Upcoming EventsOn Wednesday, June 2, 2021, Montefiore Nyack Hospital presented Pfizer’s Research and Development Center located in Pearl River, NY, with a plaque recognizing their team’s expertise and heroic efforts for developing in record-breaking speed the COVID-19 vaccine that has saved and will continue to save countless lives worldwide.
The Hospital’s Medical Staff presented honorary membership to five employees selected by Pfizer to represent their team of more than 800 members of the Pearl River Vaccine Research and Development Center. The honorary members include Adriana M. Cahill, MS; Philip R. Dormitzer, MD, PhD; Arman M. Fardanesh, MS, MBA, NREMT; Keri Swanson, PhD; and Desiree Villaraza, who were all welcomed to the stage and presented with a personalized Montefiore Nyack Hospital lab coat. The Pfizer Pearl River team was also presented with a proclamation from New York State Senator Elijah Reichlin-Melnick and a citation from New York State Assemblyman Mike Lawler.
Immediately following the ceremony, Philip R. Dormitzer, MD, Ph.D., Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of Viral Vaccines at Pfizer, gave a 30-minute presentation on the Pfizer Pearl River team’s round-the-clock, global efforts to develop the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine entitled “Thinking Globally and Acting Locally – Pearl River and COVID-19 Vaccine Development.”
“The positive difference the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine has made in the lives of so many is immeasurable. The efficacy of the vaccine has exceeded all expectations,” said Mark E. Geller, President and CEO of Montefiore Nyack Hospital. “Seeing the pandemic come full circle from the toughest times to the present, where we are administering vaccines and getting back to life as we once knew it, has been a deeply humbling and extraordinary experience.”
To date, Montefiore Nyack Hospital has administered approximately 10,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Pictured in photo from left to right: William Greenhut, DO, Medical Director of Emergency Medicine, Montefiore Nyack Hospital; Michal Tracz, MD, Montefiore Nyack Hospital and Highland Medical, P.C. Rockland Renal Associates in West Nyack; Evan Kaminer, MD, Division Director of Radiology and Diagnostic Imaging, Montefiore Nyack Hospital; Desiree Villaraza, Pfizer Pearl River Vaccine Research and Development; Adriana M. Cahill, MS, Pfizer Pearl River Vaccine Research and Development; Arman M. Fardanesh, MS, MBA, NREMT, Pfizer Pearl River Vaccine Research and Development; Philip R. Dormitzer, MD, PhD, Pfizer Pearl River Vaccine Research and Development; Kena Swanson, PhD, Pfizer Pearl River; Steve Bjornson, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Pfizer Pearl River Vaccine Research and Development; Mark E. Geller, MD, Montefiore Nyack Hospital President and CEO; and Lee Fleischer, MD, FACS, Director of Surgical Services and President of Medical Executive Committee, Montefiore Nyack Hospital.
