Express News Group To Sponsor Series of Discussions on Innovations in Health Care

The East End may have once been a health care backwater, but not any longer, as providers from the greater New York metropolitan area have teamed up with local hospitals or independently expanded their reach to provide a broader array of services to residents here.

To celebrate the outstanding work of East End hospitals and health care professionals, The Express News Group is sponsoring “Innovating Health Care on the East End,” which will feature a series of Zoom panel discussions, as well as a special section in the November 10 print editions of The Sag Harbor Express, The Southampton Press Eastern and Western editions, and The East Hampton Press, and on 27east.com.

“Ever since Southampton Hospital joined the Stony Brook network and Peconic Bay Medical Center joined Northwell Health, there has been a steady increase in health care services available on the East End,” said Express News Group Co-Publisher Gavin Menu. “More recently, we have seen the arrival of New York University Langone Health and Weill Cornell Medical, both of which opened East End offices in recent years. And there’s Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport, which is also in the Stony Brook network, and offers unique services of its own.

“All this led to our decision to plan a series of events and a special section that will highlight our local health care industry,” he continued. “The first event will focus on the innovations made in the fight against women’s cancer, which, from my understanding, have been tremendous. The next event is incredibly important and timely as we continue to emerge from the pandemic, with a focus on mental health resources.

“We’re also excited to host a live event on November 18 when we will celebrate five outstanding health care professionals, who will also be profiled in the special section. The honorees were selected by their organizations as people who made great strides to innovate their health care services in 2022.”

The Zoom events will begin with “The Innovations in the Fight Against Women’s Cancers” from 6 to 7 p.m. on October 6.

The panel will include Dr. Susan H. Lee, chief of breast surgery at Peconic Bay Medical Center; Dr. Jules Cohen, medical oncologist at the Stony Brook Cancer Center and clinical associate professor at the Stony Brook University Renaissance School of Medicine; Dr. Frances Arena, medical oncologist at NYU Langone Health and Susie Roden, president of Coalition for Women’s Cancers. It will be moderated by Executive Editor Joseph P. Shaw.

The American Cancer Society estimates that nearly 20,000 American women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2022 and nearly 300,000 cases of breast cancer will be found. East End residents who face new diagnoses will also be presented with new strategies for both fighting cancer and avoiding it altogether. The panelists will discuss the evolving nature of the battle against women’s cancers.

Two weeks later, on October 20, “Mental Health Challenges in the Wake of the Pandemic,” will be presented from 6 to 7 p.m. The Zoom sessions wrap up with “Hospital Leaders Discuss the Future of Medicine on the East End,” from 6 to 7 p.m. on November 10. That same day, the special section will appear in the papers.

The series will end with a public event, with the time to be announced, at the Clubhouse on Daniel’s Hole Road in East Hampton on November 18.