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Imoigele Aisiku. Courtesy Imoigele Aisiku

By Daniel Dunaief

Stony Brook University named physician-scientist Dr. Imoigele “Imo” Aisiku as chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Renaissance School of Medicine, starting Aug. 15.

A national leader who has dedicated his career to critical care and neurocritical care in emergency medicine, Aisiku worked for more than a decade at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Aisiku, who was born in Nigeria and raised in Brooklyn and Auburn, Massachusetts, found several factors appealing about the Stony Brook role.

“My immediate family is predominantly in the Northeast” stretching from New York to Richmond, Virginia,” he said. Additionally, he suggested that numerous aspects of the role were “right in my area of expertise.”

His experience at Brigham and Women’s Hospital involved integrating systems, and he recognizes the opportunity to deploy that skill set at Stony Brook, where he will help integrate the emergency department at different hospitals.

He also has considerable experience in critical care, which is a strength at SBU.

“There are some natural synergies that you couldn’t script” he added, including strong clinical interest in stroke, telehealth, critical care and a desire to develop a systems integration model

Indeed, before he came to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Aisiku worked at the University of Texas at Houston. UT Houston/Memorial Hermann was one of the earliest to be named a JCAHO Comprehensive Stroke Center.

Aisiku was the medical director of their neurosurgery intensive care unit, which had one of the first mobile stroke units in the country. The unit was a collaboration between EMS, neurology, the stroke division, EM and the ICU.

A mobile stroke unit can provide critical and timely diagnostics and care for people having a stroke, which can not only save lives but can also lead to a dramatic improvement in the outcome after a stroke event for patients.

Stony Brook currently has two mobile stroke units and is working on adding a third.

“I hope to leverage what is the strength of Stony Brook with my experiences” and strengthen any weaknesses in a bidirectional manner, said Aisiku, who will report to Peter Igarashi, dean of the Renaissance School of Medicine.

For his part, Igarashi was eager to welcome the new addition to the emergency department.

“We are thrilled that Dr. Aisiku will lead Stony Brook’s remarkable team of emergency physicians,” Igarashi said in a statement. “As a pioneering physician-scientist in neurocritical care, and as an emergency medicine scholar and researcher, Dr. Aisiku will help advance our capacity to save lives and care for critically ill patients in the years to come.”

Evolutionary change

The new emergency department chair is hoping to learn more about Stony Brook’s strengths and weaknesses before implementing any changes.

“I hope to make a change and a difference,” Aisiku explained in an email. “I believe it is prudent to aim for evolutionary change and, if there is an opportunity, for positive revolutionary change.”

His goal is to see the department grow from a regional strength to a national and even an international strength.

He plans to develop partnerships with other chairs and departments and hopes to enhance programmatic and faculty development.

Aisiku also hopes to develop opportunities for faculty at Stony Brook, including in areas that involve research. He would like to see the department earn more National Institutes of Health and federal funding.

DEI experience

An accomplished physician, researcher and administrator, Aisiku also has considerable experience building and encouraging opportunities for underrepresented groups in medicine.

Aisiku was the founder and director of the Offices of IDEaS, which stands for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Social Justice, in Emergency Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he credits a team of faculty administrative staff and supportive chair for the success of that effort.

Aisiku “played a crucial role in the development of the office of IDEaS,” Jayelani Hall, administrative manager for Emergency Medicine and the Office of IDEaS at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, explained in an email. Aisiku’s vision for creating an inclusive environment and commitment to equity and diversity were “instrumental in shaping the initiatives and programs that define IDEaS today.”

IDEaS has launched several initiatives, such as the Profile in Diversity Series and the SPAK Grant program, which provides funding to projects that advance diversity, equity and inclusion.

The office established scholarship programs to support underrepresented students pursuing careers in medicine and health care, Hall added.

The president of Brigham and Women’s Hospital named Aisiku endowed Distinguished Chair in Health Equity and Diversity.

The broader Stony Brook area extending to New York City “draws diverse and international people to the region,” Aisiku explained. “While I acknowledge that [DEI] is an area of controversy in our country, I believe continuing to strive for diversity has a significant role for the development of our youth all the way to impacting our patients.”

