Per the notice below, the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) and the State University of New York (SUNY) have launched a partnership to address public health issues.

New York State Department of Health and the State University of New York Global Health Institute Announce Public Health Partnership

Wadsworth Center and SUNY Global Health Institute Collaborate to Create the New York State Global Health Interface Platform

Partnership to Provide Training for Future Public Health and Biomedical Research Professionals and Strengthens International Grant Opportunities

The New York State Department of Health and the State University of New York (SUNY) Global Health Institute (GHI) today announced a new partnership between the Department's Wadsworth Center and GHI.  The newly formed alliance will strengthen New York State's ability to respond to global public health threats while providing workforce training opportunities for future public health and biomedical research professionals.  Wadsworth Center, in the New York State Department of Health, is a science-based laboratory community that is committed to protecting and improving the health of New Yorkers through laboratory analysis, investigations and research, as well as laboratory certification and educational programs.  The center is also a collaborating unit of the University at Albany School of Public Health and a global leader in public health research and translational science.

"This partnership brings together our Wadsworth Center, the country's premier public health laboratory, with SUNY's global health leaders from our nation's largest public university system and its global partner countries," State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said.  "By connecting with SUNY's GHI and its public health network across the world, we can further prepare for and prevent potential risks to public health before they reach New York State."

The partnership creates an innovative New York State Global Health Interface Platform that will provide additional opportunities for SUNY GHI faculty and students to connect on the state's public health laboratory initiatives and research programs.

"The new partnership will lead to additional cross-campus grant applications that will be strengthened by the participation of the Wadsworth Center," said Gene Morse, PharmD, co-director of the SUNY GHI, director of the Center for Integrated Global Biomedical Sciences (CIGBS) at the University at Buffalo and a SUNY Distinguished Professor in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.  "I feel honored to represent UB in this endeavor at a time when public health threats are becoming more severe across the globe."

CIGBS employs a highly innovative model that addresses the challenges of linking innovative research with strategies for attaining the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and is providing a foundation for this through global health projects in Africa and the Caribbean.  It works in tandem with several partner groups including the GHI and the Global Virus Network.  The new Wadsworth partnership includes virtual meetings for its constituents this fall, and plans are in place to feature the partnership at SUNY's annual conference in March 2025.  It will bring together stakeholders from the SUNY academic health centers and other campuses, allowing attendees to develop plans for grant applications and education initiatives.  The annual conference includes sessions that focus on the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and strategies for advancing the mission of the Global Health Institute.

Director of the Wadsworth Center Leonard Peruski, PhD, said, "This initiative will create new opportunities for linking the world-renowned public health environment in New York State with global partners while helping us to train the next generation of public health scientists."

SUNY Distinguished Professor and Co-Director of SUNY GHI at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University Jack DeHovitz said, "Our annual conference at the SUNY Global Center provides an outstanding venue that is at the intersection of New York State and the United Nations and promotes global collaboration."

About the Wadsworth Center

The Wadsworth Center focuses on a wide range of critical public health concerns, including responding to public health threats, studying emerging infections, analyzing environmental exposures, and licensing clinical and environmental laboratories, among many other critical responsibilities.  Since its origins developing communicable disease treatments in 1901 and the development of the Division of Laboratories and Research in 1914, the Wadsworth Center has grown to become the largest and most diverse state public health laboratory in the U.S.  The Wadsworth Center has been critical to the state's ability to track and assess COVID-19 as well as other communicable diseases including polio and Mpox.  The center has more than 50 principal investigators and more than 700 staff in five sites across the greater Albany metropolitan area.  The center has numerous public health programs, a broad array of applied and basic research areas, regulatory programs, numerous education and training initiatives, and extramural funding to support research.  Visit Wadsworth.org to learn more.

About SUNY Global Health Institute

The SUNY GHI was created to provide an organizational infrastructure for faculty and students across SUNY campuses and their global partners to have access to all programs and stimulate new research initiatives within a seamless network.  SUNY GHI, in turn, facilitates communications within a system-wide institute that is well positioned to compete for global health grants and conduct innovative education and service programs across multi-campus and multi-country projects.  An example of these type of projects is the NIH-funded Global Infectious Diseases Research Training program from the Fogarty International Center.  This grant includes leading infectious diseases researchers from University at Buffalo, Upstate Medical University, University at Albany and Downstate Health Sciences University and the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus in Kingston, Jamaica and St. Augustine Campus in Trinidad and Tobago.