Second-year Bess Abrahams Presents Research at New York Academy of Medicine

image1On Monday, May 8, second-year Clinical Practice MSW student Bess Abrahams was given the distinction of representing Silberman at the New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM) Ninth Annual Social Work Student Night. She delivered a poster and oral presentation on original research she conducted with a team of colleagues, which was recently published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Pain, titled “A Randomized Trial of Yoga for Children Hospitalized with Sickle Cell Vaso-Occlusive Crisis.” This project addresses a significant gap in research on non-pharmacological pain management for children with Sickle Cell Disease, and elucidates serious racial disparities in health care. On the experience of sharing her work, and her Silberman training, in such an esteemed scientific academy, Bess says,

“I was honored to represent Silberman at the New York Academy of Medicine’s social work student night and share the findings from a study I worked on during my time here. Our study [in Journal of Pain] found that a yoga protocol that focused on mindfulness, breathing, movement and meditation had a clinically significant effect in reducing pain in children hospitalized for a Vaso-Occlusive pain crisis.

“When I looked out at the people in attendance I was bolstered by the number of professors who came out to hear about the study and to learn about all the other social work students who were doing interesting and important work both nationally and internationally.”

The study Bess presented can be found here.

The entire Silberman community warmly congratulates Bess on this wonderful achievement.