In speaking with the leadership of the hospital and medical school, Aisiku believes his diversity goals are “aligned in these efforts” as he looks forward to developing strategies that will lead to diverse students, residents and faculty.

In addition to providing opportunities to students in the health care field, a more diverse population of caregivers enhances the patient experience, Aisiku contends.

A diverse health care force provides greater opportunity for patient choice and advocacy, he added.

Aisiku, who has master’s degrees in business administration from Goizueta School of Business and a master’s in clinical research from Rollings School of Public Health at Emory University, would like to partner with the business school and the school of public health, among others, to build diversity, which may broaden and enhance his efforts in this area.

People who have worked with Aisiku appreciate his commitment and openness to those around him.

Aisiku is “known for his compassion and dedication both as a physician and as a leader,” Hall wrote. “He consistently goes above and beyond to ensure that his patients receive the best care possible and his commitment to equity in health care is evident in all his endeavors.”

Hall suggested that the Stony Brook community is fortunate to have Aisiku in this role.

“Given his track record, I fully expect him to engage deeply with students, faculty and community members, fostering connections and driving positive change,” Hall explained.

From left to right, Robert Samuel Decosta Higgins, Jayelani Hall, Imoigele Aisiku, Ron Walls and Mike VanRooyen, at a ceremony for Aisiku. Photo courtesy Imoigele Aisiku

Telehealth experience

Over a decade ago, Aisiku started iDoc Telehealth Solutions, a telemedicine company dedicated to critical and neurocritical care and tele-stroke services, with the goal of providing this type of care to people in areas that didn’t have enough clinicians with that experience.

Since then, he has become co-CEO of a public company called VSEE Health.

He expects to pass the torch on to other executives. His commitment is to the university as his obligation to the company is for about four more months.

To be sure, he wants to ensure there are no conflicts of interest in his roles at Stony Brook and in the decision about how and in what ways the university can continue to build telehealth capacity.

“If there is an opportunity to enhance an area, with full disclosure, there can be pathways to achieve things that improve the patient experience while separating ‘church’ and ‘state’ so to speak,” he explained in an email.

Morana Lasic, interim chief diversity & inclusion officer at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, suggested that Aisiku has served as a personal and institutional resource for a wide range of people.

Aisiku “works with those who are yet to enter the medical field and need mentorship, just as he does with institution presidents,” Lasic explained in an email. “He empowers those on his team and pays special attention to those who are often forgotten in mentorship (such as young administrative staff.)”

Lasic added that Aisiku was generous with his time and has reached out to her with emails and new thoughts and ideas at any time of day.

“Just like the rest of his life, his sleeping schedule is unique and his own, and he wears an Oura ring (which tracks sleep patterns) just to confuse it,” Lasic said.

In his research, Aisiku has focused on three areas: traumatic brain injury, subarachnoid hemorrhages and acute respiratory distress syndrome/sepsis.

Aisiku is living with his wife Diana, who is a nurse, and their 4 1/2-year-old son Myles in Westbury. They are in the process of searching for a home.

Outside of work, Aisiku has a black belt in the martial art of Jeet Kune Do, enjoys working out and played Division 3 tennis and basketball, at Worcester State University. He is also a motorcycle enthusiast.

As for his likely contribution to the Stony Brook community, Lasic, who has been at Brigham and Women’s Hospital for 25 years, suggested that she anticipated he would continue on an impressive journey.

Aisiku is “one of the most innovative leaders in academic medicine I have seen in a long time,” she wrote. “He is a true role model in his ability to connect with those around him.”

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File photo by Raymond Janis

Why ‘divisive’ hits the mark

Art Billadello objects to the word “divisive” headlining a TBR news article [Aug. 1] about the gigantic “In Trump We Trust” sign put up on a building at the main intersection of Port Jefferson, right across from the ferry terminal. He ignores the obvious: Of course a sign like that is divisive.

This was not a campaign sign. It was put up in January 2020, immediately before President Joe Biden’s [D] inauguration and shortly after the attack on the U.S Capitol sparked by the lie that former President Donald Trump [R] hadn’t lost the election. Some 20 feet long and some 3 feet high, it was displayed on the building’s second story balcony. It took our national motto, “In God We Trust,” and swapped out “God” for “Trump.” How is that not divisive?

