FACULTY PROFILES AND RESEARCH INTERESTS
Departmental faculty have been extensively involved in a broad range of scholarly and research activities. These include clinical outcomes and health care quality improvement, risk management in health care institutions, home health care, hospice care, cost containment and prospective payment, Medicaid, community mental health, strategic health planning, HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, cancer epidemiology, prostate cancer, and comparative mortalities in surgical procedures. Current plans for future research directions include disparities in health and health care among minority populations, urban health issues, cancer epidemiology, health care evaluation, women’s health, prevention issues for urban minority populations, and HIV prevention and treatment.




FULL TIME



Abraham Aragones, MD, MSCI
Dr. Aragones is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health. He earned his medical degree in his native country of Peru, at the University Of San Martin De Porres in Lima. He served as an Intern at the Hospital Nacional Arzobispo Loayza and completed a fellowship at New York University School of Medicine in a Center for Disease Control sponsored program in Medicine and Public Health Research. Dr. Aragones obtained his masters degree at New York University School of Medicine.

His research interest involves immigrant populations and cancer health disparities as well as chronic care in these populations. He is working on projects related to colorectal cancer screening among Latinos, cancer screening referrals among immigrants and the impact of the Chronic Care Model in the Latino immigrant population. Previously, Dr. Aragones conducted research to evaluate the impact of trained interpreters on the immigrant population's utilization of colonoscopy for cancer screening, and the factors that determine physicians' referrals of first generation immigrant patients to cancer screening and clinical trials.








Karen Benker, MD, MPH
Dr. Benker, Associate Director and Practicum Coordinator of the MPH Program is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health. She received her medical degree from the University of Southern California at Los Angeles, and completed her residency training in Medicine and Pediatrics at Lincoln Hospital in New York. Her Master of Public Health degree is from Columbia University School of Public Health. Dr. Benker is Medical Director of Family Health Services, a neighborhood health center in East New York operated by University Hospital of Brooklyn, which provides primary care services to over 5,000 families. Dr. Benker participates in both the first and second year medical school programs as a small group preceptor and lecturer. Among her current professional interests are delivering primary care to inner-city populations, HIV-related issues (she first came to SUNY-HSCB in 1992 as an HIV Clinical Scholar), and smoking cessation. She is founder and director of Downstate's Freedom from Tobacco Project.









Denise Bruno, MD, MPH
Dr. Bruno is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health and Co-Director of the fourth year medical student elective, “Health Care in Developing Countries.” She received her MD degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and her Master of Public Health degree in International Health from Harvard University School of Public Health. She is board certified in Pediatrics and completed her residency training at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

During her career, Dr. Bruno has served in a number of public health practice positions, including Director of Child Health Services at the Westchester County Department of Health and as Regional Medical Director for Brooklyn for the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation's Child Health Clinics. During her six-year tenure at the Westchester County Department of Health, Dr. Bruno oversaw the Immunization Action Program, the Asthma Initiative, the Perinatal Hepatitis B Program, the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, the Newborn Screening Program, and others. She also launched a number of health education programs and administered multiple grant programs. Dr. Bruno also served two years at the Incarnation Children's Center, an off-site pediatric HIV center affiliated with Columbia University.









Jack A. DeHovitz, MD, MPH
Dr. DeHovitz is Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health and Professor of Medicine. He received both his MD and Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Texas, and completed his residency training in 1983 in internal medicine at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. This was followed by a combined residency in Preventive Medicine and fellowship in Infectious Diseases at New York Hospital-Cornell. During this period, he participated in NIH-funded studies on the natural history and epidemiology of HIV disease in Haiti.

In 1985, Dr. DeHovitz came to Downstate Medical Center with a joint appointment in the Departments of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, and Medicine (Division of Infectious Diseases). He has participated in studies examining the risk of HIV disease in women, the cost of HIV disease in intravenous drug users, and the natural history of HIV disease in women. He co-directs the STAR Program (Special Treatment and Research Program), a multidisciplinary unit that provides community outreach, HIV testing and counseling, and adolescent education to multiple ethnic groups in Brooklyn. Dr. DeHovitz also directs the NIH funded AIDS International Training and Research Program, focused on HIV research training for health professionals from Central/Eastern Europe. As part of this endeavor he has conducted a number of population based studies in the region.








Laura Geer, PhD
Laura A. Geer is Assistant Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health. She received her Masters and Doctoral degrees from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Environmental Health Engineering. After completing a post-doctoral position with the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), she provided consultation for the US Environmental Protection Agency Exposure Measurements and Analysis Branch (EMAB) at the National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL). She has been responsible for the design, conduct, and management of studies concerning worker dermal exposure to chemicals. She has also participated in community air pollution exposure assessment studies, and has considered the ethical issues associated with child participation in such studies. Her work complements the current line of research in the consideration of behavioral influences on exposure. Dr. Geer’s current research interests include environmental perinatal exposures and infant morbidity and mortality outcomes.








