Media Coverage
Medical School Partnership with Catholic Health Services Makes Headlines
Feb 06, 2018
NYITCOM was featured in several regional news outlets, including Crain’s Health Pulse, Long Island Business News, and InnovateLI regarding its partnership with Catholic Health Services to expand medical student clinical rotations and post-graduate residencies and fellowships. As mentioned in InnovateLI, Jerry Balentine, D.O., vice president for medical affairs and global health, NYIT, notes this opportunity presents expanded educational opportunities and a new post-graduate luster to NYITCOM’s already well-regarded medical program.
Healio Shares Flu Prevention Tips from NYITCOM at A-State's Shane Speights
Feb 05, 2018
Shane Speights, D.O., site dean, NYITCOM at A-State, lent his influenza expertise to Healio, a digital news source for healthcare professionals, for its article, “How to Encourage Flu Vaccine Uptake Among Patients.” Speights addresses a series of flu season concerns, explaining why this year’s strains have caused severe reactions, confirming that patients should still get their flu shot, and advising whether patients should consider wearing surgical masks to stop the virus from spreading. On the latter, Speights notes:
“That is not a current recommendation and not one that I advise. The practice of wearing a mask is used in hospitals, urgent cares, and physician offices to reduce the spread of disease between those that are ill and those that are not. The general population should not subscribe to that.”
Speights in Mashable and Yahoo: How Doctors Predicted the Hong Kong Flu
Feb 01, 2018
Shane Speights, D.O., dean and associate professor of Medicine, NYITCOM at A-State, was featured in the Mashable and Yahoo articles,“We Saw This Deadly 'Hong Kong' Flu Coming, But No One Could Prevent Its Spread.”
According to the story, experts watched flu activity unfold in Australia in 2017, where the Hong Kong flu (formally known as the H3N2 strain) was dominant, and knew what to expect and prepared as best as they could. However, in this strain's typical fashion, it likely mutated, rendering vaccines less effective and resulting in the virus’ remarkable 2018 spread. Speights notes that doctors predict what flu will hit the U.S., and accordingly, what vaccines to produce, based upon which influenza strain has been dominant in places like Australia. "Every year we look at the Southern Hemisphere. The Southern Hemisphere dictates what goes into our vaccine," he says.