Workgroups

Advocacy in Medicine (AIM) is the only student-member directed workgroup at The New York Academy of Medicine. Composed of health professional students within the tri-state area, AIM’s mission is to provide a space for humanistic, patient-centered, and progressive social justice advocacy within the medical sphere. In line with this mission, we aim to provide students with the appropriate skills and network to engage in advocacy work in meaningful work throughout their careers.

AIM’s efforts include hosting an annual conference focused on advocacy which highlights student research and includes panels and presentation given by experts from a variety of healthcare fields. These conferences bring together healthcare professionals and trainees from across the New York area and provide a myriad of educational experiences for those interested in advocacy work. We also provide a number of workshops on specific topics, such as how to conduct research which can promote positive change as a tool for advocacy. if you are interested in collaborating with us on any of these projects, or have ideas of your own, please reach out using the email listed below.

AIM Lead

Nadia Khan
Weill Cornell Medical

Nadia Khan is a third year medical student at Weill Cornell Medical College. She completed her undergraduate studies at Cornell University, where she studied Applied Economics and Management and went on to work as a Healthcare Consultant at PwC for two years prior to attending medical school. As a result, she is very interested in inefficiencies and systemic disparities in healthcare, and has previously performed research in health policy in underserved pediatric populations, pediatric vaccination in refugees, and racial disparities in COVID clinical trial enrollment. She is also passionate about service, having founded her own nonprofit dedicated to refugee resettlement and created original digital resources in collaboration with Cornell Law School to inform refugees of their health and legal rights. In her role with AIM, she looks forward to continuing this work, driven by a belief that compassionate, equitable healthcare should be accessible to all.

AIM CO-LEAD

Julian Maceren
Stony Brook University

Julian is an MD/PhD student at Stony Brook University, pursuing his graduate studies in chemistry. He received his undergraduate degrees at the University of Rochester, where he studied Chemistry (B.S.) and Spanish (B.A.). Broadly interested in the field of infectious disease medicine, he uses chemical tools and biophysical approaches to study the bacteria that causes tuberculosis. Julian’s clinical and scientific interests are motivated by his passions for immigrant and refugee health, climate change, and prison abolition. Julian hopes to pursue a career where activism is integral to his work as a physician-scientist.

AIM Resources

• Immigrant Health
  • • Organizations and donation links
      • Housing Justice for All 
      • Undocumented Women’s Fund
      • Tompkins Square Park – Donations for Medical Care
      • Community Health Advocates
      • Institute for Family Health
    • Informational links
      • News regarding migrants in NYC
        • A Thousand Migrants Slept Outside or in Subways, NYC Official Survey Says
        • Migrants Are Outside, Cold, and Hungry. Volunteers Are Trying to Feed Them. The Adams Administration Isn’t Helping
        • Adams Administration Shelter Policy Disproportionately Evicts African Migrants
• AIM Workshops
  • AIM 2022 Webinar – Introduction to Advocacy: Research as Advocacy
• LGBTQ Health
  • AIM LGBTQ Health Pride
• Community and Public Health
  • 2022 AIM Conference Workshop: An Introduction to Student-Led Clinics
  • 2022 AIM Conference Student Presenter Abstracts: Community Health
  • Facts and Strategies for Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy
  • Options for Vaccine Talk: How to address the elephant in the room with your family

For more information on Advocacy in Medicine and how to join this workgroup, please contact [email protected]. Special thanks to the Arnold P. Gold Foundation for their generous support of AIM’s activities.

The purpose of the Academy Health Informatics Work Group is to serve as a networking and collaboration hub for the informatics community.

The healthcare industry continues to face constant transformations brought about by swift changes in technology and informatics solutions, healthcare regulations, reimbursement requirements, and the development and adoption of newer systems and processes (patient-driven data, data analytics, integrated applications to clinical information systems, increasing reliance on revenue cycle, and widespread changes in organizational structures and workflows). The field of informatics has expanded over the last decade and has now become even more interprofessional. The combination of the surge in informatics solution changes and the involvement of various disciplines to the field make informatics even more relevant and remarkable as it drives the evolution of healthcare delivery.

The New York Academy of Medicine is in a unique position to serve as the conduit and point organization in assisting informaticists face these challenges in their respective healthcare organizations. There needs to be an organization that will serve as the focal linkage among informatics practitioners where they can share, coalesce, and support each other in addressing concerns and issues related to the surge in various branded informatics solutions and integrating these into safe and efficient real time patient care scenarios.

