Sommer Advocates for Telemedicine in Medical School Education

Jan 26, 2018

NYITCOM at A-State’s Darren Sommer, D.O., who facilitated the creation of the first telemedicine training program for first- and second-year NYITCOM medical students, has published an opinion commentary in Telemedicine Magazine. Sommer conveys telemedicine as an integral component of medical school education in the digital age, and advocates for a national standard that would require all U.S. medical students to be trained in the technology. He writes:

“One medical school cannot do it alone. It is time for other medical schools to consider not just the role telemedicine plays in the delivery of today’s healthcare services, but the role it will have in the future. This concept can be officially reinforced by getting medical school and post-graduate accreditation entities such as the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and Accreditation of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), on board with mandating some level of telemedicine education into their members core curriculum. These influential organizations set the standards for the quality of our future physicians, and without their mandate, it will be left up to the individual educating bodies to sort out how best telemedicine education should be delivered.”

 

Nowak on The Academic Minute: Why Firms Should Empower Employees

Jan 26, 2018

Today’s episode of The Academic Minute features School of Management Assistant Professor Radoslaw Nowak, J.D., Ph.D. Nowak describes his research into absorptive capacity, which is an organization’s ability to absorb new developments and act on them to enhance productivity. The episode also appears at Inside Higher Ed.

Large firms are less agile than small firms in implementing innovations, and Nowak’s research suggests a solution: increase the autonomy of qualified employees at lower levels of the organization.

“Employee empowerment diminishes the negative impacts of size and lets frontline employees drive positive organizational change,” says Nowak. He adds, “When employees don’t feel micro-managed, they can improve processes or suggest new applications to improve efficiency.”

 

Speights Comments on Severity of Flu Season in Managed Healthcare Executive

Jan 25, 2018

Shane Speights, D.O., site dean and associate professor of Medicine at NYITCOM at A-State, was featured in Managed Healthcare Executive, a publication targeting key decision makers in U.S. healthcare systems. In the article, Speights discusses how the severity of this year’s flu season is affecting healthcare spending, and what insurers can do curtail costs, stating:

“Insurers should encourage members six months of age or older who don’t have a contraindication to get the flu vaccine. Although the vaccine has limited effectiveness in preventing the flu with this season’s current strain, it almost universally decreases the flu’s length and severity for those who get the vaccine. And, depending on the type of vaccine, it can protect against three or four different flu types.”

He also notes the advantage of virtual visits and the role that telemedicine can play in reducing costs, saying, “Many patients now want this type of service, because it’s faster and cheaper for them; there is no reason why patients should wait in crowded urgent care or emergency rooms.”

 

Groundbreaking Theory on Horse Evolution Receives Widespread Publicity

Jan 24, 2018

As seen in multiple media outlets, including Daily Mail, Science Magazine, Inverse, and Yahoo! News, research by NYITCOM Anatomy Professor Nikos Solounias, Ph.D. and NYITCOM graduate Melinda Danowitz (D.O. ’17) poses a revolutionary theory on horse evolution. Until now, scientists have believed that horses, which descended from the same five-digit ancestor as humans, gradually evolved with fewer digits to enable movement across hard plains and open grasslands. For the first time, the NYITCOM researchers claim that the horse did not evolve to retain a single digit, but that remnants of all five digits are still present in today’s horse. Solounias explains the findings in Daily Mail, stating:

“I think what has happened with the horse is that in the embryo the limbs form all five digits, but they are arrested during formation. It's like a flower bud that starts to form but then never expresses itself fully. All the rudiments of the digits are there and then it just doesn't form all the way.”

 

ADPA Names Harper to Diversity Strategy Committee

Jan 22, 2018

As featured in the Winter 2018 newsletter of the American Parkinson Disease Association (APDA), Brian Harper, M.D., director of NYIT’s Academic Health Care Centers and associate professor of Clinical Specialties, was named to the ADPA’s newly formed Diversity Strategy Committee. The article notes that Harper will play an integral role in identifying key issues for diverse populations living with the disease. Harper states:

“My involvement in APDA’s Information and Referral Center and participation on this diversity committee compelled me to look more closely at PD. Social determinants, including culture, can have a major impact on health. In the U.S. we are so culturally diverse, that it is important to have an understanding of how diseases can manifest in different communities.”