When I moved to this area over 35 years ago there were no political signs outside of election season, let alone a gigantic sign erected in the middle of town three months after the election, implicitly claiming God-like status for the losing candidate. All that changed after 2016. After that election was over and Trump won, his flags and banners didn’t come down. They remained prominently displayed throughout his entire term. Then, when Trump lost in 2020, the Trump flags and banners still didn’t come down after the election. Why is that? What is the purpose of this other than to provoke and inflame division within our community? It’s not exactly the kind of thing expected of a good neighbor. It expresses the opposite of what unites us.

As for the letter writer’s attempt to draw a false equivalence between Trump and Biden as equally divisive, it’s just more gaslighting. The Biden administration passed the first major infrastructure bill in decades with bipartisan support, in spite of opposition from the extreme left and the extreme right. Trump, on the other hand has trafficked in race-baiting and ethnic stereotypes, hurled childish and vitriolic insults at his political opponents, and refused to disavow the most extreme and violent of his supporters, even to the extent of refusing to condemn their threats to hang his own vice president for performing his constitutional duty.

David Friedman

St. James

Local Dems put politics first

During interviews with TBR, several local Democrats could barely hide their excitement over the change at the tippy-top of their party’s ticket [“Local Democrats see new political energy and interest after Biden withdraws,” TBR News Media, July 25].

John Avlon said, “People are excited to be a part of something bigger than themselves.” Dems are becoming “fired up” about their political prospects. 

Steve Englebright was especially upbeat: “Everybody who I’ve talked to is energized. … I see the ascension of a Democratic candidate … who is a woman of color, a woman of substance, in terms of her accomplishments, as validating the idea that women are equally ready” to serve in any political office.

Hitchhiking on that idea, Rebecca Kassay added, “I’m energized and inspired to be running with our first potential female president.”

Suffolk County Democratic Committee campaign manager Keith Davies saw all this as a “great opportunity for local candidates to not have to worry about exciting Democrats.” Davies also added those running won’t have to spend much time fielding questions about President Joe Biden’s “cognitive abilities.”

All that uncontested “happy talk” was weeks ago. Missing then and, as of this writing, missing now, is any substantive talk of policy from the two candidates atop their ticket.

Both the vice president, Kamala Harris, and her running mate, Tim Walz, currently remain basically mute regarding specifics on how they’d manage inflation, illegal immigration, two wars started on their party’s watch, growing antisemitism especially on college campuses, fracking, police funding or restarting ICE “from scratch.”

The aforementioned, a partial list of important issues, does not include Harris’ 2019 call for ending private health insurance.

Campaign staffers trying to “walk back,” some would say flip flop, on her more extreme and unpopular positions are a poor substitute for answering probing questions in her own voice.

But, perhaps the most troubling part of the interview was Davies’ apparent relief that Biden’s “cognitive abilities” may no longer be a pesky political liability. The implication, in this time of multiple global existential crises, is that the fitness of POTUS is off the table. This, despite the fact that Biden’s significant cognitive disabilities remained purposely hidden, until after his awful debate. How then, without careful, unbiased scrutiny, could we know if the current president is fit to run our nation for the next six months?

It’s that kind of deliberate media incuriosity that has cost them credibility and gotten us to the point where unchallenged partisans can put their politics first, and celebrate muted candidates, with little fear of blowback.

Jim Soviero

East Setauket

The community we love

Every Saturday, my husband Bill and I head for the Rolling Pin Bakery at the Three Village Plaza in East Setauket to load up with goodies. This Saturday, when we entered the store, the manager called us over and surprisingly gave us an envelope with a $20 bill in it. 

It was found on the floor last week. They looked at the security video and lo and behold … it was us!

The point of all this is that it is really satisfying to know that we live in a community with such honest and caring people.

Thank you to the staff at the Rolling Pin Bakery. You made our day as uplifting as those raisin scones.

Patricia Martin

Stony Brook

Errors in Joseph ‘JOJO’ LaRosa Foundation article

I want to bring your attention to two errors in the recent article that was published about the Joseph “JOJO” LaRosa Foundation golf outing on Monday, July 29 [“Celebrating the life of JoJo LaRosa,” The Village Times Herald, Aug. 1].