Mira M. Grice, PhD, MS
Dr. Grice is Assistant Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health. She received both her MS and PhD from the University of Minnesota in Environmental Health Sciences with the doctorate specializing in Occupational Health Services Research and Policy.

Dr. Grice has worked on a wide range of environmental health projects, including research involving metalworking fluid mist sampling and an investigation of the risk factors associated with physical and nonphysical violence against nurses in the workplace. More recently she was part of a research team that examined multiple health outcomes, including colon cancer, melanoma, liver disease and pregnancy outcomes, and their association with occupational exposure to perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS). Her research currently involves examining how work/family conflict impacts the mental and physical health of women over the eighteen months following childbirth. Her interests include environmental and occupational health policy, women's health, injury epidemiology, global health and survey design. She was the recipient of a four-year traineeship award from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). She was also awarded the Richard G. Bond Memorial Scholarship and the Harold R. Shipman Award for excellence in environmental health by the Division of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Minnesota.









Pascal James Imperato, MD, MPH & TM
Dr. Imperato is Distinguished Service Professor and Chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, and Director of the Master of Public Health Program. He received his MD degree from Downstate Medical Center and his MPH&T.M. from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. He completed his residency in medicine at Long Island College Hospital, and then served for six years as a medical epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in West Africa, where he directed mass immunization campaigns against smallpox, measles, yellow fever, cholera, and meningococcal meningitis. For his work in Africa, the U.S. Department of State awarded him its Meritorious Honor Award and Medal.

In 1972, Dr. Imperato became Director of the Bureau of Infectious Disease Control and Principal Epidemiologist of the New York City Department of Health. Later, he became First Deputy Commissioner and Director of the department’s Residency Training Program in Public Health. In 1976, he was appointed Commissioner of Health of New York City, and Chair of the Board of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation. He has served as the Chair of the New York State Board for Medicine, and as a member of the New York State Council on Graduate Medical Education. Dr. Imperato served for seven years as editor of the New York State Journal of Medicine, now edits the Journal of Community Health, and is on the editorial boards of The Pharos and The Medical Herald. He is a member of the New York State Board for Professional Medical Conduct, and served on the board of the Primary Care Development Corporation, and the New York State Department of Health’s AIDS Institute Nicholas A. Rango HIV Scholars Program Advisory Group. He has also been member of the Fulbright Screening Committee for Africa, and has served as a Public Health Advisor to the Speaker of the New York City Council.

Dr. Imperato has served on many medical school committees and task forces. He served two terms as Chair of the Committee on Educational Policy and Curriculum (Curriculum Committee), chaired the Second Year Promotions Committee for twelve years, and was Chair of the Special Working Group on the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education Relationship. He also served as course director for the required Second Year Course in Preventive Medicine and Community Health from 1978 to 1998. His research in recent years has focused on clinical outcomes and health care quality improvement.

In 1999, Dr. Imperato received the New York City Department of Health’s Public Health Achievement Award, and was made a Master of the American College of Physicians. In 2003, he was awarded the James D. Bruce Memorial Award for Distinguished Contributions in Preventive Medicine by the American College of Physicians.








Michael A. Joseph, PhD, MPH
Dr. Joseph is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health. He completed his MPH in Chronic Disease Epidemiology at Yale University and his PhD in Epidemiologic Science at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. His previous research has focused on the epidemiology of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) morbidity in Black men, a population in which the phenomenology of BPH and LUTS was poorly understood. Specifically, he investigated associations of serum hormone levels with prostate volume, estimated the validity and reliability of a urinary symptom index, and elucidated risk factors for the prevalence and severity of LUTS.
In his immediate past role as postdoctoral fellow at the Ruttenberg Cancer Center of Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Dr. Joseph continued prostate research vis à vis the molecular epidemiology of prostate cancer, specifically the role of putative genetic biomarkers of susceptibility in modifying relationships between prostate cancer, dietary exposures and lifestyle factors. Broadly stated, Dr. Joseph's research interests are in social epidemiology, particularly issues of behavioral and cultural determinants of cancer screening practices among communities of color, and he is currently extending his research endeavors internationally through collaborations with the University of Zimbabwe School of Medicine in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Dr. Joseph has previously served as Course Director for Fundamentals of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education at the City College of New York. He is also a founding member of the Black Young Professionals' Public Health Network, Inc., and organization that aims to foster educational and employment opportunities for students of color in the field of public health.









