-
urgent, serious and unresolved eye threatening diseases like glaucoma
issues. and macular degeneration.
The day she walked out of her “I am proud to say that we now
optometrist’s office “wearing contact provide same-day access for all of
lenses for the first time” inspired our diagnostic imaging equipment
Dr. Cotler to become a doctor. “The and have dramatically reduced time
world appeared crisp and alive,” to next available visual field exam.”
she says. “Becoming aware of what
Dr. Cotler finds it particularly
I had been missing before that
satisfying to help patients “solve
moment inspired me to help others
problems.” She is fortunate, she says,
experience that same joy.”
“to work with amazing optometry
Dr. Cotler earned her B.S. at interns each day, and each patient
University of North Carolina Chapel encounter is an opportunity to share
Hill and her Doctor of Optometry my experience.”
at SUNY College of Optometry. She
“Interacting with my patients
did her residency in Ocular Disease/
and students is rewarding and
Primary Care Optometry at U.S.
energizing,” she says.
Department of Veterans Affairs - New
York Harbor Health Care System, and
worked in private practice. She has
presented on eye disease subjectsCLARICIO DECASTRO, MD Attending Anesthesiologist Director, Pain Management Service NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/HARLEM Easing Pain, Building Trust Lauded as an outstanding clinician medical degree at the Autonomous who treats patients with respect and University of Santo Domingo, then is widely admired by colleagues, came to Harlem Hospital for two Dr. Claricio DeCastro is Director of years as a surgical resident. the Pain Management Service at He completed a residency in Harlem. He considers creation of the anesthesiology at Albert Einstein Service, which treats acute, chronic College of Medicine and was a fellow and cancer pain conditions, one of in Pain Management at Memorial his proudest accomplishments. The Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. “highest honor” he has received, he DeCastro’s extensive CV includes says, is his patients’ trust. training in clinical research at Harvard Dr. DeCastro is in the pain clinic five University, certification in medical days a week, responds to in-house acupuncture, and a long list of journal consults, performs pain procedures in publications. the operating room, and works with “We are able to provide the medical and psychiatry residents. highest quality of care for the He was instrumental in developing most vulnerable and underserved Harlem’s hospital-wide Policy and members of our society without Procedure for Pain Management. regard for their ability to pay,” Dr. His own childhood health issues DeCastro says. “Every day spent in including asthma, chronic bronchitis patient care at Harlem Hospital is and surgeries, combined with the memorable. From relieving the pain example of his older sister – a public- of patients in labor to providing hospital physician in the Dominican comfort to the terminally ill, is a daily Republic who came home after long rewarding and humbling experience.” hours to treat local patients for free – solidified Dr. DeCastro’s desire to pursue medicine. He earned his
SHELDON H. TEPERMAN, MD, FACS Trauma Medical Director NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/JACOBI Elevating Trauma Care Dr. Sheldon Teperman, director of Health + Hospitals have spent a the trauma center at NYC Health + lifetime leveling the playing field of Hospitals/Jacobi since 2007, says health care,” he says. He recalls his there can be no better motivator to own mother coming into the Jacobi go to work every day than the trauma center after a bad fall. “She likelihood that he and his colleagues received amazing, compassionate will need to save someone’s life. care—not because she was the Multiply that by 365 days and it’s mother of the trauma director but not hard to understand why because she was an injured human one of Dr. Teperman’s proudest being. Ask around and you will find accomplishments is gaining my mom’s story is shared by all kinds certification from the American of New Yorkers. We are in it together.” College of Surgeons for all six of Growing up, Dr. Teperman was the city health system’s Level inspired by his father, a Russian One trauma centers. “There were immigrant who became a lawyer, prominent national trauma surgeons dentist and maxillo facial surgeon. who said Health + Hospitals could “He dreamed that his children would not do it,” Dr. Teperman says. also lead a life of service. He imbued “With certification, our trauma centers us with that sense of purpose.” are again receiving national acclaim Now Dr. Teperman himself is an for the excellent care we deliver to inspiration to the students he teaches injured patients.” and trains—as they are to him. “On Dr. Teperman, who began his career difficult days, and we have quite a at NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi few of those, I am buoyed by their as an attending surgeon in 1995, compassion, dedication, wisdom considers the strength of the trauma and sense of humor. They inspire me centers a vital part of providing to be a better doctor and a better high-quality care to all New Yorkers. teacher.” “My colleagues and I at Jacobi and
