“It’s clear to see that there is very influential work being done right here at Fordham on COVID-19, from the beginning of the pandemic and following to its peak and now as we’re starting to enter the vaccination stage,” said Elizabeth Breen, a rising senior and integrative neuroscience student at Fordham College at Lincoln Center who moderated the research discussion.
In an hour-long conversation, three Fordham faculty members—Monica Rivera-Mindt, Ph.D., professor of psychology and co-director of Fordham’s clinical neuropsychology program; Berish Y. Rubin, Ph.D., professor of biological sciences; and Troy Tassier, Ph.D., associate professor of economics—discussed their research over the past 14 months.
Rivera-Mindt spoke about her research on brain health disparities in the U.S., especially during the pandemic. Rubin presented his ongoing research with colleague Sylvia Anderson, Ph.D., who co-leads their Laboratory for Familial Dysautonomia Research, on developing a biological method that reduces coronavirus infections in lung cells. Tassier spoke about his research featured in ABC News this past February on how geolocation data in our smartphones has revealed nationwide economic trends during the pandemic; his work was also featured in a Fordham News podcast from December 2020.
“We need to keep this in our rearview mirror and know that we can learn from this experience to ensure that this doesn’t happen at the same scale to us again,” Rubin said.
The full recording of the event can be seen here.
