THE ALUMNI MAGAZINE THE ALUMNI MAGAZINE OF NYU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE OF NYU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE FALL 2017 FALL 2017 THE BEST OF HUMANITY From disaster zones to local clinics, doctors THE BEST OF like Hernando Garzon ’88 HUMANITY are there to help. From disaster zones to local clinics, doctors like Elizabeth Lutas ’76 are there to help. SUPPORT OUR STUDENTS AND CREATE YOUR OWN LEGACY. Your gift of $30,000 (payable over up to three years) will be acknowledged with a named dorm room in Vilcek Hall. Planned gifts may qualify as well. One hundred percent of your contribution will support scholarships for NYU School of Medicine students. LEARN MORE: Visit nyulangone.org/give/vilcek-hall-campaign, or contact Diana Robertson at 212-404-3510 or [email protected]. DEAN’S MESSAGE What Sets Us Apart Even after a decade of tremendous progress, the momentum at NYU Langone Health continues to grow. As the following accolades and statistics make clear, our mission to serve, teach, and discover remains steadfast and strong. Our innovative approach to medical training Of course, these numbers tell only part of continues to attract the most talented aspiring the story. The less heralded engine of our doctors, and our matriculating students rate success—and the critical if unquantifiable among the elite in GPA and MCAT scores. In reason the best still lies ahead—is the unique fact, NYU School of Medicine has rocketed in blend of values, talent, and dynamism that the rankings from #34 to #12 according to the generations of students, faculty, and staff U.S. News & World Report list of “Best Graduate have instilled here. “WE REMAIN Schools” for research. Today, we celebrate and reward the boldest AS COMMITTED Recent gifts will grow our scholarship ideas in medicine, offering a climate of endowment to more than $200 million in possibility that draws physicians and scientists AS EVER TO support of medical students. In the 2016–17 who are eager to push the boundaries of SERVING AS academic year, 35 students received full innovation. And we remain as committed as scholarships financed completely by ever to serving as stewards of our city, STEWARDS philanthropy. advancing an array of neighborhood-based OF OUR CITY.” In the past nine years our research portfolio initiatives that leverage healthcare’s potential has grown dramatically, with total grant to strengthen entire communities. revenue increasing 84%. Our upward trajectory In this issue of Grapevine, we focus on our is all the more remarkable in an environment institution’s pioneering humanitarian spirit of unpredictable federal funding. and shine a light on some of the alumni who Our clinical enterprise has expanded to have carried it forward through their work. encompass more than 200 locations through- Individuals like Elizabeth Lutas ’76 and out the New York metropolitan area, headlined Hernando Garzon ’88 (see page 10) embody by new partnerships with NYU Langone the spirit and culture that our School and Hospital–Brooklyn in Sunset Park and NYU institution hold dear. We are delighted to share Winthrop Hospital on Long Island. their stories with you, and I am sure you will As we expand our network, we continue to find them as inspiring as I do. enhance our facilities. The 7 million-square- foot transformation of our main campus is nearly complete, and we have just launched a $700 million investment in NYU Langone ROBERT I. GROSSMAN, MD Hospital–Brooklyn. THE SAUL J. FARBER DEAN AND CEO Photo: John Photo: Carnett 1 | GRAPEVINE ALUMNI MAGAZINE FALL 2017 FEATURES THE ALUMNI MAGAZINE OF NYU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE FALL 2017 NEW YORK UNIVERSITY William R. Berkley, BS (STERN ’66) Chairman, Board of Trustees Andrew D. Hamilton, MSc, PhD President NYU LANGONE HEALTH Kenneth G. Langone, MBA (STERN ’60), (Hon. ’01) Chairman, Board of Trustees The Best of The Next Generation: Robert I. Grossman, MD (Hon. ’08) Humanity Students Give Back The Saul J. Farber Dean and CEO 10 16 OFFICE OF DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI AFFAIRS Hernando Garzon ’88 and Elizabeth Lutas ’76 At NYU School of Medicine, even first-year Grace Y. Ko share why they’ve dedicated their careers to medical students have opportunities to work Senior Vice President caring for patients in dire circumstances. with underserved populations. Anthony J. Grieco ’63, BS (ARTS ’60) Associate Dean, Alumni Affairs Timothy L. Higdon, MPA (WAG ’08) Senior Division Director, Campaigns Christine Beeby NEW(S) HEARD Senior Division Director, Donor Engagement and Communications 3 6 20 Meryl Schwartz, MSW (SSSW ’13) Match results Recent appointments, Class Notes Director, Alumni Affairs volunteers needed, class of 4 21 GRAPEVINE 2021 statistics, books Meryl Schwartz A recap of graduation, honor Profile: Jay Steinberg ’83 and Managing Editor society members, awards 8 Ellen Steinberg ’83 Jen Swetzoff Alumni