ANDREW G. WINER, MD Chief of Urology NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/KINGS COUNTY Devoted to Brooklyn’s Underserved Dr. Andrew Winer spent five years at earlier. His passion for teaching was Downstate Medical Center, completing quickly evident: He was named the his residency in urology in 2014. program’s Teacher of the Year each of Then he moved across the East River his first two years. for a two-year fellowship in urologic Dr. Winer’s aspirations started oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering forming early in his life, modeled Cancer Center. He was struck, if on his parents’ altruism, his unsurprised, by the differences grandmother’s career as a nurse, and between the two institutions—in the physicians he had the opportunity demography of their patients, the to shadow starting in middle school. access to health care they offered, and His commitment to working in the the clinical outcomes. city’s public health system comes in Experiencing the disparity first- part from feeling “a sense of freedom hand triggered a pivotal career from the constraints that many private decision: After his fellowship at MSK, practitioners are subject to. I can Dr. Winer went back to Brooklyn simply provide the right care for the to accept a position as chief of right patient, which was the ultimate urology at NYC Health + Hospitals/ reason I became a doctor.” Kings County and an academic And every once in a while there appointment at Downstate. “I’m comes a day in a doctor’s career when able to pursue my clinical interests something truly exciting happens. treating urologic malignancies while For Dr. Winer, one “monumental also being able to study them in moment that will forever stay with me” an underserved population that came a few months ago when he was is typically underrepresented in part of the Kings County team that published research,” he explains. performed the first robotic procedure Soon after his arrival, he was also in the hospital’s history. “The sense of appointed associate director of the hospital pride was like no other,” urology residency program he had he said. completed himself only three years
PRONOY KUMAR ROY, MD Unit Chief, Inpatient Psychiatry NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/LINCOLN Profound Lessons from Patients As a young boy growing up in “I consider it a privilege to work Bangladesh, Pronoy Roy was in a community that is one of the fascinated by doctors. In high school poorest in the city and know that he volunteered at free clinics that anyone can come in here and get cared for the poor and resolved to help,” Dr. Roy says. “Mental health one day become a doctor himself. problems are chronic issues that After earning his medical degree in affect every sphere of a patient’s life. his home country, Dr. Roy decided We’re continuously trying to help our that psychiatry would be his way patients lead productive lives.” of helping people. He immigrated Dr. Roy is also a mainstay of the to New York in 2005, served a hospital’s teaching program, widely residency at NYC Health + Hospitals/ admired as a role model for medical Metropolitan, then joined the inpatient students and psychiatry residents. psychiatry department of Lincoln. But he’s quick to point out that his “I always aspired to practice medicine work makes him a student as well: in an underserved community and “I’ve learned many of life’s most make a difference,” Dr. Roy said. profound lessons through the “The proudest moment of my career stories, struggles and triumphs of was my first day as an attending at my patients. Medicine puts me in a Lincoln Hospital.” position to speak for those who may Dr. Roy has made quite a difference not otherwise have a voice. It makes in the 10 years since that day. He my medical career a journey worth became unit chief in 2015, and in completing well.” addition to his empathetic care of his own patients he has made important contributions to the quality of treatment throughout the unit by conducting projects to improve patient engagement and reduce lengths of stay.
