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Posts published in “Health”

How to Get Vaccinated

Huge thank you to Brett Allen for his help in preparing this article, it would not be possible without him. As New York expands its vaccination efforts many of us are looking to find ways to secure appointments. I offer two options with explicit instructions below.

These days we are all worried about what story our data will reveal about us to the objective future observer. Countless troves of information will be available illustrating your addiction to La Mer or your obsession with Megan thee Stallion. No doubt you will be a cool Grandparent. But what if, when they went through your data, they uncovered that you were part of the CovId-19 vaccine distribution effort?…

Pfizer’s COVID vaccine demonstrates efficacy in clinical trials. Now what?

Last Monday, Pfizer announced preliminary findings from Phase III of clinical trials demonstrate that its SARS-CoV2 vaccine is effective in producing antibodies against COVID. Pfizer partnered with German biotech firm, BioNTech, to produce the vaccine. Pfizer is one of the two forerunners in Phase III of clinical trials to prove efficacy of an mRNA vaccine. The other being Moderna. mRNA vaccines are developed from re-engineered messenger RNA (mRNA), the molecules that relay genetic instructions from DNA to the cell’s protein-making machinery. The company’s technology sends synthetic mRNA into cells, which would hypothetically invoke an immune response that causes the body to develop antibodies against the virus.…

Moderna’s Race for a Covid Vaccine: A Fireside Chat with Lavina Talukdar, Head of Investor Relations

On November 4th, Stern Healthcare Association (SHA) hosted a fireside chat with Moderna’s Head of Investor Relations, Lavina Talukdar. Ms.Talukdar joined Moderna in April 2019 after 20 years as a biotech and healthcare investor. She is an expert in the niche market of investment procurement for mRNA development. Professor Viral Acharya moderated the discussion. Professor Acharya is the C.V. Starr Professor of Economics in the Department of Finance at Stern and an Academic Advisor to the Federal Reserve Banks of New York and Philadelphia. The week of the event, he published a paper on the economic value a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine would bring to society. …

The Pandemic Blues

I think we can all agree that the past seven months have not been easy for anyone. Humans are, for the most part, social creatures, so it’s difficult to maintain an emotional equilibrium when we lose regular contact with others. Zoom just doesn’t cut it. Many of us have noted more lability in our moods, and some may even consider themselves depressed. This is all normal and even to be expected. In fact, the medical community has a term for it – adjustment disorder.

Adjustment disorders are stress-related conditions. When an individual experiences more stress than usual, related to an event or circumstances, it can trigger an emotional response and some neurochemical variability, leading to sustained feelings of being blue.…

The Race to Develop a SARS-CoV2 Vaccine

With no end to the Covid-19 pandemic in sight, the only solution to liberate us from SARS-CoV2, the novel coronavirus, appears to be a vaccine. Creating a vaccine, however, is no easy feat. The record time for developing a vaccine, which resulted in an effective vaccine for mumps, is four years. Ordinarily, vaccine formulation and clinical trials, proving it efficacious, take 10-15 years. Operation Warp Speed is hoping to truncate this process to under a year.

The typical process for producing a vaccine, or any medication, is meticulous and extensive. It begins with research and development as well as capital procurement.…

Reflecting on the SHA Alumni Career Insights Panel

By Prashant Kota

Last week, the Stern Healthcare Association (SHA) hosted an alumni career insights panel to guide those MBA students interested in careers in the healthcare industry amidst the rapidly changing healthcare landscape. I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to moderate the panel, and we were lucky enough to hear from healthcare industry leaders such as Tim Nolan from EmblemHealth, Pooja Chatterjee from Abbott, and Josh Kurtzig from United Family Healthcare. 

Tim, a health insurance expert with over 30 years of experience in healthcare, leads EmblemHealth’s efforts in revenue growth and clinical and provider network as EmblemHealth’s Executive Vice President.…

Tales from the Frontline

It is hard to explain what I have seen and done these past few weeks, but I am going to try my best to give you insight that comes with working in a hospital in the hardest hit borough of the epicenter of this pandemic. Like the vast majority, I was naive to how intensely COVID-19 was going to hit this city. Looking back, I don’t know how because I can no longer imagine living in a world where COVID is not the center of our lives. 

I was a pediatric intensive care nurse (RN) for five years in a children’s hospital in the Bronx before I became a nurse practitioner (NP) in an oncology hospital in Manhattan.…

We are willing to get our hair mussed

I watched baseball on Monday night. For a few minutes, after a weekend with temperatures in the high 70s and the national pastime on my TV, it finally felt like spring. I wasn’t in the stadium, but it looked like a beautiful day for a game. Then again, I honestly don’t know how warm it is in Busan this time of year.

I also didn’t know I was such an NC Dinos fan, but they’ve won just as many championships as the Mets in the past 30 years, so it feels right.

Seven weeks ago, the United States and South Korea were in a very similar place in terms of COVID-related fatalities, with each country recording around 90 of them.…

Feed Our Hospitals: How a non-profit created in the early days of COVID-19 is impacting our New York City hospital workers and the restaurant industry

By Teresa Bruno

I sat down with Jessica Vernon, Lauren Smith and Kelsey Orem of Feed Our Hospitals to discuss their mission and the impact that they have made so far. 

Take a moment to put yourself in the shoes of a physician, a nurse or a respiratory therapist working on the front lines of COVID-19. As you imagine their typical day, you may be surprised at this fact – New York City’s healthcare providers do not have easy access to nutritious food. They cannot simply order a meal for themselves; it’s challenging enough to find a spare moment to eat.…

COVID-19: the Pandemic

Since the last issue of The Oppy, COVID-19 has been labeled a pandemic, New York has gone into a state of emergency, and sheltering has been implemented. Yet, the incidents of COVID-19 continue to rise, and it is estimated we are another few weeks from the peak of cases. Our nation’s healthcare system is in crisis mode, and the supply chain is being ramped to its max to produce personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators (respirators). New York City hospitals are making makeshift COVID units to expand capacity by at least 50%, as mandated by Governor Cuomo. Javits Center, U.S. Navy ship, Comfort, and other pop-up hospitals, such as the Good Samaritan tents in Central Park Meadows, are being utilized for the continuous overflow of patients needing urgent medical attention.…

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