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The SBIRT (Screening Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment) team was honored by Long Island Business News on November 1st for an Achievements in Health Care award at their annual dinner event. The SBIRT Program, a population health approach to universally screening for substance use/abuse, was selected in the Innovations in Health Care category. Ten members of the Stony Brook team attended to receive recognition for their roll-out of this evidence-based initiative. |
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As noted in October’s report, a new neurosurgeon, Dr. Chuck Mikell, recently joined our Neurosurgery team. In November he is performing his first Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) surgical case. The DBS intervention will be in collaboration with Dr. Guy Schwartz, a Stony Brook neurologist. This is a new service being offered at Stony Brook that can change the lives of patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease, among other movement and neurological disorders. |
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Stony Brook’s Epilepsy Team has been invited by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers (NAEC) to apply to become a level 4 Epilepsy Center, the highest designation an organization can receive. Our goal is to achieve the certification in 2017, which will positively influence our U.S. News ranking in the Neurosciences. Our ability to achieve the rank ties directly to our ability to perform more complicated neurosurgical procedures. Thanks to the Neurosurgery and Neurology departments, we have the expertise, equipment and capability. Now it is only a matter of time. |
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Dr. Krutoshinskaya joined Stony Brook Medicine and Neurology Associates of Stony Brook as a board certified neurologist and neurophysiologist. She serves adult patients with all neurological conditions including: epilepsy/seizures, headache, peripheral nerve disorders and dementia. |
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Stony Brook University Medical Center is the First Medical Center on Long Island to Offer Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (DTMS), 10/13/2016 |
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The 7th annual Meeting of the Minds symposium was held at Stony Brook University on October 14, 2016 on the topic of "Epilepsy". It was well attended by the public and Stony Brook University communities, with over 200 people attending. This was a scientific symposium open to all physicians, nurses, researchers, students, other healthcare professionals and caregivers with an interest in epilepsy. There was a group discussion and poster session at the end of the meeting. |
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Dr. Charles Mikell III, a neurosurgeon who specializes in movement disorders and epilepsy, joined the Department of Neurosurgery on October 1, 2016. He was residency trained at Columbia University/ NY Presbyterian Hospital. He will provide an new service of surgical treatments at Stony Brook, deep brain stimulation. (DBS). DBS is used for Parkinson’s disease, atypical parkinsonian syndromes, essential tremor, dystonia and epilepsy. His research interests include: systems neuroscience, cognitive control, conscious processing, and investigational applications of deep brain stimulation. This niche service was targeted as a revenue cycle opportunity. |
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The Joint Commission Resources consulting group was on site for two days conducting a mock survey in the area of stroke. Our goal is to achieve the highest level of disease-specific certification and they conducted an analysis of our current readiness. A team of faculty and staff have been preparing for this visit for about 1.5 years and the culmination of efforts resulted in both positive feedback and guidance related to our shortfalls. Key points noted by the consultants at the closing included the requirement that we designate neuro critical care beds prior to our ability to apply, data points that must be collected for reporting purposes and cohorting of stroke patients to a greater degree than we currently achieve. The team knows these are barriers we can overcome and will continue to move the process forward with the help of our senior executive group. Our stroke volume continues to increase and is a targeted area for revenue cycle opportunity. Northwell achieved this certification for a Nassau County hospital last year. If we can accomplish this task, we will be the first and only hospital in Suffolk with the advanced certification. |
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Dr. Anissa Abi-Dargham, Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Psychiatry, was elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). New members are elected by current active members through a selective process that recognizes individuals who have made major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care, and public health. |
