Students from the New York Medical College (NYMC) School of Medicine (SOM) Class of 2024 and the School of Health Sciences and Practice (SHSP) Speech-Language Pathology Class of 2022 invoked an emotional virtual ceremony for the 33rd annual Convocation of Thanks, where students find creative ways to show gratitude to the families of loved ones whose bodies were graciously donated for medical research. Whether it was through song, speeches or poems, students virtually expressed their appreciation to their "first patients,"referring to the anatomical donors. Read the full article on the Convocation of Thanks.

The Health Sciences Library (HSL) is extending its hours starting April 19. The main library will be open seven days a week, 23 hours per day and on Saturday, the library will be open for 24 hours. The main level of the library will be open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the lower level will be open 9 a.m. through 6 p.m., Sunday through Friday. On Saturday, both spaces will be open 24 hours. All users are required to wear face coverings, wipe down their workspaces before and after use and use the LibCal system to reserve all study spaces.  

The Student Healthcare Executives (StuHE) club in the School of Health Sciences and Practice ran a highly successful donation drive during National Public Health Week, April 5-8, collecting enough donations to pack nearly 500 meals for Feeding Westchester's Meals4Kids initiative. Over the course of the week, the drive, spearheaded by StuHE officers Bryan Batista, president; Alejandra Puerta, vice president; Taylor Gerber, secretary; and Melissa Dieudonne, director of marketing, promoted donations of food and money to purchase food. The group was able to purchase 71 boxes of eligible food which volunteers packaged into 489 meals for kids suffering from food insecurity. Read the full article on the StuHE food collection.

Mill Etienne, M.D. '02, M.P.H. FAAN, FAES, vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion, associate dean of student affairs and associate professor of neurology and of medicine, was named a Healthcare Hero by PM360 magazine for his work spearheading efforts to deliver COVID-19 vaccines and information to Black and Latinx communities as head of the Health Equity Task Force of the Hudson Valley.

Padmini Murthy, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., M.Phil., CHES, professor of public health and global health director and professor of family and community medicine, moderated the 2021 World Health Day Civil Society Briefing: Building a Fairer, Healthier World: A Future with Health Equity for All, presented by the United Nations Global Communications Civil Society Unit.