Judith H. LaRosa, PhD, RN
Dr. LaRosa is Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health at SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn, and Deputy Director of the Master of Public Health Program. Dr. LaRosa earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Nursing at the University of Pittsburgh, and her PhD in Health Education at the University of Maryland. Her immediate past positions have been as Professor and Chair, Department of Community Health Sciences, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Director, Tulane Xavier National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health. In addition, Dr. LaRosa served as Associate Project Director of the National Science Foundation’s Louisiana Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. From 1991-1994, she was the first Deputy Director of the Office of Research on Women’s Health, National Institutes of Health (NIH). She is a co-author of the legislatively mandated 1994 NIH Guidelines on the Inclusion of Women and Minorities as Subjects in Clinical Research.

Dr. LaRosa is a member of the Friends of the National Institute for Nursing Research, the American Heart Association’s Women, Heart Disease, and Stroke Task Force, and the American Social Health Association’s National Advisory Panel. She is on the editorial boards of The Female Patient and The Journal of Gender-Specific Medicine. She is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and the American Heart Association Council on Cardiovascular Nursing, a member of Sigma Theta Tau International (honorary nursing society), Delta Omega (public health honorary society), and Sigma Chi Scientific Research Society. Until recently, she was a member of the Armed Forces Epidemiological Board, the Institute of Medicine’s Health Science Policy Board, and the National Institute for Nursing Research’s Advisory Council. Her research interests encompass women’s health, public health, and cardiovascular disease.








Edmond S. Malka, MPH, AB
Prof. Malka is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health. Prof. Malka received his A.B. degree in Chemistry from Columbia College, Columbia University and his M.P.H. degree from UMDNJ-School of Public Healh/Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University where he received a Certificate of Achievement for Academic Excellence. He is currently completing his PhD in Epidemiology at UMDNJ-School of Public Health/Graduate School, Rutgers University where his dissertation involves the evaluation of the reproducibility and predictive capability for serious adverse health outcomes of ambulatory blood pressure measurements.

Prof. Malka’s research interests include the epidemiology of cardiovascular and renal disease with an emphasis on hypertension and ambulatory blood pressure, methods for analyzing complex sampling designs with weighted sampling issues, and ethics in basic and clinical research. In addition, he is expertly proficient in SAS, SUDAAN, SPSS and Epi-Info statistical software.

Prof. Malka is a Life Fellow of the American Institute of Chemists and a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK). He is a Chartered Scientist (The Science Council, UK) and a Chartered Chemist (The Royal Society of Chemistry, UK). He is a member of various professional societies representing Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Chemistry, including the American Public Health Association, Society for Epidemiologic Research, American Statistical Association, Council on Epidemiology and Prevention and Council for High Blood Pressure Research both of the American Heart Association, American Society of Hypertension, American Association for the Advancement of Science, the New York Academy of Sciences, and the American Institute of Chemists.

Previously, Prof. Malka was involved in the Tobacco Surveillance and Evaluation Research Program (TSERP) at UMDNJ-School of Public Health and has intimate knowledge and experience with the design and analysis of complex surveys and their interrelationship. He had specific responsibility for managing the NJ Adult Tobacco Survey as part of TSERP. Prior to joining TSERP, he was the Manager of the Hypertension Research Laboratory at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School with responsibility for supporting all hypertension investigators in experimentation, experimental and study design, and data analysis. His laboratory was designated a reference laboratory for Mayo Medical Laboratories and listed in the AACC Directory of Rare Analysis. Prior to UMDNJ, Prof. Malka was a member of the team of scientists (Ortho Diagnostic Systems, Inc, Johnson and Johnson) that developed the first ELISA in the world for detecting Hepatitis C (Non-A, Non-B Hepatitis).








Rebecca Schwartz, PhD
Dr. Rebecca Schwartz received her B.A. in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1996. She received her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2004. While in graduate school, Dr. Schwartz was a recipient of a NIMH predoctoral research training fellowship in urban children’s mental health and AIDS prevention. She has worked on numerous large scale research projects most of which have focused on health promotion and risk prevention among low-income, urban youth. Her doctoral dissertation involved testing a structural equation model that incorporated community-level, family-level, and psychological factors in attempting to understand engagement in HIV risk behavior among adolescents in outpatient psychiatric care. Dr. Schwartz also conducts clinical work with children, adolescents, and families and has particular experience in therapeutic interventions for youth who are HIV positive. She completed her clinical internship in June 2004 in the Pediatric Psychiatry Department of New York Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia Medical Center.








