HEALTH PROFESSIONALS IN SUPPORT OF

NEW YORK STATE PAID FAMILY LEAVE

An Open Letter to Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and Members of the New York State Senate
November 17, 2015
We are health professionals, who work every day to care for our patients, promote wellness, and teach the next generation of health
leaders. We support making paid family leave available to all working families. The public health is at stake.
New Yorkers should not be compelled to choose between caring for a newborn or seriously ill family member and their jobs and
incomes. Research evidence and our own experiences demonstrate that supporting breastfeeding, enabling both mothers and
fathers to establish nurturing bonds with their infants, reducing financial stress and the risks of poverty, and making it possible
for working people to play critically important roles in managing and supporting care for seriously ill children, spouses and their
own aging parents will yield vital health benefits. We know that children recover more quickly, and hospital discharges and care
transitions go more smoothly when a family caregiver is present.
Paid leave is a good investment that will yield better health and long run savings. But it is also our moral responsibility. Paid family
leave will ensure that a mother can respond to her newborns hungry cry, that a dad can be there to soothe a frightened, hospitalized
child, and that a working son or daughter can step in to do all that is needed when a parent suffers an incapacitating stroke.
The Paid Family Leave Insurance (A3870) bill passed last March by the New York Assembly, and now awaiting action by the State
Senate and Governor Cuomo, would use a social insurance model to make paid family leave affordable for all employers and
employees. This bill will modernize New Yorks well-established Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) system to offer up to 12 weeks
of modest wage replacement for workers needing time to care for their families. It will also provide more adequate benefits for new
mothers physically recovering from childbirth, and for those with disabilities already covered under TDI. Those benefits, frozen at the
1989 rate of $170 a week, are long overdue for an increase.
New York has an illustrious history of public health leadership. We urge enactment of statewide paid family leave to build on that
legacystarting here and now in New Yorkand pave the way forward towards passage of national legislation for all Americans.

Organizations:
Alzheimers Disease And Related Disorders, New York City, Inc.

Mid-Hudson Lactation Consortium

American Academy of Pediatrics New York, Chapters 2 and 3

Mothers Milk Bank Northeast

The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists,

District II

National Association of Social Workers, NYC Chapter

Birthing Center of Buffalo

New York State Nurses Association

Collaborative for Palliative Care

New York State Public Health Association

Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU Healthcare, New

York, NY

Nurse Practitioners of New York

Docs for Tots

NYS Breastfeeding Coalition

1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East

Gay Mens Health Crisis
Maternal Infant Services Network, Newburgh, NY

National Physicians Alliance - New York

NY Milk Bank
New York City Breastfeeding Leadership Council
Public Health Association of New York City
Raising Womens Voices

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Health Care Professionals:

Ramy Abdelfattah, MD
Bechay Abdelmalak
Nina Agrawa1, MD
Masuma Ahmed, MD
Sana Akhter, MD
Khorsheda Ali, DO, FACOG
Munab Almoadhu, MD
Seid Amin, MD
Laleh Amini, MD
Priya Anot-Joshi, MD
Albert Arslan, MD
Anarca Artz, MD
Jessica Atrio, MD
Obuamaka Atumonyogo, MD
Mariam Murtaza Au, MD
Lisa Austin, RN
Arpine Avagyan, MD
Mary Badame
Vicki Barr
Susan Banuelos, MD
Deborah Basso, MD (OB/GYN)
Santash Belbase, MD
Stanislav Belotserkovskiy, MD
Bennett Berkowitz, MD
A. Marie Betancourt, Parent Educator
Jessica Betancourt, MD
Dominyka Bitinaite, MD
Kendra Black, MD
Kioumars Bolourian, MD
Lauren Bonati, MD
Asmee Boussiliare, MD
Lorraine Boyd, MD
Nibash Budhatmoki, MD
Camille Caldwell, MD
Yvette Canaba, MD
Arthur Carter, MD
Nail Cemalovic, MD
Rajib Chakravarty, MD
Wendy Chavkin, MD, MPH
Judy Cheng, MD
Nitin Chilakamurri, MD
Priscilla Chukwueke, MD
Erin Ciummo, MD
Camille Clare, MD
David I. Cohen, MD
Patrice Cohen, MD
LuAnn Conte

Kathryn Dalia, RN
Kevin Davey, MD
Urmimala Das, MD
Jose De Leon, MD
Shilpa Desamuka, MD
Nanda Din, MD
Linda Du, MD
Benard P. Dreyer, MD
Ahmed Ebraheem, MD
Dianne Edgar, MD
Ayman El-Mohandes, MBBCH, MD, MPF,
Dean CUNY School of Public Health
Emma Eseet, MD
Maria Estevez, RN
Marianne C. Fahs, PhD, MPH
Janice Falls, MD
Faramarz Fanaian, MD
Emily Finkelstein, MD, Geriatrics
Lindsay Flax, MD
Melanie Flores, MD
Craig Forleiter, MD
Evan Fowle, MD
Patricia M. Frino, RN
David Gandell, MD, Clinical Professor of
OB/GYN (Rochester)
Diana Garretto, MD
George Gresham
Robin Gitman
Sena Gong, MD
John Green, Respiratory Therapist
Jacob Greenberg, MD
Jason Greenman, MD
Diane Groneman, Respiratory Therapist
Patricio Guaiquil, MD
Rohit Gupta, MD
Prema Hampapur, MD
Craig Harrison, MD
Heather Hart, RN
Jennifer Hawkins, RN
Wilson Heredia, MD
Ruben Hernandez, MD
Sally Heron, LMSW
Roger Hill-Sukie, MD
Christina Ho, MD
Caitlin Hogan
Joe Hong, MD
Austin Howard, MD