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Dr. Susan Manganaro, a new Assistant Professor of Neurology, was interviewed about the new Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy center at Stony Brook Children's Hospital. Research has shown that this multi-disciplinary approach can increase life span by up to 10 years. Patients will receive concierge level service with access to up to 16 doctors from different specialties all here at the same time to address their case. The interview can be seen here. |
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Dr. Yuehjien Gu, a Board Certified neurointensivist, began on June 1, 2016. Dr. Gu was hired to lead the development of the first Neurocritical Care Unit (NCCU) in Suffolk County. Dr. Gu completed his Neurology residency at Temple University and his Neurocritical Care Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. He has six years of neurointensivist experience at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the University of Buffalo. We are very excited that Dr. Gu has joined our team and has brought his expertise to Stony Brook. |
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The Neurocritical Care Unit (NCCU) began operations on July 1, 2016. It has rolled-out on 18S, serving neurosurgical patients requiring intensive care and will expand upon the opening of the new pavilion to serve a broader range of neurological patients requiring an ICU, such as those post stroke, or with advanced diseases like ALS and Multiple Sclerosis. A NCCU is optimal for providing the best quality of care to our neurocritical care patients. Dedicated Neuro ICU beds are required for the achievement of the Joint Commission Comprehensive Stroke Center Certification for which a mock survey is occurring on September 28th and 29th. Logistical challenges associated with the new unit continue to be addressed. |
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A new Vice Chair of Research for the Department of Psychiatry, Dr. Anissa Abi-Dargham was recently appointed. Dr. Anissa Abi-Dargham, a Professor of Psychiatry and Radiology, joins us from Columbia University where she directed the Division of Translational Imaging. Most of her distinguished career has focused on the development of tools to image neurochemical alterations in the brains of patients with schizophrenia and addictions. More recently, she has expanded the work in her Division into multimodal imaging by building a multidisciplinary team with expertise in neurocomputational and neurocognitive disciplines to examine the functional impact of altered dopaminergic signaling on basic cognitive processes. |
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Dr. Henry Woo was interviewed by NBC News regarding the use of the Headley, a unique device used to simulate a patient's brain so that a test procedure can be completed prior to it being done on a patient. The Headley was a creation of Drs. Woo, Fiorella and biomedical engineer, Barry Lieber, PhD. After the use of the simulator, a highly complex procedure was performed on a Long Island patient that was very successful. Drs. Woo and Fiorella were acknowledged for their cutting edge work in Stony Brook's Cerebrovascular Center. |
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The hospital unit 13N has officially expanded its ability to serve additional stroke patients requiring a high-level of care, just below ICU needs. Staffing was established and a new bed configuration has enabled the unit to serve more of these types of patients and help with throughput from the ED. This is part of the Neuro service line's overall strategy for expanding and best serving this population of patients. |
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The Department of Psychiatry is pleased to announce the addition of Dr. Abdullah Hasan, the new Director of CPEP. He comes to Stony Brook with significant experience in leading psychiatric services and has hit the ground running bringing ideas and enthusiasm to our patient-centered, psychiatric emergency service and very challenging unit. We look forward to his ongoing contributions as a part of the team seeking to improve the patient experience, improve patient health outcomes and improve efficiencies. |
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Kristie Golden, PhD and Dr. Peter Viccellio were interviewed by Long Island New Radio show host, Jay Oliver, about the SBIRT program at Stony Brook, as well as the heroin epidemic facing Suffolk County. Stony Brook was acknowledged for leading the charge in Suffolk County for working with other hospitals and community providers to make the SBIRT protocol a county-wide initiative. |
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Science, Engineering and Math Summer Programs for Middle & High School Students http://istem.stonybrook.edu/resources/students/k-12-programs |
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2016-2017 Staller Center for the Arts - Presale of season tickets going on now. Reserve now for preferred seating. |
