An Overview Albany Medical Center Recognizing the need for improved management capabilities and integration of systems, the Albany Medical College and the Albany Medical Center Hospital entered into a new organizational structure known as Albany Medical Center in Albany Medical College 1983. The Center consolidated planning, finances, fund raising, and policy direction for the College and Hospital, Albany Medical College, one of the nation’s oldest private assuring that the two institutions pursue appropriately medical schools, prides itself in offering an intimate, collegial integrated and reinforced missions in health care, education, environment, which fosters humane values and genuine and biomedical research. This Institutional configuration has learning. The Albany Medical College enrolled its first allowed Albany Medical Center to become a well developed students in 1839, however, the impetus for this institution may academic medical center serving as a regional resource for be traced to 1821 when the founder of the college and first twenty-four counties in northeastern New York and west- Dean, Alden March, opened a one-room school and began central New England. offering courses in Anatomy. Every year from the mid-1820s until 1838, Dr. March submitted petitions to the New York The Medical Center is Albany’s largest non-governmental State Legislature to establish an Albany Medical College. In employer with approximately 6,000 employees. The Center is 1830, he delivered “A Lecture on the Expediency of at the hub of a health care network that includes 50 hospitals Establishing a Medical College and Hospital in the City of and more than 3,000 physicians in its 24-county service Albany.” Support from citizen committees and the City of region. The Center serves a population of two million people, Albany were instrumental in persuading the legislature to mostly in eastern New York, including adjacent areas in grant a charter to establish the institution. The Act of western Massachusetts and southern Vermont. Situated near Incorporation was signed on February 16, 1839. and working closely with Albany Medical College at its University Heights location are Albany Law School, Albany From 1838 until 1928, the Medical College was housed in the College of Pharmacy, the Samuel S. Stratton Department of Lancaster School Building, on the corner of Lancaster and Veterans Affairs Medical Center, the Wadsworth Center and Eagle Streets, which the City of Albany had donated to Dr. the Capital District Psychiatric Center. March. In 1899, the Albany Hospital moved to its present location. In 1928, the Medical College moved into a five-story building adjacent to the hospital. Major additions to the The Capital Region college facilities were added: the Neil Hellman Medical Research Building (1963); the Medical Education Building Albany, the capital of New York State, along with (1974); and the Administration Building (1985). A new Schenectady and Troy, form the Capital Region area, which Hospital Tower was completed in 1992. has a combined population of nearly 800,000. Fifteen colleges and universities in the Capital Region and Saratoga Springs Since its inception the school has been a private, cooperate with each other through the Hudson Mohawk nondenominational, coeducational institution. The Medical Association of Colleges and Universities. Culturally, the area School has approximately 128 students in each class. offers a wide array of events, places, and attractions. Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Tanglewood, Jacob’s Pillow The mission of Albany Medical College is to: (Berkshire), the Glimmerglass Opera House, the State University of New York at Albany, the Empire State Plaza, • Educate medical students, all physicians, biomedical Albany Symphony, and the Lake George Opera provide scientists, and other health care professionals in order premier exposure to music and dance. Community orchestras, to meet the future primary and specialty health care players groups, preservation societies, and art groups offer needs of the region and nation. individuals an opportunity to pursue their own interests and • Foster biomedical research that leads to scientific lifestyles with others possessing similar tastes. There are advances and the improvement of the health of the thoroughbred races and world-renowned performing arts public. presentations in Saratoga, the Baseball Hall of Fame in • Provide a broad range of patient services to the Cooperstown, battlefield monuments in Schuylerville, people of eastern New York and western New museums in Albany, and reminders of our early American England, including illness prevention programs, heritage throughout the region. Lakes, mountains, and rivers comprehensive care, and the highly complex care offer outdoor enthusiasts unparalleled opportunities to fish, associated with academic medical centers. swim, camp, ski, sail, hike, drive, canoe or just enjoy the beauties of nature. ALBANY MEDICAL COLLEGE Philosophy of Medical Education at Internships and Residencies Albany Medical College Senior medical students at Albany Medical College select their internships and residencies through the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP), which is designed to The content of the undergraduate curriculum at Albany provide fairness and complete freedom to each applicant in Medical College is integrated over four years. The Basic procuring the graduate program of choice. As house officers, Sciences have been organized into conceptual or organ system Albany Medical College graduates find that they are well modules that are initiated in the first year. Year I deals with an prepared to assume the responsibilities and privileges of understanding of “normal” within a clinical context. In Year graduate training and patient care. Many graduates continue II, the modules focus on an understanding of “abnormal.” The their education at Albany Medical Center, while others select clinical clerkships during Year III emphasize ambulatory care internship and residency programs at other outstanding in varied settings: rural, urban, managed care, and private teaching hospitals throughout the country. practice. Year IV is hospital-based, preparing students for residency and practice. During Years III and IV, students revisit the basic science modules in the context of their own clinical experiences. The curriculum features longitudinal educational experiences spanning all years. Ethics, law, Faculty humanism, nutrition and evidenced-based medicine are stressed in this manner. Experiences in the clinical years The faculty of Albany Medical College is well suited to the provide students with an introduction to the major clinical school’s mission. Faculty members have achieved national subspecialties. recognition through their research contributions, while participating enthusiastically and productively in education and training at the College. The wide ranging and overlapping The Albany Medical College interests of the faculty provide the basis for integrated, Graduate interdisciplinary teaching programs. A full-time faculty, supplemented by voluntary faculty with special knowledge The Albany Medical College graduate combines knowledge and skill in both basic medical and clinical sciences, provides and skills with an understanding of the relationship between a diversity of learning opportunities. The resident staff and the needs of society and the needs of individuals. Graduates fellows at Albany Medical Center and its affiliated hospitals from Albany Medical College should have the ability to: provide superior clinical teaching in association with directly identify clinical problems; accumulate and interpret data; supervised patient care activities. assess the urgency of clinical situations; develop diagnostic strategies; develop management plans; document data, assessment and plans in the record; appreciate the cost of caring for patients; counsel patients; educate patients; promote wellness and preventive strategies; use the scientific method to initiate and evaluate research; teach others; demonstrate professional attitudes; demonstrate ethical imperatives; demonstrate an understanding and respect for cultural differences; function as a health care member; and become a lifelong learner. Albany Medical College graduates compete favorably for available training opportunities and upon completion of graduate training have achieved recognition for excellence in all areas of medicine including practice, research, teaching, and administration. Ann Marie L’Hommedieu, MLS Susan Lahey, MLS Vilija Markunas, MALS Debra Wellspeak, MLS Mark Wolfe, MA, MLS Resources in the five-story Schaffer Library of Health Sciences include over 145,000 volumes, 2,000 audiovisual programs, 100 curriculum related computer programs, 1,000 regularly received print journal titles, and 8,500 electronic journals, books, and databases. Major services, including curriculum, reserve materials, interlibrary loans, reference, and public access computers, are located on the first floor. Reading areas and open stacks are on floors one through four. The third floor houses the history of medicine and Albany Medical College’s archival collections. The Independent Learning Center is located on Educational Facilities the fifth floor and integrates an extensive media collection, viewing rooms, and a computer teaching/learning lab. The The college buildings vary in age from the T. Smith building library’s web-based catalog, WEBCAT, is accessible from built in 1860 to the administrative