Like many of you, we're also asking “What Can I Do?”, both as individuals and as an organization dedicated to health to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 and to support vulnerable populations.

To help answer this question, we’ve built this curated digital hub focused on resources, best practices, aggregated news and legislative measures relating to COVID-19, with a special focus on issues of health equity. We also curated a newsletter featuring news and updated resources on the different themes featured on this site.

At The New York Academy of Medicine, we are dedicated to bringing new creative energy to our ongoing commitment to health equity through building knowledge, changing systems and engaging the public in new, and safe, ways.

Some of the efforts underway at NYAM include:

  • Focusing on our strengths in supporting communities that might be disproportionately affected by this pandemic, such as older New Yorkers--but also keeping track of the evolution of this pandemic and its affects on children, pregnant women, the healthcare workforce, and those most economically and socially affected.
  • Developing a COVID-19 research agenda for short term studies to inform response in ways that add value and are useful to city administrators, service providers, and other stakeholders.
  • Employing our data tool, IMAGE: NYC, the Interactive Map of Aging, to identify clusters of older adults who may be particularly vulnerable to the serious effects of COVID-19.

For an up-to-date list of NYAM's research and other work addressing the pandemic, visit our COVID-19 Initiatives page.

To contribute to the resources listed on this site, please complete our submission form or email us at  whatcanidonyc@nyam.org.

Submission Form

Last year at the height of the pandemic in NYC, our President, Dr. Judith A. Salerno, stepped up to work on the healthcare front lines on the palliative care team in Bellevue Hospital's ICU. See her interviews on Global Citizen's "One World: Together at Home" special, NPR, Good Morning America, The Today Show, MSNBC and Inside Edition below, and read news features and interviews about her experiences.

Video Interviews

News Articles

“In the trenches: Three physicians in three distinct settings detail life in the midst of pandemic,” The Harvard Gazette, April 27, 2020 

“When Duty Calls, and Menaces,” The New York Times, April 17, 2020 

“Doctors From Across Country Are Volunteering in New York City Hospitals,” The Wall Street Journal, April 16, 2020 

“Concerns for clinicians over 65 grow in the face of COVID-19,” Medscape, April 9, 2020 

“Meet the retired docs and nurses as old as 78 being called back into action to fight coronavirus,” The U.S. Sun, April 2, 2020 

“How New York became the epicenter of America’s coronavirus crisis,” Vox, March 27, 2020 

“Meet the retired doctors and nurses helping to fight the coronavirus,” New York Post, March 27, 2020