The first being at the beginning of the article where you refer to our foundation in parentheses as “Forever JoJo Strong.” This is not accurate. JoJo’s father — and our dad — has a separate foundation with that name. JoJo and I’s parents are divorced and therefore made two separate foundations. 

The second error that needs to be corrected is when you refer to “JoJo’s dad” based on a comment by my mom Gina. In the interview she said, “my husband” when referring to the person JoJo used to play with at St. George’s Golf and Country Club and that is because her husband is JoJo’s stepdad, not his father. As I mentioned above, JoJo’s father is not married to my mom and has a separate foundation from JJLF.

I do apologize for the confusion, however, these are very important errors that need to be retracted or revised.

Emily LaRosa, Vice President

Joseph “JOJO” LaRosa Foundation

Editor’s note: We regret these errors and thank Emily LaRosa for bringing them to our attention.

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Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

By Daniel Dunaief

Daniel Dunaief

Sports resides somewhere near the center of the currency of communication in our house.

In fact, recently our daughter, who is a gifted back row volleyball player despite just clearing five feet tall, and her brother, who is a lifelong baseball player, exchanged amusing anecdotes.

Our daughter attended a minor league baseball game with her friends. In the middle of a close game, she wondered aloud whether, with runners on first and second base and no outs, the batter would bunt.

“Huh?” one of her friends responded. “Why? What are you talking about?”

She tried to explain the strategy, but gave up after it was clear that her friends were more excited to go out together than they were to inhale the drama of a baseball game.

Her brother was watching Olympic volleyball with his friends. They didn’t understand much about back row hitting or trying to spike the ball on the second hit.

Our family enjoyed the parts of the Olympics we watched and, of course, discussed some of our favorite events.

One of mine was the 1,500 meter men’s race. All of the build up described the fierce on-the-track rivalry and off-the-track trash talking between Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Brit Josh Kerr.

The spotlight followed them from the moments before the race through the starter’s gun. While this one competition might not settle who is the fairest of them all, I mean, the better runner, it would give one of them a gold medal, presumably, and, perhaps more importantly, bragging rights.

Ingebrigtsen dashed off to the front of the pack, setting a blistering pace while maintaining what looked like a business-like attitude.

But then, a funny thing happened on the way to the expected finish. American Cole Hocker snuck around Ingebrigtsen’s left side, finding a higher gear and accelerating towards the finish. Kerr pushed towards the line as well, even as American Yared Nuguse closed the gap. At the end, it was Hocker first, Kerr second and Nuguse third, a mere hundredth of a second behind Kerr.

Oh, and Ingebrigtsen came in fourth.

It was such a delightful unscripted moment, particularly after humility seemed to be in such short supply between the favorites.

There are a few things we will not miss. We didn’t need extreme close ups of athletes who are doing as much in their chairs waiting to compete as we are watching them. At one point, Simone Biles, whose name you might have heard a few thousand times over the fortnight, took off her warm up jacket, which we all saw on TV. The announcer, lacking any other detail to share and exhausted from overusing the word “redemption,” decided to announce that she was taking off her jacket. You stuck the landing on that insightful observation, buddy boy.

So, now, here we are. The Olympics are over, the flame is out, the days of trying to avoid sports headlines until after watching the prime time replay are over.

We can go back to reading the important news of the day, assuming we can find some. 

What’s changed in our house? Well, our dog is much happier. He probably has nothing against the Olympics, but we shouted at the TV much more often than we typically do during a baseball or basketball game.

We can consider the what ifs in our own lives. These Olympians train every day, eat the right foods, try to stay on a sleep regimen and forego other id-driven moments.

And then, on that day, they might win by a hundredth of a second or less. 

At their best, they can inspire us, the way a new year sends people into a list making frenzy. If they can be so amazing, maybe we can, too.

Or, perhaps, we can figure out what else to watch or binge watch on TV. Oh, and there’ll be a winter games, assuming there’ll be a winter, in Italy in two years. Those athletes are undoubtedly doing everything they can to shave another hundredth of a second off their times.

