A sun-splashed day in June with a visit from the governor highlighted one of Upstate Medical University’s important stories of 2023.

The opening of Nappi Wellness Institute, named for Sam and Carol Nappi, brought many of Upstate ambulatory services under one roof. The five-story, 209,615 square foot building, which takes up nearly half a city block, features 240 exam and consult rooms with workstations located to facilitate and foster provider interactions. The building’s unique design features the integration of preventive medicine with an emphasis on wellness. The facility has been built to WELL Building Standards with design features to address air, comfort, fitness, light, mind, nourishment, water, movement, sound and community.

Less than four months after the Institute opening and some 36 miles away, dignitaries attended the opening of the Upstate Cancer Center at Verona. The 30,000 square foot facility features expanded diagnostic and treatment services and spaces for all cancers and will provide medical oncology, radiation therapy, surgical subspecialties, radiology, laboratory, pharmacy, consultative services and a cancer-fighting arsenal that includes the Varian TrueBeam, a radiotherapy system that helps deliver powerful cancer treatments with pinpoint accuracy.

Upstate researchers landed numerous grants to aid in the discovery of new treatments or gain a better understanding of complex illness. Among the key grants announced this year were:

—$3.2 million to Gary Chan to find a treatment for one of the most dangerous infections for transplant recipients.

—$3.2 million to Juntao Luo, PhD, to develop a treatment for battlefield injuries to prevent sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

—$2.3 million grant to Wei-Dong Yao, PhD, to investigate the role of specific gene mutations in frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

—$2 million to Xin Jie Chen, PhD, and Patricia Kane, PhD to study the interaction between different organelles and their impact on aging.

The Upstate research duo of Audrey Bernstein, PhD, and Tere Williams garnered much attention—and funding—for their university-based startup called DUB Biologics. They’re hoping to change how corneal injuries and scarring, which can lead to vision loss, are treated. This past year they were awarded $100,000 in startup support by winning the SUNY Start Up Summer School (S4) Demo Day  and the FuzeHub commercialization competition.

In May, Upstate’s Stephen V. Faraone, PhD, a foremost scholar on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, was ranked as the 80th “best scientist in the world,” and 57th best in the United States, according to Research.com. 

Joseph Domachowske, MD, was elated over the news that an RSV antibody that had been a focus of one of his clinical trials had received the green light to be given to children to guard against the nasty seasonal virus. Three Syracuse area babies were among the first to receive the antibody when the clinical trial began at Upstate in 2015.

The College of Nursing and Family Medicine, funded by a $2.8 million federal grant, have developed a residency program for nurse practitioners to fund four one-year resident positions for each of the next four years in underserved rural, urban and tribal areas for a total of 16 residency positions.

College of Graduate Studies’ popular Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program got back to business after covid with a record 120 applicants applying for 20 spots to do summertime research at Upstate.

The College of Health Professions offered its Jump into Healthcare program for a second year, offering college students from around the country an opportunity to learn about various health care careers. The nearluy five-week programs exposes students to a broad range of health care professions in hopes that they might be considered pursuing a career in health care.

Federal funding secured early in 2023 by New York federal lawmakers provided nearly $2 million in funding for create multidisciplinary Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease Treatment Center at Upstate and for a suicide prevention center, both to be housed at Upstate.

The Upstate Foundation launched in the spring a multifaceted campaign to strengthen the community’s response to the mental health crisis, especially among adolescents and young children. By the end of the year, the Foundation had already raised $3.2 million and was raising its goal to more than $5 million.

Upstate’s robot rollout in 2022 (there are now 7 on Upstate’s two campuses) was followed up by the implementation of drone drug delivery service. Residents living nearby the Upstate Outpatient Pharmacy on E. Seneca Turnpike can request that their prescription drugs now be delivered via drone.

Leading the way, Upstate took a stand on violence against health care workers and lined up support for the initiative from seven—now nine—other area health care institutions. Announcing its Respect and Heal campaign, the hospital leaders vowed to take a zero tolerance policy against any threat and that any violence against frontline staff will be met with the full enforcement of the law. Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick gave his support for such a stand in a press conference.

Upstate’s clinical services were showered with numerous honors from various organizations, groups. One that stood out was the Urology’s inclusion on the U.S News & World Reports’ list of high performing specialty programs. The recognition of Urology as a high performing specialty is a new milestone for Upstate as no other departments within the Upstate or any neighboring Syracuse and area hospitals had such a recognition. 

Other honors and awards were received for Upstate’s stroke care, heart failure care, resuscitation, transplants designation for Adult Deceased Donor Kidney, Adult Living Donor Kidney, and Pediatric Kidney programs, cardiac care, nursing team on medical intensive care unit, Comprehensive Center for MS Care, pediatric outpatient clinics. Also honored was the Burn Center for its smoke alarm giveaway program, Geriartric Emergency Medicine Unit (GEM); Upstate’s program for the wellbeing of health care workers; and Upstate’s outpatient pharmacies.

Upstate was named to Forbes list of Best Employers for Women. The Best Employers for Women have been identified in an independent survey of 60,000 workers at companies with at least 1,000 employees within the United States. The sample included about 40,000 women.

Easily one of the most liked and shared stories was that of the retirement of Lumpi, the Dachsund therapy dog. On their last day at Upstate, March 8, Lumpi and owner, Anna Mayerhofer, were feted with gifts (dog bones) and praise after 10 years of service to staff and patients.

Caption: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at the opening of the Nappi Wellness Institute June 2. Looking on, from right, are Upstate Medical University President Mantosh Dewan, MD; Carol Nappi; and SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr.