The Albert Einstein College of Medicine ("Einstein" for short), a joint entity between Montefiore Medical Center and Yeshiva University, is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian medical school located in the Morris Park neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. In addition to M.D. degrees, Einstein offers graduate biomedical degrees through its Sue Golding Graduate Division. Allen M. Spiegel, M.D., has served as the Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean since June 1, 2006.
Einstein’s areas of focus are medical education, basic research, and clinical research. The school is well known for its humanistic approach to medicine and the diversity of its student body. The class of 2019 includes 183 students from 23 different states. In addition, 18% were born outside the U.S., and 12% identify themselves as belonging to groups considered underrepresented in medicine.
Einstein is a major biomedical and clinical research facility. Faculty members received $157 million in research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2014, ranking 25th of 138 medical schools in the U.S. The N.I.H. funding includes major amounts for research in aging, disorders of intellectual development, diabetes, cancer, liver disease, and AIDS.
History
Dr. Samuel Belkin, president of Yeshiva University, began planning a new medical school as early as 1945. Six years later, Dr. Belkin and New York City Mayor Vincent Impellitteri entered into an agreement to begin its construction with funding from Henry H. Minskoff. Around the same time, world-renowned physicist and humanitarian Albert Einstein sent a letter to Dr. Belkin. He remarked that such an endeavor would be "unique" in that the school would "welcome students of all creeds and races". Two years later, on his 74th birthday, March 14, 1953, Albert Einstein agreed to have his name attached to the medical school.
The first classes began September 12, 1955, with 56 students. It was the first new medical school to open in New York City since 1897. The Sue Golding Graduate Division was established in 1957 to offer Ph.D. degrees in biomedical disciplines. The Medical Scientist Training Program, a combined M.D.-Ph.D. program, was started 1964. The Clinical Research Training Program, which confers M.S. degrees in clinical research methods, began in July 1998.
Notable research and achievements
Einstein has been the site of major medical achievements and accomplishments, including:
- In 1964, Einstein was the first medical school in the United States to establish a Department of Genetics.
- In 1965, Einstein opened one of the first General Clinical Research Centers in the U.S., funded by the N.I.H.
- The residency program in Social Medicine was established in 1970, in part to address the shortage of primary care clinicians in underserved communities.
- In 1974, Einstein's Liver Research Center â€" now the Marion Bessin Liver Research Center â€" became the first institute in the United States for the study of liver disease and injury.
- In 1976, researchers at Einstein identified the mechanism of action of Taxol, an important cancer drug. (Susan B. Horwitz, Ph.D.)
- In 1978, Einstein was designated a Diabetes Research and Training Center, one of seven in the U.S. Prominent scientists involved in research on the insulin receptor, the mechanisms of diabetes complications, glucose toxicity, control of metabolism by the brain, and hypoglycemia have done research there.
- In 1988, one of the first Centers for AIDS Research in the country funded by the N.I.H. was created at Einstein. Researchers were among the first to identify pediatric AIDS as a distinct disease and established the first day-care center in the world for children with AIDS. (Arye Rubinstein, M.D.)
- In 1994, Einstein became the only New York City medical school selected by the N.I.H. to participate in the Women's Health Initiative, the largest research study of women's health ever undertaken. (Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller, Ph.D., principal investigator)
- In 2006, Einstein became the only medical institution in the Northeast to serve as a research site for the Hispanic Community Health Study, the largest research study of Hispanic health ever conducted. (Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller, Ph.D., principal investigator)
- Einstein researchers demonstrated the association between reduced levels of high-density lipoproteins (HDL), or "good" cholesterol, and heart disease.
- Einstein researchers identified a neurotransmitter missing from the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease, a finding that influenced much subsequent Alzheimer's disease research. (Peter Davies, Ph.D.)
- Researchers at Einstein discovered structural abnormalities of brain cells that explain deficiencies in cognitive development, greatly contributing to the understanding of mental retardation. (Dominick P. Purpura, M.D.)
- Einstein researchers helped discover the mechanisms responsible for the diversity of antibodies and their precision in immune responses. (Matthew D. Scharff, M.D.)
- Scientists at Einstein pioneered research that has led to improved methods of avoiding organ transplant rejection. (Stanley G. Nathenson, M.D.)
- Einstein researchers have conducted important epidemiologic research in migraines and other types of headaches. (Richard B. Lipton, M.D.)
- The Division of Substance Abuse is the largest addiction treatment program in the Bronx, the second largest public treatment program in New York State, and the largest in the world operating under the auspices of a medical school. It serves more than 3,600 people, and provides comprehensive opioid addiction treatment at nine community-based outpatient facilities located throughout the borough, as well as ambulatory services for all substances of abuse at the Division’s Chemical Dependency Wellness Services program in facilities located in the North and South Bronx.
Allegations of discrimination
The College of Medicine has been the center of several allegations of discrimination. In 1994, Einstein was sued by Heidi Weissmann, a researcher in nuclear medicine and former associate professor of radiology, for sexual discrimination for not promoting her due to gender bias. The case was settled for $900,000. In 1998, Yeshiva University and Einstein were sued by the American Civil Liberties Union for discrimination of two medical students over their sexual orientation by not allowing their non-student, non-married partners to live with them in student housing.
Transfer from Yeshiva University to Montefiore Health System
In February 2015, Yeshiva University announced the transfer of ownership of Einstein to the Montefiore Health System, in order to eliminate a large deficit from the university's financial statements. The medical school accounted for approximately two-thirds of the university's annual operating deficits, which had reached about $100 million before the announcement. On September 9, 2015, the agreement between Yeshiva and Montefiore was finalized, and financial and operational control of Albert Einstein College of Medicine was transferred to Montefiore. Yeshiva University plans to continue to grant Einstein's degrees until 2018, when Einstein's application for its own degree-granting authority is expected to be approved.
Leadership
- Marcus D. Kogel, M.D., founding dean, November 1, 1953â€"1967.
- Harry H. Gordon, M.D., dean, 1967â€"1970.
- Ernst R. Jaffé, M.D., acting dean, 1972â€"September 1, 1974, 1983â€"August 1, 1984.
- Labe C. Scheinberg, M.D., dean, 1970â€"1972.
- Ephraim Friedman, M.D., dean, September 1, 1974â€"1983.
- Dominick P. Purpura, M.D., The Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean, August 1, 1984â€"June 1, 2006. His 22 years as dean are a record for the head of a medical school.
- Allen M. Spiegel, M.D., The Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean, June 1, 2006â€"present. Dr. Spiegel was previously the director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, where he worked for over 30 years.
Academic programs
The school offers M.D. and Ph.D. degrees and has a Medical Scientist Training Program that gives combined M.D.-Ph.D. degrees. Students pursuing Ph.D. or M.D.-Ph.D. degrees get full tuition remission and an annual stipend of $33,000. Einstein also offers M.S. degrees in clinical research methods and in bioethics. The school is well known for promoting community medical awareness, and for humanism in social, ethical, and medical realms through its hospital affiliations, free Einstein Community Health Outreach clinic, and Bronx community health fairs.
A study published by researchers at Harvard Medical School and the University of California, San Francisco, which sought to eliminate the subjective metrics present in the U.S. News & World Report rankings, gave Einstein a rank of #13 relative to other medicals schools in the United States, placing it among the top 10 percent. Einstein is currently ranked #35 in research by U.S. News & World Report out of 170 medical schools.
Albert Einstein offers joint residency programs between Montefiore Medical Center and Jacobi Medical Center in Child Neurology, Dermatology, Emergency Medicine, General Surgery, Neurology, Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB/GYN), Ophthalmology, Orthopedic Surgery, Otolaryngology (ENT), Plastic Surgery, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R), Urology and Vascular Surgery. Its Jacobi Medical Center also offers comprehensive residency training programs in Internal Medicine, Pediatrics and Radiology.
Affiliations
The Albert Einstein College of Medicine is affiliated with five medical centers: Montefiore Medical Center, the University Hospital and academic medical center for Einstein; Jacobi Medical Center, Einstein’s founding hospital and first affiliate, and three other hospital systems: Bronx Lebanon Hospital, North Shore-LIJ Health System on Long Island, and Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn. Through its affiliation network, Einstein runs the largest postgraduate medical training program in the U.S.