| Professor William Van Nostrand, noted Alzheimer’s disease researcher, just learned that he will be receiving his 4th NIH funded RO1 award this year. The last two grants submitted were ranked in the 1st and 4th percentiles. He collaborates with Stony Brook faculty, Dr. Steve Smith (Dept of Biochemistry) and Dr. Helene Benveniste (Dept of Anesthesia) |
| Dr. Paul Mitrani, MD (child and adolescent psychiatrist/autism specialist), and Karen Sproule, RN (parent/autism advocate), spoke to News 12's Danielle Campbell about the importance of recognizing autism and providing interventions early to help a child reach their full potential. |
| Our inaugural Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders panel discussion event on 4/19/2016 was a tremendous success. Approximately 80 people attended, many families from the community, to hear a panel of experts from the various Neurosciences Institute departments, as well as Psychology. The audience left the event realizing what a strong team of clinicians we have at the Center and indicated significant satisfaction on the evaluation cards retrieved at the end of the session. Our sincerest appreciation goes to all of the speakers and to Lorraine Botti for helping to organize and advertise the event. |
| CPEP had their biannual unannounced OMH survey on March 9 and 11, 2016. They reviewed the environment on the unit, restraint documentation and restraint use, patient care of the extended observation patients and ED patients within CPEP, and credentialing and training of staff. The surveyors were extremely impressed with our restraint reduction initiatives that began in 2013 and have continued to show a reduction in restraint utilization. They felt that the staff were extremely knowledgeable about patient care and worked well as a team. They were impressed by the daily interdisciplinary huddles and overall felt that the unit had improved their processes greatly from the last survey. They told us they would be back in three years which is the maximum amount of time for a recertification. |
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Hanna T. Czarkowska, MD will be joining the faculty of Stony Brook Medicine as a neurologist specializing in movement disorders. Dr. Czarkowska comes to Stony Brook from Northwell Health, where she completed her fellowship in movement disorders. Dr. Czarkowska received her Doctor of Medicine from Jagiellonian University School of Medicine in Poland. |
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An induction ceremony was held for Dr. Ramin Parsey as the inaugural holder of the Della Pietra Family Endowed Chair in Biomedical Imaging in the School of Medicine. Ramin Parsey collaborates with scientists throughout the University to advance the University's various research programs through the application of imaging technologies. His background in biochemistry, biophysics, and medicine positions him to bring together researchers from a variety of disciplines to translate advances in mathematics, computational science, and biology into improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of severe illnesses such as depression and schizophrenia. This was a wonderful opportunity for the campus to recognize academic and research excellence. Many people attended to show tribute to the extraordinary generosity of the Della Pietra Family and to celebrate with Dr. Parsey.On behalf of Stony Brook Medicine, |
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Kristie Golden attended both the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) and Mental Health Association of New York State (MHANYS) Legislative Advocacy days in Albany, as well as a special meeting in Washington DC, focused on healthcare advocacy. On 3/1/16, Kristie Golden of Stony Brook Medicine was introduced and recognized on the floor of the Assembly Chamber during session for the wonderful work of our institution. Robert (Bob) Chaloner, CEO of Southampton Hospital, was invited by Kristie Golden to be a part of the introduction and received very positive recognition for the work of Southampton Hospital and its anticipated affiliation with Stony Brook. |
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Rebecca Spiegel, MD, neurologist and Director of the Stony Brook Epilepsy Center, was honored on January 28, 2016, by EPIC (Extraordinary People In Care) Long Island, at their 31st Annual Dinner Gala. EPIC is the umbrella organization of which the Epilepsy Foundation of Long Island is a division. EPIC Long Island's mission is to provide vital services to people with epilepsy, developmental disabilities and mental health challenges. As this year's Professional Leadership honoree, Dr. Spiegel was recognized for her numerous contributions to patient care and to patient, family and peer education. Stony Brook Medicine was also honored at the Gala as Corporate honoree. EPIC noted that we have continuously enhanced the level of services available within our region, including the 2015 established capability to offer epilepsy surgery for patients in need. Epilepsy surgical capability at Stony Brook was a collaborative effort between Neurology, Neurosurgery, EEG and an outside vendor who assists with intraoperative monitoring. |
