Vote for Chapter Officers in the Fall 2019 Elections

The Chapter Nominating Committee are delighted to announce this year’s candidates for Chapter offices.

Chair-Elect

Sarah T. Jewell is currently the head of the medical library at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center (NYC Health + Hospitals) in the Bronx. She is the proud co-editor of Assembling the Pieces of a Systematic Review: A Guide for Librarians (2017), and has also co-authored about 15 scientific articles over the past few years, many of them systematic reviews. She previously worked at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey- George F. Smith Library of the Health Sciences; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Library; and The Science, Industry and Business Library (NYPL).

Executive Board

Marie Ascher is a native of the Philadelphia area who went to Rutgers and got her MS from Drexel, came to NYC in 1994, and now works in Westchester County. She has held positions at Hunter College/CUNY (where she received an MPH), the New York Academy of Medicine, and now is Director of the Health Sciences Library at New York Medical College in Valhalla. She has been involved with the NY-NJ Chapter since coming to New York, having previously served as Chair and before that, as a Board Member, as a member of the Membership Committee, Programming Committee, and several other appointments. She is in her final months as an MLA Board Member and is active in several sections (now caucuses) of MLA. She is interested in being elected to the Board and among other things, working with the members of the Philadelphia Chapter toward a successful merger.

Janina Kaldan has been the Shinn-Lathrope Health Science Library Manager at Morristown Medical Center since 2013. Prior to this, she was the Medical Librarian at RWJUH Rahway and Cabrini Medical Center. She earned her Master of Science in Library and Information Science from Pratt Institute in 1997. Through her career, Janina has been an active member, held offices and participated in various committees associated with NY-NJ Chapter of Medical Library Association and Health Sciences Library Association of New Jersey. She is a member of NNLM MAR Hospital Services Special Advisory Group. In 2018 she received the Atlantic Health System BEST “Bringing Excellence and Service Together” Award.

Rimma Perelman has been working in the hospital library environment for more than 20 years. She has been an MLA member for all these years. Currently Rimma is employed by White Plains Hospital (WPH) in Westchester County and Nassau University Medical Center (NUMC) in Long Island region of the New York State. As a solo librarian for many years, she have been assisting hospital library patrons with the Knowledge Based Information (KBI) process, including collection development, reference, literature searching, ILLs, library instruction, digital library organization and management, and so much more. Rimma graduated from Pratt Institute with the MS degree in Library and Information Science (MS/LIS) and has maintained the AHIP membership since the early aughts. Her professional interests include KBI organization and maintenance in the digital environment for various user groups to meet the library patrons’ information needs and requirements.

Rachel Pinotti is the Director for Library Education & Research Services at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS). In this role she serves as co-director of the longitudinal evidence-based medicine (EBM) curriculum, working with medical education administration and faculty to ensure that EBM is included in the curriculum in a robust and meaningful way.  Rachel serves as course director for the Introduction to Systematic Reviews course and co-course director for the Lessons in Scientific Publishing course in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Rachel also oversees reference, consultation and instruction services for ISMMS and the hospitals of the Mount Sinai Health System. She enjoys working with a diverse group of patrons including medical and graduate students, faculty, residents, fellows, and staff.

Rachel earned her B.A. summa cum laude from Emory University and her Master of Science in Library and Information Science (MLIS) from the Palmer School of Library and Information Science. She has been a member of the Medical Library Association, at both the national and chapter level, since 2012 and is a Senior Member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals (AHIP).

Chapter Nominating Committee

Lindsay Boyce is a Research Informationist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Library. Lindsay works closely with MSK’s Critical Care Medicine team and is embedded in the Intensive Care Unit, where she provides direct point-of-care information support to the attendings, fellows, and residents during rounds. She is also involved in teaching evidence based practice, citation management, searching skills, and conducting systematic reviews and EBP searches. Within the NY/NJ chapter, she previously was a member of the Membership Committee, and she is looking to get more involved in the chapter.

Allison Piazza is a Health Sciences Librarian at Seton Hall University. Prior to this position, she was the Reference Services and Outreach Librarian at the New York Academy of Medicine Library. Her training took place at NYU Health Sciences Library (Fellowship) and Weill Cornell Medicine’s Samuel J. Wood Library (Internship). She is a member of the 2019 NY-NJ Chapter Meeting Planning Committee, and was Chair of MLA’s Professional Recruitment and Retention Committee (2016-2019), where she also organized the Resume Clinic for the past 2 years. Allison considers herself a “connector” and takes great joy in referring people to the right expert – so she would likely feel right at home on the chapter Nominating Committee.  She thanks you for the consideration!

Leanna Stager is the Scholarly Publications Librarian at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell where she is working on the creation of an institutional repository and expanding the availability of bibliometric data across the school and health system. She earned her MLIS from Rutgers University and BS from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Leanna was previously on the event planning committee for the New Jersey chapter of SLA and is a provisional member of AHIP.

Chapter Candidate for the MLA Nominating Committee

Rie Goto is the Assistant University Librarian at the Rita and Frits Markus Library at the Rockefeller University. She oversees daily operations of the Markus Library, manages electronic collections, and works closely with the University Librarian to develop library goals and objectives, establish data management services, and communicate strategic ideas to the University community.

MLA Official Activities
National: member, 2009-present
Section: Collection Development Section member 2009-2012, Medical Libraries Association Collection Development Section Travel Award Winner for Medical Libraries Association Annual Meeting 2011.
Hospital Section member 2013-2018
Leadership and Management Section member 2019-present
Chapter: NYNJ chapter member 2009-present