Einstein runs the Rose F. Kennedy Center, which conducts research and treatment for people with developmental disabilities.
Departments
Einstein has many departments in various fields of academic medicine and basic science. Ph.D. and M.D.-Ph.D. degrees are offered in:
Centers and institutes
- The Children's Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center is the main clinical arm of the Rose F. Kennedy Center, one of 67 similar centers in the United States. Composed of ten interdisciplinary teams, the CERC provides care for approximately 8,000 children and adults with developmental and other disabilities. Under the direction of Dr. Robert W. Marion, a medical geneticist, the CERC provides care to children with disabilities and to their families, educates students and professionals with an interest in the field of neurodevelopmental disabilities, and conducts research into the causes and potential treatments of the conditions that affect patients. The research arm of CERC is headed by Dr. John J. Foxe.
- The CERC is home to one of 36 Leadership in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities programs in the U.S., and offers hands-on education to professionals in developmental and behavioral pediatrics, special care and general dentistry, medical genetics and genetic counseling, psychiatry, psychology, social work, nursing, and other specialties. Each year, more than 1,000 medical, dental, nursing, and other professionals participate in its educational programs.
- Since 2007, the CERC has also developed a substantial clinical research program, investigating the causes and treatments of such conditions as autism and autism spectrum disorder, sensorineural hearing loss, and cerebral palsy.
- The Center for Ethics at Yeshiva University and the Institute for Public Health Sciences are affiliated with the medical school.
- Albert Einstein Cancer Center
- Center for AIDS Research
- Diabetes Research and Training Center
- Hispanic Center of Excellence
- Institute for Aging Research
- Institute for Clinical and Translational Research
- Institute for Onco-Physics
- See all centers
Campus
The Einstein Campus is named for Jack and Pearl Resnick. Its main features are:
- The Leo Forchheimer Medical Sciences Building (1953) was the school's first building. It contains Robbins auditorium (the second-year medical students' lecture hall), Max and Sadie Friedman Lounge, biological research labs and anatomy labs, other lecture halls for graduate courses, and the school's D. Samuel Gottesman Library. In 2007, the building caught on fire twice, severely disrupting classes and research.
- The Mazer Building contains the Lubin Student Center, which is the school's kosher dining hall, the Singer faculty club, and faculty offices.
- The Ullmann Research Center for Health Sciences (1964) contains research laboratories.
- The Arthur B. and Diane Belfer Educational Center for Health Sciences (1972) is the school's main educational building and houses the first-year medical students' lecture hall (Riklis Auditorium), instructional labs, classrooms, conference rooms, and administrative offices.
- The Irwin B. and Sylvia Chanin Institute for Cancer Research (1978) has laboratories for cancer research
- The Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center.
- The Samuel H. and Rachel Golding Building (1996) is a 10-story biomedical research facility that is an addition to the original Forchheimer building.
- Morris Park Avenue bisects the campus, separating the majority of academic and research buildings from the residential buildings and new construction.
- The Michael F. Price Center for Genetic and Translational Medicine is a $220 million research building, opened and dedicated on June 12, 2008. It is 201,000 square feet (18,700Â m2), houses 40 laboratories, including a BSL-3 laboratory for infectious disease research.
- The Van Etten Building contains the Ruth L. Gottesman Clinical Skills Center, a 22,700-square-foot (2,110Â m2) space of classrooms and 23 examination rooms for the clinical instruction of first- and second-year medical students.
- The Eastchester Road Residence Complex, as three 28-story apartment buildings containing 634 apartments, provides housing to M.D. and Ph.D. students, post-doctoral fellows, and their families.
- The Falk Recreation Center, which opened in 1987, houses a gym, pool, indoor track, and basketball, squash and racquetball courts.
- The Jack D. Weiler Hospital of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, a division of Montefiore Medical Center.
The Rose F. Kennedy Center for Research in Mental Retardation and Human Development is on the adjacent campus of Jacobi Medical Center. The Rhinelander Hall Residence Complex, several blocks away on Rhinelander Avenue, houses post-doctoral fellows and medical students.
