An internationally recognized pulmonologist, Dr. Schluger has served as the Barbara and William Rosenthal Chair of the Department of Medicine professor of medicine at NYMC and director of medicine at Westchester Medical Center since 2020. 

Since joining NYMC, Dr. Schluger has distinguished himself as a clinician, researcher, and educator, leading a department of more than 425 faculty members and teaching more than 800 medical students and residents. In 2021, he took on the additional role of associate dean for clinical and translational research for the SOM. 

Previously, Dr. Schluger served as chief of the division of pulmonary, allergy, and critical care medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center; professor of medicine, epidemiology, and environmental health sciences; director of the Population and Global Health Track for the Scholars Projects Program; and co-director of the Programs in Education and Global and Population Health for the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. 

Dr. Schluger is a founder of the East Africa Training Initiative in Pulmonary Medicine (EATI). The two-year fellowship training program in pulmonary and critical care medicine, which recently marked its tenth anniversary, is the first training program of its kind in Ethiopia and the broader East African region. Before the launch of EATI, Ethiopia had only one pulmonologist for its 110 million people. EATI has, thus far, graduated 18 specialists, including two pediatric pulmonologists and two physicians from Rwanda and Tanzania, who have assumed leadership roles at hospitals across East Africa.

He has been a principal investigator in the Tuberculosis Trials Consortium, an international collaboration sponsored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for 25 years, and was the chair of the consortium from 2000-2016. Dr. Schluger has been an author or editor of several editions of The Tobacco Atlas, the definitive work describing the extent and consequences of the global epidemic of tobacco use, published by Vital Strategies and the American Cancer Society. He. also serves as a member of the board of trustees at Vital Strategies, a global not-for-profit organization devoted to public health issues.

Dr. Schluger is the author of more than 200 articles, chapters, and books. His work has been published in The New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of the American Medical Association, The Lancet, and The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, among other leading journals. Dr. Schluger is an associate editor of The American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Medicine. He is a past chair of the American Lung Association of New York and past chief scientific officer of the World Lung Foundation. Dr. Schluger was recently recognized by Crain’s New York Business as a 2023 Notable Health Care Leader. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Schluger rose to the occasion and became a voice in the media on re-infection, long-term symptoms, and the use of hydroxychloroquine for treating COVID-19. He was the author of the lead article, “Observational Study of Hydroxychloroquine in Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19,” published in The New England Journal of Medicine, May 7, 2020. Dr. Schluger used data from an observational trial he led where 1,400 COVID-19 patients were given hydroxychloroquine and showed that there was no evidence that the drug had any benefit to the patient’s conditions. 

Board-certified in pulmonary disease and internal medicine, Dr. Schluger is a graduate of Harvard College and earned his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania and completed a residency in internal medicine and served as chief resident at St. Luke’s Hospital in New York. He later completed a three-year pulmonary and critical care medicine fellowship at The New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center.

View the SOM Dean’s Updates and Deans Research Reports.
 

Edward C. Halperin, M.D., M.A., is the chancellor and chief executive officer of New York Medical College (NYMC), professor of radiation oncology, pediatrics, and history; the Miriam Popack Chair of Biomedical Ethics after the Holocaust, director of the Hirth and Samowitz Center for Medical Humanities and Holocaust Studies, and provost for biomedical affairs at Touro University. His multifaceted expertise encompasses pediatric radiation oncology, medical history, and health sciences education. Since joining NYMC in 2012, Dr. Halperin has helped shape the institution's growth and impact.

