Specialty Spotlight: Gita Lisker, MD, Pulmonology

JOWMA (Jewish Orthodox Women's Medical Association) Podcast

Gita Lisker MD is board certified in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and an associate professor in the department of medicine at Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell Health. She grew up in Queens, NY and graduated valedictorian from Stern College in 1995. She taught AP biology at Shevach during her gap year and then attended Einstein School of Medicine. She did her residency in internal medicine at LIJ in a shomer shabbos program followed by a fellowship in pulmonary/critical care at LIJ. After fellowship, Dr. Lisker was hired as an attending at LIJ/North Shore (which had merged at that point) where she works in both the inpatient and outpatient setting and has been there since. While originally, inpatient responsibilities included both ICU and pulmonary/RCU, Dr. Lisker eventually decided to stop working in the ICU for a more flexible work-life balance. During her time as attending, she has started and run several initiatives and units, including a Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES) program at North Shore and a Respiratory Care Unit (RCU) at LIJ.

At the start of the pandemic, she was in the unique position of being able to offer hospital-type pulmonary care in the outpatient setting, which was desperately needed. Thus, she founded the CROWN (Coronavirus Related Outpatient Work Navigators) Program, which used telehealth with pulmonary doctors, homecare RN visits, home 02, home IV infusions and blood draws, and the most up to date medical treatments to treat COVID patients at home. The program serviced nearly 4,000 patients. Dr. Lisker was also involved in the set up of the Shor Yoshuv site in Far Rockaway as a field hospital in March/April 2020 and joining it with Northwell Health. She also served as a medical advisor to SAR Academy and High School, Yeshiva Har Torah, and the Young Israel of Jamaica Estates during the pandemic. Her work during the pandemic led her to start a new initiative for Northwell, the HOME (Hospital Outpatient Management Experience), project to use what was learned from CROWN and COVID to treat other pulmonary diagnoses as well.

Dr. Lisker met her husband, Jay, at camp Morasha when they were both 15, went through YU/Stern together as pre-meds, got married during a gap year and then attended Einstein medical school and LIJ internal medicine residency together. They currently live in Jamaica Estates where they are active members of their community and have three daughters, ages 12, 18 and 22 and a son in law!

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