Student life
Einstein College is located in Morris Park, a residential neighborhood in the northeast Bronx, several miles (~20Â km) from Manhattan. The Wildlife Conservation Park, better known as the Bronx Zoo, and the New York Botanical Garden and its Enid Haupt Conservatory are nearby. The fishing community of City Island, which features marinas and a broad selection of seafood restaurants, is also a short distance away.
There are more than 50 student clubs with a variety of activities, medical specialties, and a wide range of religious, political, and ethnic affiliations. Offerings include dance and movie clubs, an arts and literary magazine, and the Einstein Community Health Outreach, which launched New York State's first student-coordinated free clinic.
Notable alumni
- Joseph H. Berke, M.D. Psychiatrist who helped Mary Barnes, a nurse with schizophrenia, emerge from madness. She became a famous artist and writer.
- William Breitbart, M.D. (Class of 1978). Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
- Lynda Chin, M.D. (Class of 1993). Department chair and professor of genomic medicine at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, scientific director of the M.D. Anderson Institute for Applied Cancer Science, and married to Ronald DePinho (see below).
- Luz Claudio, Ph.D. (Class of 1990). Medical researcher on asthma in low income communities.
- Raymond Vahan Damadian, M.D. (Class of 1960). Pioneer of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI); founder, president, and chairman, FONAR Corporation; professor of medicine and radiology, SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn.
- Howard Dean, M.D. (Class of 1978). Former governor of Vermont and chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and 2004 presidential candidate. Dean met his wife, Dr. Judith Steinberg Dean, while they were both students at Einstein.
- Judith Steinberg Dean, M.D. (Class of 1978). Former first lady of Vermont.
- Ronald A. DePinho, M.D. (Class of 1981). Noted cancer biologist, and married to Lynda Chin (see above).
- Kathleen McCormack Durst (Class of 1982 - did not graduate) Former wife of Robert Durst who went missing in 1982 during her fourth year of medical school.
- Neal E. Flomenbaum, M.D. (Class of 1973). Emergency Physician-in-Chief at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Cornell Medical Center, Medical Director of the New York-Presbyterian Emergency Medical Service, and Professor of Clinical Medicine at Cornell Medical College.
- Raja M. Flores, M.D. (Class of 1992). Chief of the Division of Thoracic Surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital and Ames Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
- Marc Galanter, M.D. (Class of 1971). Deputy Director of the Division of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse in the Department of Psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine.
- Sankar Ghosh, Ph.D. (Class of 1988). Silverstein & Hutt Family Professor and Chairman of Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Columbia University. Noted researcher of transcription factor NF-KB.
- Billy Goldberg, M.D. (Class of 1992). Emergency medicine physician at Bellevue Hospital and Assistant Professor at the N.Y.U. School of Medicine, and author.
- Baruch Goldstein, M.D. (Class of 1981). Perpetrator of the Cave of the Patriarchs Massacre
- Michael Grodin, M.D. (Class of 1976). Professor of Health Law, Bioethics, and Human Rights at the Boston University School of Public Health, recipient of the distinguished Faculty Career Award for Research and Scholarship and many other teaching awards, Chairman of the Institutional Review Board of the Department of Health and Hospitals of the City of Boston.
- Gary Hartstein, M.D. Clinical Professor of Anesthesia and Emergency Medicine at University of Liège Hospital, Liège, Belgium and former FIA Medical Delegate for the Formula One World Championship.
- Ronald Hoffman, M.D. (Class of 1983). Champion of holistic medicine, author, and radio talk show host.
- Harvey Karp, M.D. (Class of 1976). Assistant professor of pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA; author of The Happiest Baby on the Block.
- George Kuo, Ph.D. (Class of 1972). Co-discoverer of Hepatitis C
- Rudolph Leibel, M.D. (Class of 1967), awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award of Albert Einstein College of Medicine (2005), Scientist at Columbia University whose co-discovery at Rockefeller University of the hormone leptin, and cloning of the leptin and leptin receptor genes, has had a major role in the area of understanding human obesity.
- Allison O'Neill, M.D. (Class of 2005). Pediatric oncologist who specializes in pediatric hepatic malignancies at the Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center.
- Kenneth H. Shubin Stein, M.D. Founder and portfolio manager, Spencer Capital Management; healthcare investor.
