"To Vaccinate Or Not To Vaccinate...That Is The Question"

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Save the date

Save the dateMarch 4, 202111:00 AM - 12:30 PM (EST)

Organizer

Organizer: Northwell Health, St. Mary's Healthcare System for Children, Elmhurst Hospital, Queens Public Television, Queens Chamber of Commerce

Phone: +1 7188988500

Contact Person: Jef Gross

Email: jgross@queenschamber.org

Event Details

The "To be or not to be" soliloquy comes from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet circa 1601 and is spoken by Prince Hamlet.

To Vaccinate Or Not To Vaccinate...

Please join the Queens Chamber of Commerce's Not-for-Profit Committee and the Health and Wellness Committee on a TOWN HALL style Webinar on March 4, 2021 beginning at 11AM. We'll provide real time information about the Corona Virus Vaccines and offer an opportunity to have your questions and concerns addressed.

Speakers

Larry Grubler - Moderator

Chief Executive Director of Transitional Services for New York, Inc.

Larry Grubler - Moderator

Chief Executive Director of Transitional Services for New York, Inc.

https://www.tsiny.org

Larry S. Grubler, Psy.D. is the Chief Executive Officer of Transitional Services for New York, Inc. (TSINY), a comprehensive, not-for-profit mental health organization headquartered in Whitestone, New York.

In 1981, Dr. Grubler began his career working with individuals with mental illness as a counselor in a day program operated by Mercy Hospital and Medical Center. After four years of providing direct clinical services on both an outpatient and inpatient basis, Dr. Grubler began working as an administrator of mental health programs, both overseeing programs and developing new initiatives. In the late 1980's, he worked under both Mayors Koch and Dinkins as a Senior Consultant for the New York City Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Alcoholism Services and gained a good understanding of community participation in program development and public funding. In 1992, Dr. Grubler was hired as TSINY's Associate Director of Residential Services. At the time, TSINY had 189 beds for individuals over the age of 18 who had a primary psychiatric diagnosis.

Today, the residential programs have over 700 beds with expansions planned for Queens and the Lower Hudson Valley Region of New York. He was appointed CEO in March of 2007 and has expanded under his leadership to a corporation with a budget of 30 million dollars, servicing over 4,000 people per year. The Agency maintains a host of outpatient services, such as a clinic, a day program, and outreach and vocational services, as well as an affirmative business.

Dr. Grubler believes that the rehabilitation services that are provided by the staff of TSINY are so unique and the Agency mission and vision that he helped establish are so important that the services should be expanded to other parts of New York initially and, ultimately, throughout the United States.

Dr. Grubler is a Queens native, having been born and raised in Far Rockaway, New York. He resides in Bayside with his wife, Bonnie Arquilla. He received a Bachelor's degree from the State University of New York at Binghamton, a Master's degree from St. John's University in General and Experimental Psychology and a Doctorate in Psychology from Southern California University for Professional Studies.

Bert Lurch - Moderator

CEO, E Central Medical Management of E Central Medical Management

Thomas J. Grech

President & CEO of Queens Chamber of Commerce

Thomas J. Grech

President & CEO of Queens Chamber of Commerce

http://www.queenschamber.org

Tom’s career has spanned the printing and publishing industries over the past 25 years with RR Donnelley & Sons Company, Merrill Corporation and SONY DADC. For the past five years, he has been involved in the energy industry. Most recently, Tom was Director of Sales for CCI Energy Solutions, Inc.

His other interests include investing in multi-family real estate, adviser to non-profit and for-profit boards.

Originally from Astoria, Tom lives in Malverne, NY with his wife and their daughter and son. He is a graduate of the University of Scranton, Scranton, PA with a BS in Accounting and received his MBA in International Business from Manhattan College, Riverdale, NY.

He has served as President & CEO of Queens Chamber of Commerce since July of 2015.

Edwin Simpser, M.D.

President and CEO of St. Mary's Healthcare System for Children

Edwin Simpser, M.D.

President and CEO of St. Mary's Healthcare System for Children

https://www.stmaryskids.org

Dr. Simpser joined St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children as Chief Medical Officer in 1999 and is presently its President and Chief Executive Officer. Over the past 20 years, he has tirelessly devoted himself to advancing the organization’s mission of caring for children with special needs and their families.

A practicing pediatrician and pediatric gastroenterologist, Dr. Simpser received his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, and completed his residency in pediatrics at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Simpser was both a Research Fellow and Clinical Fellow in Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition at North Shore University Hospital and Cornell University Medical College. He has taught students, residents, and fellows throughout New York City including Cornell University Medical College, New York University School of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and New York College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYCOM). He currently is on the faculty of the Hofstra NS-LIJ School of Medicine.

