The Center for Global Health, a New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) interdisciplinary center of excellence established in 2007, is a collaboration between NYIT’s New York College of Osteopathic Medicine and the School of Health Professions, Behavioral, and Life Sciences.
Continue reading for biographies of the center's participants: Barbara Ross-Lee, Edward A. Gotfried, Edward Sirkoo Cho, and Hope Cohen-Webb.
Barbara Ross-Lee, D.O., M.A.T., FACOFP
Vice President for Health Sciences and Medical Affairs
New York Institute of Technology
Barbara Ross-Lee, D.O. has served as vice president for health sciences and medical affairs at New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) since February 2001. While serving in this role, Dr. Ross-Lee was dean of the School of Allied Health and Life Sciences (2001-2002) and dean of the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine (2002-2006). As vice president, she is responsible for all health and medical-related programs at NYIT including the Institute for Health Policy and Leadership, the Center for Global Health, and the Center for Culture and Humanism. Prior to her current position, she served as the dean of the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine (1993-2001) and the associate dean for Health Policy and Chairperson of the Department of Family Medicine at Michigan State University (1983-1993).
Dr. Ross-Lee is the first African-American female to serve as dean of a United States medical school and the first osteopathic physician to participate in the Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship program. She has extensive background in health policy issues, and serves as an advisor on primary care, medical and health professional education, minority health, women’s health, and rural health care issues on the federal and state levels.
Currently, Dr. Ross-Lee serves as a member of the board of directors for the federally chartered National Fund for Medical Education; the advisory committee to the National Council on Minority Health Disparities; the board of trustees of the Nassau County (N.Y.) Health Care Corporation; the advisory board for Medical Education Futures Studies; and the National Council on Physician and Nurse Supply. She is the past president of the board of directors of the Association of Academic Health Centers and the past chair of the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine Board of Governors. She served as chair of the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) Council on Pre-doctoral Education, which was responsible for osteopathic college accreditation, and as member of the AOA Bureau of Professional Education, which was responsible for the accreditation of osteopathic graduate medical education (GME) and continuing medical education (CME). Dr. Ross-Lee is the past chair of the AOA’s Minority Health Initiative and past member of the NIH Advisory Committee on Research on Women’s Health and the NIH Advisory Committee on Rural Health.
She has published numerous scholarly articles, received seven honorary degrees and many awards and recognitions including the landmark National Institutes of Health (NIH) exhibition “Changing the Face of Medicine.”
Edward A. Gotfried D.O., FACOS
Associate Professor of Surgery, Director of the Center for Global Health
New York Institute of Technology
Edward A. Gotfried joined New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, (NYCOM) of NYIT in 2005 to help develop the problem-based learning curriculum, which was a great success at Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, where Dr. Gotfried was a major developer and contributing faculty member, as well as department chair of specialty medicine.
Dr. Gotfried received his D.O. degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1963. He completed his surgical residency training at Tri-County Hospital, Springfield, Penn., where he became department chair and chief of staff. He has held faculty positions at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, the College of Osteopathic Medicine of California, and the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine. He is certified in laser and endoscopic surgery and has training in acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine.
Actively engaged in educating medical students in study abroad programs, Dr. Gotfried developed the Visiting Scholars Program at NYCOM, inviting international experts to engage in developing research that NYCOM faculty can continue. Dr. Gotfried is also engaged in creating affiliations all over the world where NYIT and NYCOM students can be involved in clerkships, service, and faculty and student exchanges.
Edward Sirkoo CHO, DO, MPH
Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Associate Director of the Center for Global Health
New York Institute of Technology
Dr. Edward Sirkoo Cho joined the faculty of NYCOM in 2008 as an Assistant Professor in the Derpartment of Emergency Medicine. He also serves as the Associate Director of the Center for Global Health. Dr. Cho is an award-winning emergency medicine physician, formerly of the Long Island College Hospital. Dr. Cho’s was a member of the Columbia University Health Assessment Team in Havana, Cuba. He helped modernize the emergency medicine department at Chung-Ang University Medical Center in Seoul, Korea, and collaborated on an emergency medicine/family medicine project at Sundaram Medical Foundation in Chennai, India. He has also practiced emergency medicine in rural San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, through the Pan American Collaborative Emergency Medicine Development Program (PACEMD) and has provided medical care at the Yonsei University Medical Center-International Clinic in Seoul, Korea.
Dr. Cho received his Master of Public Health in Health Management at the Harvard School of Public Health, and earned his D.O. from the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine. He is dual board-certified in Family Practice and Emergency Medicine. Dr. Cho has been published in the National Medical Journal of India and the Mechanisms of Development and has presented at the American Osteopathic Association’s annual convention, the New York University Symposium on International Emergency Medicine, and the Indian National Conference on Emergency Medicine.
In 2005, Dr. Cho received the Excellence Award in Emergency Medicine Research at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, N.Y., where he completed his residency. Concurrent with his residency, he was the Health Policy Fellow at the Training in Policy Studies Program (TIPS).
Hope I.L. Cohen-Webb
Global Health Fellow
Hope Cohen-Webb is a third-year NYCOM student and the first academic fellow for the Center for Global Health.
She earned a Master of Public Health with a dual concentration in Infectious Disease and Community Health Management (Department of International Health, now Global Health) from Emory University, and a Bachelor of Science in molecular and cellular biology from Haverford College.
As an undergraduate student, Cohen-Webb received two fellowships to conduct research at the Rockefeller University in Biochemical Parasitology and Molecular Biology. While in college, Cohen-Webb taught public school students, and after graduation she was a middle-school science teacher in Miami.
She has conducted research with scientists at University of Miami School of Medicine, Emory University, University of Pittsburgh Medical School, Magee-Womens Hospital, the National Cancer Institute, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. At Magee-Womens Hospital, Cohen-Webb co-coordinated an eight-year pelvic inflammatory disease study, and worked on several clinical trials related to sexually transmitted diseases. She worked at an HIV/AIDS clinic in Atlanta, and was involved in the care of pregnant women, children, developmentally-challenged persons, prisoners, the elderly, drug addicts, and immigrants. Before attending NYCOM, she monitored HIV clinical trials in Kenya and Uganda.
In 2007, she received a new medical student scholarship from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. Cohen-Webb was the only osteopathic medical student to win this award from a national pool of medical student applicants. She received a travel scholarship from the American Psychiatric Association to attend their 2008 annual meeting in Washington, DC.
Cohen-Webb has co-authored publications, and her academic interests include public health, international medicine, infectious disease, and psychiatry. She is a member of: Student Osteopathic Medical Association, Student National Medical Association, American Public Health Association, American Psychiatric Association, Black Psychiatrists of America, and American College of Physicians.