Under Dr. Halperin's leadership, NYMC experienced a significant expansion, marked by the acquisition of two new academic buildings, the establishment of BioInc@NYMC, the mid-Hudson Valley’s only fully equipped biotechnology incubator on a health sciences college campus, the creation of the Clinical Skills and Simulation Center, the enhancement of laboratory facilities, including a state-of-the-art computerized anatomy laboratory, the signing of a long-term academic affiliation agreement with the WMC Health System, the renewal of agreements with NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan, and partnerships of the College with the Lovelace Biomedical Research Institute and the New York College of Podiatric Medicine. Notably, he played an important role in the launch of new academic programs, such as the first new dental school in New York in 50 years, interdisciplinary biomedical sciences and medical ethics M.S. programs, a clinical laboratory sciences M.S., and a B.S. in nursing. Dr. Halperin also championed the development of a robust Shomer Shabbat residencies program.

Committed to fostering inclusivity, Dr. Halperin focuses on expanding opportunities for all students. Under his guidance, the percentage of under-represented minority students reached the highest level in the U.S. for a historically majority M.D. program and reached 25 percent in graduate programs. During his tenure, funding of the research programs has increased by 450 percent.

Dr. Halperin practices radiation oncology at NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan in New York City and Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital of Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, New York. He has contributed to more than 240 articles in peer-reviewed scientific, historical, education, and ethics literature on pediatric cancer, ethics, and the history of racial, religious, and gender discrimination in medical education, and has been cited more than 1,800 times. He is an editor of two major textbooks in his field: Principles and Practice of Radiation Oncology and Pediatric Radiation Oncology.

Before his tenure at NYMC, Dr. Halperin served as the dean of the School of Medicine, Ford Foundation Professor of Medical Education, and professor of radiation oncology, pediatrics, and history as well as vice provost at the University of Louisville. Before that, he spent 23 years at Duke University, where he held various roles, including L.R. Prosnitz professor and chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology, R. J. Reynolds Professor of Medical Education and vice dean of the School of Medicine, and associate vice chancellor. 

He received a bachelor’s degree in economics summa cum laude from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, his M.D. cum laude from Yale University, and a master’s degree in liberal studies from Duke University. He completed his medical internship in internal medicine at Stanford University Medical Center and his radiation oncology residency at Harvard Medical School’s Massachusetts General Hospital where he also served as chief resident.

Dr. Halperin's career reflects his dedication to the care of children with cancer, advancing medical education, promoting diversity, and contributing to the fields of medical history and ethics. Sharon and Edward Halperin are the parents of three daughters and have five grandchildren. 

Jerry L. Nadler, M.D., MACP, FAHA, FACE, served as the dean of the School of Medicine from 2019 to 2023. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Dr. Nadler received a B.A. in Biology and Chemistry from The State University of New York, Binghamton, and his M.D., from the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine, where he worked with Dr. Daniel Mintz, the founding scientific director and chief academic officer of the Diabetes Research Institute. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Loma Linda University and completed a three-year clinical and research fellowship in endocrinology and diabetes at the University of Southern California (USC) Los Angeles County Medical Center.

He then received additional research training in cardiovascular disease linked to diabetes, funded by a post-doctoral fellowship sponsored by the American Heart Association. He remained as a tenured faculty in the Endocrine Division at USC. His quest to advance the understanding of diabetes led him to the City of Hope Medical Center in Duarte, California, where he helped to build the City of Hope’s Diabetes Program as its director. Dr. Nadler then moved to Virginia to serve as chief of endocrinology and metabolism at the University of Virginia, co-director of the Diabetes and Hormone Center of Excellence and associate director of the school’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded Diabetes Endocrinology Research Center.

Just prior to coming to New York Medical College in 2019, Dr. Nadler served as professor and chair of internal medicine, the Harry H. Mansbach Endowed Chair in Internal Medicine and vice dean of research and director of the Strelitz Diabetes Center (SDC) at Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS).

An internationally recognized diabetes researcher, Dr. Nadler has been a member of a Special Advisory Committee on Type I Diabetes with the director of the NIH. In addition, he had been a standing member of the American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association and NIH grant review committees. In 2011, he won the Dean’s Outstanding Faculty Award at EVMS, and in 2013, he was appointed by the Governor’s office of the Commonwealth of Virginia to sit on the Planning and Oversight Committee of the new Virginia Biosciences Health Research Corporation. Based on his excellence in research, he was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation.

