The success in Quito is one of many examples of the impactful work done by Northwell’s Center for Global Health. Formed in 2019, the center oversees Northwell’s partnerships with government health ministries and hospitals in four countries — Ecuador, Guyana, Ukraine and India — that have large, vibrant diasporas in the Northwell catchment area. “New York is home to about 400,000 Ecuadorians,” says Eric Cioé-Peña, MD, MPH, the center’s director. “Our partnerships in Ecuador and in our other core sites help us build our cultural understanding of our patients from those places, which helps us deliver better care.”

Those partnerships also help Northwell recruit the team it needs for the future of health care. Dr. Vasconez had long been interested in pursuing psychiatry. Helping launch the pilot program in Quito convinced her to do it at Northwell. Now she’s a second-year psychiatry resident at Zucker Hillside Hospital.

"We’re thrilled that Dr. Vasconez decided to come to Northwell for her residency after working with us on the telepsychiatry program," Dr. Cioe-Pena affirmed. "She’s incredibly bright and caring and was a huge champion for us on the ground in Ecuador. We’re fortunate to have her."

For Dr. Vasconez, the feeling is mutual.  "I learned so much from Dr. Cioé-Peña about being persistent in achieving your goals and how to collaborate as a team," she explained. "It’s inspiring to see the impact he and the center have had in Ecuador and across the communities they work in."

A telepsychiatry program in Quito

The Center for Global Health knew that mental health had become an urgent problem in Ecuador. Rates of death by suicide and other bad outcomes had been on the rise for years. Fortunately, the Center was in a position to help: Northwell has been working in Ecuador for almost two decades.

Rafael Barrera, MD, Northwell’s director of global surgery, is originally from Ecuador, and for years has brought groups to Quito to provide life-changing surgeries — everything from hernia repair to procedures to correct cleft lips. Dr. Barrera has long-standing relationships with the Ecuadorian government’s health ministry and a number of public hospitals. In 2018, Northwell contacted him about an idea for a telepsychiatry program.

The Center for Global Health is always guided by the expressed needs of clinicians and others on the ground, and its aim is ultimately to give those experts the ability to meet those needs themselves.

"There’s a lot of good research that shows that non-licensed care providers and others can be trained to deliver effective psychosocial care," Dr. Cioe-Pena explained. "We wanted to build a program that trained family practitioners to do the fundamentals — evaluate patients for mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and treat them with things like talk-based therapy, time-limited cognitive behavioral therapy and group therapy. We also wanted to train some of these practitioners to be able to prescribe and manage patients’ medications."

Now, Northwell physicians regularly meet with front-line staff on the Ecuadorian side to conduct learning sessions and go over cases. Under the supervision of an attending, Northwell psychiatry residents lead these calls. They’re also available telephonically when Ecuadorian health providers find they need extra help.