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SBIRT, Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment, is an evidence-based approach to screen and deliver education, early intervention and treatment services for persons with substance use disorders, as well as those at risk. This is a large-scale initiative that involved many people and departments at Stony Brook who deserve special thanks for bringing the project to fruition. It can be performed in nearly any setting such as acute care hospitals, emergency departments, primary care clinics and student health centers. Comparable to routine lab work as a preventative screening measure for diabetes, SBIRT is performed to identify potential substance use problems among patients. The IT build has been completed for the Emergency Department to go live on February 16, 2016. On-boarding and training of the ED staff is underway. The go-live in Ambulatory settings (i.e., Family Medicine) will continue throughout 2016. On a broader scale, all hospitals in Suffolk will go live over next 12-18 months as a part of a DSRIP initiative. SBIRT gave Stony Brook a chance to shine for being a driving force behind encouraging other Suffolk County hospitals to move in the same direction. |
| Suzanne Darnelle- Shutter MSN, BSRN-C, BA began in January 2016 as the new Nurse Manager for inpatient adult and child psychiatry. Suzanne has over 15 years of experience as a registered nurse and has spent the past 12 years working in the field of psychiatry. Suzanne joined our Stony Brook team in July 2015 as a staff nurse on 10N and she has worked in various acute care settings at North Shore University Hospital and at Huntington Hospital. She also has an understanding of emergency management of the psychiatric patient from her work as a staff nurse in the psychiatric ED at NSLIJ . Suzanne has had over 6 years of progressive leadership experience working as an assistant Nurse Manager during her tenure at North Shore and Huntington hospital. In addition to her clinical strengths as a psychiatric nurse she has been an adjunct professor of psychiatric nursing at NYIT, Suffolk Community College and Molloy college for the past 3 years. Suzanne is well rounded and has had varied experiences in both the clinical setting and in the educational arena. Both of these diverse attributes made her an excellent candidate for this position. |
| Henry Woo, MD, who was recruited in August 2007 to develop a world class Cerebrovascular Center, achieved the rank of Professor of Neurological Surgery and Radiology with Tenure in November 2015. Dr. Woo has made significant contributions to Stony Brook Medicine both clinically and academically and, alongside the entire CVC team, continues to build the outstanding reputation of our neuro-interventional services across Suffolk County. |
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The October 30, 2015 Meeting of the Minds was on the topic of "Autism Spectrum Disorders". It was well attended by the public and Stony Brook University communities, with over 250 people attending. This was a scientific symposium open to all physicians, nurses, researchers, students and other healthcare professionals or caregivers with an interest in autism spectrum disorders. It was open to the public. There was a poster session during the lunch hour, and group discussions at the end of each session. |
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In addition to a highly successful recertification survey by The Joint Commission in October, our stroke service recently received a Health Care Heroes award from Long Island Business News. We were among those honored at a breakfast on Nov. 5th and received the Achievements in Health Care award. The Stroke Program accomplished an IV tPA rate of 45 minutes or less, 53 percent of the time, and continues to improve. That is a significant accomplishment! The team continues to gear up to pursue the higher level Comprehensive Stroke Certification before the end of 2016. |
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The first Epilepsy surgery in a decade was completed in October at Stony Brook through a collaborative effort between Neurosurgery, Neurology, EEG and a contracted vendor who assisted with neurophysiological monitoring. Although Stony Brook had Epilepsy surgical capability some years ago under the steady hand of Neurosurgery’s Fred Gutman, MD, other necessary resources and components at Stony Brook became unavailable, limiting our capability to continue. The team, led by David Chesler, MD and Rebecca Spiegel, MD, has been planning for months and has involved many other areas such as purchasing, bed coordination, nursing and finance. The intervention was successful and the patient has been seizure free to date. This is a tremendous leap forward in accessibility for Suffolk County residents needing Epilepsy surgery. |
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Within the Neurosciences Institute, the development of a Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), a multidisciplinary initiative, is underway. The Department of Psychiatry has been leading the charge in establishing a clinical service line for ASD interventions. Their team of providers is in a unique position to provide children and families with coordinated, expert care. They also provide access to the latest developments in ASD evaluation and treatment, including active research efforts here at Stony Brook. The team includes psychiatrists, psychologists, neurologists, social workers and behavioral analysts. |