Dr. Nadler’s groundbreaking contributions—which focus on understanding cardiovascular complications of diabetes and obesity—include his work in identifying inflammatory pathways leading to pancreatic beta cell damage, insulin resistance and atherosclerosis. Toward this end, his research has led to the development of preventative therapies and the identification of new small molecules blocking 12-Lipoxygenase activity. He has research funding from the NIH as well as the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and his current work is designed to determine whether a virus could be a trigger for Type 1 diabetes.

As a prominent voice in his field, he has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications and has been an invited speaker at major international conferences, including the American Diabetes Association, Australian Diabetes Association, World Diabetes Congress and International Meetings of the European Association of Diabetes.

Additionally, as a leader in biomedical innovation, Dr. Nadler holds a number of patents for biomarkers and novel therapeutics. His clinical interest is focused on treatment and prevention of diabetes and related complications.

D. Douglas Miller, M.D., C.M., M.B.A., served as dean of the School of Medicine from 2014-2017. His deanship concluded after successfully steering the School of Medicine through the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) re-accreditation process, which resulted in the School of Medicine being awarded continued accreditation for eight years, the maximum possible term.

An internationally recognized cardiologist and clinician-scientist, Dr. Miller has served as a leader in academic medicine and chief academic/executive officer for more than 25 years. He came to NYMC from the University of Alberta where he served as dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry as well as chair of the Health Sciences Council. 

Prior to the University of Alberta, Dr. Miller served as dean of the School of Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia (MCG), where he facilitated an expansion of the medical school from one campus to four. While at MCG, he also developed a new interdisciplinary research structure and a unified model of health care delivery by bringing physicians and hospitals closer together.

In addition to the University of Alberta and MCG, Dr. Miller has held clinical appointments as an internist, cardiologist and medical imager at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center San Antonio, Saint Louis University and the Veterans Administration. Dr. Miller was the Robert G. Petersdorf Scholar-in-Residence with the Association of American Medical Colleges, where he studied the associations between national economies, health care policies and physician workforce balance.

Dr. Miller’s work has resulted in more than 110 peer-reviewed papers and multiple patents, and he serves on the editorial boards of many renowned influential journals. Dr. Miller’s clinical work is currently based at the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute where he practices general cardiology and nuclear cardiology.

A native of Brockville, Ontario, Dr. Miller received his undergraduate degree from Concordia University in Montreal, and attended medical school at McGill University where he also completed an internal medicine residency in 1981. He completed a clinical and research cardiology fellowship at l'Institut de Cardiologie de Montréal, a clinical cardiology fellowship at Emory University School of Medicine and a cardiac imaging fellowship at Harvard University. He later went on to receive an executive master of international business administration from Saint Louis University.

Dr. Miller and his wife, Heather, have two children, Caroline and Brendan.

In late 1995, Ralph A. O’Connell, M.D., a member of the faculty since 1980, was serving on the search committee appointed by the newly appointed president of New York Medical College, Harry C. Barrett, D.Min., M.P.H., whose task was to recruit a new chief academic officer who would advance the institution to new heights of educational greatness. After considering more than 60 candidates, the search committee determined that the best person for the job was Dr. O’Connell himself, and the Board of Trustees heartily agreed. His tenure as provost and dean of the School of Medicine began on January 1, 1996.

The job of provost gave Dr. O’Connell broad responsibility for the academic affairs of the university, including the coordination of the three schools and administrative and student services. Facing him on his first day on the job were the need to recruit key department chairmen and a dean of one of the graduate schools, completion of a pending self-study report due at the offices of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), and a host of other tasks and challenges that would have undone a lesser man.

From 1974 until he was appointed provost and dean, Dr. O’Connell served as vice chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and clinical director of psychiatry at Saint Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center in New York City. Prior to his association with New York Medical College, he was assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Cornell University Medical College, from 1967 to 1980.

