The Deans of New York’s 17 medical schools comprise AMSNY’s Board of Trustees. They provide vision and leadership for the organization, ensuring its initiatives reflect the core values of the medical schools and working towards the State’s preeminence in the fields of medical education, biomedical research, and patient care.

Executive Committee

Mark Taubman, MD (Chair)
Dean, School of Medicine & Dentistry
Senior Vice President for Health Sciences
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
CEO, University of Rochester Medical Center and UR Medicine

Mark Taubman, MD is the Vice President for Health Sciences and Dean of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. He previously served as Chief of the Cardiology Division and then as Chairman of the Department of Medicine. After receiving his MD degree from New York University School of Medicine, he completed a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in cardiovascular diseases at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital of Harvard Medical School. He is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in both internal medicine and cardiovascular disease. Dr. Taubman later joined New York’s Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where he developed a well-funded research program in vascular biology while serving as the Director of the Cardiology Fellowship, the Principal Investigator of an NIH training grant in molecular cardiology, and the Director of the Medical Scientist Training Program. In 2006, he received the Russell Ross Memorial Award of the Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology Council of the American Heart Association (AHA) in recognition of his research contributions. He was appointed as Chairman of the Research Committee of the AHA and soon named Editor-in-Chief of the AHA journal, with more than 120 publications, chapters, and scholarly writings to his credit.

Gordon F. Tomaselli, MD (Treasurer)
Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer at Montefiore Medicine

Gordon F. Tomaselli, MD, is the Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer at Montefiore Medicine. Dr. Tomaselli  earned his medical degree from Einstein in 1992. He returned to Einstein as dean in July 2018, after a long career at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where he was chief of the division of cardiology. Dr. Tomaselli’s research focuses on the heart’s ion channel structure, function and remodeling. His lab has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health for over 25 years. He holds several patents on methods to improve heart function and prevent arrhythmias, including an implantable device for the delivery of cell-derived biomolecules. He was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation in 1996 and has been a member of the Association of American Physicians since 2010. He has served on the editorial boards of a number of journals in cardiovascular science and medicine and has been a member of study sections for the NIH, the American Heart Association and the California Tobacco Research Fund. Dr. Tomaselli was president of the American Heart Association from 2011 to 2012. He was editor-in-chief of the Journal of Clinical Investigation from 2017 to 2018, and is now the journal’s deputy editor.

Gary C. Butts, MD
Dean for  Diversity Programs, Policy, and Community Affairs
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the Mount Sinai Health System

Gary C. Butts, MD is a pediatrician by training and has been part of the Mount Sinai Medical Center since beginning his training in pediatrics in 1980. He received his MD from Cornell University Medical College. Dr. Butts is currently Associate Dean for Diversity Programs, Policy, and Community Affairs, and directs the Center for Multicultural and Community Affairs at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, which is a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) supported Center of Excellence for Minority Health and the lead partner in the HRSA funded Northeast Regional Alliance Health Careers Opportunity Program. He currently holds joint appointments as Professor of Medical Education, Pediatrics, and Preventive Medicine, and is an integral member of the medical center senior leadership team. His career pathway has involved many facets of academic medicine, including organizing and directing an academic medical center pediatric clinic, developing and administering innovative, cutting-edge community-based clinical services for both a medical center and local government, serving as NYC Deputy Commissioner for the largest municipal health department in the nation between 1993 and 1998, and directing diversity initiatives for the School of Medicine.

Jonathan Teyan
President and Chief Executive Officer
Associated Medical Schools of New York

Jonathan joined AMSNY in 2011 and has served as Chief Operating Officer since 2013. In this role he led the organization’s successful efforts advocating for biomedical research funding and promoting the importance of medical education to the state’s healthcare and economy. Jonathan also holds the title of President of New York State Academic Dental Centers (NYSADC), the consortium of New York’s six dental schools. Jonathan began his career in science studying conservation biology at Cornell University, then at the National Audubon Society, where he directed that organization’s largest environmental education center. He has an MPA in Management from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where he began a longstanding interest in health care policy, subsequently joining AMDec Foundation in 2005, where he worked on large-scale collaborative biomedical research initiatives.

Board Members

Alan Boulos, MD
Dean of the College of Medicine
Albany Medical College

Alan S. Boulos, MD ’94, is the Dean of the College of Medicine, chair of the Department of Neurosurgery, co-director of the Neurosciences Institute, and Professor of Neurosurgery and Radiology. He specializes in the surgical and endovascular management of cerebrovascular disorders of the brain and spine. His expertise includes skull-base surgery for brain tumors, such as meningiomas and acoustic neuromas. Dr. Boulos received his medical degree from Albany Medical College. He completed his neurosurgery residency at Albany Medical Center Hospital and then completed a fellowship in neuroendovascular surgery at Millard Filmore Hospital in Buffalo, New York. During his education and training, he received numerous awards and distinctions from medical school and national neurosurgical societies, authored numerous publications and is the recipient of a prestigious grant from the American Health Association to examine medications that protect the brain from stroke.  Dr. Boulos holds membership in the American College of Surgeons, The American Heart Association, The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS), the Cerebrovascular Section of the AANS and CNS and the Society of Neurointerventional Surgery.

Katrina Armstrong, MD
Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences
Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

Katrina Armstrong, MD, leads Columbia University’s medical campus as the Chief Executive Officer of CUIMC, which includes the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S), the School of Nursing, the College of Dental Medicine, and the Mailman School of Public Health. She also is Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences for Columbia University and Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. As VP&S dean, Dr. Armstrong leads the nation’s second oldest medical school and the first to award an MD degree. She is an internationally recognized investigator in medical decision making, quality of care, and cancer prevention and outcomes, an award-winning teacher, and a practicing primary care physician. She has served on multiple advisory panels for academic and federal organizations and has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Association of American Physicians, and the American Society for Clinical Investigation. Before joining Columbia, Dr. Armstrong was the Jackson Professor of Clinical Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Chair of the Department of Medicine and Physician-in-Chief of Massachusetts General Hospital, and Professor of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Before joining Harvard, she was Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine, Associate Director of the Abramson Cancer Center, and Co-Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a graduate of Yale University (BA degree in architecture), Johns Hopkins (MD degree), and the University of Pennsylvania (MS degree in clinical epidemiology). She completed her residency training in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins.

Carmen Renee Green, MD
Dean of the School of Medicine
CUNY School of Medicine

Carmen Renee Green, MD is Dean of the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Medicine, the Bert Brodsky Chair, Medical Professor of Community Health and Social Medicine, and Professor in the Colin Powell School of Global and Civic Engagement. Green received her MD from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine (MSU CHM) and was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) National Honor Medical Society. She completed an Anesthesiology residency, subspecialty training in Ambulatory and Obstetrical Anesthesia, and a Pain Medicine fellowship at the University of Michigan Health System. Dr. Green was a tenured Professor of Anesthesiology, Obstetrics & Gynecology, and Health Management & Policy at the University of Michigan’s Schools of Medicine and Public Health. Dr. Green holds faculty appointments at the UM’s Institute for Social Research and Institute for Health Policy and Innovation, and is a faculty associate in the Program for Research on Black Americans. A pain medicine physician, she was a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy fellow at the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) where she drafted the National Pain Care Policy Act. She is also an elected fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, Gerontological Society of America, and Association of University Anesthesiologists. At the nexus of public health and healthcare quality, equity, and policy, her pioneering health services and policy research focuses on pain and the social determinants.  She authored of geminal and seminal papers poignantly revealing unequal treatment, disparities, variability in decision-making, and diminished healthcare quality; revealing suboptimal access to care across the life course for women, minorities, and low-income people.  Her federal and state board service includes NAM’s Healthcare Services Board, US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee and HHS Oversight Committee for the National Pain Strategy (Disparities Co-Chair) as well as NIH’s Advisory Committee for the Eunice Shriver National Institute of Child and Human Development, Advisory Committee for Research on Women’s Health, and National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research as well as the American Cancer Society’s Council for Extramural Affairs.  Dr. Green has made invited presentations across the globe including US Congress and Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center (Italy). 

Dennis S. Charney, MD
Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
President for Academic Affairs, Mount Sinai Health System

Dennis S. Charney, MD is the Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and President for Academic Affairs of the Mount Sinai Medical Center. He received his MD degree from Pennsylvania State University and completed his residency in psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. During his tenure at Mount Sinai, the school has risen to the top twenty institutions in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding, and ranks third in funding per faculty member from the NIH. In 2006, Dr. Charney unveiled Mount Sinai’s $2.25 billion strategic plan that laid the foundation for the robust 15-institute structure that Mount Sinai is known for today. These institutions are hubs of scientific and clinical enterprise, working together to challenge the limits of science and medicine. Dr. Charney himself is a world expert in the neurobiology and treatment of mood and anxiety disorders. A prolific author, Dr. Charney has written more than 700 publications, including groundbreaking scientific papers, chapters, and books. He has authored many books, including Neurobiology of Mental Illness; The Peace of Mind Prescription: An Authoritative Guide to Finding the Most Effective Treatment for Anxiety and Depression; The Physicians Guide to Depression and Bipolar Disorders; Resilience and Mental Health: Challenges Across the Lifespan; and, Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life’s Greatest Challenges, for lay audiences.