 

Radoslaw Nowak Advises Companies to Help Women Reach the Top

Jan 12, 2018

In an op-ed published today in the International Business Times, NYIT School of Management’s Radoslaw Nowak, J.D., Ph.D., advises businesses to recognize circumstances that make it hard for women to join the ranks of management and to design policies accordingly. Those firms that can balance access to opportunity will thrive, he says.

Nowak describes an environment in which women, although about half of entry-level hires, are noticeably underrepresented among senior corporate leaders. He shares evidence of disadvantageous gender stereotypes and prejudices that keep women from gaining the experience, mentorship, and influence needed to get into top leadership.

Citing studies showing that firms with women at the highest levels do better, in measurable ways, than companies without female leaders, Nowak recommends “eliminating structural biases and establishing transparent, fair procedures for promoting employees.” He concludes, “Identifying the sources of inequality—and making small changes to address them—can give new voices a chance to drive innovation and boost business.”

 

Newsday Quotes Harper on E.Coli Outbreak

Jan 11, 2018

Brian Harper, M.D., medical director of the Kenneth W. Riland Academic Health Care Center and associate professor of clinical specialties at NYITCOM, was featured in the Newsday article, "Probe into Source of Contamination of Leafy Salad Greens." In the story Harper shares his public health expertise regarding a deadly strain of E.coli bacteria recently found in popular leafy vegetables such as romaine lettuce, and educates readers on the dangers of the shiga toxin, a poisonous bacteria secretion that can cause fatal dysentery. He states:

“We all have E. coli in our own intestines, so it is not uncommon. It is this particular strain that is a problem because it produces a shiga toxin.” Harper also goes on to explain that infections with this strain of E. coli are a “reportable disease” in New York, which means any diagnosis involving the pathogen must be reported to the New York Department of Health because of the bacterium’s virulence.

 

Deborah Cohn Interviewed Live on KCBS

Dec 27, 2017

Deborah Cohn, Ph.D., an associate professor in the School of Management, was the subject of a five-minute interview on KCBS, a highly rated all-news radio station in the San Francisco Bay Area. The anchor asked about Cohn’s taxonomy of unsatisfactory gifts.

Listen to the interview

Asked how a recipient can determine whether a gift was intended to please, Cohn notes that bad gifts make people feel bad; recipients then start to analyze the exchange, including online. “People try to figure it out,” she says, citing a person who said she received dog biscuits as a gift, “and I don’t have a dog. What do you think that’s all about?”

 

Gasti Research Named One of The Coolest Hacks of 2017

Dec 27, 2017

Research by School of Engineering and Computing Sciences’ Paolo Gasti, Ph.D., done in partnership with Stevens Institute of Technology, regarding the ability for artificial intelligence to predict passwords was featured by Dark Reading, an online cybersecurity outlet, as one of the “Coolest Hacks of 2017.” As mentioned in the article, the findings not only expose a potential dark side to A.I., but also equip companies and their organizations to strengthen and improve password best practices.   

 

Matz Calls Upon Silicon Valley to Rein in Spread of Fake News

Dec 27, 2017

As seen in an Investor’s Business Daily op-ed, Charles Matz, associate professor of Architecture and Interior Design and Director of NYIT's Data Visualization, Entertainment, and Education Engineering, stresses the need for Silicon Valley giants such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google, to stop propagating misleading, inaccurate, and false news stories. Noting that the public's inability to distinguish between factual claims and fabrication poses a danger to society, Matz argues these companies have a responsibility to stop the spread of “fake news,” he states:

“These tech giants are far from struggling startups. They are some of the most profitable companies in the world and have become integral to the very fabric our lives. Given their vast influence, privileged positions and near-bottomless resources, they have an obligation to create a viable, cohesive strategy that stems the dissemination of false information.”