A prolific writer and frequent speaker at national and international meetings, Dr. O’Connell published extensively in scientific journals—including a paper that appeared in the eminent scholarly journal The Lancet when he was a surgical intern—and wrote many book chapters. His research included studies on the psychiatric complications of cardiac surgery, the influence of biological and psychological social factors in the long-term outcome of manic depressive order, and the use of single photon emission computed tomography brain imaging in psychiatric disorders. Dr. O’Connell was editor emeritus of Comprehensive Psychiatry, the official journal of the American Psychopathological Association.

A member of the Associated Medical Schools of New York since 1996, he served as president from 2003 to 2005. He was also a past president of the New York Psychiatric Society. He was a member of the American Medical Association beginning in 1969, and was a distinguished life fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a fellow and trustee emeritus of the New York Academy of Medicine. He was a fellow of the American Psychopathological Association and a member of the American College of Psychiatrists.

Dr. O’Connell was also active in numerous organizations, including The Rockefeller University, where he was a member of the Council since 1991, and Catholic Charities, Archdiocese of New York, for which he served as trustee from 1991 to 1997 before becoming vice chair of the Board of Trustees. He was president of the prestigious University Club of New York from 1993 to 1995, one of the few physicians to lead the 145-year-old organization, and his portrait graces its halls. He was appointed chair of the Task Force on Medical Education for the Catholic Health Care Network in 1996, and the following year was elected a director of The Catholic Communal Fund.

Dr. O’Connell received many honors including the Academy Plaque of the New York Academy of Medicine, faculty initiation to the national honor medical society, Alpha Omega Alpha, and the Distinguished Trustee Award from the United Hospital Fund.

Dr. O’Connell received his B.S. degree from the College of the Holy Cross and his M.D. degree from Cornell University Medical College. During his studies at Cornell, he received a fellowship at Oxford University Medical College. He did his residency in psychiatry at Saint Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center and was chief resident. He also completed a surgical internship and a fellowship in psychopharmacology research there. During the Vietnam War he served in the U.S. Army as chief of neuropsychiatry at Ireland Army Hospital in Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Dr. O’Connell passed away on December 21, 2021, survived by his wife of 58 years, Jane Burke O’Connell, chair of the Altman Foundation, and many beloved family members.   

For more than two decades Susan Anderson Kline, M.D., vice provost for university student affairs and executive vice dean for academic affairs, had been an integral part of the lives of medical students at New York Medical College—from the sage advice she gives to first-years during orientation to the proud congratulations she offers to fourth-years at Match Day, and the countless interactions and unwavering support in between.

In 1984, she joined the faculty as associate professor of medicine and senior associate dean for student affairs. Her responsibilities spanned an unusually broad range: medical school admissions, financial aid, the registrar’s office, the medical education program, student counseling, student health services and student life. She served as a residency advisor, oversaw and wrote dean’s letters, and even handled special events such as the senior honors ceremony.

In 1994, Dr. Kline was tapped to become interim dean of the School of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs, stepping in when Karl P. Adler, M.D., left the post to become president of Saint Vincent’s Hospital and MedicalCenter in New York City. During her 18-month tenure, which ended with the arrival of Ralph A. O’Connell, M.D., as provost and dean, she appointed three chairmen, reunited the departments of Pathology and Experimental Pathology into one unit, and made significant progress in improving relations between the College and its affiliates, most notably WestchesterMedicalCenter.

In 1996, she was appointed executive vice dean for academic affairs and vice provost for university student affairs.  As executive vice dean, her responsibilities included educational programs, admissions, student affairs and student activities for the medical school. Her university responsibilities as vice provost included oversight of the library, registrar, student financial planning, international student and scholar advising, health services and student housing.

Her experience in student affairs harks back to her years at Weill Cornell Medical College, where she held positions as associate dean for student affairs and associate dean for admissions, as well as faculty appointments in medicine and in public health. During the same period, she broadened and deepened her skills as a cardiologist, rising to physician-in-charge of the Cardiopulmonary Laboratory, and then becoming director of the Adult Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, one of the first women to achieve such distinction.