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Pixabay photo

By Leah S. Dunaief

Leah Dunaief,
Publisher

Perhaps you don’t listen to the radio much, or at all. It’s a great way to turn to the latest news when we are driving in the car, where we in the suburbs spend so much of our time. 

I have my dial set at CBS NewsRadio on 880 AM, and I flick it on whenever I am on the road. I will also listen to the all news station just before I go to sleep at night and right after I wake up in the morning. I am, after all, in the news business and need to be aware of what is happening both in the world and on Long Island. Besides, I have always been something of a news junkie. So you can imagine my disappointment when I heard the latest news from the station.

CBS NewsRadio will no longer broadcast the news 24/7.

The station gave no explanation, but of course I know why: not enough advertising.

The media is being devastated in the pocketbook. It’s not just newspapers that are feeling the squeeze to the bottom line. It is also television, cable and radio. Many people are getting their news from online and social media. But those sources are not vetted and subject to the higher standards of a free press or broadcasting. They often contain biased or even total untruths and can dangerously spread misinformation.

This is a genuine threat to our democracy, which can only exist if people are correctly informed of what is happening around them and thus can support those officials who properly represent them. Even The New York Times, with a huge circulation in New York, has now decided to stop endorsing candidates in the state. 

Again, while the newspaper doesn’t give a reason for the omission it announced, I can fairly well guess why. It takes a lot of extra time and effort to interview candidates for national, statewide and local offices, and then to discuss the results and ultimately write up the endorsements. We know about that. And time means money. 

Yes, endorsements sometimes result in hurt feelings and displeasure on the part of the party or candidates not selected, but that has always been a factor in elections. Unendorsed officials, political parties and the media need each other, and after an election, they resume their sometimes shaky relationship. That, in itself, is not a reason for discontinuing the highly valuable service for readers of publishing the impressions of journalists who cover the candidates on a regular basis and have privileged personal access to them during interviews. “It mattered because it helped keep candidates honest, from taking cheap shots and saying what’s popular instead of what’s hard,” was one observation from a political source. 

The issue is money.

CBS NewsRadio offered a broad range of news categories, from international and national, to state and local information. It also gave health, economic, weather, traffic and sports overviews in a structured half-hourly schedule. All of that readily available news will be missed.

The pressure on news outlets is extreme today. Based on the old fashioned model, news has been supplied to the public freely with the underwriting of advertising support. But that model is broken. 

Advertising has drifted to the much followed digital services like Google and Apple, leaving traditional media adrift. While some advertising continues to flow to these media, not enough does to sustain all the outlets. 

For example, 6000 newspapers used to exist in the United States. Today, that number is about 2500 and are beset with financial woes. The New York Times decided to shift its base of support from solely advertising to the customers of their information, the readers. It installed a paywall for the readers. While that business strategy seems to be working for the NYT, it has so far failed any number of others. 

Community news media are also suffering. “Truth of the matter is, who I elect to the school board affects me much more than who I vote for for president,” was said by one media specialist. We, too, need help. 

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The SCY-QNet facility envisioned across Stony Brook, Columbia, Yale and BNL. The end nodes will have atomic-based Quantum Internet Processing Units (QPUs) and Quantum Frequency Converters (QFCs). The intermediate nodes will deploy Entanglement Sources (ESs), Quantum Memory Banks (QMBs), and Entanglement Swapping Stations to facilitate the generation of long-distance entanglement via quantum repeaters. Image design courtesy of L. Castillo-Veneros, Stony Brook University.

The National Science Foundation launches its first 5 pilot projects under NQVL

Stony Brook University is leading a new project funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to advance Quantum Information Science and Technology (QIST) in the United States. The project is one the first five under the NSF’s National Quantum Virtual Laboratory (NQVL) program. Each project receives $1 million in funding. The Stony Brook-led project is in collaboration with Columbia University, Yale University, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL).

Global research with quantum computing and quantum networks is taking place with the goal of developing a quantum internet, a network of quantum computers, sensors, and communication devices that will create, process and transmit quantum states and entanglement. The emerging technology is expected to not only enhance society’s wider internet system but also provide certain services and securities that the current internet cannot provide.

