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Northwell Health nurses are driving change in behavioral health.

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Northwell Health nurses are driving change in behavioral health.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. At Zucker Hillside Hospital, Northwell Health’s nationally recognized behavioral health center, we’re committed to the compassionate care of people suffering from a wide range of conditions and addictions. We’re passionate about our leadership role in the field as we pursue new treatments and solutions to help our patients reintegrate into the community.

That’s why we’re looking forward to sharing our knowledge and best practices with the behavioral health community at the American Psychiatric Nurses Association’s 31st Annual Conference this October in Phoenix, Arizona.

Zucker Hillside Hospital has been an active participant and presenter at the conference for many years. In fact, our Chief Nursing Officer, Marybeth McManus serves on the Research Council steering committee board. We’re very excited about the volume of presentations by our nurses this year — eight posters and one podium presentation. “We are really rejuvenating our nursing research and evidence based council at Zucker Hillside,” notes Marybeth. “This year we’re going all out to share what we’ve got going on.”

With new research initiatives and the rollout of the evidence based practice competency, Zucker Hillside Hospital is upping the game for nurses in their professional practice. Not only that, but the hospital opened a brand new building in 2013. “Northwell Health really supports behavioral health,” states Marybeth. “That’s unique for a health system and we’re excited to be able to disseminate some of the cutting edge things we’re doing here.”

We’ll be sharing previews of our nurses’ presentations over the coming months, which include topics such as dialectical behavioral therapy, the effect of noise control on patient satisfaction, elevating family centered electroconvulsive therapy, experiences and utilization of the New York State Office of Mental Health’s “Preventing and Managing Crisis Situations,” and more!

blue-triangle Explore careers in behavioral health.

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Unleashing the Power of Bioelectronic Medicine.

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Unleashing the power of Bioelectronic Medicine.

Are you ready to work on the leading edge of one of the most exciting areas of medical research today? Bioelectronic Medicine is revolutionizing health care by replacing drugs with electrons – using devices to guide nerves to control molecular targets. The possibilities for changing and saving lives are limitless.

“We are on the cusp of treating diseases in new ways that we would not have been imagining five years ago.” –Christopher Czura, PhD, Vice President, Scientific Affairs

Our researchers are learning the language of neural signals and using Bioelectronic Medicine technologies to record, stimulate, and block neural signals.

We’re teaching the body how to heal itself – without side effects.

Beyond even this, we’re exploring how bioelectronics can help us perform early diagnosis to enhance treatment and achieve more successful outcomes.

Revolutionizing how we treat illness and injuries.

The amazing work happening at Northwell Health’s Feinstein Institute for Medical Research is opening up exceptional opportunities in a wide range of areas. We use a team-based approach that combines our expertise in neurophysiology, neuroscience, molecular and cell biology, and bioengineering. We identify physiological triggers, develop new research tools, and medical device technology to ‘tap into’ neural pathways in the body to treat disease and injury. Get to know the positions that make up our team:

Under the direction of Chad Bouton, VP of Advanced Engineering and Director of the Center for Bioelectronic Medicine, we’re developing therapeutic breakthroughs for an incredible variety of injuries and diseases, such as:

  • Bleeding/Hemorrhage – We developed the neural tourniquet, a Bioelectronic Medical device that uses electronic nerve stimulation to slow blood loss.
  • Paralysis – Limiting damage and providing a pro-regenerative environment to nerve cells after spinal cord injury.
  • Cancer – We’re discovering and validating new biomarkers which may serve as targets for Bioelectronic Medicine in various cancers.
  • Rheumatoid Arthritis – Electrically stimulating the vagus nerve could turn off the immune system pathways associated with rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory diseases.
  • Sepsis – We’re developing methods of preventing sepsis and investigating mechanisms underlying the cognitive and physical impairment that occurs in up to 25% of sepsis survivors.
  • Colitis – Our researchers have shown that activation of the vagus nerve reduces the symptoms of colitis.
  • Crohn’s Disease – We have developed a device to stimulate the vagus nerve in order to activate the body’s natural inflammatory reflex.
  • Diabetes – Our research suggests that a small bioelectronics device, implanted on the vagus nerve, may be able to regulate the production of and cellular response to insulin.
  • Lupus – We’re studying genetic information to identify individuals who are at risk for developing autoimmune diseases such as Lupus.
  • Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome – Proper regulation of vagus nerve-mediated anti-inflammatory signaling might provide an effective treatment of obesity.

The role you can play.