Dr. Kline’s leadership earned her a reputation on national and international stages. During her career she had been a member of more than 35 organizations, boards and committees, frequently serving as chair or president. She held numerous positions with the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the prestigious and influential organization that supports students, faculty, residents and administrators in accredited medical schools, as well as teaching hospitals and health centers.

Yet what may be her most widespread and enduring contributions to academic medicine have resulted from her extensive service to the Liaison Committee for Medical Education (LCME), the nationally recognized authority for the accreditation of medical education programs in the United States and Canada. She was an AAMC-appointed member from 1998 to 2004, and a member of the LCME Committee on Review of Standards, which she subsequently chaired. She also served as a member of the Executive Committee and the Committee on Policy. In 2006, she chaired an international team of medical school experts invited to visit Pakistan’s top-rated medical school for an external review of its educational programs using LCME standards.

Dr. Kline participated in 18 LCME site survey visits which, along with a school’s institutional self-study, comprise the key components of accreditation. When the College underwent its own LCME accreditation reviews—four of them between 1986 and 2007—Dr. Kline first contributed to and then orchestrated the exhaustive preparations required for the institutional self-study and site visit. Hers was a Herculean task: hands-on direction of the task force and executive committee charged with completing the massive institutional databases and comprehensive 12-18 month institutional self studies that were prepared in advance of the ad hoc LCME survey teams’ visits with students, faculty and administrators.

In 1996, she became a member of the board of directors of the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), chairing committees and serving as its appointed president. When the complex process of applying for residency programs evolved to a web-based system, Dr. Kline helped usher in the AAMC’s Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS), first serving and then chairing its advisory committee when the internet age was still in its adolescence.

Dr. Kline developed New York Medical College's first computerized student record system, and wrote numerous handbooks and bulletins that have been used as guides by thousands of medical students throughout their medical school years. She also was instrumental in acquiring the cardiology patient simulator program, Harvey, at New York Medical College in 1999.

Born in Dallas, Texas, and raised in the Midwest, Dr. Kline received her undergraduate degree with highest distinction from Ohio University, and her M.D. degree from Northwestern University, where she ranked first in her class. Elected to Alpha Omega Alpha, the national honor medical society, she went on to achieve numerous distinctions and awards for her leadership and scholarship well before completing her residency training in medicine at Case-Western Reserve’s University Hospitals of Cleveland. Later she completed a fellowship in cardiology at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center.

Dr. Kline was a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Internal Medicine, Subspecialty of Cardiovascular Disease. She was a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the New York Cardiological Society, and the Council on Clinical Cardiology of the American Heart Association. From 1977 to 1981 she was a member of the board of the National Board of Medical Examiners. Subsequently she served on its Medical School Liaison Steering Committee and as a member of its Test Accommodations Committee. She published in the field of cardiac research, presented her work at national meetings, and contributed to several textbooks. 

Susan Anderson Kline, 77, passed away on March 28, 2015.

Karl P. Adler, M.D., an experienced leader in healthcare and academia served as president and chief executive officer of New York Medical College from 2007-2011.

Dr. Adler is a professor of medicine at the College, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1981. He served as chief of the Department of Medicine at Metropolitan Hospital Center in Manhattan, one of the College’s major clinical affiliates, until 1987, when he was named dean of the NYMC School of Medicine and provost and vice president for medical affairs. In 1994 he left the College to become president and chief executive officer of St. Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center in New York, N.Y., another of the College’s major clinical affiliates.

Dr. Adler also serves as the Archbishop’s Delegate for Health Care in the Archdiocese of New York and as chairman of the board of the Catholic Health Care System. 

