CMU Trauma Care Researcher Joins Fight Against COVID-19 in NYC

One expects a Green Beret medic to readily respond to calls for help, so it's not that surprising that Luke Sciulli packed his bags in early April and left Pittsburgh for New York City, an epicenter for the COVID-19 pandemic, to volunteer in a field hospital. Sciulli, a senior research analyst in the School of Computer Science's Auton Lab, explains his motivations more humbly: his house had burned down and he was living in a camping trailer. When he heard that former Special Forces medics and medical personnel were opening an ad hoc hospital in New York, he figured, why not? Whatever his motivation, Sciulli began work April 16 at the NewYork-Presbyterian Ryan F. Larkin Field Hospital, named for a Navy SEAL and medic who took his own life three years ago after suffering traumatic brain injury. Located in an indoor soccer stadium at Columbia University, the temporary hospital served as a step-down unit for COVID-19 patients, providing a place for the recovering patients to convalesce a few more days before heading home.