Welcome
to the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Palliative Care's monthly newsletter!

IN THIS ISSUE:

• Joint Commission Award 
• Dr.Josh Chodosh talks Telemedicine
• Time of Remembrance
• Steven Audstad, Phd,  Delivers Medicine Grand Rounds
• Dr. Susan Cohen Delivers Keynote at "Embracing Palliative Care in Practice   
• Promotions/Staff Additions
• Papers
• Conferences
• Mark Your Calendars!

On March 15th, NYU Langone was re-certified by the Joint Commission in Palliative Care along with NYU Langone Brooklyn which was certified for the first time. NYU Langone Palliative Care Services have been cited for multiple best practices in our specialty. Our palliative care team looks forward to having NYU Winthrop join us on our next certification in 2021. Special thank you to the Director of Palliative Care, Joseph Lowy, MD, and our interdisciplinary Palliative Care teams at both sites for leading the efforts to prepare for the Joint Commission Survey. The Division would like to congratulate you on achieving this honor!

Joshua Chodosh, MD, MSHS led a discussion on value propositions of telehealth in post-acute and long-term care (PALTC) settings at the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) Conference in New Orleans, LA on April 14th. The discussion was part of a pre-conference workshop, "Making Telehealth an Essential Component to Care Delivery for Older Adults," convened by West Health to debut its guidebook for telehealth implementation in PALTC settings, which Dr. Chodosh consulted on. View the guidebook here.

The departments of Spiritual Care, Palliative Care, and Social Work hosted their first remembrance service titled "Time of Remembrance" on March 31st. The families of every patient who passed away at NYU Langone, Tisch, and LOH in 2018 were invited to attend. The service featured remarks from palliative care attending Megan Rau, MD, MPH, Chaplain Kaylin Milazzo, as well as a reading of the names of those who passed away and candle lighting ceremony. Those who attended expressed gratitude for the opportunity to remember and grieve their losses, meet others who were also mourning, and find healing in returning to the place of a very significant life event. Great job to Rev. Milazzo and Social Work Manager Christopher Oates, LCSW, MPA for sprearheading this event.

The Division hosted Steven Austad, PhD—Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)—for a Medicine Grand Rounds presentation titled, "The First Wave of Personalized Medicine? Sex Differences in Response to Treatments for Aging" on April 17th. As part of his visit to NYULH, Dr. Austad met with geriatrics fellows to discuss his research and career, and with NYU faculty from our division as well as the departments of Orthopedic Surgery, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology.

Susan E. Cohen, MD delivered the keynote address "Responding to Requests for Hastened Death: Is Physician Aid In Dying the Answer?" at "Embracing Palliative Care in Practice," a program sponsored by the New Jersey Hospital Association (NJHA) and its Health Research and Educational Trust to mark National Healthcare Decisions Day (April 16th). Clinicians, clergy, and healthcare consumers attended the event, sharing perspectives on palliative care and contributing to substantive discussion about palliative care in practice. The talk was incredibly timely, as New Jersey governor Phil Murphy signed the Medical Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act, which will allow "New Jersey adults to end their lives peacefully, with dignity, and at their own discretion," according to a press release from the governor's office, just the previous Friday, April 12th. To read NJHA's write up of the event click here.

Medicine Research Day will be held on Monday, April 29th from 9:00am-5:00pm in Smilow Research Center. Posters will be presented from 12:00pm-1:30pm and 3:45pm-5:00pm; Caroline Blaum, MD, MS will give a talk on Enhanced Quality in Primary Care for Elders with Diabetes and Dementia (EQUIPED-ADRD) at 3:20pm. Click here for full program for the day.