Allison Brashear, MD, MBA
Dean of the School of Medicine
Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Vice President for Health Sciences

Allison Brashear, MD, MBA, is the Dean of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and the Vice President for Health Sciences at the University at Buffalo (UB). Before joining UB, Brashear was dean of the UC Davis School of Medicine. Prior to that, she was a professor and Walter C. Teagle endowed chair of neurology at Wake Forest School of Medicine. Brashear is an internationally known neurologist and researcher in movement disorders. She is an expert in ATP1A3-related diseases — a spectrum of rare neurologic disorders. She has continuously been RO1 funded by the National Institutes of Health since 2008 and is the principal investigator for the Clinical Genetic and Cellular Consequences of Mutations in ATP1A3 project. She has served as the principal investigator on more than 40 clinical trials in cervical dystonia and spasticity, leading to three FDA-approved medications. Brashear has been a lifelong champion of inclusion and patient-centered care and works actively to help advance women in leadership across academic medicine. She earned her medical degree and completed her neurology residency at Indiana University School of Medicine. She earned her MBA, focused on health-sector management, at Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. She completed the Association of American Medical Colleges Council of Deans fellowship program in 2014 and has completed leadership programs at Harvard University, Drexel University and UC Berkeley. Brashear is a trustee to the McKnight Brain Research Foundation. She serves as a director on the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Nicole Wadsworth, D.O., FACOEP, FACEP
Dean, College of Osteopathic Medicine
New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine

Edward C. Halperin received a B.S. in Economics, Summa Cum Laude from The Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania, M.D. Cum Laude from Yale University, and an M.A. from Duke University. He did his internship in internal Medicine at Stanford University and residency and chief residency in radiation oncology at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Halperin was professor and chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology, Vice Dean of the School of Medicine and Associate Vice Chancellor and held two endowed professorships at Duke University’s School of Medicine. In 2006 he was named Dean of the School of Medicine, Ford Foundation Professor of Medical Education, and Professor of Radiation Oncology, Pediatrics, and History at the University of Louisville. Since 2012, Dr. Halperin serves as Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer, New York Medical College; Professor of Radiation Oncology, Pediatrics, and History The Miriam Popack Chair in Biomedical Ethics; Director of The Hirth and Samowitz Center for Medical Humanities and Holocaust Studies; and Provost for Biomedical Affairs, Touro University. His research focuses on pediatric cancer, adult brain tumors, ethics, and the history of racial, religious, and gender discrimination in higher education.

Lawrence S. Chin, MD, FAANS, FACS
Dean of the College of Medicine 

Robert B. and Molly G. King Endowed Professor of Neurosurgery

Norton College of Medicine at Upstate Medical University

Lawrence S. Chin, MD is the Dean of the College of Medicine and the Robert B. and Molly G. King Endowed Professor of Neurosurgery at the Alan and Marlene Norton College of Medicine at Upstate Medical University. He is a native of Michigan and received his BS and MD degrees from the University of Michigan followed by a neurosurgery residency at USC/LA County Hospital. He joined the University of Maryland in 1994 where he became Professor of Neurosurgery and was director of Neuro-Oncology and the Gamma Knife Center. In 2006, he became Chair of Neurosurgery at Boston University, and in 2011 was named Chair of Neurosurgery at Norton College of Medicine and the Neurosurgery Residency Program Director. Just prior to becoming Interim Dean he was Chair of the Governing Board of the Norton College of Medicine at Upstate Faculty Practice Plan. Dr. Chin specializes in brain tumor, skull base, and spine surgery. He  has published over 150 articles and book chapters.