Jeanne M. Stellman, PhD
Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, Head of the Division of Environmental Health Sciences and Associate Director for Research. A former Guggenheim Fellow, Dr. Stellman has extensive research experience in occupational and environmental health. Directed major research study on Agent Orange exposure for National Academy of Sciences. Editor-in-Chief 4th edition ILO Encyclopaedia Occupational Safety & Health. Editor Journal Women and Health, 1986-2004.








Scyatta A. Wallace, PhD
Dr. Wallace is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health. She received her doctorate in Psychology, with a specialization in child and adolescent development from Fordham University and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in the Division of HIV/AIDS prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). At CDC, Dr. Wallace was involved with the Parents Matter! Project, a behavioral intervention designed to decrease sexual risk and prevent HIV/AIDS among Black youth. In addition, she was an investigator for a study of adolescent participation in HIV clinical trials in Botswana, Africa. Her previous research includes examining the role of cultural factors in youth risk prevention (e.g., sexual risk, substance use, violence), studying the effects of community violence on youth development, and developing culturally specific behavioral interventions targeting youth populations. Currently, Dr. Wallace is an investigator for study examining attitudes toward HIV and HIV testing among Black American heterosexual young adults and is developing a study on the role of culture in HIV prevention and sexual risk reduction with Black youth. Her research interests include cultural and contextual considerations in behavioral health interventions with youth populations, promoting health education and health care utilization among Black populations, and ethical issues in health care and health related research with vulnerable populations. Dr. Wallace received the Dalamas A. Taylor Policy Fellowship awarded by the American Psychological Association, where she assisted with the passage of Health Disparities legislation. She is an NIH Health Disparities Scholar and was selected as a member of the Graduate Research Ethics Education Training Program sponsored by the National Science Foundation and Association for Practical and Professional Ethics.









Tracey E. Wilson, PhD
Tracey E. Wilson, Ph.D., is Associate Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health. She is a behavioral scientist with expertise in the study of attitude formation and change in general, and behavioral issues as they relate to sexual and reproductive health more specifically. Dr. Wilson's primary research interests are in the social and psychological aspects of HIV/STI prevention and treatment, and the design and evaluation of behavioral interventions promoting sexual and reproductive health of women and men. She has served as Principal and Co-Investigator on several federally funded research projects addressing these issues and has been an author on over 50 peer-reviewed articles on these topics.









PART-TIME FACULTY

David Ackman, MD, MPH
Dr. Ackman, who received his MD degree from Downstate Medical Center, is Clinical Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health. He currently serves as Commissioner of Health of Nassau County. Prior to this he was Assistant Medical Director for Ambulatory Care at Lutheran Medical Center, and Director of the Bureau of Communicable Disease Control of the New York State Department of Health. Dr. Ackman did his residency in Primary Care Internal Medicine at Bronx Municipal Hospital, and received a Master of Public Health degree from Columbia University School of Public Health. He is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the SUNY Albany School of Public Health.








Michael Augenbraun, MD
Dr. Augenbraun, Clinical Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health and Associate Professor of Medicine, is Hospital Epidemiologist at University Hospital of Brooklyn. He received his MD degree from the University of Rochester, and did his residency in Internal Medicine at North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, NY, and at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Augenbraun held a Clinical Fellowship in Infectious Diseases, followed by a Research Fellowship in Infectious Diseases, at SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn. He is Medical Director of the KCH Sexually Transmitted Diseases Clinic, as well as Acting Director of the KCH Lumbar Puncture Clinic. Dr. Augenbraun serves as President of the Brooklyn Infectious Diseases Society.








Marcia Bayne-Smith, PhD, MSW
Dr. Bayne-Smith is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health. She received her PhD and MSW from Columbia University's School of Social Work. The focus of her doctoral work was on health care policy as it relates to women's health. She has conducted community and population based research for the past 25 years and has published extensively on the health issues of women, immigrants and racial/ethnic minorities. Her articles appear in the American Journal of Public Health, the Journal of Immigrant Health, The Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation, the Journal of Gerontological Social Work, the Journal of Health Education and The International Journal of Ethnicity and Health, among others. Dr. Bayne-Smith most recent book project, “Community Based Health Organizations: Advocating for Improved Health Outcomes,” was released in 2005 by Jossey-Bass. Her current book project is “Black Women and the Politics of HIV/AIDS policy: 1990-2007”.








