MDNews - Long Island

PEOPLE IN THE NEWS The President of the United Nations General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid, met with Sandra Lindsay, RN, the first American to be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus and a first responder in New York City. The meeting came ahead of a high-level vaccines event that was held at the United Nations and at which Lindsay spoke about the importance of vaccine equity. Shahid convened the Feb. 25 event to galvanize momentum for universal vaccination. The meet-and-greet was also an opportunity for Shahid to symbolically thank health professionals in New York, who have worked tirelessly since the outbreak of the pandemic to treat and support the diplomatic community, many of whom are New York residents. "The United Nations is hosted in New York and we are part of this strong City. Medical workers have been on the front lines seven days a week, 16 hours a day. We thank them. It is a privilege to meet Ms. Lindsay and to hear from her about the work being done in New York," Shahid said at the meeting. He called her a "pioneer who showed humanity" by taking the vaccine. "You are one person whom the world will remember." Lindsay is the Director of Nursing for the Critical Care Division at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, part of Northwell Health, and holds a doctorate in health sciences. She received her first COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 14, 2020, following the emergency use authorization of the shots. The publicity provided her with a platform, which she has used to advocate for the use of and access to the COVID-19 vaccines. "Vaccine equity is near and dear to my heart. I am happy that you chose that as the theme of this high-level event," Lindsay told Shahid, calling the vaccine "hope." Sandra Lindsay, RN, Director of Nursing at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Northwell Health (left) and Abdulla Shahid, President of the General Assembly (right) Esther S. Takeuchi, PhD, Distinguished Professor, honored by the National Academy of Sciences Esther S. Takeuchi, PhD, Distinguished Professor and the William and Jane Knapp Chair at Stony Brook University, is being honored by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and will receive the Award in Chemical Sciences. This award is in recognition of her breakthrough contributions in the understanding of electrochemical energy storage. Takeuchi, who holds a joint appointment at Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, is an internationally recognized inventor, researcher and educator in the fields of materials science, chemistry and renewable energy. She will be honored in a ceremony during the NAS 159th annual meeting on May 1 and will receive a medal and prize of $15,000 sponsored by the Merck Company Foundation. The award cites Takeuchi's contributions "to the materials and mechanistic understanding relevant to electrochemical energy storage, using chemical insight to address issues of critical importance." Takeuchi's research has been instrumental in energy storage improvements that meet societal needs and can be applied to electric vehicles, medical devices and batteries that back up the power grid. Among her numerous and notable inventions is a compact lithium/ silver vanadium oxide battery that increased the lifespan of implantable cardiac defibrillators. This solution reduced the number of surgeries patients needed to undergo to replace the devices that detect and correct irregular, potentially fatal, heart rhythms. Takeuchi was recently elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has also been inducted into the National Academy of Engineering and selected as a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She was selected as the 2013 recipient of the E.V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry from the American Chemical Society. She was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2011. In 2009, President Obama presented Takeuchi with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the highest honor possible for technological achievement in the United States. 1 4

• Cover