NYITCOM Alumni Awards Dinner

During a remarkable military career, Volpe received a number of awards and decorations, including the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart Medal, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, and others.

He retired from the United States Army after 30 years in 2013. His final two duty assignments were as the commanding general of the Army’s Western Regional Medical Command (overseeing two medical centers, eight community hospitals, and stand-alone outpatient centers) and as commanding general at the Army Medical Department Center and School in San Antonio, Texas (leading education, training, and doctrine development for Army Medicine).

After his Army service, Volpe took on healthcare consulting roles with United Health, Deloitte Consulting, and other firms, where he served as a military medicine subject matter expert. Besides teaching at several medical schools and preparing future military physicians for service, he is currently assistant professor in primary care at the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences.

Currently, Wong is board certified in internal medicine, pulmonary, critical care, neuro-critical care, and hospice palliative care. During his time at Mercy Hospital, he served in different roles including vice president for patient safety, chief quality officer, chair of internal medicine, and chief of pulmonary and critical care.

Since joining Mount Sinai South Nassau in December 2021, the hospital has improved its Leapfrog Safety Grade assigned to hospital-based on performance in improving patient experience and preventing patient harm. Wong’s work has brought him accolades from his peers. In May 2024, the United Hospital Fund of New York honored Wong as an honoree for the Tribute to Excellence in Health Care Award.

In his role, Wong has worked with the hospital to bring more complex care to the South Shore of Long Island. He leads the hospital’s service line development for several medical specialties, including neuroscience, oncology, gastroenterology, women’s health, and pediatrics. In addition, the hospital is expanding, with the opening of the four-story Feil Family Pavilion, which will include a new emergency department, 40 new intensive care beds and nine modernized operating suites designed to treat complex surgical cases.

Despite his busy workload at the hospital, Wong has remained active with NYITCOM and the School of Management by participating in teaching seminars and mentoring students. Wong is a member of the NYITCOM Dean’s council and helps interview students for the admissions committee. The hospital has recently increased graduate medical education programs, launching several new fellowships and residencies. Many of NYITCOM graduates become residents in the graduate programs at Mount Sinai South Nassau.

Prior to assuming her role at DHCF, Watson served as the chief of staff (CoS) for the District of Columbia Department of Health (DC Health) from 2015 – 2024. Preceding her appointment to CoS, Watson served as the executive director of the Boards of Medicine and Chiropractic from 2009 – 2015. Under her visionary leadership, the Board developed the first set of policy guidelines for the appropriate use of telemedicine; introduced policy on the practice of aesthetic and cosmetic medicine; published the Districts’ first physician workforce capacity report; significantly improved board operation efficiencies that led to the Districts’ sharp rise in the annual Public Citizen state medical board performance rankings; and used her influence to have the first osteopathic physician appointed to serve as a member of the medical board.

Watson was a presenter at the 2024 OMED annual conference in Texas this past fall, and, earlier last year, she was invited to address students at the NYITCOM Health Equity Workshop about the role of the social drivers of health in advancing health equity and improving health outcomes. She is very active in her local community and her expertise is sought after to serve on several boards. Watson founded the small boutique consulting firm, Health Concepts International, LLC, where she serves as president / managing partner.

Hoffman is past president of the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology (AOCD), the New York State Osteopathic Medical Society (NYSOMS), the New York Tech College of Osteopathic Medicine Alumni Association, and the National SOMA (Student Osteopathic Medical Association). She also was the course director of the dermatology lectures at NYITCOM and still teaches dermatology at the medical school where she is a clinical assistant professor. Currently she is the dermatology residency director at St. Barnabas Hospital and has been for over 30 years. She was also a member of the Board of the American Osteopathic Board of Dermatology and chair of the Comprehensive Exam.

Awards that Hoffman has received include the NYSOMS service award; the NYSOMS Health Advocacy Award; AOCD’s Presidential Citation for Excellence (several times); and the Appreciation Award from the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology, the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, and New York Presbyterian. She also received an award for being Top Dermatologist.

In her four office locations—Yorktown, Carmel, Hyde Park, and Astoria—Hoffman treats diseases of the skin, hair and nails, in all age groups. She has been very involved in clinical research with her residents and has published many articles. She was moderator of the AOCD’s Great Cases for 15 years.

He was accepted to the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1985, and, during his time there, he served on student council and became editor for the class of 1989 NYITCOM yearbook.

After residency, Fischer became an emergency-medicine teaching attending at Lincoln’s community hospital affiliate, Our Lady of Mercy in the Woodlawn/Wakefield section of the North Bronx. He was appointed community medicine site director for Lincoln Hospital, Metropolitan Hospital, as well as SUNY Downstate/Kings County Brooklyn EM residencies.

Over the years, Fischer maintained his commitment to osteopathic medicine by lecturing first- and second-year NYITCOM students, serving on NYITCOM’S Alumni Board and representing New York in the AOA Chicago House of Delegates. In 2003 he was appointed director of medical education for New York Tech College of Osteopathic Medicine Educational Consortium’s Emergency Medicine Residency at New York United Hospital in Portchester, New York. He was awarded Teacher of the Year and given the New York Tech College of Osteopathic Medicine Educational Consortium (NYCOMEC) President’s Service Award before the residency transitioned to Good Samaritan Hospital and St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson, N.J., where he continues to practice and train residents.

Fischer was accepted to NYITCOM in 2016. At NYITCOM, he became president of the Student of Osteopathic Medical Association until he graduated in 2020. He also participated in volunteer efforts, including rocksteady boxing, the New York City marathon for medical support, and a humanitarian trip to Peru to serve the underserved.

Following medical school, Fischer matched into the St. Barnabas Hospital Emergency Medicine Residency Program, where he trained for four years following in his father’s footsteps in becoming an emergency medicine physician.

Today, Fischer works at Garnet Health Medical Center, practicing emergency medicine between the Middletown and Catskill campuses.

Shlofmitz is an interventional cardiologist and the director of intravascular imaging at St. Francis Hospital and Heart Center in Roslyn, N.Y. He serves as chair of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions’ Ischemic Heart Disease Council and is the co-director of Optimizing PCI. His research interests have centered on the optimization of stent implantation, with more than 170 publications in peer-reviewed journals.