2020-2021 Informatics Officers

Keith R. Weiner, PhD (Chair)
Manager, Medical Device Information Security
Northwell Health

Virginia Lorenzi, MS (Vice Chair)
Columbia University

Shiyon Mathew, BSN, RN (Secretary)
Montefiore Medical Center

2020-21 Informatics Committee Members
Deborah Ambrosio-Mawhirter, EdD, RN
Andrew Boyd, MD
Iasmina Burchici, BSN, RN
Norberto Collado, MBA, RPL
Stacey Conklin, MSN, RN-BC, MHCDS
Veronica Feeg, PhD, RN, FAAN
Olga Kagan, PHD, RN
Kane McAleese, BSN, RN
Edmund J. Y. Pajarillo, PhD, RN BC, CPHQ, NEA BC, ANEF, FAAN (Advisor)
Ashish Rajadhyaksha, MBA
Yalini Senathirajah, PhD
Nadia Sultana, DNP, MBA, RN-BC

For additional information about this work group, contact the Fellows office at [email protected].

The Women’s Health Research and Wellbeing Workgroup (WHRWB) of The New York Academy of Medicine held its inaugural meeting on May 15, 2020. This is the first NYAM group dedicated to women’s health through their life cycle – from birth to healthy aging.

Under the leadership of Dr. Danielle Laraque-Arena and Dr. Elizabeth Howell, the esteemed founding members of the workgroup developed their mission and vision and identified their core values.

Mission
To advance health and healthcare equity and eliminate structural inequities by engaging key interdisciplinary stakeholders to address health across the life-course, including issues such as maternal and child health disparities, workforce equity, and equal representation in research and education.

Vision
Achieving equity in healthcare by driving change

Values

Rigorous and innovative science
Humanism in healthcare
Equity and justice
The rights of CIS and transgender women and girls, gender nonconforming and nonbinary people
Economic freedom
Community
Diversity and inclusion
The workgroup meets regularly to discuss and carry out actionable priorities to move the needle towards more equitable health outcomes for women, regardless of race, ethnicity, or economic status.

Founding and Current Workgroup Members

Elizabeth Howell, MD, MPP (Co-Chair)
Harrison McCrea Dickson President’s Distinguished Professor
Chair, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Perelman School of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania Health System

Danielle Laraque-Arena, MD, FAAP (Co-Chair)
Senior Research Scientist, New York Academy of Medicine
Founder and Co-Chair, NYAM Women’s Health Research & Wellbeing Workgroup
Senior Scientist for the Columbia Center for Injury Science and Prevention
Professor, Clinical Epidemiology and Pediatrics, Mailman School of Public Health and
Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University
President, Women in Medicine Legacy Foundation (2022- )
Past President, Academic Pediatric Association (2009-2010)
President and Professor Emerita, SUNY Upstate Medical University

Amy M. Balbierz, MPH
Senior Grants Manager
NYU Grossman School of Medicine

Sacha James-Conterelli, DNP, CNM, LM, FACNM, FAA
Assistant Professor in Nursing
Yale School of Nursing

Elizabeth Corwin, PhD, RN, FAAN
Anna C. Maxwell Professor of Nursing Research
Vice-Dean of Strategic and Innovative Research, Columbia University School of Nursing

Angela Diaz, MD, PhD, MPH
Jean C. and James W. Crystal Professor in Adolescent Health
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Roseanne L. Flores, PhD
Professor of Psychology, Hunter College and CUNY Graduate Center
Faculty Associate of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College

Cassandra Henderson, MD, FACOG, CDCES
Adjunct Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology
Department of Maternal Fetal Medicine, St. George’s University School of Medicine

Adaobi Ikpeze, MD
SUNY Upstate Medical University

Elaine Larson, PhD, RN, FAAN
Anna C. Maxwell Professor Emerita and Special Lecturer
Columbia University School of Nursing
Scholar- in- Residence, The New York Academy of Medicine

Connie B. Newman, MD
Endocrinologist and Adjunct Professor of Medicine
New York University School of Medicine and Academic Visitor at the University of Oxford, UK
2018-2019 President, American Medical Women’s Association

Mimi (Paulomi) Niles, PhD, MPH, CNM
Assistant Professor, Faculty Fellow
NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing, NYU Collaborator/Birth Place Lab @UBC

Oghale Obaro-Best
MD Candidate
SUNY Upstate Medical University

Toni Stern, MD, MS, MBA
Associate Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Science
Senior Associate Dean for Gender Equity in Clinical Affairs
Icahn School of Medicine/Mount Sinai Health System

Allison Squires, PhD, FAAN, RN
Director, Florence S. Downs PhD Program in Nursing Research and Theory Development
NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing
Chair, NYAM Section on Nursing

Wendy Wilcox, MD, MPH, MBA, FACOG
Chief Women’s Health Officer
Office of Medical and Professional Affairs, New York City Health + Hospitals

Rose Maria van Zuilen, PhD, AGSF
Associate Professor of Professional Practice
Department of Medical Education, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami.

Mark Zezza, PhD
RaLytics
Former Director of Policy and Research
The New York State Health Foundation

2023 New Workgroup Members

Ditsapelo McFarland, PhD, RN, RM
Associate Professor at the College of Nursing and Public Health
Adelphi University

Lynn Roberts
CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy
City University of New York