In The Media

Spectrum News reported on the challenges facing aspiring physicians who started their medical education during a global pandemic. The story focused on the Jacobs School’s Match Day celebration last month, where students find out where they will do their medical residencies. The story quoted Ellen Lutnick of the Class of 2022, who said the pandemic created uncertainties about when important exams would be held and how, but these challenges were overcome. Neneyo Mate-Kole proudly displayed his letter showing he will start at Howard University and finish at the University of Chicago. “It’s so gratifying to see them so happy,” said Alan Lesse, senior associate dean for medical curriculum in the Jacobs School, who was briefly overcome with emotion as he spoke. “I hope all of them have as much fun as I’ve had.”

WBFO spoke to Peter Kowalski, clinical assistant professor of family medicine in the Jacobs School, in a story about how UB medical school students are hitting the streets to help provide low-level medical care to the homeless. As part of the UB HEALS program, students try to assist homeless people with basic needs and a health check-up, often done on the streets or in the downtown bus station. Kowalski said he takes students around in the summer as well to show them where to find people who are homeless and offer their skill and care. “Some of them have other doctors. But, yes, we do a little primary care for them,” Kowalski said. “We check their blood pressure. We check their sugar. We look at their rashes. We look at their feet. We provide them with the socks and the hats and the gloves and some of the clothing they need for the outside.”

SpectrumNews reported that the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences student-run street medicine group UB HEALS held a foot clinic Saturday for people experiencing homelessness. The piece quotes David Milling, senior associate dean for student and academic affairs, who said, “The foot clinic helps us make sure we identify people with foot problems related to disease or just the weather in Buffalo before it gets too cold.”

Spectrum Local News reports that recent Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB alumnus Karole Collier, now a surgery resident at the Hospital of the University at Pennsylvania, received the American Red Cross Real Hero Medical Award for her activism in medicine. The report quotes Steven Schwaitzberg, professor and chair of the Department of Surgery, who explained the legacy Collier has left on the community since her graduation in spring 2021. "She is one of these rare individuals that walks into a school, an organization, and changes it," he said. "Karole helped us write a curriculum around social justice and health equity. Karole kept us motivated to stay strong to inspire others."

Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences medical student Nadia Vazquez, a survivor of COVID-19, was part of an event for young people in Buffalo focused on health and safety and education about the importance of getting vaccinated.

Raul Vazquez, MD, is overseeing temporary COVID-19 vaccination centers. Vazquez, a graduate of the medical education program at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, is a trusted figure for delivering health care to underserved populations in Western New York. “They’ve been flooding me with shots,” says Vazquez, who is on the vaccine hub advisory committee. He hopes to soon request – and receive – a thousand vaccines each week. That will help him raise his current rate of vaccination – 130-150 does a day – close to 250 daily.

Media outlets reported that the Department of Surgery’s Anti-Racism and Health Equity Initiative is being launched with a lecture by author and activist Cornel West, PhD. Karole Collier, a fourth-year medical student in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and a member of the panel that followed the lecture, said that while the numbers of people of color in surgery are still “dismal,” she applauded the efforts of department chair Steven D. Schwaitzberg, MD. “I really look forward to seeing more people get engaged with this conversation, to push themselves to think possibly a little bit differently and extend those conversations in their own homes,” she said.

Students from the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences who run a free weekly health clinic hope the power of Buffalo sports teams and several small businesses can match the fundraising challenges that have come with the coronavirus pandemic. Student volunteers run the Lighthouse Free Medical Clinic, which helps treat some of the most vulnerable patients in Buffalo. The medical students have launched an online auction, and several Buffalo Bills have donated items for it. Clinic services include dermatology, obstetrics and gynecological services, routine lab testing and allied mental health counseling. “Everything we are planning to do in the future depends on a successful fundraiser this year,” says medical student Nicole Favre, clinic fundraising manager.

Multiple news outlets reported that applications to the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences are up 40 percent in the midst of the pandemic. Michael E. Cain, MD, vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School, said, “The fact that so many of our young people have decided during this once-in-a-century pandemic that they want to ‘run toward the trouble’ as the saying goes, and not away from it, is extraordinary and humbling.” Dori R. Marshall, MD, associate dean and director of medical admissions, also pointed to the focus on racial injustices both in the health care system and elsewhere in the country as a potential contributing factor. “They want the opportunity to stand up and say I’m going to make the world a better place,” Marshall said.

