Newswise — Lynne Holden, M.D., associate professor of clinical emergency medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, has been named a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Community Health Leader (CHL) for her work with Mentoring in Medicine. Dr. Holden is co-founder and president of the organization, which encourages disadvantaged students to enter the health professions. Dr. Holden is one of 10 honorees who received the CHL Award at a ceremony held in the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. earlier today.
“The entire Einstein community is tremendously proud of Dr. Holden,” said Edward Burns, M.D., executive dean of Einstein. “Her commitment to the academic and clinical excellence of her students and the welfare of the community comes through in everything she does. As a co-chair of Einstein’s Admissions Committee for 10 years, Dr. Holden recruited and championed students from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in medicine, a mission we take seriously here at Einstein. Her work with Mentoring in Medicine is an innovative way to increase the diversity of the country’s health care workforce and ultimately reduce health disparities.”
Einstein partners with Mentoring in Medicine in offering the Emergency Department Clinical Exposure and Mentoring Program. Taking place at Montefiore Medical Center, The University Hospital and Academic Medical Center for Einstein, the program is an internship for minority undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students that provides opportunities to volunteer, shadow health care professionals, and gain exposure to research environments. Dr. Holden is an attending physician in emergency medicine at Montefiore.
The CHL Award salutes individuals who overcome significant odds to tackle some of the most challenging problems affecting the health and health care of their communities and the nation. This year, RWJF received over 532 nominations from across the United States. The honor comes with a one-time $125,000 award, which Dr. Holden plans to use to expand her community health services corps. “It’s an honor and a humbling experience to know that Mentoring in Medicine is being recognized at a national level,” Dr. Holden said.
Founded in March 2006, Mentoring in Medicine is an all-volunteer organization that has enlisted the help of more than 500 health care professionals who donate their time in order to inspire and assist students in disadvantaged areas to enter health professions. The group aims to ignite an interest in medicine, prepare students to become competitive applicants to health professional schools, and support them on their way to graduation and employment. Mentoring in Medicine has worked with nearly 6,200 students, from 3rd grade through health professional school, in the Bronx, Harlem, and Oakland, California.
The idea of Mentoring in Medicine germinated from a chance conversation Dr. Holden had with a woman she met on the subway. Dr. Holden was reading “Gifted Hands,” a book by African-American neurosurgeon Ben Carson. “A woman noticed the book and told me her son wanted to be a brain surgeon,” Dr. Holden said. “She was a single mother with five children and didn’t know how to guide her son. She knew he had the will and the academic ability, but she didn’t have a way to help him. I realized we should be able to bring this child and others like him together with people in health care professions.
Our program now has students in health professional schools across the country who are training to be doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists and physician assistants, including three medical students at Einstein.”
Chinedu Nwabuobi is one of those Einstein students. He joined the Mentoring in Medicine program while in college. “I had the interest but not the confidence to apply to medical school,” said Mr. Nwabuobi, now in his second year at Einstein. “Dr. Holden believed in me and was a voice of strength, encouraging me and helping me to achieve my goals. I know I can’t give up because she won’t give up on me.”
To learn more about Mentoring in Medicine, visit www.mentoringinmedicine.org.
About Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva UniversityAlbert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University is one of the nation’s premier centers for research, medical education and clinical investigation. It is home to 2,775 faculty members, 625 M.D. students, 225 Ph.D. students, 125 students in the combined M.D./Ph.D. program, and 380 postdoctoral research fellows. In 2008, Einstein received more than $130 million in support from the NIH. This includes the funding of major research centers at Einstein in diabetes, cancer, liver disease, and AIDS. Other areas where the College of Medicine is concentrating its efforts include developmental brain research, neuroscience, cardiac disease, and initiatives to reduce and eliminate ethnic and racial health disparities. Through its extensive affiliation network involving eight hospitals and medical centers in the Bronx, Manhattan and Long Island – which includes Montefiore Medical Center, The University Hospital and Academic Medical Center for Einstein – the College of Medicine runs one of the largest post-graduate medical training programs in the United States, offering approximately 150 residency programs to more than 2,500 physicians in training. For more information, please visit www.einstein.yu.edu
Montefiore Medical Center encompasses 125 years of outstanding patient care, innovative medical “firsts,” pioneering clinical research, dedicated community service and ground-breaking social activism. A full-service, integrated delivery system caring for patients in the New York metropolitan region and beyond, Montefiore is a 1,491-bed medical center that includes: four hospitals -- the Henry and Lucy Moses Division, the Jack D. Weiler Division, the North Division and The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore; a large home healthcare agency; the largest school health program in the US; a 25-site medical group practice integrated throughout the Bronx and Westchester; and, a care management organization providing services to 179,000 health plan members.
In 2008, The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore was ranked as one of “America’s Best Children’s Hospitals” in US News & World Report’s prestigious annual listing. The Leapfrog Group lists Montefiore among the top one percent of all U.S. hospitals based on its strategic investments in sophisticated and integrated healthcare technology.
Montefiore is committed to meeting the healthcare needs of the future through medical education and manages one of the largest residency programs in the country. Montefiore is The University Hospital and Academic Medical Center for Albert Einstein College of Medicine and has an affiliation with New York Medical College for residency programs at the North Division.
Distinguished centers of excellence at Montefiore include cardiology and cardiac surgery, cancer care, tissue and organ transplantation, children’s health, women’s health, surgery and the surgical subspecialties. Montefiore is a national leader in the research and treatment of diabetes, headaches, obesity, cough and sleep disorders, geriatrics and geriatric psychiatry, neurology and neurosurgery, adolescent and family medicine, HIV/AIDS and social and environmental medicine, among many other specialties. For more information, please visit www.montefiore.org or www.montekids.org .
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) established the Community Health Leaders (CHL) Award to recognize individuals who overcome daunting obstacles to improve health and health care in their communities. Today, there are 173 outstanding Community Health Leaders in nearly all states, Puerto Rico and Washington. For more information, visit www.communityhealthleaders.org.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 35 years, the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org
RSS