Anushri Anandaraja: health workers’ champion in NYC

New York City remains at the epicentre of the US experience of the novel coronavirus. Although thankfully hospitalisations, new cases and deaths now seem to be on a downward path, its health system and the people staffing it remain under huge strain. Born and raised in Taranaki, Anushri (Anu) Anandaraja is the Director of the Office of Wellbeing and Resilience at Icahn School of Medicine in Manhattan. The medical school's part of the vast Mount Sinai hospital network that employs more than 7,000 doctors and 40,000 total staff across its eight hospitals, making it New York City's second biggest employer. She also campaigns for better PPE and support for the city's overstretched medical personnel. Workplace stress over workloads and potential exposure to the disease has been thrown into sharp relief this week, after the apparent suicide of one of the city's leading ER doctors.