Video Chronicles Medical School’s COVID-19 Response

When COVID-19 showed up in New York City in early March, everything at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University Irving Medical Center changed.

“Every single one of us has been impacted. Our lives have changed, at home and at work,” says Lou Baptista, MD, vice chair for clinical services in the Department of Psychiatry.

A video that chronicles the medical school’s response to COVID-19 illustrates how the VP&S community came together to confront the most challenging health crisis of our time.

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Physicians and nurses were redeployed from their normal duties to care for COVID-19 patients. Students moved to online learning then graduated early to assist with patient care. And hundreds of scientists—from immunologists to structural biologists—have jumped in to conduct research to discover new ways to fight the disease.

“Seeing the dedication, the fearlessness, the heroism of our community, makes us all proud,” says Anne Taylor, MD, the John Lindenbaum Professor of Medicine at VP&S and senior vice president for faculty affairs and career development at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.