Albert Einstein College of Medicine Announces Free Tuition in Perpetuity for All Medical School Students

Dr. Philip Ozuah, President and CEO of Montefiore Einstein, the umbrella organization for Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System, today announced that Albert Einstein College of Medicine has received a transformational gift from Ruth L. Gottesman, Ed.D., Chair of the Einstein Board of Trustees and Montefiore Health System board member. This historic gift — the largest made to any medical school in the country — will ensure that no student at Einstein will have to pay tuition again. Learn more.

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Appoints David C. Thomas, MD, MS, MHPE, Dean of Medical Education

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai announced the appointment of David C. Thomas, MD, MS, MHPE, as Dean of Medical Education and Chair of the Department of Medical Education. “I am thrilled and honored to serve as Dean of Medical Education at Icahn Mount Sinai and excited to oversee the evolution of our curriculum, while maintaining the school’s highest of standards for teaching, scholarship, innovation, mentorship, collaboration, and professionalism,” says Dr. Thomas. Learn more.

Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra Northwell Incorporates Surgical Skills and Robotic Surgery Training into Undergraduate Curriculum: Inaugural Class Showcased Newly Developed Skills

A group of second-year medical students at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell showcased the critical skills needed to become a surgeon during a demonstration highlighting the school’s new Surgical Skills Training Course on February 21, 2024. A cohort of 12 students showed off newly developed skills, such as single-hand and two-hand knot tying, suturing, instrument tying, laparoscopic peg transfers and circle-cutting maneuvers, and operation of the da Vinci Surgical System robot manufactured by Intuitive. Learn more.

New York Medical College: HeLa Conference Navigates the Future of AI and Health Care Equity

The New York Medical College Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth) jointly hosted the seventh annual HeLa Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Conference on February 29. The event, themed “Addressing Health Disparities in the Age of AI,” brought together experts to delve into the relationship between artificial intelligence (AI) and health care. Learn more.

Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra Northwell: Blindfolds, Hula Hoops, and Charades Put Skills to the Test at the Inaugural NY Ultrasound Olympics

The Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell held its first-ever ultrasound competition, ZonoSlam, on February 10, 2024. This groundbreaking event brought together sixteen teams of over 80 medical students from institutions across the tri-state area, showcasing their technical prowess, eye-hand coordination, and sensory abilities essential for ultrasound proficiency. The Zucker School of Medicine was one of the first medical schools in the nation to incorporate ultrasound into its undergraduate curriculum. Learn more.

Students & Alumni

Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences at University at Buffalo: Student’s Passion to Improve Cancer Care in Native Uganda

Among the moments that shaped UB senior Rachel Esther Sanyu’s young but eventful life, none was more formative than her visit as a teenager to Mulago Hospital, the main hospital in Kampala, Uganda. Learn more.

Awards & Grants

Albert Einstein College of Medicine Physician-Scientists Underrepresented in Medicine to Conduct Health Equity Research at Montefiore and Einstein

Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine have been awarded a $1.5 million National Institutes of Health grant to provide advanced research training to post-graduate trainees from groups that are underrepresented in medicine and have research interests in heart, lung, blood, and sleep disorders. Learn more.

University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry: Celebrating a Teacher and Mentor to Generations of Urologists

Ronald Rabinowitz, MD, FAAP, FACS, is an internationally renowned expert in pediatric urology and urologic history. He has held numerous leadership positions, including Pediatric Urology Division Chief and professor of Urology and Pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center. He has also served as chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Urology, as a member of the American Urological Association board of directors, and as AUA Northeastern Section president, secretary and historian. Learn more.

New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine: Brian Harper Celebrated as Black Trailblazer

On Friday, February 16, Brian Harper, M.D., M.P.H., vice president for equity and inclusion, chief medical officer, and associate professor at the College of Osteopathic Medicine, was one of three Black trailblazers celebrated on FOX 5 television’s programming for Black History Month. Learn more.

Weill Cornell Medicine: Dr. Juan Pascual to Lead Child Neurology at NewYork-Presbyterian Komansky Children’s Hospital and Weill Cornell Medicine

Dr. Juan Pascual, a leading pediatric neurologist, has been appointed chief of the Division of Child Neurology in the Department of Pediatrics at NewYork-Presbyterian Komansky Children’s Hospital and Weill Cornell Medicine, effective March 1. In his new role, Dr. Pascual will oversee the child and neonatal neurology divisions with a focus on increasing access to high-quality care, expanding scientific research, and recruiting and developing faculty, clinicians and researchers. Learn more.

Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University: Stony Brook Medicine Names New Stony Brook Southampton Hospital Chief Administrative Officer

Stony Brook Medicine (SBM) has named Emily Mastaler, MA, MBA, the new chief administrative officer (CAO) of Stony Brook Southampton Hospital (SBSH), effective May 20, 2024. Reporting to Carol Gomes, the CEO of Stony Brook University Hospital, Mastaler will be responsible for leading Stony Brook Southampton Hospital in its mission to provide high-quality healthcare throughout the South Fork of Long Island. Learn more.

Weill Cornell Medicine: Dr. Jennie G. Ono Named Chief of Pediatrics at NewYork-Presbyterian Queens

Dr. Jennie G. Ono, a leading pediatrician who focuses on inpatient care, newborn medicine and pediatric asthma, has been appointed chief of pediatrics at NewYork-Presbyterian Queens. Dr. Ono also serves as an associate professor of clinical pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine. In her new role, Dr. Ono will continue to grow the pediatric primary care, subspecialty and inpatient programs at NewYork-Presbyterian Queens, and increase access to high quality, comprehensive pediatric care for patients and their families in the borough. Learn more.

CUNY Medicine Dean Green, MD, Writes on the Value of an MCAT-free Holistic Application Process

Carmen Reneé Green, MD, Dean of CUNY Medicine, recently published opinions in the New York Daily News and the Washington Post that both outline CUNY Medicine’s holistic application process, which does not use the MCAT. She credits this as essential to attaining and retaining the student diversity CUNY Medicine is known for. Nearly 40% of current medical students are Black and 22% are Latinx. In the Feb. 22 Daily News op-ed, Dean Green describes the health disparities that persist in neighborhoods connected by the M101 bus line that she takes to work and discusses CUNY Medicine’s four-part mission, which includes a social mission to educate underrepresented healthcare professionals and address health disparities in the city and state. The Feb. 6 Washington Post Letter to the Editor, titled “Discrimination embedded in medicine’s early framework endures today,” Dean Green discusses how CUNY Medicine’s holistic applicant review process considers transcripts alongside a candidate’s “lived experiences, the challenges they’ve overcome and what they uniquely bring to our school.”

Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons: How Dr. Charles Drew Transformed Medicine

When we think about blood donations today—from iconic “bloodmobiles” to convalescent plasma treatments for COVID-19—many of us don’t realize we have Charles R. Drew, MD, to thank. Dr. Drew was a surgeon and researcher, who overcame racial barriers to advance not only the field of blood donation but also the education of Black surgeons. Learn more.

Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine High School Students Learn CPR, Life Support Skills at TouroCOM in Harlem

More than 100 NYC high school students from Harlem and elsewhere in NYC enrolled in “MedAchieve,” an award-winning, two-year intensive medical science enrichment program at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (TouroCOM) in Harlem. Working with their medical student mentors, 104 students will learn to perform CPR and defibrillation and Basic Life Support skills: how to recognize sudden cardiac arrest, heart attack, stroke, and foreign body airway obstruction. Learn more.

Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences at University at Buffalo: Confronting Gun Violence

A year after a mass shooting on the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing left three people dead and five injured, its College of Human Medicine hosted the inaugural MSU-University at Buffalo Remembrance Conference. Learn more.

New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine: Actress Selma Blair Has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. An NYITCOM Expert Explains What That Means

On January 29, actress Selma Blair shared a health update with her Instagram followers. Blair, who has starred in films like Legally Blonde and Cruel Intentions, has been open and forthcoming about her multiple sclerosis journey since her 2018 diagnosis. But her Instagram video revealed that she also lives with another condition: Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS). Learn more.

Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons Launches Garrett Isaac Neubauer Center for Cardiovascular Innovation

Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) announced the launch of a new center for pediatric cardiovascular innovation, made possible through a gift by Lawrence Neubauer. The mission of the new center is to improve outcomes for patients through groundbreaking research and care and to define the next cures for and future practice in congenital heart disease (CHD)—here and across the world. Learn more.

New York Medical College Welcomes Creator of The AnKing as Speaker at Alpha Omega Alpha Induction Ceremony

New York Medical College (NYMC) welcomed Nicholas Flint, M.D., creator of The AnKing, a comprehensive educational resource to help maximize the benefits of Anki for medical students, as the featured speaker during this year’s Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) induction ceremony, where 60 School of Medicine students, residents, faculty, and alumni were celebrated with induction into AOA. Learn more.