10 Years of Clean Air

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My First Acceptance

On October 15, 2011, I received a phone call from an unfamiliar phone number. I was in Baltimore, in the lab, analyzing data. I am admittedly a die-hard New Yorker (the juice of the Big Apple is in my blood) but I moved to Maryland to complete a research fellowship at the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Though I could not take the phone call, I quickly typed the number into Google’s search engine. Normally I am not paranoid. However, the medical school application season had begun several months prior. I needed to make sure I didn’t miss a medical school’s call.

Before I could hit “enter” on the keyboard, a voice mail notification appeared on my phone. Unable to endure the suspense, I excused myself from the room. I quickly dialed my voice mail. That was the day I received my first acceptance to medical school! The school’s dean had called to inform me of the good news. My hard work had finally paid off! 

Applying to medical school is a year-long process. There is a lot of “hurry up and wait.” You work hard to meet the primary application deadline, and wait for schools to send you their secondary applications. You devote time to crafting eloquent secondary applications and wait to be invited to interview. After weeks of interview preparation, the day finally comes and afterwards you are left to wait for the verdict. 

Applying to medical school definitely has its share of drama and suspense but the process is also fun and rewarding. This may sound odd but allow me to explain. First, my desire to become a physician trumps any amount of paperwork. It should also be said that my writing improved as the result of all the essays I submitted. Interviewing was the fun part. I traveled to different cities around the country and had the opportunity to meet wonderful faculty, medical students and other applicants. Best of all, I had an opportunity to elaborate on my past experiences and allow the admissions committees to gain a better sense of who I am. 

The truth is -- that for me, the medical school application process began many years ago. And the truth is that the process never ends. To be a physician is to be committed to a lifetime of inquiry and learning. There will always be more hands to hold. There will always be more information to learn and questions to ask. I will always strive to grow both personally and professionally in the interest of providing better care to my patients.

March is Women's History Month

In celebration of Women's History Month, I would like to highlight the nation's first female and first Hispanic Surgeon General: Dr. Antonia Novello. The following information was taken from the U.S. Government Surgeon General website:

Antonia Novello was born in Puerto Rico on August 23, 1944. She received her B.S. degree from the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras in 1965 and her M.D. degree from the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine at San Juan in 1970. She then completed her internship and residency in nephrology at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor. Novello remained at Michigan in 1973-1974 on a fellowship in the Department of Internal Medicine, and spent the following year on a fellowship in the Department of Pediatrics at Georgetown University. From 1976 to 1978, she was in private practice in pediatrics in Springfield, Virginia.

In 1978, Novello joined the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps,. Her first assignment was that of project officer at the National Institute of Arthritis, Metabolism and Digestive Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She held various positions at NIH, rising to the job of Deputy Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) in 1986. She also served as Coordinator for AIDS Research for NICHD from September, 1987. In this role, she developed a particular interest in pediatric AIDS.

During her years at NIH, Novello earned an M.P.H. degree from the John Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1982. From 1976, she also held a clinical appointment in pediatrics at Georgetown University Hospital. Novello also made major contributions to the drafting and enactment of the Organ Transplantation Procurement Act of 1984 while assigned to the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources.

Antonia Novello was appointed Surgeon General by President Bush, beginning her tenure on March 9, 1990. She was the first woman and the first Hispanic to hold the position.

During her tenure as Surgeon General, Novello focused her attention on the health of women, children and minorities, as well as on underage drinking, smoking, and AIDS. She played an important role in launching the Healthy Children Ready to Learn Initiative. She was actively involved in working with other organizations to promote immunization of children and childhood injury prevention efforts. She spoke out often and forcefully about illegal underage drinking, and called upon the Health and Human Services Inspector General to issue a series of eight reports on the subject. Novello also similarly worked to discourage illegal tobacco use by young people, and repeatedly criticized the tobacco industry for appealing to the youth market through the use of cartoon characters such as "Joe Camel." A workshop that she convened led to the emergence of a National Hispanic/Latino Health Initiative.