Andrew Hromada, MD
Maryanne Huber, RN
Ibrahim El Husseini, MD
Elizabeth A. Isakson, MD
Osman Jilani, MD
Maria Jose Jimenez, MD
Leesa John, RN
Nancy Joly, RN
William B. Jordan, MD, MPH
Divya Jose, MD
Jessy Joseph, MD
Piotr Kapinos, MD
Tamar Kaman, MD
Dana Karanik, Administrator
Theodoros Katasichtis, MD
Eve Kellner, MD
Steve Kerfien
Amy Kessler, RN
Mazin Khalid, MD
San Khine, MD
Natalya Knafel, MD
Esther Koai, MD
Suman Kogana, MD
Ben Kohanim, MD
Tracy Kosciuk, RN
Paul Kruger, MD
Salil Kulkarni, MD
Esther Kwon, MD
Alan Labor, MD
Sheneen Lalani, MD
Ellen Landsberger, MD
R. Lastimesza, MD
Jooyeon Lee, MD
Guillermo Leoz, MD
Joe Lequerica, MD
Rachel Levene, MD
David Lewandowski, MD
Kandace Licciardi, MD
Cathenne Lott, MD
Amy Lucier, MD
Cheryl A. Luttinger, Nurse Practitioner
Roshan Mahabir, MD
Sareena Manhas, MD
Kathleen Manning, RN
Prasanna Marpu, MD
Nourah Mazid, MD
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Health Care Professionals:

Devon McKenzie, MD
Prakhar Mehrotra
Howard Minkoff, MD
Jaime Mogausu, MD
B. Moretto, MD
Katharine Morrison, MD
Swalthi Moyen, MD
Shravani Muppidi, MD
Juliet Mushi, MD
Chrissy Nagi
Viga Naik, MD
Tun Win Naing, MD
Syed Naqud, MD
Karen Nelson, MD, MPH
Mayur Neog, MD
Nga Nguyen, MD
Douglas Nowacks, MD
Ihwna Osaca Nwakanma, MD
Taiwo Odufunade, MD
Paul Ogburn, MD
Kafilat Ojo, MD
Bamidele Olatunbosun, MD
Olanrewaju Olukitibi, MD
Ifeoluwa Osewa, MD
Cynthia Osman, MD
Onyckachi Oyiriam, MD
Areu Pakoyan, MD
Carol Pak-Teng, MD
Sravanthi Paluri, MD
Anne Marie Paraszczuk
Sunny Patel, MD
Meenal Pathak, MD
Sigel Pavel, MD
Geoffrey Peckover, MD
Fiorella Perez, MD
Deliana Peykova, MD
Ryan Perdomo, MD
Lawrence Perl, MD
Melissa Peskin-Stolze, MD
Nitchelle Pierre-Louis, RN
Anjana Pillai, MD
Maria Pino-Luey, MD
Svitlana Pominov, MD
Graciela Castro Pou, MD
Devika Prasanna, MD
Valerie Rabinovich, MD
K. Ragbir-Toolsie, MD

Andaleeb Raja, MD
Jemila Raji, MD
Kavita Rampersad, MD
Mina Ranchard, MD
Sonika Randev, MD
Qasim Raza, MD
James Reilly, MD
Alyssa Ren, MD
Jose Reyes, MD
Carlos Rodriguez, MD
Consuelo Rodriguez , MD
Ricardo Rodriguez, MD
Silvano Rodriguez, MD
Mark Rosing, MD, MPH
Jonathan Rosner, MD
Mara Rosner, MD, MPH
Mary Rosser, MD, OB/GYN
Bernette Ruiz, MD
Oren Rujhael, MD
Tagir Sabirov, MD
Reem Sadda, MD
Mostafa Sadek, MD
Bradda Sain, MD
Alexander Sanchez, MD
Elizabeth Sasso, MD
Aneela Saverimuthu, MD
Philip Schatz, MD
Lindsey Scharfman, MD
Erez Schorl, MD
Anthony Scoccimarro, MD
Sepideh Sedgh, MD
Deepak Sekaran, MD
Mohamed Shaaban, MD
Sina Shah, MD
Mohammed Al Shalad, MD
Karita Sharma, MD
Hemant Sindhu, MD
Devander Singh, MD
Jasbir Singh, MD
Shailinder Singh, MD
Daniel Sittler, MD
Brandi Smith
Joanna Solmonson, MSW
Andrew Sommersgill, MD
Denise Sontag, RN
Stephanie Sosnowski
Dina Spiropoulos, MD

Bhanu Srigiriraju, MD
Agathe Streiff, MD
Desiree Stoff, RN
Irina Stojanovsky, MD
Paul Stuart
Pawel Szurnicki, MD
Anna Szwedo, MD
Panda Tapti, MD
Idoira Aguilar Tejedor, MD
Raj Thaker, MD
Wallace Thomas, MD
Mona Toeque, MD
Nayla Delgado Torres, MD
Zaw Wn Tun, MD
Nu Nwe Tur, MD
Jeffrey Uribe, MD
Andres Vallejo, MD
Sergio Veliz, MD
Medina Vernon, MD
Susan Vierczhalek, MD
Joseph Viknevich, MD
Karthikee Vishwanathan, MD
Linda Vui, MD
Robert Viviano, MD
Shanza Waqar, MD
Allison J. Walsh, IBCLC, FACCE,
LCEE
Marianne Walsh, RN
Lloyd A. Webster Jr., MD
Gabriel Wilner, MD
Marisa Wolff, MD
Maureen Woodruff, RN
Bilwy Yadav, MD
Amanda Yang, MD
Alyssa Yee, MD
Mona Zanmoni, MD
Muhammad Zeshan, MD
Deborah Zitner, MD
Svetlana Zlotnik, MD