News and Events

Marguerite Urban, M.D. was recognized by The New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute with the 2019 Linda Laubenstein Award for her leadership and continuing commitment to expanding awareness of HIV medicine and prevention among care providers throughout New York. Dr. Urban has cared for patients with HIV at the UR AIDS Center, served on HIV/STI related-NYSDOH AI guideline committees, conducted research as a co-investigator for NIH-funded clinical trials related to HIV/STI prevention, and has provided extensive clinical education and training regarding sexual health and HIV/STIs throughout New York and nationally. Dr. Urban currently directs the NYSDOH Clinical Education Initiative (CEI) Sexual Health Center of Excellence and continues to serve as the Medical Director of the Monroe County STD Clinic, a position she has held since 1994.

Mary Caserta, M.D., professor of Pediatrics, was selected by the American Academy of Pediatrics to serve a six-year term on its Committee on Infectious Diseases effective July 1. Caserta is a faculty member in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and is Director of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellowship.

The Committee on Infectious Diseases monitors current developments in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of infectious diseases and reports these to the membership and broader medical community with recommendations and policy statements. It also prepares updated editions of the Red Book: Report of the Committee on Infectious Diseases, recognized as the leading source of information and guidance for practicing pediatricians.

Ghinwa Dumyati, M.D., Director of the Communicable Diseases Surveillance and Prevention Program at the Center for Community Health and Prevention, began tracking bacterial and fungal infections among intravenous drug users two years ago when she noticed a sharp increase in these infections in this population and reported her findings to the Centers for Disease Control. As a result of her research, a new guideline for medical health professionals was issued regarding the risk factors for infection when injecting drugs in a non-prescribed way. Dr. Dumyati was interviewed by WXXI News about her research; see the article posted on their website

Ann R. Falsey, M.D., professor of Infectious Diseases, and Thomas J. Mariani, Ph.D., professor of Pediatrics, received a 5-year, $3.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to search for a better way to distinguish bacterial and viral respiratory infections. The goal of the study is to define predictive genes -- using gene expression profiling of blood -- that can be developed into a simple point of care diagnostic that can be used by clinicians to discriminate bacterial and non-bacterial illness. Such a test would allow physicians to optimally manage patients with acute respiratory infections, which are a leading cause of antibiotic overuse and are linked to the rise of antibiotic resistant organisms.

The grant is the result of research done as part of the NIH-funded Respiratory Pathogens Research Center. Falsey and Mariani are the co-principal investigators, and Edward Walsh, M.D., Angela Branche, M.D. and Derick Peterson, Ph.D. are co-investigators.