Faculty and Alumni Named to Crain's New York List of Health Care Notables
Two faculty and two alumni were named to the Crain’s New York Business 2020 Notable in Health Care in New York City list. The list highlights stories of “courage, compassion, grit, and ingenuity” in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, including those “who helped bend the region’s steep infection curve downward and are still working to alleviate the economic and humanitarian toll.”
Crain’s writes that Dean Fried has “engineered a strong response to Covid-19 on multiple fronts. In addition to the traditional research role of public health, the school’s experts are shaping government responses and contingency planning. They’ve served as media sources and mobilized critical volunteer efforts.” The publication adds that she is part of a team of experts on aging tracking how people around the world are coping with the pandemic—findings that “could help governments and policymakers address the pandemic’s mental-health consequences.”
As an emergency room physician at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia Irving Medical Center, Craig Spencer has been on the front lines of the COVID-19 response in New York City. Spencer, who is the director of global health in emergency medicine and in the Program on Forced Migration and Health in the Columbia Mailman Department of Population and Family Health, is a trusted source of information and insights during the pandemic—through media appearances, op-eds, and to the more than 130,000 followers of his Twitter account.
James Gasperino is chair of medicine, vice president of critical care perioperative and hospital medicine, and associate chief medical officer of Brooklyn Hospital Center, a 450-bed, acute-care hospital in Downtown Brooklyn that was hit hard by the COVID-19 outbreak. Crain’s writes that under his leadership, “the hospital dealt with the flood of patients to its emergency department by building an outdoor tent to screen people for Covid-19. It redeployed health care workers from departments that had cut back on services, among other emergency measures.”
As president of the United Hospital Fund since 2017, Anthony Shih has worked on improving access to quality, affordable care for all New Yorkers. “Passionate about improving health care for the underserved, Shih built clinical and community partnerships and put a greater emphasis on the welfare of children and on diversity, equity and inclusion.” In May, Shih was appointed to one of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s councils working on a post-pandemic recovery plan. In addition, he is on a mayoral committee focused on building a more resilient and just city.