INNA SOSINA, MD Attending Physician NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/MCKINNEY A Healer in the Purest Sense Dr. Inna Sosina is a beloved doctor in herbs to make potions that helped a facility where patients need a lot of people with illnesses. In the eyes of emotional support and care providers a child it was a miracle to see how must have reserves of patience and medicine helped people.” Her aunt compassion. Since 2004, she’s been was a nurse in a local hospital and Dr. an attending physician at NYC Health Sosina would spend her weekends + Hospitals/McKinney, a nursing there, reading to patients and talking facility in Brooklyn that provides with them about their lives. The long-term, sub-acute rehabilitation experience sparked her interest in a and adult day care. The work is some medical career and taught her that a of the most demanding in health care good doctor has to be a good listener. but after 15 years Dr. Sosina says she Dr. Sosina underwent six years of can’t imagine doing anything else. medical training in Moscow before “I chose NYC Health + Hospitals immigrating to Brooklyn with her because I wanted to help people family. She completed an internal who are uninsured and unable to medicine residency at Lutheran pay,” says Dr. Sosina. “It’s challenging Hospital, an experience that led her to because we have many patients who geriatric care and ultimately McKinney, are very sick and have complicated where she’s now vice president of social issues. But I’m proud that I the medical and dental staff and a stuck to my commitment to help dedicated preceptor for doctors, nurse them get their health back. For me it’s practitioners and physician assistants the highest reward to see my patients in training. But she’s admired most for feeling better.” being a loving caregiver who develops Born in Ukraine, Dr. Sosina grew up special connections with her patients in the last years of the Soviet era and and their families—a healer in the got her first exposure to medicine purest sense. from her grandmother. “She was a healer. I used to watch her gather
JENNIFER M.
HARLEY, MD
Chief of Gastroenterology and
Hepatobiliary Diseases
Director, Gastroenterology and
Hepatology Fellowship Programs
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/METROPOLITAN
Treating the Patient as a Whole
At a young age, Dr. Jennifer “Compassion is the core of
Harley’s life was saved by a everything we do,” Dr. Harley says.
gastroenterologist, sparking her “In every patient we should see
desire to “pay it forward and one ourselves: What would we want as a
day be able to make a positive patient? How would we want to be
impact on a person’s life.” Later, as treated?” She is motivated, she says,
an undergraduate at The Ohio State by hope for those she treats.
University, she was inspired by a “No patient should have to suffer
speech by then-U.S. Surgeon General from a life-altering disease, especially
Dr. David Satcher on health care preventable ones,” she says. “I have
reform and advocacy. That turning the opportunity to treat the patient as
point launched her “career mission” a whole, providing not just diagnostic
to provide exceptional medical care and therapeutic options but also
to the underserved and eliminate holistic approaches.”
health care disparities.
Dr. Harley graduated from Howard
Dr. Harley, Chief of Gastroenterology University College of Medicine
and Hepatobiliary Diseases at and completed her Internal
Metropolitan, has more than fulfilled Medicine residency and fellowship
her goals. Her medical portfolio in Gastroenterology at New York
includes saving and improving Medical College-Westchester
lives, and leading the hospital’s Medical Center. She was recruited
gastrointestinal endoscopy service to join Metropolitan’s Department
and all aspects of the division. of Medicine as a gastroenterologist.