“We are bringing together people from completely different disciplines, into the same area, working together, collaborating and innovating to create new technologies.” — Chad Bouton, VP of Advanced Engineering and Director of the Center for Bioelectronic Medicine

  • Molecular Biologists – Target the molecular sources of disease
  • Neuroscientists – Identify the neural pathway to manipulate the targeted source
  • Neural Electrical Engineers/Computer Scientists – Design the device to manipulate the appropriate pathway in order to treat the disease

Through this unique approach, our employees are developing effective solutions that are less expensive than pharmaceuticals, easier to administer, non-toxic, and more precise. The innovations you produce will minimize health risks and side effects, while offering an extensible R&D platform.

“It’s an extraordinary time to be here and it’s extremely exciting to think about what’s coming next.” –Kevin J. Tracey, MD, President & CEO

Learn more.

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Turning a dream into reality – the birth of 3D bioprinting

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Turning a dream into a reality – the birth of 3D bioprinting

Written by: Todd Goldstein 

You might be thinking, what in the world is bioprinting and why would a team spend years developing it? Well, 3D bioprinting is the use of 3D printing technology with materials that incorporate viable living cells. The end product produced is tissue for reconstructive surgery. This type of technology can transform the way medicine is practiced. Just think about a world where organ donors are no longer needed – if you need a transplant of some sort, it can be printed on demand from your own cells while you wait. But before I get ahead of myself, let’s start at the beginning… 

My journey within Northwell Health started off 30 years ago when I was born at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. After a brief 20+ year hiatus, I returned in a very stereotypical way – I was a student who needed a side job with lots of shifts and flexible hours. After some investigation I applied to work per diem as a patient transporter at North Shore University Hospital, where I worked at night while I was completing my master’s degree. It was a perfect fit for me; I was able to converse with patients as I wheeled them around the hospital for their various tests and discharges.

As I was completing my degree, I applied and was accepted to the PhD program at the Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine. I wasn’t sure what I specifically wanted to work on, but I knew I had a knack for technology and a new found appreciation for Orthopedics & Radiology.  I worked 4 years at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research completing my degree in the Laboratory of Orthopedics Research under Dr. Daniel Grande PhD. We spent countless hours working on 3D bioprinting of cartilage, bone, and tracheal tissue. The environment I “stumbled into” was one of collaboration, innovation, and patience. It was challenging, but very rewarding. The lab provided an environment filled with students, residents, fellows, physicians, and research scientists all working to further medical knowledge and create new treatments for patients in need. Anyone in the lab was able to “grab the bull by the horns” so to speak, and take on a project they deemed interesting. You took ownership and were able to see it through to the end.

One day, in walked two chief surgeons with the idea of tissue engineering lab grown tracheas. Dr. Lee Smith MD and Dr. David Zeltsman MD were interested in our capabilities within the lab and if we were willing to work with them on a non-orthopedic project. Dr. Grande said “Todd if you want to spear head this project, go right ahead, just let me know what you need.” Over the next two years we worked to build up a protocol to 3D bioprint tracheal replacements in the lab. It was our hope of one day transplanting a replacement into a patient – to restore their breathing would become a reality.

 

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Once I had the support I needed, we began right away. While we are not at a point to transplant lab grown organs, we are well on our way. To kick off this type of project we started to build our own 3D printer that could create our tissue since the commercially available printer options were extremely expensive. We took a desktop 3D printer, stripped it down to its guts, then using design software created new printer heads that could accept living cells within a jello like material. Many early mornings and late nights watching the 3D printer whirl around in circles placing layer after layer of cells, gel, biocompatible, and biodegradable scaffold materials were necessary to get this idea to become reality. After much trial and error we were able to print a living “breathing” lab-grown trachea.

In the beginning of 2016 the 3D bioprinter was submitted into Northwell Health’s Breakthrough contest where the winner received additional funds to further their research and make their scientific dream a reality. All of the 61,000 employees in our organization were able to vote on the breakthrough that they found the most significant in effecting patients care, and the printer happened to be the winner. Without Northwell’s support this project would still be just an idea. I have been able to take away important skills throughout this journey – whether it be about patient customer service, or a complicated statistical analysis of scientific data, without the Northwell Health family like environment I would still be wandering the halls looking for my niche. I have now graduated from the medical school and Northwell has created a unique roll for me as I share my time between the Orthopedics Lab and the Northwell Ventures Team serving as a technical analyst, as the hospital rolls out new innovative business ventures furthering our patient care capabilities.  I now get to help shape the innovative future of healthcare, both in and out of the lab, as we take ideas from the bench top and translate them to the bedside.