Numerous complications of COVID-19 have been identified, according to a study published in CMAJ, the journal of the Canadian Medical Association. The most common complications are pneumonia, respiratory failure, kidney failure and sepsis or systemic inflammation. William Murk, PhD, a third-year medical student in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, is first author. “We confirmed and provided risk estimates for numerous complications of COVID-19. These results may guide prognosis, treatment decisions and patient counseling,” the researchers explain.

Medical students at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences are starting their training amid a worldwide pandemic. “I firmly believe that the students realize that they have not chosen to be in the safest profession in terms of personal safety, that they have to rely on their knowledge of disease and transmission,” said Alan J. Lesse, MD, senior associate dean for medical curriculum and associate professor of medicine.

Four students in the medical education program have spent months 3D printing face shields for health care workers. Brittany Russo, Jordan Levine, Joshua Broden and Mitchell Eyerman all had to leave their clinical rotations due to the shortage in personal protective equipment. “Since we were no longer in the hospitals, this was a great way that we could give back to the community and help out,” says Russo. Already, the group has donated 1000 face shields to hospitals in need.

Two medical students have found a way to explain the novel coronavirus to children in a clear, colorful way. The story, called “Berry Bunny Learns About COVID-19,” is full of illustrations and activities. So far, it has received more than 750 visits from people in 36 states and 16 countries. The authors, Natalie Tjota and Sara Xu are third-year students.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many aspects of life for medical students at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Studies are now virtual, exams and labs are online and all patient interaction is on hold. The University at Buffalo “has done a great job integrating the programs that they had available,” says medical student Dilpreet Kaur. Medical student Mark Lawler says that despite the obvious challenges, there have been some positive aspects of temporarily stepping back from patient interactions.

COVID-19 social distancing guidelines have put a temporary end to in-person ceremonies on campus. Thus, graduates of the medical education program at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences are participating in a virtual graduation ceremony on May 1. It’s the first of 15 virtual commencement exercises the University at Buffalo will hold.

Twenty-three medical students in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences will work in hospitals in New York City and Long Island following graduation. New York City is among the areas hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences offers several classes and programs that incorporate integrative medicine such as a program for senior medical students that includes exposure to acupuncture, chiropractic, holistic-focused dietitians and homeopathy. Kara M. Kelly, MD, professor of pediatrics and chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology, says that extreme diet supplements and interventions — and methods that may be prohibitively expensive with no evidence as to their effectiveness — have given all of integrative medicine a bad name. But there are plenty of therapies that can be helpful, and that’s one of the benefits of having therapies available in a hospital setting, Kelly says. David M. Holmes, MD, clinical associate professor of family medicine, teaches a class on managing chronic pain without using opioids, where students are exposed to pain management specialists, an acupuncturist, a chiropractor and a physical therapist.

Research by Joshua Gordon, a graduate student in the MD/PhD Program, that showed that postmenopausal women experiencing tooth loss could be at higher risk of developing high blood pressure compared to other women. “Edentulism has been found to be associated with coronary heart disease, stroke and all-cause mortality,” he said. “Risk of hypertension associated with edentulism could be related to life-course health factors that either lead to or were associated with edentulism, including past history of periodontal disease.” Jean Wactawski-Wende, dean of the UB School of Public Health and Health Professions, also contributed to the research.

UB HEALS (Homeless health, Education, Awareness and Leadership in Street medicine), a community outreach program organized by medical students and physicians from the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, is in the middle of a 60-day online crowdfunding campaign. “This is an extremely humbling experience. So, it brought medicine back to the human aspect of it. And, for those going into medicine, just keep in mind that even though you need to build your resume and you need to build different types of experiences, having an experience that makes you have a human-to-human connection is extremely valuable,” said Lisa Samuels, a second-year medical student who handles fundraising for the organization. 

An article on AMA Wire, a publication of the American Medical Association, interviews Moudi Hubeishy, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences Class of 2019. Hubeishy is founder and program director for UB HEALS (Homeless health, Education, Awareness and Leadership in Street medicine), a community outreach program being conducted by UB medical students and physicians from the Jacobs School. “The program has won numerous awards and grants, and — more importantly — has reconnected many homeless individuals with the medical and social care they have been looking for, while exposing and educating medical trainees and professionals about the challenges faced by their patients with low socioeconomic status,” he said.