Monday, June 1, 2020

Columbia University's Public Health School and NYC's `Corona-Gates' Scandal: Conclusion

Columbia U.'s Public Health School at 722 W. 168th St. in Manhattan: Failed to protect NYC's public health in 2020?
Time To Redistribute Columbia Public Health School’s “Charitable” Grants Directly To Families Of NYC’s COVID-19 Victims In 2020?

It may be too early to tell whether or not the initially predicted number of estimated deaths “from COVID-19” in 2020 in NYC, in the absence of federal, state and city government “mitigation” policy decisions to establish more “social distancing,” was an initially accurate prediction? And it may be too early to tell to what degree the “new normal” of a daily life shut-down that was established in NYC and elsewhere in the USA actually prevented more fatalities; or whether the “new normal” of daily life which, for example, might attempt to ban gatherings of more than 50 people, will become a permanent “new normal" in NYC and the USA?

But it’s probably not too early to assume that the “public health researchers” at Gates Foundation-funded Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health will continue to receive a lot more money in “charitable grants” for their academic research projects during the next five years. Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health website, for example, indicates, on its “Grants and Gifts” page, that the following grants have been “awarded” to its academic “public health” researchers in recent years:

“Grants and Gifts

“Merlin Chowkwanyun and David Rosner received a $457,649 award from the National Science Foundation for a project titled “ToxicDocs Research Infrastructure Project,” for the period August 1, 2018 to July 31, 2021.

“Alwyn Cohall received a $10,300,000 award from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Criminal Justice Involvement Initiative for a project titled “Youth Opportunity Hub,” for the period July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2021.

“Mark Hatzenbuehler received a $3,068,202 award from the National Institute of Mental Health for a project titled “Structural Stigma and HIV Prevention Outcomes,” for the period July 19, 2017 to April 30, 2022.

“Mark Hatzenbuehler received a $955,143 award from the Centers for Disease Control for a project titled “Anti-Bullying Laws and Youth Violence in the United States: A Longitudinal Evaluation of Efficacy and Implementation,” for the period September 1, 2017 to August 31, 2020.

“Mark Hatzenbuehler received a $350,000 award from the William T. Grant Foundation for a project titled “Evaluating Strategies for Reducing Homophobic Bullying,” for the period July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2023.

“Matthew Lee received a $120,000 award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for a project titled “Health Policy Research Scholars Cohort Two-2017,” for the period July 1, 2017 to August 31, 2022.

“Lisa Rosen Metsch received a $7,968,704 award from the National Institute for Drug Abuse for a project titled “A Multi-Setting RCT of Integrated HIV Prevention and HCV Care for PWID,” for the period September 30, 2017 to July 31, 2022.

“Marita Murrman received a $3,069,880 award from the Health Resources and Services Administration for a project titled “Public Health Training Centers,” for the period July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2022.

“Constance Nathanson received a $936,550 award from the National Institute for Child Health and Development for a project titled “Gender, Sexuality, and Health Training Grant,” for the period September 4, 2017 to April 30, 2022.

“Rachel Shelton received a $785,000 award from the American Cancer Society for a project titled “Sustainability of Lay Health Advisor Programs to Address Cancer Disparities,” for the period July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2022.

“Rachel Shelton (with Shakira Suglia of Emory University) received a $3,198,926 award from the National Institute on Aging for a project titled “Stress, Epigenetics, and Aging,” for the period July 1, 2018 to February 28, 2023.

“Karolynn Siegel and Eric Schrimshaw received an award from the National Institute for Minority Health Disparities for a project titled “Exchange Sex and HIV Risk Among MSM Online,” for the period September 25, 2017 to May 31, 2021.

“Hawi Teizazu received a $120,000 award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for a project titled “Health Policy Research Scholars Cohort Three-2018,” for the period September 1, 2018 to August 31, 2023.”

Yet, instead of awarding future “charitable grants” to Columbia’s School of Public Health middle-class researchers, perhaps all this “public health” research grant money should now be redistributed to the families of those New Yorkers (disproportionately of African-American racial background or elderly) who lost their lives or their jobs in 2020? Because New York City’s public health system was apparently not adequately prepared by Columbia’s Public Health School to prevent the spread of 21st-century viruses like COVID-19 in NYC or to provide equal and effective medical care and treatment medication for all patients, with underlying health conditions or living in local nursing homes, who contracted COVID-19 during NYC’s “Corona-Gates” Scandal of 2020. (end of article)