Titled “Wide-Area Quantum Network to Demonstrate Quantum Advantage (SCY-QNet),” the project involves a process to build a long-distance 10-node quantum network to demonstrate quantum advantage through quantum communication and distributed quantum processing, which would enable secure and privacy-preserving long-distance communications systems.

“This project has the potential to boost the scaling of quantum computing systems via quantum networks, forming a first version of the Quantum Internet,” says Eden Figueroa, PhD, Principal Investigator, and Presidential Innovation Endowed Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Stony Brook University, and Director of the Center for Distributed Quantum Processing. Figueroa also holds a joint appointment with BNL.

“To realize this ambitious vision, we have assembled a team of the leading quantum physicists, electrical engineers, and computer scientists in the region,” adds Figueroa.

“We are thrilled to have received this inaugural award from the National Science Foundation alongside our partner universities,” says Nina Maung, Senior Associate VP for Research Development and Partnerships at Stony Brook University. “It represents the considerable efforts each institution has dedicated to re-envisioning the future of quantum information science research, bond by a shared sense of the importance of collaborative scientific discovery for societal advancement.”

Figueroa and colleagues say that the project will not only advance science and the internet but also cultivate a quantum-ready workforce.

For more details and perspective about the project and its collaborators, see this SBU news story. For more about the NSF’s NQVL program and all five pilot projects, see this link in the NSF newsroom. For more details on the grant for the Stony Brook-led research team, see this NSF awards page.

 

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The Renaissance School of Medicine (RSOM) welcomed the incoming Class of 2028 in August. Set for their medical school training are, from left, students Gabriel Chan, Henry Wilmot, Reinaldo Powell, and Emily Cahill. Photo by Arthur Fredericks/SBU
The 136 students comprising the incoming Class recite the Hippocratic Oath for the first time. Photo by Arthur Fredericks/SBU

 

Family experiences, commitment to service, intrigue with biotech advances, drive many of the new 136 RSOM students to pursue medicine

At the Renaissance School of Medicine’s (RSOM) White Coat Ceremony, 136 incoming students officially began their medical school training by taking the Hippocratic Oath and wearing their physician “white coats” for the first time. Held at Stony Brook University’s Staller Center on August 9, the annual ceremony brings students, their families, and faculty together as the academic year begins. The RSOM has held a White Coat Ceremony since 1998.

The incoming Class of 2028 is a highly select group, as only eight percent of all applicants to the RSOM for this academic year were accepted into the program. Collectively, the students received their undergraduate degrees from 57 different colleges and universities around the nation. Stony Brook University had the most representation, as 33 students earned their undergraduate degrees at Stony Brook. While a good portion of the students are from around the country, nearly 75 percent are from New York State.

Peter Igarashi, MD, Knapp Dean of the RSOM, congratulated the incoming class and told the students they are entering the field at a time when the practice of medicine is rapidly evolving and where discoveries to diagnose and treat disease are advancing and newer practices such as telemedicine are becoming commonplace. He emphasized the RSOM’s commitment to science-based medicine, and also urged the students to place the heart of their work around patients, as the practice of medicine is best with a “focus on a strong doctor/patient relationship.”

While the students’ paths into medicine and reasons for choosing the profession are varied, their experiences with family members who suffered from diseases, interest in service to people, and intrigue with advances in biotechnology, appeared to be some common factors for pursuing medicine.

New student stories

Gabriel Chan, a Long Island native, says that a turning point for him when deciding to pursue medicine was when his grandfather was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. He has entered the RSOM’s Medical Scientist Training Program, or MD/PhD program. Chan starts medical school fresh from a Fulbright Scholar experience in France where he conducted computational neuroscience research at Centre Borelli in Paris.

Reinaldo Powell, graduated in 2024 from Stony Brook with a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Sciences. He was eager to enter medicine and felt at home with the RSOM and its approach to education.

“I was always enamored by the role a physician can play in improving the lives of their patients. This was further exacerbated when I lost my mother to lymphoma when I was 14, and this inspired me to pursue a career to help those who hurt and one that looks to understand the specifics behind disease,” says Powell.

Two of the new med students are using their experience in the military as an inspiration and catalyst toward entering medicine.