She also directs the New York Over the years she has participated in
Medical College-Metropolitan numerous gastroenterology-related
Gastroenterology Fellowship healthcare initiatives, including a health
program, shaping future generations fair at Metropolitan in March 2019 to
of gastroenterologists. promote colon cancer awareness.LORENZO L. SCOTTI, DPM, DABFAS Director of Podiatry NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/ NORTH CENTRAL BRONX Giving Patients Their Lives Back When he was young, Dr. Lorenzo “In order to treat patients, you have Scotti found his career aspiration in to have compassion in your heart,” a podiatric physician who delivered Dr. Scotti says. “My reward is seeing special care to his patients. “I saw, the gratitude and smiles on patients’ first-hand, patients walking into the faces every day. For me, the patient office in pain and leaving pain-free,” becomes part of a growing family.” he says. Now, like his mentor, Dr. Those sentiments are a reflection of Scotti is a podiatrist who focuses the pride Dr. Scotti takes in being on severely diabetic patients with part of the city’s health system. “We foot ulcers that can progress to see patients from all walks of life,” amputation. “The most rewarding he says, “and we’re committed to part of my practice is limb salvage,” giving them the highest quality he says. “Treating and healing these medical care, regardless of income patients feels like I am giving them or insurance. Helping people is my their lives back.” motivation. I love what I do.” Dr. Scotti is a mentor, too. As the Dr. Scotti earned his bachelor’s director of podiatry at NYC Health degree in medical technology from + Hospitals/North Central Bronx for St. John’s University and his D.P.M. more than 20 years, he is a driving from the New York College of force with quiet humility, known for Podiatric Medicine. In addition to his his comforting presence with patients duties with North Central Bronx and and the care he puts into guiding Jacobi, he is an attending podiatrist young doctors. His colleagues regard in the Department of Orthopedics him as the embodiment of selfless at Columbia Presbyterian Medical service both in the clinic and in his Center. teaching role at Jacobi, where he is also director of podiatry.
M. MARGARET KEMENY, MD, FACS Director, Cancer Center NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/QUEENS Providing Patient-Centered Cancer Care Dr. Margaret Kemeny, one of the Dr. Kemeny’s career is distinguished first female Surgical Oncologists in by years of innovative clinical the United States, has been Director and laboratory research and by of the Queens Cancer Center a technique she developed to since its opening in 2002 and has treat patients with metastatic liver built it into one of the city’s most cancer that involves delivering comprehensive, coordinated cancer chemotherapy through a pump into treatment institutions. the organ’s main artery. Under her leadership Queens Dr. Kemeny graduated from Harvard received the highest accreditation University, received her M.D. from and recognition for excellence from Columbia University College of the Commission on Cancer of the Physicians and Surgeons, and American College of Surgeons. Its completed internship and residency commitment to research brought at New York Presbyterian Hospital, in one of the first National Institutes University of Colorado Medical of Health grants ever given to NYC Center, and Downstate Medical Health + Hospitals. Center respectively. The center has “saved countless lives H+H is the first city public health because of the integration of all the system she has worked in and modalities of cancer treatment into one she says “it is a pleasure” to treat area,” says Dr. Kemeny, who is also a Queens’s uniquely diverse patients. Professor of Surgery at Mount Sinai’s She is motivated, she says, “by love Icahn School of Medicine. “We have of the atmosphere I work in. The staff a very patient-centered environment “is wonderful and I enjoy dealing with that has helped thousands of patients big, complex problems and helping through their course of cancer people every day.” addressing all of their problems – medical, social and psychological.”
MOHAMMAD
KHALID, DDS
Chief of Dental Service, Vice President of
Medical and Dental Board
NYC HEATH + HOSPITALS/SEA VIEW
Treating Complex Dental Needs
Family dentist and civic leader Dr. Pakistan. He completed his Doctor
Mohammad Khalid has been Chief of of Dental Surgery at the New York
Dental Service at Sea View since 2014 University foreign dental program.
and has been in private practice on Dr. Khalid takes pride in working
Staten Island for 41 years. He takes for NYC Health + Hospitals and the
great pride in the expansive dental agency plays a large role in his family
services the rehabilitation center as well. His wife is an NYC Health +
and home provides its patients, from Hospitals pediatrician and his attorney
fillings to surgery and dentures, daughter is a NYC Health + Hospitals
and is proud that patients and their compliance officer.
families appreciate the thorough care
He counts as a “great accomplishment”
offered at Sea View.
his appointment as dental chief
Dr. Khalid started out in medicine at Sea View, which is “is very
following his parents’ dream, and challenging” with patient needs
came to view his profession as a “more complex and compromising
“God-given gift.” “Growing up in than patients in private practice.” He
Pakistan it was every parent’s dream has worked closely with Sea View
that their children would become colleagues on infection prevention,
a doctor and help people in their educating the nursing staff in
medical needs,” he says. “I became proper daily oral hygiene to prevent
a doctor in 1971and I am so happy pneumonia – a strategy that keeps
that I listened to my parents. This is Sea View’s pneumonia rate low.
the most noble profession on Earth --
Dr. Khalid says he considers it his
helping other human beings. “
“moral and ethical duty to help . . .