Novello remained in the post of Surgeon General through June 30, 1993. She then served as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Special Representative for Health and Nutrition from 1993 to 1996. In 1996, she became Visiting Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. Dr. Novello became Commissioner of Health for the State of New York in 1999.

Click this link for more information about the current female Surgeon General, Dr. Regina Benjamin.

HIV Testing Is Now a Routine Part of Health Care in New York

HIV is a leading cause of death the Black community. Please share this colleagues and patients.

HIV Testing Is Now a Routine Part of Health Care in New York

Change in state law requires health professionals to offer voluntary HIV tests to patients 13 to 64 years old. New law also simplifies informed consent process, allowing for verbal consent in some circumstances

September 1, 2010 – Voluntary HIV testing is now part of routine medical care in the state of New York. As of today, due to a change in New York’s State Public Health Law, New York residents receiving health services at most medical facilities should now expect to be offered a voluntary HIV test. With limited exceptions, the new State law requires health care professionals to offer all patients between the ages of 13 to 64 a voluntary HIV test. The law applies to anyone receiving treatment for a non-life-threatening condition in a hospital, a hospital emergency department or a primary care setting, such as a doctor’s office or outpatient clinic.

The new law also simplifies the process for consenting to a voluntary HIV test. Under the state’s old law, patients had to provide specific written consent before receiving a test. The newly amended law lets patients give oral consent if the test will produce results within an hour. The patient’s consent must be documented in the patient’s medical record, and the provider must share seven specified points of information about HIV. Patients must still provide written consent for HIV tests that don’t yield results within an hour, but the process has been simplified. Consent for HIV testing can now be included in a patient’s general consent for routine medical care, as long as the consent form lets patients opt out of HIV testing.

“This State law will have its greatest impact here in New York City, where more than 107,000 residents are living with HIV/AIDS and thousands more do not know they are infected,” said Dr. Thomas Farley, New York City Health Commissioner. “These people may not be receiving the care they need and may be unknowingly infecting their partners. If you are not offered an HIV test the next time you visit a health care provider and you want to know your status, ask for it.”

Statewide, a third of HIV-positive people learn their status only after reaching advanced stages of infection. In 2006, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended routine testing so that infected people could get diagnosed earlier and take steps to preserve their own health and protect others. With this revision of the State Public Health Law, New York joins the 45 states that have acted on this important recommendation.

Under the new law, providers must link people with positive test results to care and treatment if they consent. The requirements apply to physicians and physician assistants, internal medicine providers, family medicine and pediatric practitioners, primary care obstetrician-gynecologists, nurse practitioners and midwives.

“Past New York City initiatives have highlighted the benefits of routine HIV testing,” said New York State Senator Thomas K. Duane, the legislation's prime sponsor. “The Health and Hospitals Corporation’s pilot testing project and the Health Department’s “Bronx Knows” initiative both showed that when HIV testing becomes a routine part of medical care, the number of people who know their status increases and the stigma surrounding HIV and HIV testing declines. With this law now in effect, the whole state of New York should start to experience those benefits.”

“We hope New Yorkers will take advantage of this law and view HIV testing as part of routine, quality medical care,” said Dr. Monica Sweeney, assistant commissioner for the Health Department’s Bureau of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control. “We all need to know our status, and the only way to know it is to get tested.”

Governor David Paterson signed S8227 into law on July 30, 2010. The legislation amended New York State Public Health Law Articles 21 and 27-F that govern HIV testing and confidentiality in the state. People under 18 donot need parental consent to be tested for HIV or other sexually transmitted infections. Physicians in New York City are required to report positive diagnoses to the NYC Health Department, and laboratories are required to report HIV-positive cases to the New York State Health Department. But like all other medical information, HIV tests results – whether positive or negative – are kept strictly confidential in accordance with the law.

Any New York City resident can get a free HIV test at one of the Health Department’s STD or TB clinics. For a complete list of locations throughout the city, call 311 or visit www.nyc.gov/health./hivtesting.

Regards,

Aletha Maybank, MD, MPH

Assistant Commissioner, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

Director, Brooklyn District Public Health Office (DPHO)