“As to diseases, make a habit of two things — to help, or at least, to do no harm.”1 Hippocrates
Dr. Rany Condos is a legendary doctor of New York City, who has helped all. The Hellenic Medical Society of New York honored Dr. Condos with the 2022 Dr. Mary Kalopothakes Distinguished Female Physician Award on March 31, 2022, evening at 60 Plaza Street East, Brooklyn, NY. The event was viewed virtually, including a lecture by Dr. Condos.
The program included: Introduction, Stella Lymberis, MD, Chair, Clinical Assistant Professor, Director, Quality Initiatives, Department of Radiation Oncology; Scientific Program, Keynote Lecture, “Tuberculosis, Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis and COVID-19” by Rany Condos, MD, Professor of Clinical Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, NYU School of Medicine; Presentation of Dr. Rany Condos by Eugenia Gianos, MD, FACC, FAHA, FASE, FNLA, Professor of Cardiology, Zucker School of Medicine Director, Cardiovascular Prevention, Northwell Health Director, Women’s Heart Program, Lenox Hill Hospital; Closing Remarks, Lorraine Chrisomalis-Valasiadis, MD, 2nd Vice President of Hellenic Medical Society of New York Assistant Clinical Professor of OB/GYN, Northwell Health.
The lecture was directed to a scientific audience. As a nonscientific writer, I gathered certain simple facts. Tuberculosis, often called TB, is an infectious disease that usually attacks the lungs and infects one-third of the world’s population, resulting in 9.2 million active cases per year. TB is usually spread between family members, close friends, and people who work or live together. Nearly 1.5 million people die per year from tuberculosis and related illnesses.
Dr. Condos’ study shows that patients who inhale interferon through a nebulizer can reduce their disease’s transmissibility during the first few weeks of treatment. Patients with cavitary pulmonary tuberculosis receiving anti-TB medications supplemented with nebulized interferon-gamma have fewer bacilli in the lungs and less inflammation, thereby reducing the transmissibility of tuberculosis in the early phase of treatment.
Some people have persistent COVID-19 symptoms or develop new health problems in the weeks or months after contracting the virus. This can happen even if they had only mild symptoms initially or showed no signs of infection. This condition is sometimes referred to as “long COVID” or “long-haul COVID.” In the medical community, it is known as the post-acute sequelae of COVID-19, or PASC. Some of the common long-term symptoms people experience after COVID-19 include fatigue and worsened symptoms after physical or mental activities.
The award bestowed on Dr. Condos was in the memory of Dr. Mary Kalopothakes. Dr. Maria Kalopothakis (1859-1941) was born in Athens. The daughter of Rev. Dr. Michael and Martha Kalopothakis, she was the first women physician in Greece. She became a prominent doctor and pioneer in defending equal rights for women. Dr. Maria Kalopothakis was a humanitarian physician and believed that medicine was above all a selfless profession. She also stood out for her character, her education as well as for her writings in the fields of hygiene, religious poetry, and translation. In recognition of her contributions, Dr. Maria Kalopothakis received medals and honors for both her scientific work and social engagement. Her contributions as a military surgeon were legendary, demonstrating unparalleled dedication, unwavering courage, and heroism.2
Dr. Rany Condos is director of The Adult Cystic Fibrosis Program at NYU and Section of Advanced Lung Diseases. She has more than 25 years of experience in caring for patients with advanced lung disease and is considered an expert in pulmonary medicine.
Her area of expertise is in the lung-specific–immune response and targeted immunotherapy for chronic lung diseases. As director of the advanced lung diseases program, she has experience with immunotherapeutic and the care of complicated patients with fibrotic lung disease. She has experience in clinical trials, both multi-center and investigator-initiated. Dr. Condos has been part of the TB Trial Consortium organized by the CDC for the purpose of conducting clinical trials of new drugs and regimens for the treatment and prevention of tuberculosis. In addition, as an accredited Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Adult Care Center, she is part of the CF Registry database with experience in patient recruitment and data entry.
She has successfully completed several investigator-initiated clinical trials on inhaled interferon gamma on both infectious and fibrotic lung diseases including an international collaboration with the University of Cape Town in South Africa. In addition, she is a co-investigator for NTM bronchiectasis trials, both INSMED sponsored and institutional sponsored. In Pulmonary Fibrosis, she has participated in industry-sponsored intervention trials for fibrotic lung disease as well as Registry studies. Currently, Dr. Condos is conducting an NIAID – supported interventional trial in collaboration with Humanetics in post-COVID fibrotic lung disease. In addition, she is the Director of both the Post-COVID and Adult Cystic Fibrosis Programs.
She has organized and is analyzing a robust post-COVID registry in collaboration with cardiology and radiology with an emphasis on defining and understanding the longitudinal cardiopulmonary consequences of post-COVID infection.3
Dr. Condos has two accomplished children, Dr. Vickie Condos and Steven, a combined business/law student. She is my neighbor in Mattituck Long Island for many years. Her parents, Eleni and the late Bill Condos are our friends who we spend time with at the Long Island Sound and the Transfiguration of Christ Greek Orthodox Church in Mattituck. Dr. Condos and her family have always been generous to our rural church. Her parents were devoted to their Greek regional society Syllogos Enosis Evritanon Amerikis ‘To Karpenisi.’
The Karpenesiotes have always been at the core of the battle for freedom from ancient Greece to our modern era. Their trademark is a rugged, determined purpose. Their miraculous icon of the Panagia Prousiotissa has sustained their religious faith through the turmoil of World War II and the Greek Civil War that destroyed their families and homes. They were reborn. The Evrytanon Karpenisiotes are prominent in mainstream America.
Bill and his wife Eleni instilled in their daughter and grandchildren a love for the Greek Orthodox Church. This is the personal background of this humble doctor. She has helped our family and many persons numerous times, unselfishly. She is a Greek American doctor who has followed Hippocrates’s philosophy. We congratulate Dr. Rany Condos on this unique honor, the 2022 Dr. Mary Kalopothakes Honor by the Hellenic Medical Society of New York.
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