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Karen Amer has joined Stony Brook as the Nurse Manager in CPEP. She has over 25 years of administrative, clinical, and educational experience in the field of psychiatric and mental health nursing. Karen comes to us from NIH in Bethesda, MD where she was a clinical research nurse working with patients in research protocols focused on psychiatric illness. Prior to that she was employed at Inova Fairfax Hospital as a psychiatric liaison nurse in their Emergency Department. She provided psychiatric consults to patients in the ED and worked with the emergency department staff to collaborate on treatment recommendations based on patient needs. She has prior management experience from New York Presbyterian Hospital where she was the nurse manager of a combined medicine/psychiatric unit as well as teaching experiences at Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing and Shenandoah University in Virginia where she was part of the psychiatric nursing faculty. Karen has relocated here from Virginia and we are excited that she has joined the Stony Brook family. |
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Eileen Conlon, the Stony Brook Neurosciences Stroke Coordinator, along with Wade Jakahi and Jim Wolkiewicz from IT, developed a pre-hospital stroke checklist app for mobile devices. With input from providers and physicians, the team put together the critical information that is needed in order to assist (along with a cat scan of the head) in the decision to administer IV tPA. It is now being downloaded and used by EMS providers across our area. (6/2015) |
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Christine DeLorenzo, PhD, Director of the Center for Understanding Biology using Imaging Technology, has received a four-year R01 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to conduct a large-scale, randomized, placebo-controlled study of the biological underpinnings of Major Depressive Disorder and its treatment using novel PET/MRI imaging techniques. |
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Unalda Ramdas-Carr, RN on 13N was recognized by Senator Tom Croci on May 8, 2015 at the Nurses Appreciation Day ceremony in Patchogue. This was the first recognition ceremony for nurses by the State Senator. She was among several recognized from local hospitals. |
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Kerry Nyreenor, RN of 13N, Constance Madu, RN of 10N, Michael Tobin, RN or 12N and Tom Fining, RN of CPEP, were all awarded "nurse of the year, 2015" for their unit during Nurse's Week. |
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Kristie Golden, PhD, Associate Director of Operations, Neurosciences, and Sandeep Kapoor, MD, Director, SBIRT, North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System conducted a regional webinar together and shed light on DSRIP project 4.a.ii, "SBIRT", Screening Brief Intervention & Referral to Treatment. State and County officials from DOH, OMH and OASAS were learning participants on the webinar along with project champions from all of the Article 28 hospitals in Suffolk County. SBIRT is a comprehensive, integrated, public health approach to the delivery of early intervention for individuals with risky alcohol and drug use, and the timely referral to more intensive substance abuse treatment for those who have a substance use disorder. |
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Dr. Al Alam from the Department of Psychiatry published an article worthy of remark. A focus of national attention is on physical-mental health integration, also referred to as psychosomatic medicine, to help healthcare organizations meet the federal Triple Aim goals. Dr. Alam brought significant experience in integrated care when he joined the team at Stony Brook and his skills became very apparent when he took on the position as the Director of CPEP. His article entitled, Neuromyelitis optica presenting with psychiatric symptoms and catatonia: a case report, is a reflection of that knowledge. Simultaneous to Dr. Alam’s work in CPEP, Dr. Brian Bronson, Director of the Psychiatry Consult Liaison services developed a business proposal that focused on proactively addressing the behavioral health symptoms and needs of patients being treated on the Medicine units. Among the goals of the initiative are increased collaboration between the psychiatrists and hospitalists, improved access to the psychiatric service, more timely identification and treatment of symptoms, improved patient experience, reduced length of stay and better health outcomes. When Dr. Bronson’s proposal was approved, Dr. Alam took on the role to launch the pilot initiative which started this past February and was noted in a prior Governing Body report. These types of publications and this overall “Psych-Medicine” initiative is bringing Stony Brook to the forefront of delivering integrated care. The Consult Liaison team is an extremely valuable group to help us move toward the future of value-based care and attaining our goals under DSRIP. |
