Professor Szema received his undergraduate degree in Industrial and Management Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y., and his M.D. from Albany Medical College, Albany, N.Y. His internship in medicine was at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore, MD, where he was a fellow in medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Following residency in internal medicine at Hahnemann University Hospital, Drexel University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, he completed three fellowships and postdoctoral research at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, NY, NY, in Pulmonary Diseases, Critical Care Medicine, and Clinical Adult and Pediatric Allergy/Immunology at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York, with postdoctoral research in the Division of Rheumatology/Immunology. Dr. Szema’s funding is as co-investigator on NIH R21 ES023583 “Effects of Hurricane Sandy on the Respiratory and Mental Health of WTC Responders” (Adam Gonzalez, Ph.D., PI); Phasebio Corporation (Malvern, PA) for Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide (VIP) Knockout Mice Husbandry and Vasomera™ for Cystic Fibrosis and Heart Failure; Garnett McKeen Laboratory (Bohemia, NY) for Flexivent Mouse Mechanical Ventilator and Pulmonary Function Computer with RUX and α-lipoic acid to prevent Iraq Afghanistan War Lung Injury (IAW-LI); The Sergeant Thomas Joseph Sullivan Foundation for Genomics of IAW-LI in Mouse Models; and Dameon Sherman for IAW-LI Research. In 2012, the Medical Society of the State of New York Awarded Professor Szema the MSSNY Albion O. Bernstein Award, a national award, endowed by the late Morris J. Bernstein in memory of his son, a physician who died in an accident while answering a hospital call in 1940. The annual Albion O. Bernstein Award is awarded to a physician or scientist who has made a significant contribution in medicine, surgery, or disease prevention during the past year. Anthony M. Szema, M.D. coined the term Iraq Afghanistan War Lung Injury (IAW-LI) to describe the constellation of new-onset respiratory symptoms after war.

Respiratory and Mental Health