Distinguished Associates

New York College is proud to have a group of prominent and distinguished associates who may participate in seminars, publications, continuing education, the development of new programs and/or advisement to the College.

Michael Balboni, New York State Deputy Secretary for Public Safety
Former New York State Senator from the 7th Senate District in Nassau County, Long Island (1997 - 2006) and before that served eight years in the state Assembly; currently chairs the Senate Committee on Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs; also serves on the standing Senate committees on Aging, Environmental Conservation, Higher Education, Insurance, Judiciary and Labor; earned his Juris Doctor from St. John’s University School of Law; was counsel to former Senator John R. Dunne and the New York State Senate Judiciary Committee and counsel to the deputy majority leader of the Senate; was appointed Deputy County Attorney in Nassau County; has authored several Law Review articles and is an adjunct professor of political science at Adelphi University.

James Edward Cheek, Ph.D., President Emeritus Howard University
Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and History, Shaw University; Masters of Divinity, Colgate Rochester University; Ph.D. Drew University; honored with Colgate Rochester Fellowship, a Rockefeller Doctoral Fellowship and a Lily Foundation Fellowship; President of Shaw University; President of Howard University for twenty years; named Washingtonian of the Year in 1980 and 1983; awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom; recipient of hundreds of awards and nineteen honorary degrees; serves or served as a board member of several colleges and universities including the University of Miami, Drew University, Colgate Rochester University, New York Institute of Technology, Benedict College, Florida Memorial College, Fisk University and Howard University; Presidential appointments include the Board of Foreign Scholarships, National Advisory Council to the Peace Corps, UNESCO, Commission on Selection of White House Fellows and the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Robert Duarte, M.D., Certified Acupuncturist
Doctorate of Medicine Ponce School of Medicine; Associate Attending in Neurology; Long Island Jewish Medical center; Director, Long Island Jewish Medical Center Pain & Headache Treatment Center; Medical Director; Transitions of Long Island Rehabilitation for Head Injury; Pain Clinic Coordinator; Board Certified in Pain Management; Board Certified Neurologist; Certified Medical Acupuncturist; Assistant Professor of Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine; American Pain Society; International Association for the Study of Pain; American Headache Society; American Academy of Neurology; Advisory Board Member; Glaxo-Smith Kline, Merck, Astra-Zeneca and Janssen.

Laurie Giandomenico, Ph.D.
B.S. in Electrical Engineering, University of Connecticut ; Masters of Arts in Archaeology, Cornell University ; Ph.D. in Nutrition and Anthropology, Cornell University; academic research at Pompei and Thera; Management Consultant, McKinsey & Co.; Chief Operating Officer, Fahrenheit 212 a division of Sachi & Sachi Advertising.

Sheenah Hankin, Psychologist
Graduate diploma in Counseling from Aston University, Birmingham, England; practiced in Dublin, Ireland and lives and practices in New York City since 1981; developed an approach with Dr. Richard Wessler, her husband, for the treatment of personality disorders called Cognitive Appraisal Therapy, a theory designed to help clients that are not responding to traditional courses of therapy; member of the American Counseling Association and the Mental Health Counselors Association; appeared in print media such as Allure, Glamour, Elle , Oprah, New York Magazine, The New York Times, New York Post, Self and Vogue and has appeared as a regular guest on Fox Network’s “After Breakfast and “Breakfast Time’, “Geraldo”, Good Morning America”, Good Day New York”, “Leeza, MSNBC, Court TV and “The O’Reilly Factor”; authored “Complete Confidence” and “Succeeding with Difficult Clients” as well as papers on “Women and Passivity”, “The Process of Cognitive Appraisal Therapy”, A Psychological Profile – afterword to Howard Stern, Private Parts; “Emotion and Rules of Living” and “Nonconscious algorithms in Cognitive and Affective Processes”.

Richard Karpinski, M.D.
Doctorate of Medicine Harvard Medical School; surgical residencies Boston City Hospital, New England Deaconess Hospital and New York University Medical Center, Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery; served as Chief, General Surgery Service and a Major in USAF; Board Certified in Plastic Surgery and General Surgery; Fellow of American College of Surgeons; member American Society of Plastic Surgeons, New York County Medical Society, Medical Society of the State of New York; affiliated with St. Lukes/Roosevelt Hospital; faculty appointments - Teaching Fellow and Instructor in Anatomy, Harvard University, Tutor in Surgery, University of Aberdeen, Scotland, Clinical Fellow in Surgery, Harvard University, Clinical Instructor in Surgery, Creighton University, Clinical Instructor in Plastic Surgery, New York University, Instructor in Plastic Surgery, Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, Assistant Clinical Professor, Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons; committee memberships – New York County Medical Society, St. Lukes/Roosevelt Hospital; member Board of Directors, Medical Liability Mutual Insurance Co.; papers – “MISAR: A Miniature Information Storage and Retrieval System” and “A Prospective Trial Comparing Biobrane, Duoderm and Xeroform for Skin Graft Donor Sites”; book chapter – “Surgical Treatment of Axillary Hyperhidrosis”; presentations – “Facial Embryology”, “Flap Operation for Medical Patients”, “Limb Salvage:microsurgery”, “Breast Reconstruction”, Surgical treatment of Decubitus Ulcers”, “An Approach to Treating Wounds”, “Axillary Hyperhidrosis: Treatment by Excision or by Suction Adenectomy”, and “How to Make a Skin Graft Fail”.

Woodson C. Merrell, M.D. - Certified Acupuncturist
Doctorate of Medicine Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons; Executive Director, Continuum Center for Health and Healing, Beth Israel Medical Center/ Continuum Health Partners (a consortium of five hospitals), N.Y.; Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons; Attending Physician, Departments of Medicine, Beth Israel, St.-Luke's and Roosevelt Medical Centers; Certified Physician-Acupuncturist, N.Y.; Board Member, N.Y. State Office of Professional Medical Conduct; Board Member, and immediate past-Chairman, N.Y. State Board of Acupuncture; Member, Steering Committee, National Consortium of Academic Medical Centers for Integrative Medicine; Founder and Director, Northeast Consortium of Academic CAM Centers: Board of Directors, N.Y. Society of Acupuncture for Physicians and Dentists; Board of Directors, International Tibetan Medical Association; Board of Advisors, New York University holistic nursing program; Scientific Advisory Board, National Foundation for Alternative Medicine; Government Presentations to White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy, U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, and the Federal Trade Commission; Research (current) "Guided Imagery in Chronic Low Back Pain" (P.I.), "Prioritization of Research Needs in Alternative and Complementary Medicine" (P.I.-subcontract through Yale-Griffin Hospital), funding: CDC, "Study of Indigenous Healthcare Practices in Underserved Communities", funding: CDC; "Effect of Acupuncture and Craniosacral Therapy on Asthma"; Associate Editor, Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.

Bertram Spector, Ph.D.
Ph.D., Medical Sciences; Cornell University Graduate Medical School . Master of Arts and Sciences; Hunter College of the City University of New York . Bachelor of Electrical Engineering; City College of the City University of New York . Vice President, Dean of Academic Affairs, Professor of Life Sciences and Engineering, twenty-five year tenure; New York Institute of Technology. Vice President of Research; Seversky Corp., consultant; Bendix Aviation Corp., Division Head; Bureau of Aeronautics, Division Head; DeMornay Budd, Electronic Engineer; ITT.