SYRACUSE — Upstate Medical University says it’s using a $25 million donation — the largest in the medical school’s history — to rename its College of Medicine. 

In recognition of the estate gift, Upstate Medical has retitled the College of Medicine as the Alan and Marlene Norton College of Medicine at Upstate Medical University. Alan Norton is a 1966 graduate of the Upstate College of Medicine.

The medical school is now referring to the College of Medicine with the new name in written communication but new signage for the facility is still to come, Darryl Geddes, director of public and media relations at Upstate Medical University, tells CNYBJ in an email.

“We are extremely grateful to the Nortons for this most generous gift,” Dr. Mantosh Dewan, president of Upstate Medical University, said in a release. “This remarkable gift will help us retain and develop outstanding faculty and teaching to benefit our students. The Nortons’ gift will elevate the college’s stature and set us on a solid future of sustained excellence for years to come.”

Dr. Lawrence Chin, dean of the Alan and Marlene Norton College of Medicine at Upstate Medical University, applauded the gift. 

“A gift of this magnitude from an alumnus of the college is accepted with great appreciation and underscores the role the college had in an individual’s successful medical career,” Dr. Chin said.

About the Nortons

After graduating from the University of Chicago with a degree in biochemistry, Alan Norton entered the SUNY Upstate Medical University College of Medicine. As a medical student, his greatest interest was in research and while at Upstate, he co-authored two articles on the electrophysiology of the eye.

Upon graduation from Upstate in 1966, Norton completed a residency in ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute of Johns Hopkins University and a fellowship at Harvard University’s Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, now known as Massachusetts Eye and Ear. 

He spent two years with the National Institutes of Health doing research on the electrophysiology of the retina and published more than a dozen research articles in peer-review journals.

“I am grateful for the quality education that I received from the SUNY Upstate Medical University,” Norton said. “This provided me the opportunity for a career in medical research and practice. Our estate gift to the Upstate College of Medicine is to demonstrate our appreciation and help the college to continue its excellence in teaching and innovation.”

Norton served as a visiting faculty member at the Stein Eye Institute at UCLA for more than 20 years. He also had his own ophthalmology practice and served as a consultant to three different hospitals in his sub-specialty of retinal diseases.

Marlene Norton was raised in the Midwest, where she obtained her nursing degree. She worked in hospitals and became specialized in assisting with ophthalmological surgeries. She was highly regarded for her expertise by several ophthalmologists and served as an office manager with numerous responsibilities, per the release.     

SYRACUSE — The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) has teamed up with Syracuse University on an effort to expand the study of wastewater for COVID-19.

Wastewater surveillance can provide up to three to five days early warning that COVID-19 cases are increasing or decreasing in a community, the office of Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Dec. 16. Studies have shown that officials can use surveillance activity to detect variants of the virus through sequencing wastewater samples, once identified. 

Testing wastewater for COVID-19 is a “cost-effective, non-invasive, and unbiased” method of monitoring trends in virus at the community level, Hochul’s office contended. 

In addition, researchers can collect wastewater samples at different locations within the sewer system, providing information within neighborhoods, or even in individual buildings, including college residence halls. 

Wastewater testing provides data on COVID-19 status for communities that includes identification of the virus not seen by clinical testing alone. Efforts in 2020 demonstrated that wastewater surveillance can detect virus at levels equivalent to 10 cases per 100,000 population and can provide three to five days advanced warning that COVID-19 cases are increasing, Hochul’s office stipulated.

Testing wastewater for the virus that causes COVID-19 “adds a new dimension to community surveillance that doesn’t depend upon testing individuals,” the state says.

“We will use every available resource to stem the tide of COVID-19, and I thank the Syracuse University researchers who have made this wastewater surveillance possible,” Dr. Mary Bassett, acting New York State health commissioner, said. “This surveillance provides New York with an early warning system for COVID-19 trends, including variants, in advance of observed increases in cases or hospital admissions. While there is still much to learn about this new tool, we expect wastewater surveillance to offer important metrics for local decisions on COVID-19 precautions and help us apply vaccination and testing resources where these are needed the most.”

Wastewater-surveillance network

This initiative builds on the 2020 state pilot of monitoring wastewater in selected communities and expands the program into a statewide wastewater-surveillance network. 

The state wastewater-surveillance network will link into the CDC’s national wastewater-surveillance system that has been initiated in response to the pandemic.

In partnership with Syracuse University and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the wastewater-surveillance network will enhance the state’s testing efforts to monitor coronavirus presence in participating municipalities, establish the baseline level of virus, and identify those communities experiencing an increase. It will “complement” other state testing and surveillance efforts to better understand the risk of COVID-19 transmission throughout the state and target public-health resources, per Hochul’s office. 

At least 20 counties have participated in wastewater surveillance to date, with test results providing evidence of virus presence in communities that are home to more than 2 million New York residents. New York City has also conducted wastewater surveillance throughout all five boroughs. 

The expansion of the statewide network will improve coordination and provide an opportunity for greater participation from additional municipalities, the state and Syracuse University contend.

“Establishing wastewater surveillance in every county throughout the state will give us better understanding of COVID-19 transmission. This system will help the public and policymakers better respond to the pandemic,” Dr. David Larsen, epidemiologist and associate professor of public health at Syracuse University, said.