reunion weekend 24 Senior Editor Profile: M. Natalie Achong ’92 Barbara Mlawer Dhania Nair 26 Contributing Editors Q+A: A Conversation Opto Design with Eugene Braunwald ’52, Publication Design the “Father of Modern CONTACT INFORMATION Cardiology” We’d love to hear from you! To ask questions, make comments, or share 28 your own stories, please contact us In Memoriam at [email protected] or 212-263-5390. You can also write to 30 us or visit our website. Look Back NYU School of Medicine Office of Development and Alumni Affairs We produced two different covers One Park Avenue, 5th Floor for this issue, with photography by New York, NY 10016 Aaron Kotowski Photography, LLC. To see both images, please visit med.nyu.edu/alumni med.nyu.edu/alumni. NYU Langone Health comprises NYU Langone Hospitals and NYU School of Medicine. New(s) ACHIEVEMENTS MOST MATCHED PROGRAMS* Gabe Campion ‘17 shows off his match letter 2017 Match Day NYU (45) Columbia (9) More than 75 percent of graduates Harvard (7) Northwestern (7) land at the top 25 residency programs Mount Sinai (6) UCLA (6) IN MARCH, NYU School of Medicine students tore open Penn (6) envelopes to discover where they had matched for residency Yale (5) programs. MOST POPULAR SPECIALTIES* “This was a very strong match year,” said Linda Tewksbury, MD, associate dean for student affairs, noting that more than Internal medicine (32) 75 percent of the class of 2017 matched at programs affiliated Emergency with the top 25 medical schools* in the United States. More medicine (20) than 52 percent of the graduating class will stay in the Big Apple, Obstetrics and gynecology (13) with 45 new doctors doing their residencies at NYU Langone, Pediatrics (10) including the 19 Three-Year Accelerated MD Pathway graduates. Anesthesiology (9) *Based on categorical specialty programs only– Dermatology (9) Photo: Alan Barnett Photography Photo: U.S. News & World Report *Out of 162 placements 3 | GRAPEVINE ALUMNI MAGAZINE FALL 2017 New(s) CELEBRATIONS Class of 2017 taking the Hippocratic Oath A Recap of the 2017 Graduation Ceremony NYU School of Medicine applauds 166 new doctors IN MAY, during the graduation honor society (see page 5). save lives, discover amazing ceremony in Alice Tully Hall at Seven students graduated medical breakthroughs and Lincoln Center, NYU School as Silverstein Scholars, cures, and win Nobel Prizes of Medicine recognized the recipients of a scholarship along the way. You will help accomplishments of 166 fund created by Larry A. and shape the future of medicine graduates as they received Klara Silverstein that provides and we all salute you on a their doctor of medicine full tuition and room and remarkable achievement.” degrees. The class included 19 board for selected students Robert I. Grossman, MD, students from the Three-Year largely based on academic the Saul J. Farber dean and Accelerated MD Pathway pro- merit, though financial need CEO of NYU Langone, also gram and 31 students who re- is also considered. addressed the class of 2017, ceived dual degrees: six MD/ In his keynote address, reminding graduates to have MS degrees; one MD/MPH Mr. Silverstein, chairman of courage during their careers. degree; 15 MD/MBA degrees; Silverstein Properties, Inc., “What really has the poten- and nine MD/PhD degrees and a member of the NYU tial to change the world,” he through the Sackler Insti- Langone Health Board of said, “is everyday courage— tute of Graduate Biomedical Trustees, said to graduates: the quiet commitment to do Sciences. Seven degrees were “We can’t thank you enough what’s right, no matter how conferred with honors, and for the sacrifices you have tough it is to do so. Don’t be 30 members of the class were made and will continue afraid to criticize attendings inducted into Alpha Omega to make in order to better who fail to wash their hands Alpha, the national medical humanity. You are going to before seeing a patient. Be Alan Barnett Photography Photo: 4 | NYU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE HONORS willing to denounce fudging of data. Stand up when some- one is disrespectful. Provide the necessary negative feedback to a medical student who’s done an inadequate workup. Never—and I do mean never—compromise your ethics or integrity. Always put the patient first Class of 2017 AOA Members and treat those under your care as you would like to be treated.” Alpha Omega Alpha Alejandro Torres ’17, the class president, expressed his Welcomes New Members gratitude for all the people who had supported him and ON MARCH 7, NYU School of Medicine hosted the 95th Alpha his fellow graduates, and he Omega Alpha (AOA) installation dinner at the Water Club in stressed the importance of New York City. During the event, 30 outstanding NYU School community. of Medicine graduates in the top third of their class—as well as “I believe what makes alumni member Hernando Garzon ’88 (see page 10) and faculty a doctor,” he said, “is the members Mark R.