- Jonathan Zizmor, M.D. (Class of 1969). Dermatologist, known by millions of New York City Subway riders for his quirky advertisements.
Notable faculty
- Alfred A. Angrist, M.D., Professor and founding Chairman of the Department of Pathology, 1954â€"1969.
- Nir Barzilai, M.D., Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology) and of Genetics, and Director of the Institute for Aging Research, 1993â€"current.
- Arturo Casadevall, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Medicine and of Microbiology and Immunology, 1991â€"2011, and Chairman of Microbiology and Immunology, 2007â€"2011.
- Marie Daly, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemistry and Medicine, 1960â€"1986.
- Leo M. Davidoff, M.D., Professor and founding Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery, 1955â€"1966.
- Harry Eagle, M.D., Professor of Pathology, 1961â€"1988.
- Alfred Gilman, Ph.D., Professor and founding Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology, 1956â€"1973.
- Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D., Professor and Chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeon-in-Chief at Montefiore Medical Center, 1996â€"2005.
- Susan Band Horwitz, Ph.D., Professor of Molecular Pharmacology, 1967â€"current.
- William R. Jacobs Jr., Ph.D., Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, and of Genetics, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, 1987â€"current.
- Geoffrey Kabat, Ph.D., Professor of Epidemiology.
- Steven K. Libutti, M.D., Professor of Surgery and of Genetics, 2009â€"current.
- Irving M. London, M.D., Professor of Medicine and founding Chairman of the Department of Medicine, 1955â€"1970.
- Gertie Marx, M.D., Professor, Department of Anesthesiology and pioneer of obstetric anesthesiology, 1955â€"1995.
- Mary Jane Osborn, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biochemistry, 1963â€"1968.
- Tia Powell, M.D., Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and Clinical Psychiatry, 2009â€"current.
- Isabelle Rapin, M.D., Professor of Neurology and of Pediatrics, 1958â€"2012.
- Oliver Sacks, M.D., Professor of Neurology, 1966â€"2007.
- Berta Scharrer, Ph.D., Professor of Anatomy and Structural Biology and of Neuroscience, 1955â€"1995.
- Ernst Scharrer, Ph.D., Professor and founding Chairman of the Department of Anatomy, 1954â€"1965.
- Robert H. Singer, Ph.D., Professor and Co-Chair, Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology; Professor, Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience; Professor, Department of Cell Biology; Co-Director, Integrated Imaging Facility; and Co-Director, Gruss Lipper Biophotonics Center; senior fellow at the Janelia Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; member of the US National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
- Theodore Spaet, M.D., Professor of Medicine (Hematology), 1965â€"1985.
- Edmund Sonnenblick, M.D., Professor and Director of the Cardiology Division 1975â€"1996
- Wolfgang A. Tomé, Ph.D., Professor of Radiation Oncology, founding Director of Medical Physics of the Institute for Onco-Physics, Director of the Division of Therapeutic Medical Physics in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Montefiore Medical Center, 2012â€"current.
- Jan Vijg, Ph.D., Professor of Molecular Genetics.
- Abraham White, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemistry, 1955â€"1962.
See also
- Medical education in the United States
- Yeshiva University
- Montefiore Medical Center
- Jacobi Medical Center
- Morris Park, Bronx
- Long Island Jewish Medical Center
- Yeshiva University Medical Ethics Society
References
External links
- Albert Einstein College of Medicineâ€"official website.
- YouTube EDUâ€"Einstein YouTube page.
- D. Samuel Gottesman Libraryâ€"official website.
- Yeshiva Universityâ€"official site.
- Montefiore Medical Centerâ€"official website.
- M.D. Degree Program â€" Education Websiteâ€"educational informatics website.
- Einstein Medical Scientist Training Program (M.D.-Ph.D.)â€"official website.
- GSCâ€"Einstein Graduate Student Councilâ€"student-body's resource-rich website.
- EPAâ€"Einstein Postdoc Associationâ€"Einstein postdoc website.
- AECOMmunityâ€"Einstein medical student Websiteâ€"student-run resource website.
- ECHO free clinic
- The Doctor's Tablet Faculty and staff-written blog.