Village People: Hospital Gets New COO; Student Wins Prestigious Scholarship

Carol Gomes of Mt. Sinai, a 27-year employee at Stony Brook University Hospital, has been named chief operating officer, the hospital announced Feb. 12. She will be administratively responsible for the hospital, a 597-bed hospital with an annual operating budget of $980 million. "Through her diligence, energy and consistent accomplishments, she has advanced in the organization,” said Dr. L. Reuven Pasternak, the hospital's CEO. “She has managed her duties in a manner that has earned her the respect and admiration of clinical and administrative staff at Stony Brook Medicine and Stony Brook University.”

Stony Brook student Kevin Sackel has been named a Churchill Scholar by the Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States, a prestigious honor given to a handful of students each year. As one of the 14 Churchill Scholars this year, Sackel will receive a full scholarship to complete a one-year Master of Advanced Study degree in mathematics at Cambridge University next year. A native of Bethpage, Sackel is double majoring in mathematics and physics with a minor in music.

Stony Brook faculty member Alexander Orlov, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering, has been named a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in Britain, an organization with history dating back to 1841. “The Royal Society of Chemistry has contributed so much to the development of modern chemistry,” Orlov said in a statement. “I am extremely honored that my research aimed at solving energy and environmental issues has been recognized by election to a Fellowship of this prestigious society.”