ALBERT EINSTEIN COLLEGE OF MEDICINE 
MINUTES OF SENATE COUNCIL MEETING 

WED DEC 2, 2020 

FINAL

PRESENT: Drs. Gordon Tomaselli, Ed Burns

VIA ZOOM: Julia Arnsten, Jonathan Lai, Myles Akabas, Jonathan Alpert, Anita Autry-Dixon, Nerys Benfield, Anne Bresnick, Robbie Burk, Jill Crandall, Johanna Daily, Matthew Gamble, Chandan Guha, Tanya Johns, Elizabeth Kitsis, Susan Klugman, Allison Ludwig; Mr. Ryan Graff, Ms. Shelly Motzkin.

EXCUSED: Drs. Courtney Niland, Victor Schuster, Pamela Stanley 

1. Meeting minutes from the Nov 18, 2020 Senate Council were approved.
2. Dean Tomaselli provided an update on the McKinsey report and the Montefiore strategic management planning process.
3. Dr. Michael Prystowsky, Chair of the Department of Pathology, joined as a guest of the Counc il and provided insight into potential avenues for campus-wide random/surveillance coronavirus testing. A critical issue is that diagnostic testing must be done in a CLIA-certified facility, which would be difficult to implement for campus-wide random testing at Einstein. Potentially, random surveillance testing could be more manageable in which samples are self-collected, pooled, and then sent to a 3rd party for testing. The strategy employed by the SUNY system for campus-wide random student testing was discussed as an example. There were further discussions about the potential benefit and implementation challenges to random testing at Einstein. A Dean’s task force has been formed to examine this topic and will advise the Dean. 

The meeting adjourned at 4:01 p.m.

Respectfully submitted, 
Jonathan Lai, Ph.D. 
Vice Speaker, Einstein Senate