Juan Diego Carvajal Ramirez, who most recently lived in California, spent time in the U.S. Army as a combat medic. That training sparked his interest in trauma medicine, and he hopes to ultimately specialize in trauma surgery. Additionally, he chose the RSOM because during a conversation with a current fourth-year medical student in the interview process he learned how much hands-on training and mentorship the RSOM faculty provides, something he sees as essential for trauma and emergency training.

Another Stony Brook University graduate and U.S. Army Second Lieutenant, Pamela Chen, found that all of her army training drills, including combat medic training, fit her pursuit of medicine given the discipline the work requires and its focus on teamwork and caring for soldiers.

Chen’s experience of losing her father at a young age due to Parkinson’s disease, her life in the New York City foster care system, and eventually growing up with a permanent family in Bethpage, NY, made her sensitive to the needs of people and families, especially when family members are ill.

Emily Cahill, who hails from Rockland County, NY, worked at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in a cell culture lab producing therapeutic antibody candidates for drug development. While she enjoyed the science and laboratory work, it was a program she was involved as an undergraduate at Johns Hopkins University designed to improve communication between patients and their caregivers that drove her interest in patient care and people’s stories themselves, not just their illnesses.

Cahill is interested in caring for children. She is enrolled in the RSOM’s three-year MD program and will continue on in a Pediatric Residency position at Stony Brook Medicine after graduation.

Another student, Massachusetts native Henry Wilmot, recently worked in the biotech/pharmaceutical industry in Manhattan in a consulting capacity where he collaborated with clients to support commercialization for products geared to treat rare diseases. Working in biotechnology, he says, was fascinating and had impact but he also felt a disconnect.

Wilmot comes from a family of service professionals including a social worker, paramedic and pediatrician. He felt moved to add this aspect to his career path.

“I knew that I wanted to interact at the human level with patients and bring my experience from the business side of healthcare into the clinic to advocate for patients seeking complex therapeutics.”

 

Captions:

The Renaissance School of Medicine (RSOM) welcomed the incoming Class of 2028 in August. Set for their medical school training are, from left, students Gabriel Chan, Henry Wilmot, Reinaldo Powell, and Emily Cahill.

 

The 136 students comprising the incoming Class recite the Hippocratic Oath for the first time.

 

Photo Credit:

Arthur Fredericks

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Sanitation truck. File photo

By Peter Sloniewsky

In June, waste-incinerator Covanta agreed to pay the Town of Brookhaven $1 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the company trucked hazardous ash to the town’s Yaphank landfill. While the settlement is pending in the Nassau County Supreme Court, town Supervisor Dan Panico (R) said he has “no reason to believe that it wouldn’t be approved.”

The lawsuit was filed in 2013 by whistleblower Patrick Fahey, a former Covanta Hempstead employee, on behalf of local governments that sent municipal waste to the Covanta plant in Westbury. Brookhaven accepted the resulting ash at its Yaphank landfill.

Covanta, which announced in April a name rebranding to Reworld Waste, has denied any wrongdoing.

Fahey’s attorney, David Kovel, has said that his client “doesn’t think the town is acting in the best interests of its citizens” in agreeing to settle for $1 million, and opposed the settlement with a court filing. Kovel added that only the state Attorney General’s Office has standing to settle, and that “it is astonishing that the Town of Brookhaven would sell out its citizens” by accepting such a “sweetheart” settlement.

Members of the Brookhaven Landfill Action and Remediation Group shared similar sentiments in a June 6 statement at a Brookhaven Town Board meeting. Group co-founder Monique Fitzgerald said, “It is despicable that this settlement would give Covanta a pass, while continuing to force community members to carry the burden,” adding, “This agreement comes without any input from the community.” She noted that Covanta would be absolved of any future financial responsibility for pollution cleanups in the area.

BLAR group has also called for the immediate closure of the landfill, which was previously slated to be closed in 2027 or 2028, and for there to be an immediate cleanup of the North Bellport community’s air, land and water. Town officials have yet to provide a firm timeline for closing the Yaphank facility.