Jeffrey Birnbaum, MD, MPH
Dr. Birnbaum is Assistant Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health. A lifelong native of Brooklyn, Dr. Birnbaum completed his medical education and pediatric residency at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. He began working with HIV-infected and high-risk adolescents at the Health and Education Alternatives for Teens (ÊHEATË) Program based out of Kings County Hospital in 1992. He is currently Program Director at HEAT. In his role at HEAT, he has overseen the medical care of 250 HIV-infected youth since 1992 as well as the program&Mac245;s outreach into communities affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Most recently, the HEAT Program is set to open a community-based HIV rapid-testing site for youth in collaboration with the Unity Fellowship Church in East New York. Dr. Birnbaum is also the Project Director of the FACES HIV Network based out of SUNY Downstate Medical Center. The FACES Network provides HIV-related medical, mental health, and case management services to over 500 Brooklyn children, adolescents, and families in 11 Brooklyn institutions. Dr. Birnbaum has lectured on the topic of ÊHIV/AIDS and AdolescentsË internationally in Nigeria, the Czech Republic, Russia and Poland, and has worked clinically as a physician in Nigeria, Jamaica, and St. Lucia.








Alvin M. Berk, PhD
Dr. Berk is Assistant Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, and serves as Assistant Vice President for Management Systems at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Dr. Berk earned his undergraduate degree at Queens College and his doctorate at the City University of New York. He has taught at Brooklyn College and Fordham University at Lincoln Center, and has guest-lectured on municipal government and community organization at Brooklyn College and Long Island University. Dr. Berk is an outspoken advocate for the role of grass-roots organizations in formulating public policy, expressing his views in contributed columns to Newsday, the New York Post, and the New York Times, and on TV. Since 1989, he has served as chairman of Brooklyn Community Board 14, and, since 1993, as chair of the Coalition of Brooklyn Community Boards.








Elizabeth Boskey, PhD, MPH
Dr. Boskey, Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, received both her PhD in Biophysics and her Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University. She is a Building Interdisciplinary Research Centers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) Scholar examining the role of feminine hygiene behaviors on women’s reproductive health. Her other research interests include the epidemiology of bacterial vaginosis, vaginal microbicides, and contraceptive choice. Dr. Boskey teaches Introduction to Epidemiology and Human Sexual Behavior in the Master of Public Health Program.








George Braman, MD
Dr. Braman is Assistant Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health and currently teaches in the department's required medical school programs. A native of Brooklyn, Dr. Braman earned his medical degree at the Downstate Medical Center, and trained in Internal Medicine at Sinai Hospital of Detroit and Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn. He completed an NIH Fellowship in Hematology at Maimonides Medical Center, and served as Capt. USAF and Assistant Chief of Medicine at the Regional Air Force Hospital at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. Most recently he was Director of Quality Management and Assistant Attending Physician at Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens, where he successfully guided the hospital through two JCAHO Accreditation Surveys. His experience includes seven years as Public Health Physician with the New York State Department of Health, and clinical and teaching positions in Geriatric Medicine. His interests encompass medical ethics and writing poetry. Several of his poems have been published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.








Ruth C. Browne, MPP, MPH, ScD
Dr. Browne is an Assistant Professor in the College of Health Related Professions and the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center. She is the founding Executive Director of the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health (AAIUH). Dr. Browne’s commitment to community health empowerment is evident in her work with AAIUH, where she has created behavioral health intervention programs in low-income communities of color. These intervention programs engage lay leadership in churches, schools, beauty salons, barbershops, tattoo and body-piercing salons, and laundry mats. She is the principal investigator on two National Cancer Institute research grants. In April 2003, she was appointed to the NIH Director’s Council of Public Representatives.









Gerald W. Deas, MD, MPH
Dr. Deas, Clinical Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine, is Director of Health Education Communication at the HSCB. A graduate of the Downstate Medical Center, he did his residency in Medicine at Kings County Hospital. Prior to attending medical school, he received a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Michigan. For many years Dr. Deas had a primary care practice in an inner-city area of Queens, NY, and has been deeply involved in health education throughout his career. For ten years he was the medical reporter on the McCreary Report on Fox Television (Channel 5). For 20 years, he has spoken on WLIB radio five mornings a week, Monday through Friday, addressing issues of health promotion and disease prevention. In addition, he has a weekly half-hour show on Time-Warner cable TV, as well as shows on Brooklyn Cable Access TV (BCAT) and Brooklyn/Queens Cable TV. His articles appear regularly in the Amsterdam News, Caribe News, and the New York Voice, among other publications. Dr. Deas has lectured and served as a preceptor in the department's required small group teaching programs for more than twenty years.