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The Psychiatry Continuing Day Treatment (CDT) program closed its doors on 3/31/15. A well-regarded program that was a part of the Stony Brook history was successfully able to transition its 21 regular attendees to alternate programs in the community. The community-based programs have been developed to provide more recovery-focused rehabilitation interventions, as opposed to the historical medical model originally developed when CDTs were launched years ago across New York. Rather than convert the Stony Brook program to the new model with a small number of participants, the team hopes the larger programs in the community will give their clients a broader opportunity to strive toward their recovery goals, socialize with larger groups of peers and make positive progress in their lives. The staff have transitioned to other roles in Psychiatry and will continue to share their expertise with staff and patients within our other service areas. |
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Assistant Professor Lory Bright-Long, MD was appointed as the Medical Director of the Center of Excellence for Alzheimer's Disease. Dr. Bright-Long is the Director of the Department’s Geriatric Fellowship Program. She provides psychiatric consultation to the Long Island State Veterans Home and sees outpatient geriatric patients in Putnam Hall. The ADAC is one of 8 Centers of Excellence in New York State for the diagnosis and care of patients with Alzheimer’s Disease. The Center assists physicians with the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease. It serves as a regional resource for information about Alzheimer’s Disease and is an important source of information, reassurance, and support for family members. |
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Brian Bronson, MD, head of the department’s Consultation and Liaison service, collaborated with Internal Medicine to integrate a full-time psychiatrist into two medical teams. This action was driven by a desire to improve medical and psychiatric outcomes on the medical services. Al Alam, MD was selected to pilot the program on the hospital’s Floor 12 South. Dr. Alam rounds with two medical teams, fully participating in their clinical and educational activities, but with a special focus on psychiatric issues. Instead of waiting to be called for a consultation, Dr. Alam identifies patients with signs of dementia, drug addiction or withdrawal, and the like and intervenes early. The program will be evaluated to see if it helps reduce length of stay, the use of restraints, and one-to-one nursing assignments. The program, which was modeled after a successful program at Yale-New Haven Hospital, is part of a growing movement to integrate psychiatry into medical services. Dr. Bronson hopes that the success of the pilot program will enable the program to expand to other units. |
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The Neurology Department identified an opportunity in 2014 to improve the patient satisfaction scores associated with its attending physicians. Through the efforts of Dr. Patricia Coyle, with support from Department and Hospital leadership, Neurology launched a targeted effort to work with faculty to improve their ratings. The data from the 4th quarter of 2014 reflects an overall improvement in scores when compared to their UHC benchmarks, as well as their Stony Brook Medicine peers. They will be tracking these results over time to ensure a continuous positive trend. Congratulations go to everyone involved. |
| The Neurosciences Institute website has moved. The website is now managed by Stony Brook Medicine which allows numerous benefits for timeliness, accuracy, security, and branding. The new web address is www.neuro.stonybrookmedicine.edu. As part of this move, we are undertaking a major facelift of the website, emulating the new SBM layout, and updating all sections. |
| Catherine O’Brien MS,RN was recruited and began as the new nurse manager for both 13 North and the Cerebrovascular Center. She brings a great deal of leadership and nursing experience to the Stony Brook neurosciences and will be an asset to our team. |
| The Department of Psychiatry has launched its "Psych-Medicine" initiative which enables Psychiatrists and Hospitalists to round together and proactively identify patients with behavioral health difficulties and offer treatment interventions when appropriate. It is being piloted on 2 Medicine floors with the hope that it will improve quality, patient/family satisfaction and reduce length of stay. |
| Ien Li, a senior at Jericho High School and an intern in the Psychiatry Department's Center for Understanding Biology using Imaging Technology (CUBIT), is one of 40 finalists nation-wide in this year's Intel Science Talent Search. Ms. Li was a 2014 Simons Fellow who was mentored by CUBIT Director, Christine DeLorenzo, PhD on a project titled Statistical Modeling of Major Depression: Bridging the Gap between Brain and Behavior. |