Dr. Simpser has been a long-time advocate for children with complex medical conditions among national, state, and local government agencies and professional healthcare organizations. He is Co-Founder and President of the Pediatric Complex Care Association, a national organization of children’s healthcare facilities dedicated to serving children with medically complex conditions. He is also an active member of several prestigious medical associations focused on issues of pediatrics, pediatric nutrition and medical care for children with special health care needs. Additionally, Dr. Simpser is involved in a number of New York State committees that focus on children’s health issues as part of the state’s Medicaid Redesign Team.

While overseeing the day-to-day operations of St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children, Dr. Simpser continues to provide direct medical care to children as an attending physician at the Department of Pediatrics at North Shore University Hospital, New York Hospital, and the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center.

Since assuming the role of President and Chief Executive Officer at St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children, Dr. Simpser has shaped the organization’s strategic direction so that St. Mary’s can continue to meet the needs of New York’s steadily increasing population of medically fragile children. In recent years, he played a pivotal leadership role in the construction of a new Children’s Pavilion at our children’s hospital, as well as in the development of many pioneering programs for children with special needs, including St. Mary’s Center for Pediatric Feeding Disorders and St. Mary’s Home Care, a special needs Certified Home Health Agency for children and young adults.

Joseph R. Masci, MD

Chairman, Global Health at Elmhurst Hospital Center

Joseph R. Masci, MD

Chairman, Global Health at Elmhurst Hospital Center

https://www.nychealthandhospitals.org/elmhurst

Dr. Masci is the Chairman of the Department of Global Health at Elmhurst Hospital Center. After completing his internship and residency in internal medicine at Boston City Hospital and fellowship in infectious diseases at Mount Sinai, Dr. Masci joined the Mount Sinai School of Medicine faculty at Elmhurst Hospital. In collaboration with a team of physicians, nurses and social workers he founded the multidisciplinary HIV/AIDS clinic and program at Elmhurst in 1985 and has served as medical director of HIV services for Elmhurst and, subsequently, the Queens Health Network since that time. He has written extensively about HIV infection and its complications and has conducted a number of clinical research projects related to HIV.

His book Outpatient Management of HIV Infection was published in its fourth edition in 2011. He has served in a variety of planning and leadership roles with the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute and the New York City HIV Planning Council and has spoken frequently to professional and lay groups about AIDS. For his work in HIV care he has received the Human Services Award from the Office of the Mayor of New York and the Dr. Linda Laubenstein HIV Clinical Excellence Award from the New York State Department of Health.

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Dr. Masci became involved in emergency preparedness at the hospital, city and state level. He served on a variety of planning bodies and was the chairman of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation emergency preparedness council from 2002 through 2010.

He received the President's Award from the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation for this work and co-authored a textbook, Bioterrorism. A Guide for Hospital Preparedness in 2005.

Dr. Masci currently directs two federally-funded international projects, one in Russia and one in Ethiopia. In these projects, teams of physicians, nurses, social workers and other staff from Elmhurst Hospital have conducted technical assistance exchange visits focused on HIV care and hospital management. For this work, Dr. Masci received the President's Volunteer Service Award from the U.S. Agency for International Development as well as the Ruth Abramson Idealism in Medicine Award from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Dr. Masci has been involved in teaching and curriculum development at the medical school, residency and fellowship level since joining the faculty. He currently supervises medical students in the conduct of global health research. He has received a number of awards from the medical house staff, the medical school, the department of medicine and the Mount Sinai Institute for Medical Education.

John Anthony Raimo, MD

Chair - Department of Medicine at Northwell Health / LIJ Forest Hills

John Anthony Raimo, MD

Chair - Department of Medicine at Northwell Health / LIJ Forest Hills

https://www.northwell.edu

Dr. Raimo is the Chair of Medicine at Long Island Jewish Forest Hills and an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. He received his medical degree from New York Medical College where he was a member of the Gold Humanism Honor Society. Dr. Raimo completed his Internal Medicine Residency at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell where he also served as chief resident.

Prior to his current role as Chair of Medicine, Dr. Raimo served as the Site Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. In that capacity, Dr. Raimo was responsible for the day-to-day oversight of the approximately 130 Internal Medicine Residents at Long Island Jewish Medical Center and helped to design and implement numerous educational initiatives. As a graduate of the Association of American Medical College’s Teaching for Quality Faculty Development course, Dr. Raimo helped developed a robust inpatient quality improvement curriculum for the residency program.

Dr. Raimo has been an active member of the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine and has regularly presented at their regional and national meetings. Since Dr. Raimo’s career has focused on graduate medical education, this has been the emphasis of his scholarly activity. He has contributed to the literature in the areas of night float education, residency dashboards, curricular development, and physician wellness.

Currently, Dr. Raimo serves as a member of the American Board of Internal Medicine’s Internal Medicine Exam Committee and will be taking over as Co-chair this coming July. He has served as a Physician Councilor for the New York Regional Association of Internal Medicine Educators and is currently a member of their Board of Directors. Dr. Raimo is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and a member of the Society of Hospital Medicine.

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