Imogene A. Drakes, MS, MBA
Imogene Drakes is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health. She received an MBA from Pace University and a Master of Science in Forensic Science from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. Her experience extends across the healthcare spectrum – Forensic Science (in particular, Forensic Toxicology), Clinical Laboratory Science, and she is currently a third year Toxicology student in the Doctor of Public Health program at Columbia University. Ms. Drakes’ work experience includes the toxicological analysis of veterinary samples and professional collaboration with epidemiologists and other public health workers.
Ms. Drakes’ management experience also includes Clinical Laboratory Supervision and Operations Management in the fourth largest hospital laboratory in the United States, including coordinating the interlaboratory processes involved in referring specimens from several institutions. Ms. Drakes has managed the Quality Assurance aspects of clinical and pathologic laboratories and is currently an Assistant Director in the Quality Management Department of Bellevue Hospital.








Barbara G. Delano, MD, MPH
Dr. Delano, Professor of Medicine and Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, is Director of the Home Dialysis Program for Kings County Hospital/Downstate Medical Center, and Associate Director of the Renal Disease Division of State University Hospital. She received an MD degree from State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, and an MPH from the New Jersey Graduate Program in Public Health at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Rutgers University. Among her teaching responsibilities, she conducts case-based learning sessions in the Preventive Medicine Department's required program for first year medical students.
Dr. Delano's research has focused primarily on hemodialysis, and she is the author of numerous publications in the field. She is on the editorial boards of Clinical Nephrology and Nephrology News and Issues.








Gary M. Eidsvold, MD, MPH
Dr. Eidsvold, Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, was for many years Family Health Managed Care Program Director for the New York State Department of Health. He currently serves as a preceptor in first year case-based learning sessions for the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health. Dr. Eidsvold received his MD degree from the University of Minnesota, and a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. He has worked in a number of far-flung places, including Gondar, Ethiopia, where he was on the faculty at Haile Selassie University. He also worked in Tuba City, Arizona, as Director of the Indian Health Service Hospital. Dr. Eidsvold has served with the New York State Health Department in various capacities, including New York City Medical Director, Ambulatory Care Program Director, Home Health and HMO Program Director, Medicaid Program Director, and Managed Care Program Director.








Lorna M. J. Fairweather, MPH
Ms. Fairweather completed both her undergraduate and graduate studies at Hunter College of the City University of New York, where she earned a Bachelors Degree in Health Education and a Masters Degree in Public Health. She also attended the Not-For-Profit Institute of Management at Columbia University.

Currently, Ms. Fairweather is the Director of Community Planning with the Healthy Start Brooklyn Program within the Brooklyn District Public Health Office in the Division of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention with New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The Healthy Start Brooklyn Initiative is federally funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). She also lectures part-time at St. Joseph's College, Brooklyn Campus and she currently serves on the Community Advisory Board for the March of Dimes, New York Chapter.

Prior to her current assignment, Ms. Fairweather was employed with the Caribbean Women's Health Association(CWHA) for 13 years and her last assignment was the Director of Social Services. She also served as the President of the Membership Organization during which, the members assisted in raising critically needed funds for program operations.









John A. Fallon, MD, MBA
Dr. Fallon is Clinical Professor of Medicine, and Clinical Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health. He previously served as Chief Executive Officer and Senior Vice-President for Clinical Affairs at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center, with oversight of the entire clinical enterprise including University Hospital of Brooklyn and the Physician Faculty Practice. Currently, he is Chief Physician Executive at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. He received his MD from Tufts University School of Medicine, and an MBA from the University of South Florida. He completed his internship and residency in Medicine at Boston City Hospital, and had over 20 years of internal medicine practice in a teaching environment. He also has over 17 years of managerial experience involving all aspects of hospital operations, finance, quality management, physician practices, and health care network development. He also has an extensive history of managed care experience including contracting, negotiations, and operations. Dr. Fallon actively teaches in the Master of Public Health Program. He previously served as course director for the required course, Principles of Health Systems Management.








Stephen M. Friedman, MD, MPH
Dr. Friedman is an epidemiologist in the Bureau of Preventable Diseases of the New York City Department of Health, and Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health. He received his medical degree from New York University School of Medicine, and a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from the Columbia University School of Public Health. He completed a New York City Public Health Residency Program in the Bureau of Preventable Diseases. Dr. Friedman has taught for many years in the department's first and second year small group teaching programs, and is a preceptor in the case-based learning curriculum.








Francesca Gany, MD, MS
Dr. Gany received her MD degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and a M.S. degree in management and health from New York University. Since 1989, she has been the Executive Director of the New York Task Force on Immigrant Health, and Director of the Center for Immigrant Health. She is an Attending Physician at New York University Medical Center, and is an Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health at the Downstate Medical Center.