Panico, when asked whether the town will earmark the settlement money for the benefit of the North Bellport community or for remediation at the landfill, said, “We’re doing work far in excess of that $1 million figure. Our commitment to the people of North Bellport is long-standing and strong.”

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Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. File photo

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney (R), New York State Sen. Dean Murray (R-East Patchogue) and county Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. (D) released public safety announcements to remind the public of the dangers of drunk and drugged driving. They further discussed the importance of staying at the scene of a crash, as well as the legal and financial ramifications of a criminal arrest. 

“We are more than half-way through this year’s ‘100 deadliest days of driving.’ In Suffolk County alone, there have been at least 20 fatalities since Memorial Day weekend, many of which were caused by drunk or drugged drivers. That is almost three lives lost per week, many of which were completely preventable, and despite the prevalence and convenience of ride-shares,” Tierney said.

“Drunk and drugged drivers threaten the lives of random and innocent roadway users of every age, gender, ethnicity and economic status, every single day throughout [our state],” he added.

In 2022 Long Island saw 245 people die in crashes, with 164 in Suffolk County alone — a third of which involved DWIs. According to a member of the SCPD, ​​“Suffolk County holds the trophy for [these accidents], and it’s not a good trophy to hold.”

Murray, Toulon and Tierney doubled-down on their pledge to fight for the safety of all New Yorkers.

“Drunk and drugged drivers threaten the lives of random and innocent roadway users of every age, gender, ethnicity and economic status, every single day throughout [our state],” Tierney said.

They further urged all Long Islanders not to drive under the influence of any alcohol/drugs, regardless of the amount, since the officials want everyone to remember that any amount of alcohol or drugs in a person’s system is too much when it comes to driving.

Furthermore, these officials stressed the desire to have the Deadly Driving Bill passed in Albany, “to save countless lives, and make our roadways safer across New York State.”

This bill would call on lawmakers to close a great many of the loopholes in drugged driving laws. More specifically, the Deadly Driving Bill would end the allowance of an individual to avoid arrest and prosecution for operating a vehicle while drugged, unless the officer can pinpoint the drug by which the driver is impaired — while said drug must be listed in Section 3306 of the Public Health Law, as well.

Murray voiced concern over the specifics of legalized marijuana, as he feels that many have been left wondering whether it is appropriate to ingest any amount of it before taking the wheel.

“When New York State rushed through legislation to legalize marijuana, it was done so in a way that left many questions unanswered. Who can legally sell it? Who can legally buy it, use it or consume it?” Murray said. “There is definitely a need to educate the public [on this], and I’m thrilled to team with Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney and Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. to put these PSAs out to the public, to help facilitate that process.”

All public safety announcements can be found on the Suffolk County District Attorney’s  website at www.suffolkcountyny.gov/da.

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'Soundscape' by Scott McIntire
'Sound of Red' by Scott McIntire
'Energy Fields' by Scott McIntire

Up next for Gallery North , 90 North Country Road, Setauket is a solo exhibit titled Scott McIntire: Energyscapes. The show opens on Aug. 15 and runs through Sept. 29.  

The exhibition features large, medium, and small paintings and sculptures. 

McIntire constructs dynamic compositions in enamel which form a repository of information. Each vessel of data includes the sounds, smells, forces, electromagnetic and thermal energies that make up the environment. Each space seamlessly merges natural and man-made artifacts. 

McIntire uses his mastery of the optical properties of color to create the illusion of movement and vibration. Dazzling patterns and vivid concentric circles combine to form a dramatic Op Art world in which references to flora and fauna ground the work in a reality just out of sight from the human eye.

Born and raised in the fertile Willamette Valley in Oregon, McIntire’s artistic perception is rooted in his love of nature. At the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, McIntire studied color under the master colorist Albert King, giving him a lifelong understanding and love of color. McIntire is currently based in Greenport. His work has been exhibited both nationally and regionally including the Nassau County Museum of Art.

The community is invited to an opening reception on Thursday, Aug. 15, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. As a complement to the exhibition, Gallery North will host an ArTalk on Sunday, August 25, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. The exhibition, reception, and ArTalk will be free and open to the public.

This exhibition is generously sponsored Jefferson’s Ferry, and Suffolk County’s Department of Economic Development and Planning. 

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