Dr. Adler has held academic appointments throughout New York State, including Albany Medical College, SUNY-Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, and Cornell University Medical College in New York. He has held leadership appointments at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, Ellis Hospital in Schenectady and Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn. In 1987 he was appointed by Gov. Mario M. Cuomo to the New York State Task Force for Life and the Law, and until December 2004 held an appointment as a member of the New York State Hospital Review and Planning Council. 

A native of Paterson, N.J., Dr. Adler graduated from Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., in 1962, and received his medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. in 1966. He completed residency training at Bellevue Hospital, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and New York Hospital in Manhattan. A resident of Manhattan, he is a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine.

Arthur Hull Hayes Jr., M.D. served as dean of the School of Medicine and provost of New York Medical College from 1983 through 1986.

A Rhodes Scholar, he received an M.D. from Cornell University School of Medicine in 1964. Following his internship, residency, and two years of service in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, Dr. Hayes began his career in clinical pharmacology at his medical alma mater and later served as director of clinical pharmacology at the Pennsylvania State University Medical School. 

In 1981, Dr. Hayes was appointed Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by President Ronald Reagan. Under Dr. Hayes’ leadership, the FDA ushered in the first orphan drugs and carried out major reorganizations of drugs, biologics, and other areas, among other activities.  As FDA Commissioner, Dr. Hayes also helped calm consumer fears after a national crisis when Tylenol was contaminated with cyanide, and seven people died.  Dr. Hayes is credited with leading the government and the drug industry response by developing the first federal regulations requiring tamper-resistant packaging for all over-the-counter drugs. After leaving the FDA, Dr. Hayes assumed his role at NYMC.

Among other recognitions, Dr. Hayes served on the editorial boards of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Rational Drug Therapy, and the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.  He also served as president of both the American Society of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics and the United States Pharmacopoeial Convention, and he received honorary degrees from St. John's University and New York Medical College.

Samuel Harold Rubin, M.D., M.S., served as dean and provost of the New York Medical College School of Medicine from 1973 to 1983.

Dr. Rubin joined the College in 1965 as professor of medicine. Since then, he has served the College and its affiliates in a variety of positions. From 1966-1971 he was the program director of the Cardiovascular Undergraduate Training under a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the College while serving as chief of medical service at Metropolitan Hospital Center. In the ensuing years, he was appointed dean, executive dean, dean and vice president of academic affairs and eventually provost and dean. Following his retirement as provost and dean, he was given the title provost and dean emeritus and also went on to serve as director of the College's Institute of Human Values in Medical Ethics until 1986. He was a member of the board of trustees of St. Clare's Hospital.

Dr. Rubin earned his bachelor's degree from Brown University and his M.D. degree from St. Louis University School of Medicine. He also earned a Master of Science in Biology/Microbiology from the University of Chicago. He received his graduate medical training in the internship program at Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, was a medical resident at Alexian Brothers Hospital, also in St. Louis, and completed a residency in medicine at St. Mary's Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. He then went on to serve in the U.S. Army Medical Corp.

A member of both the American Board of Internal Medicine and the New York Academy of Sciences for over 40 years, Dr. Rubin has been a fellow of the American College of Physicians since 1957 and served for several years and is an associate of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, and is the author of numerous articles on internal medicine and medical education.

During his more than 70-year medical career, Dr. Rubin has been the recipient of numerous honors and awards including New York Medical College's Distinguished Service Medal, Alumni Medal of Honor, Department of Pathology Award, Class of 1983 Award and Board of Trustees Citation. He has also been honored with the Charity, Science, and Service Medal from St. Vincent's Hospital and Medical Center of New York, the Service to Humanity Award from Westchester County Medical Center, the Metropolitan Hospital Center Award and the Lenox Hill Hospital Award.

Dr. Rubin continued to serve as professor emeritus of medicine in the School of Medicine until his passing in 2018.

J. Frederick Eagle Jr., M.D., served as dean from 1967 to 1973. Prior to starting his term as dean on July 1, 1967, Dr. Eagle served as associate dean of Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons before coming to NYMC.