Gladys M. Ayala, MD, MPH

Dean of NYU Long Island School of Medicine 

NYU Langone Health (NYU Grossman School of Medicine & NYU Long Island School of Medicine)

 

Gladys M. Ayala, MD, MPH, is the Dean and Chief Academic Officer at NYU Long Island School of Medicine. Dr. Ayala became dean of the medical school on January 3, 2023, taking over from its founding dean, Dr. Steven P. Shelov. Dr. Ayala joined what was then a newly established medical school in 2018, overseeing its curriculum development, admissions and diversity initiatives. The undergraduate education platform emphasizes primary care, population health, and health systems sciences in an accelerated three-year M.D. degree-granting program and provides directed pathways into the school’s residency programs in the primary care fields of internal medicine, pediatrics and obstetrics & gynecology. Dr. Ayala initially served as the school’s senior associate dean for medical education and in 2020 assumed the role of vice dean. In her time at NYU Long Island School of Medicine, she led the school’s provisional and full LCME- accreditation processes, as well as the school’s recent strategic planning process that focuses on advancing medical education through innovation, developing a diverse workforce and addressing disparities in the access to high-quality health care. Dr. Ayala brings to her role as dean over twenty-five years of leadership experiences in the areas academic affairs, accreditation, diversity, education, and student affairs and is passionate about building and teaching in diverse and collaborative learning, working and patient care environments. She is a primary care general internist by training and a professor of medicine. She has worked with, and trained countless medical students and residents in the principles of primary care, clinical skills development, and teaching cultural competency and humility in the delivery of patient care.

Kenneth J. Steier, DO, FACOI, FCCP, MBA, MHA, MPH
Executive Dean of the College of Medicine
Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine

Dr. Steier is the Executive Dean and a Professor of Medicine at the Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine Campuses in Middletown and New York City. He is Board Certified in Internal, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. He formerly served as Associate Dean and Chair of the Department of Medicine at the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences, as well as a Clinical Assistant Dean at the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine. He holds master’s degrees in business administration, public health, geriatric health, and health administration. Dr. Steier is an accreditation surveyor for the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), a grant reviewer for the Health Resources Services Administration and a consultant for the Food and Drug Administration. He received a bachelor of science in biology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and his doctor of osteopathic medicine degree from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Dr. Francis Lee, MD, PhD

Interim Dean, Weill Cornell Medicine
Interim Provost for Medical Affairs, Cornell University

Weill Cornell Medicine

Dr. Francis Lee is an accomplished neurobiologist and psychiatrist studying the molecular basis of mood and anxiety disorders, with the goal of understanding why many of them emerge during the transition from childhood to adolescence. By combining basic and translational approaches, Dr. Lee’s discoveries have led to the development of advanced biologically targeted psychiatric diagnostic tools and treatments. He has published nearly 100 original studies in peer-reviewed journals, plus nearly 30 reviews and four book chapters. Dr. Lee earned his bachelor’s degree with highest honors from Princeton University and his medical degree and a doctorate from the University of Michigan, followed by psychiatry residency training at the Payne Whitney Clinic at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. He completed postdoctoral training in molecular neuroscience at the Skirball Institute, New York University and the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Lee joined Weill Cornell Medicine’s faculty in 2002 and in 2018 was named chair of the Department of Psychiatry and psychiatrist-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. He currently holds professor appointments at Weill Cornell Medicine in psychiatry, pharmacology and neuroscience. Dr. Lee has served on several panels and boards at the National Institutes of Health and national mental health foundations, and has received numerous honors and awards including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and the Burroughs Wellcome Clinical Scientist Award. He has been elected a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians and the National Academy of Medicine.

David L. Battinelli, MD

Dean
Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
Executive Vice President and Physician-in-Chief at Northwell Health

 

David L. Battinelli, MD is Dean and Betsey Cushing Whitney Professor of Medicine at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and is
Physician-in-Chief of the Northwell Health System. A founding member of the Zucker School of Medicine, he previously served as vice dean and earlier as the
dean for medical education and chaired the committee charged with developing the new medical school’s curriculum. Dr. Battinelli joined Northwell in 2007, as the health system’s chief academic officer and senior vice president of academic affairs and then served as the health system’s chief medical officer. He also served as the Chief Operating Officer of the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. Dr. Battinelli earned his degree from Rutgers School of Biomedical and Health Sciences along with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Scranton. A board-certified internist, Dr. Battinelli came to Northwell Health from Boston Medical Center (BMC), where he served as vice chair for education, program director for the internal medicine residency program, and professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. He was also an active staff physician at BMC and the Boston Veterans Administration. Dr. Battinelli is a past president of the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine. He has worked closely with and served on numerous committees for a variety of national medical organizations including the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine, American College of Physicians and the Accreditation Committee on Graduate Medical Education. He has lectured extensively on clinical education, faculty development of teaching skills and internal medicine, and is a noted speaker and author on these subjects.