Dr. Khalid earned his Bachelor of and provide the highest care that
Dental Surgery, and did a General you can. To me that’s the best part of
Dentistry Rotating Internship, at being a doctor every day.”
Khyber Medical College in Peshawar,REGINA HAMMOCK, DO Program Director, Emergency Medicine Residency NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/ SIMULATION CENTER NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/CONEY ISLAND Finding Joy in ED Simulation Some of Dr. Regina Hammock’s used what I learned to bring back to earliest memories are of reading— my ED.” She recalls an instance four and memorizing—a set of medical years ago when the center’s support encyclopedias her mother bought. made a difference in a difficult case: “I remember pulling them out to “I called on them and they helped us diagnose my family’s ailments,” she get back on track. I don’t think I could says. From then on, her path was form these kinds of relationships in set. Now she has a number of roles any other system.” that fulfill her lifelong passion to Teaching at the Simulation Center be a doctor who advocates for her was also a catalyst for what Dr. patients and a teacher who helps Hammock considers her proudest advance the field. accomplishment: starting an Dr. Hammock, a veteran emergency emergency medicine residency at physician at NYC Health + Hospitals/ Coney Island in 2015. “It’s a small Coney Island, found a new outlet for program, only 16 residents, but her calling when she began teaching they have made a significant impact at the Simulation Center, a facility on the care we provide to the serving the entire health system where community,” she says. simulation-based education is used to Dr. Hammock is a graduate of advance patient safety and carry out New York College of Osteopathic quality-improvement initiatives. Medicine and chose emergency Dr. Hammock has taught several medicine because she considers it, emergency medicine courses among all the subspecialties, “the since joining the Simulation Center closest to what practicing medicine is faculty in 2013 and she has gained all about. The ED is the place where a reputation as an exceptional and I can take on all people and practice popular teacher. Dr. Hammock patient advocacy, sometimes for returns the compliment: The center’s people who have never experienced staff “opened my eyes to simulation it. This gives me joy.” in health care,” she says, “and I’ve
ERSHAD ELAHI, MD Vice Chief, Emergency Department NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/WOODHULL Connecting with Patients When he first became an attending Dr. Elahi graduated from New Jersey emergency physician a few years Medical School and has served ago, Dr. Ershad Elahi was focused NYC Health + Hospitals ever since. on the purely clinical—seeing a lot of He was an emergency medicine cases and getting better at treating resident (and chief resident) at a wide range of acute conditions Bellevue, completed a fellowship in the pressured environment of a in emergency ultrasound at Kings city emergency department. But County and been an attending at over time he realized something Woodhull since 2013. important. “In this fast-paced, high- He became vice chief of the volume health care system we are in, department in 2015 and his area compassion is something I’ve noticed of expertise has made emergency as being less commonplace,” he ultrasound at the bedside an important says. “As time has gone on, I have put tool of the hospital’s ED care. more value on creating relationships “From the beginning of my residency, with patients—to making a connection I have always had a commitment to with them.” providing care to this population and Dr. Elahi, the son of Bangladeshi being a clinical advocate for those immigrants, grew up in New Jersey who otherwise may not have one,” with an interest in science and serving Dr. Elahi says. “Some days we save a the public good. But he majored life or lives.” And some days “test the in economics at Duke University fortitude of the staff.” He recalls the and it wasn’t until the summer after day a few years ago when more than his sophomore year that he chose 30 patients came in after using the his path. That summer he had two synthetic marijuana known as K2. internships—one on Wall Street, the “We were able to quickly identify other a humanitarian mission helping that a surge was occurring and tailor provide free medical care to the clinical operations to deal with it.” indigenous population in the Peruvian Amazon. That clarified his ambitions.
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