Norma J. Goodwin, MD
Dr. Goodwin is Clinical Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health. She received her medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia, and did her residency in Internal Medicine at Kings County Hospital, where she served as Chief Resident. She later was a National Institute of Health Fellow in Nephrology, and Director of the Hemodialysis Center at the Health Science Center at Brooklyn and at Kings County Hospital. Dr. Goodwin then joined the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, where she became Senior Vice-President for Community Health and Ambulatory Care. She is the Founder and immediate Past-President of AMRON Management Consultants, a consulting firm specializing in planning, developing, delivering, administering and evaluating human services, and in conducting training programs. Dr. Goodwin is also the Founder and President of Health Watch Information and Promotion Service, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health and longevity of blacks in America by motivating healthier lifestyles and behavior. Dr. Goodwin also founded the Bedford Stuyvesant Healthy Heart Program.








Judith Hey-Hadavi, MD, DDS
Dr. Hey-Hadavi received her MD and D.D.S. degrees from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. An Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, she is also an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine and Assistant Professor of Clinical Dentistry at Columbia University. Dr. Hey-Hadavi is Medical Director of Medical Regulatory Affairs for the Metabolic and Cardiovascular Group at Pfizer Inc. Her area of expertise is research design.








Robert J. Karp, MD
Dr. Karp is Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Social Pediatrics Initiative at Downstate. He received his MD degree from Jefferson Medical College, interned in Pediatrics at New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center, and was Chief Resident in Pediatrics at Temple University School of Medicine, St. Christopher's Hospital for Children. For eleven years, until 1998, Dr. Karp was Director of the Pediatric Resource Center of Kings County Hospital, a comprehensive health care center providing integrated team-delivered care for high risk inner-city children and families. He is also Associate Director of the New York/New Jersey Regional Center for Clinical Nutrition Education, sponsored by the New York Academy of Medicine.
Among his research interests are the effects of malnutrition and undernutrition among low-income children in the United States.








Florence Kavaler, MD, MS, MPH
Dr. Kavaler is Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, College of Medicine, Brooklyn, New York. She was formerly Assistant Surgeon General and Director of the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital, Staten Island, New York; Study Director, Milbank Memorial Fund Commission for the Study of Higher Education for Public Health; and Assistant Commissioner for Health and Medical Insurance Programs, New York City Health Department and Principal Clinical Coordinator, IPRO, New York. Dr. Kavaler is currently the Chair of the New York State Board for Medicine. Dr. Kavaler was educated at Barnard College (BA), SUNY Downstate Medical Center (MD), and Columbia University School of Public Health and Administrative Medicine (MS, MPH). She is a Diplomate, American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review Physicians; a licensed nursing home administrator (New York); and a licensed health care risk manager (Florida Department of Insurance). Dr. Kavaler is President, Institute of Medical Law, Inc. (New York), which offers seminars in Health Care Risk Management; and President, Medical Network Managers, Inc. (New York), which has health care consulting contracts with nursing homes, HMOs, and varied health agencies. Her consultation skills capitalize on extensive experience in hospital administration, ambulatory care services, health insurance, long-term care, and malpractice analysis. Wide experience in long-term care stems from her role as a regulator in the nursing home industry, and as a medical director of a combined skilled nursing/intermediate care facility. Her many publications address the areas of medical care evaluation in multiple settings, administrative public policy dynamics, and research activities in drug addiction, hospital cost control, aging, public health, and aspects of medical history.








Patricia Kizilay, EdD
Dr. Kizilay has been practicing nursing for many years and has had several roles in her career. She is a Family Nurse Practitioner and a Mental Health Clinical Specialist. Prior to coming to SUNY Downstate she was the coordinator of the graduate program at Seton Hall University.








Larry I. Lutwick, MD
Dr. Larry I. Lutwick is Professor of Medicine. He received his MD degree from the SUNY Downstate Medical Center, and did his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the Barnes Hospital, Washington University School of Medicine. He did a post-doctoral fellowship in Infectious Diseases in the Department of Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. For a number of years, he served as Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Maimonides Medical Center. He is currently Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Veterans Administration New York Harbor Health Care System, Brooklyn Campus.








Suzanne M. Lutwick, RN, BS, MPH
Suzanne M. Lutwick received her RN degree from the Hospital for Sick Children School of Nursing in Toronto, Canada, a BS degree in Community Health and Human Services from Saint Joseph’s College in Patchogue, New York, and a Master of Public Health degree from New York Medical College Graduate School of Health Science. She previously practiced infection control at Maimonides Medical Center, and later served as the Director of Infection Control there. She is currently Project Epidemiologist with the New York Anti-microbial Project at the Public Health Research Institute of New York.








