[mdphd] ICYMI

[Jessica R. Crooker]

Hi Everyone,

Here is the promised follow up email regarding our planned gift for Dr. Dhamoon.

As a way to show Dr. Dhamoon our gratitude (and also for us to process and express our feelings of our time with Dr. Dhamoon), we are going to be assembling a book full of letters to Dr. Dhamoon which can include sentiments, pieces of art, and other meaningful things you would like to present alongside the book. Along with this we will also do an audio component along with the book for people who want to record music or audio messages.

Some logistics:

Anything you want submitted can be collected by either me or Andrea.

Our open grand rounds date has moved to 10/30 - which is when we will have dedicated time to work on components for this and eat some good food.

Audio recordings can be done on your own and sent to me or Andrea so we can burn them all onto a CD that can go along with the book. We will also likely include a digital way to access these files. Alternatively, Olivia has volunteered the use of her audio equipment during our free grand rounds on 10/30 which would allow us to record then as well!

Thanks everyone and if anyone has questions or suggestions let me know! This is meant to be a project directed by all of us so it should come together as something very collaborative!

Best,

Jessica

Jessica Crooker (She/Her)
MD-PhD Candidate
Thangamani Lab
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Upstate Medical University
crookerj at upstate.edu
From: mdphd <mdphd-bounces at lists.upstate.edu> On Behalf Of Andrea Cifonelli
Sent: Friday, September 12, 2025 8:43 AM
To: mdphd at lists.upstate.edu
Subject: [mdphd] ICYMI

Good morning,

If you were not at Grand Rounds last night, I would like you to be aware that we took some time before presentations to address any feelings or concerns regarding Dr. Dhamoon's resignation. I've had many conversations with students throughout the week, and I also wanted to also acknowledge the grief that you might be feeling. Furthermore, Jess will follow-up with an email about gifts for Dr. Dhamoon.


In my experience, it is helpful to recognize how different feelings can coexist. For example, we can feel sorrow about Dr. Dhamoon's resignation, and we can feel tremendous gratitude for having him in our corner, as a mentor and our leader, over the last 5 years.



Dr. Dhamoon's relatability as a former MD/PhD candidate at Upstate and his dedication to bettering the program leaves us with momentum to continue improving and stability within our community. Our program's visibility within Upstate has increased as we've collaborated with various departments, including Admissions, the Simulation Center and the Phase 2 Curriculum team. We have reliable support among a variety of amazing educators and mentors who want to help us, including Dr. Kane, as our interim director, and Dr. Ghosh, as our assistant program director. I am so proud to be part of this program. I remain aligned with Dr. Dhamoon's vision for our program, and we'll ensure that a new program director will share our values. As an educator and student advocate, I can maintain all these good things and make more good things happen for this incredible program- just let us know what supports you need.



Have a safe weekend.



Best,

Andrea

Andrea Cifonelli (she, her, hers)

Coordinator of Combined Programs and Special Initiatives
MD-PhD Program Coordinator
Postdoctoral Affairs Coordinator
PREP-Up and SURF Coordinator
College of Graduate Studies
Weiskotten Hall 3118
cifonela at upstate.edu<mailto:cifonela at upstate.edu>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.upstate.edu/pipermail/mdphd/attachments/20250918/03ea399f/attachment.html>