CUNY School of Medicine

Serving the underserved.

There is a continuing shortage of primary care physicians in this country, creating an urgent need for more family practitioners, general internists, pediatricians and obstetrician/gynecologists in many communities. The shortage of African-American, Hispanic, and others underrepresented medical professionals in inner city areas is particularly acute.

Over forty years ago, City College decided to make a difference by developing the most unique physician training programs in the nation – The CUNY School of Medicine. Since its founding in 1973, The CUNY School of Medicine has recruited more underrepresented populations into medicine, increased medical services in underserved areas, and increased the availability of primary care physicians.

Our innovative program fast tracks a Bachelor of Science degree and an M.D. degree in seven years. Graduates of our 28-month P.A. Program leads to a M.S. degree and eligibility to take the national certification examination.

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Cognitive Aging in the Primate Parietal Cortex:

The Effects of Synaptic Health

Sarah Motley DeMoya, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Pediatrics Columbia University Irving

School of Medicine

Brodmann area 7a of the parietal cortex is active during working memory tasks in humans and

non-human primates, but the composition and density of dendritic spines in area 7a and their

relevance both to working memory and cognitive aging remain unexplored. Aged monkeys have impaired

working memory and this age-induced cognitive impairment is partially mediated by a loss of thin

spines in prefrontal cortex area 46, a critical area for working memory. Because area 46 is

reciprocally connected with area 7a of the parietal cortex and because 7a mediates visual attention

integration, I hypothesized that thin spine density in area 7a would also correlate with working

memory performance. To investigate the synaptic profile of area 7a and its relevance to working

memory and cognitive aging, I investigated differences in spine type and density in layer III

pyramidal cells of area 7a in young and aged, male and female rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) that

were cognitively assessed using the delayed response (DR) test of working memory. Area 7a shows

age-related loss of thin spines, and thin spine density positively correlates with DR performance.

In contrast, these cells show no age-related changes in dendritic length or branching. These

changes mirror age-related changes in area 46, but are distinct from other neocortical regions such

as V1. These findings support the hypothesis that cognitive aging is driven primarily by synaptic

changes, and more specifically by changes in thin spines in key association areas.

Tuesday, January 24, 2019 Harris Hall, Room 110 12:00-2:15 PM

Lunch will be provided

Please RSVP to dlawrence@med.cuny.edu

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Join us on Thursday, January 31, 2019 at 12:30 P.M in the North Academic Center (NAC). Dr. Cooper will be giving a talk title High Blood Pressure in African Descent- Chasing the Phantom of Race. A major research focus of Dr. Cooper has been a description of the evolution of cardiovascular disease across the course of the African diaspora. This work has demonstrated the determining role of changing environmental conditions on the evolution of cardiovascular risk status among populations of African descent.

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Mini Medical School February 2019 - Cancer & Nutrition. Date: February 13th, 2019 5:30pm - 7:30pm Location: City College of New York, 160 Convent Avenue, North Academic Center.

CSOM Receives $1M Pledge

December 14, 2018 was an eventful day for the CUNY School of Medicine family. Dr. Alan C. Yao from the Class of 1992 pledged a $1M gift to the school. Dean Trevisan, Provost Liss and some of the CSOM and CCNY family were on hand to thank Dr. Yao for his generosity to his alma mater. A formal presentation and announcement will take place in the near future.