Joseph Lovett
Joseph Lovett is a Lecturer in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health. He was a producer on the ABC-TV News show "20/20" for ten years, and prior to that was an editor and producer at CBS News for five years. He now runs his own film company, Lovett Productions. Mr. Lovett has participated in conferences sponsored by the Institute for Health Policy Analysis at Georgetown University Medical School, and is on the Executive Board of AIDSFILMS, a non-profit company committed to furthering AIDS education and prevention in the inner city. In 1997, he was a recipient of the National Leadership Award of the AIDS Action Foundation in Washington, D.C. because of his many fine media contributions in the field of AIDS and health. He has lectured regularly to second year medical students on issues related to medicine and the media.








Karen A. N. Myrie, MD, MPH
Dr. Myrie received her MD from SUNY Downstate Medical Center and her MPH from Columbia University School of Public Health. She completed her residency in Social Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center. Dr. Myrie is currently an attending pediatrician at Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn. She serves on the board of the Edwin Gould Services for Children and Families and is active in the New York Coalition of 100 Black Women.









Patricia Ann O'Neill, MD, RN
An Assistant Professor of Surgery, Dr. O'Neill is Co-Chief, Division of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care at Downstate. She is also Medical Director of Downstate's Clinical Trials Support Office for the Research Foundation. Dr. O'Neill received her MD degree at Downstate, where she also did her surgical residency. She received her RN degree from the Kings County Hospital School of Nursing.
Dr. O'Neill serves as a faculty Sponsor and Mentor for medical student clinical research projects. She is also Faculty Resident Adviser for the Surgical Residency Program. Her current areas of research interest include perioperative infection in surgery and trauma; prevention of sepsis and organ failure; trauma scoring systems; domestic violence; handgun violence prevention; and behavioral manifestations of post-traumatic stress disorders.









Steven D. Ritzel, MPH
Steven D. Ritzel is Clinical Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health. He received his Master of Public Health degree from Columbia University School of Public Health. He is currently Director of the Regional Planning and Research Unit in the Office of Planning and Institutional Advancement at the Downstate Medical Center. He previously served in the New York City Department of Health in several capacities including Public Health Epidemiologist and as Senior Grants Manager.









Pamela Sass, MD
An Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Practice, Dr. Sass serves as Director of Community Medicine activities and Course Director of Community Oriented Primary Care for Family Practice Residents. She is also active in curriculum reform for the College of Medicine at Downstate. Dr. Sass received her MD degree from Rush Medical College and completed a three-year Family Practice residency at Brookdale Hospital. Prior to coming to Downstate, she was a physician and Medical Director of Montefiore Medical Center's Valentine Lane Family Practice Center.









M. Monica Sweeney, MD, MPH
Dr. Sweeney received her MD degree from the SUNY Downstate Medical Center, and her Master of Public Health degree from Columbia University School of Public Health. She completed her internship and residency in Medicine at SUNY University Hospital/Kings County Hospital Center, and has had, since that time, a continuing relationship with the medical center. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine and the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health.

In her present position as Vice-President of Medical Affairs at the Bedford Stuyvesant Family Health Center, Dr. Sweeney and staff teach third and fourth year medical students. Additionally, Dr. Sweeney serves on the curriculum committee at both the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education and at Downstate.

In addition to direct patient care, teaching, and administration, Dr. Sweeney is active in local, state, and federal health policy advocacy resulting in her most recent appointment by President George W. Bush to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.








Benjamin Wainfeld, PhD
Dr. Wainfeld, Clinical Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, has taught in the department's first and second year small group teaching programs for over twenty years. He received his medical degree from the University of Geneva, and did his residency in Medicine at Kings County Hospital Center. He was for many years Director of Community Health Services and Ambulatory Care at Brookdale Hospital Medical Center. Currently, Dr. Wainfeld is a member of the Board for Professional Medical Conduct, where he presides over hearings regarding physicians charged with various acts of professional misconduct. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Public Health Association of New York City (PHANYC), and Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), where he participates in monthly public educational discussions relating to managed care and national health insurance problems.








Mahfouz H. Zaki, MD, Dr. PH, MPH
Dr. Zaki, Clinical Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, has been a preceptor in the department's first and second year small group teaching programs for over 25 years. Until recently, he was Director of Public Health for Suffolk County, NY. His scientific research on public health issues is widely cited in the literature, and his innovative public health interventions regularly duplicated throughout the country. Dr. Zaki received his medical degree from Cairo Medical School of Cairo University in Egypt. He has a Master of Public Health degree from the Institute of Public Health of Alexandria University in Egypt, and a Doctorate in Public Health from Columbia University School of Public Health in New York City. He has served as a Peace Corps Physician and Advisor in Public Health to the Government of Afghanistan.