SUNY Downstate Medical Center
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn, better known as SUNY Downstate Medical Center, is an academic medical center and is the only one of its kind in the Borough of Brooklyn in New York City. Older than the Brooklyn Bridge, SUNY Downstate was established as the Long Island College Hospital in 1860, and is the oldest hospital-based medical school in the United States.
Today the Medical Center is composed of a College of Medicine, College of Health Related Professions, College of Nursing, School of Graduate Studies and University Hospital of Brooklyn. Nobel Prize-winner Dr. Robert F. Furchgott has been a member of the School of Graduate Studies faculty since 1956.
The Center has 1,516 students (as of 1999), of which 50% are minorities and/or recent immigrants. SUNY Downstate's College of Medicine has the highest percentage of minority students of any medical school in New York State.
The current president is Dr. John C. LaRosa.
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[edit] Educational Excellence
SUNY Downstate Medical Center was the first hospital-based medical school in the United States (founded in 1860). It had the first hospital-based nurse-midwifery training program in the country and the first bachelor's degree program in medical sonography. SUNY Downstate Medical Center ranks eigth nationally in the number of alumni who are on the faculty of American medical schools. Of the nearly 21,000 physicians practicing in New York City, more graduated from SUNY Downstate than from any other medical school.
[edit] Regional Economic Impact
SUNY Downstate Medical Center is the fifth largest employer in Brooklyn. 85% of its employees are New York City residents; 62% live in Brooklyn. The hospitals's total direct, indirect, and induced economic impact on New York State is in excess of $627 million. For every $1 the state invests, SUNY Downstate returns more than $12 to the economy. The addition to lifetime earning power for each nursing and allied health graduate ranges from $288,000 to $925,000. SUNY Downstate Medical Center attracted $33.7 million in external research funding in 1998/99, including $24 million from federal sources.
[edit] Milestones in Research
- 1955: Clarence Dennis, M.D., inventor of the heart-lung machine, performs first successful open heart surgery in New York State.
- 1964: Eli Friedman, M.D., establishes nation's first federally funded dialysis program at University Hospital of Brooklyn.
- 1977: Raymond Damadian, M.D., produces first human images using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
- 1984: Henri Begleiter, Ph.D., publishes landmark study showing that the children of alcoholics may have a greater risk for alcoholism.
- 1986: SUNY Downstate conducts first federally funded study of HIV's transmission from mother to fetus.
- 1998: Dr. Robert Furchgott, distinguished professor emeritus of pharmacology, is awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his research on nitric oxide.
