Rising to the Challenge: Celebrating Care, Connection, and Community
On December 1, 2025, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene awarded Brookdale Hospital Medical Center, one of our proud STAR Program health centers, a distinguished recognition for its outstanding contributions to ending the HIV epidemic in New York City.
This year’s World AIDS Day theme, “Rising to the Challenge: Care, Connection, Community,” beautifully reflects the work of our STAR–Brookdale team, who every day embody the values of compassion, innovation, and relentless commitment to Brooklyn’s most vulnerable communities.
During the ceremony, Breanna Watson, MSPH, CHES, CLC, Deputy Executive Director of the HEAT Program, joined Dr. Sarah Braunstein, PhD, MPH, Assistant Commissioner of the Bureau of Hepatitis, HIV, and Sexually Transmitted Infections at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, to present the 2025 New York City World AIDS Day Awards.
Dr. Braunstein, a leading expert in HIV epidemiology and care linkage in New York City, emphasized the importance of recognizing “the individuals and agencies whose continued partnership and undying commitment make this work possible.”
The STAR–Brookdale team was honored for their exceptional work through the Enhanced Data to Care (ED2C) initiative, which has become a citywide model for rising to the challenge. Over the past year, the ED2C team:
As Breanna highlighted, acknowledging these achievements is “really, really important,” underscoring how deeply this work transforms lives and strengthens communities.
STAR–Brookdale’s recognition is more than an award. It is a reflection of the collective effort of clinicians, care navigators, data specialists, outreach workers, social workers, and community partners who work daily to improve HIV prevention, care, and health outcomes throughout East and Central Brooklyn.
It also affirms the STAR Program’s long-standing commitment to access, equity, dignity, and culturally responsive health services. Across our two health centers — SUNY Downstate and Brookdale — STAR serves more than 2,000 patients annually with high-quality, patient-centered care.
Through the STAR Program’s broader work — including multilingual outreach campaigns, sexual-health education, behavioral-health initiatives, and community-based testing — we continue to break down barriers and meet people exactly where they are.
This recognition by the NYC Health Department honors not only the ED2C team but also the spirit of STAR–Brookdale and our entire STAR community — a network rooted in compassion, connection, and resilience.
We celebrate our staff, our patients, our partners, and our community.
We honor those we have lost and uplift those still rising.
And we reaffirm our commitment to Brooklyn: to innovate, educate, advocate, and promote a healthier, stigma-free future for all.
To the NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene — thank you for this recognition.
To Dr. Sarah Braunstein and Breanna Watson — thank you for your leadership and partnership.
To our STAR–Brookdale ED2C team — thank you for your dedication, expertise, and heart.
To the community we serve — you are the reason we rise to the challenge, every day.
Together, we rise to the challenge.
Together, we strengthen care, connection, and community.