Dr. Eagle was instrumental in moving the College to the Valhalla in Westchester from its location in New York City. At the time, Dr. Eagle advocated the move because there were no medical schools in Westchester County.

Dr. Eagle graduated from the University of Buffalo Medical School and was a resident at Babies Hospital in New York City and at Children's Hospital in Buffalo. He also taught pediatrics at the University of Buffalo Medical School, and later served as chief of pediatrics at St. Luke's Hospital in New York City.

Among his multiple appointments during his career, Dr. Eagle was president of the Associated Medical Schools of Greater New York, a member of the New York City Board of Health and a scientific director of the city's Health Research Council.

Lawrence Boris Slobody, M.D. '36, served as acting president of New York Medical College from 1971-72, and as president from 1972-1977. He also served as acting dean from 1965 - 1966.

Dr. Slobody was a pediatrician, author and educator. Born in New York City in 1910, he earned a Bachelor of Science in 1930 from New York University and his M.D. from New York Medical College. Dr. Slobody completed his internship and residency at Metropolitan Hospital.

Dr. Slobody was appointed chief of the Frederick S. Wheeler Laboratory for Nutritional Research at the College in 1943, and was instrumental in College researchers developing early tests for Vitamin C and B deficiencies.

Dr. Slobody was professor and chairman of the Department of Pediatrics from 1948 to 1963, was appointed director of the Center for Maternal and Child Health in 1963, and became vice president and acting dean in 1966.

Dr. Slobody was known for his active development of baby products and his work with those who people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. He developed the first multi-disciplined clinic for diagnosis and treatment of the mentally retarded and people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and was the first Gold Medal recipient of the Association for the Help of Mentally Retarded Children. In 1954, he was the youngest physician elected to the American Pediatric Society.

He received the 1950 award from the Association for the Help of Retarded Children for “the physician who has contributed the most to the help of retarded children.” He was the author of the classic Survey of Clinical Pediatrics (1959), and an author of journal articles related to diaper rashes, mental retardation and medical education.

His positions were many: President of the Medical Board of Metropolitan Hospital; Chairman, Section of Pediatrics of the New York Academy of Medicine; Chairman, Pediatric Advisory Committee of the New York City Department of Health; Vice President of the Coordinating Council for Cerebral Palsy; Chairman, Advisory Committee on Mental Retardation of the New York State Interdepartmental Health Resources Board.

In 1996, he published another book, The Golden Years: A 12-Step Anti-Aging Plan for a Longer, Healthier, and Happier Life (Bergin & Garvey). As Acting Dean, Vice President and eventually President of NYMC, he was instrumental in developing the early departments and sections for Geriatrics. Because of Dr. Slobody’s influence, the New York City Department of Hospitals with the help of the College, established the 2,000-bed Bird S. Coler Center specializing in research and care for the aging.

In retirement, he divided time between Amherst, Massachusetts, and Florida and raised horses, and even edited a book devoted to the Currier and Ives lithographs of American trotting horses. 

Lawrence B. Slobody, M.D. '36 passed away on April 23, 2001, at the age of 90.

Ralph E. Snyder, M.D. '1950, served as president of New York Medical College from 1959 to 1966.

At the age of 37, Dr. Snyder became one of the youngest presidents of an educational institution in the U.S. Prior to that, Dr. Snyder was appointed assistant dean in 1951, as executive dean in 1953, and as acting president from 1957-1959.

Dr. Snyder was born in Herkimer, N.Y. He graduated from Harvard University in 1943 with an A.B. degree. Following three years of service with the U.S. Army in China, Burma, and India, he enrolled at New York Medical College and received his M.D. in 1950. He interned at the College's Flower and Fifth Avenue Hospitals.

Dr. Snyder started his career at his alma mater immediately upon graduation, serving as assistant dean. Four years later, he was appointed executive dean with the responsibility of accreditation.

During his tenure of office as dean, Dr. Snyder was responsible for the College's rapid growth and for the complete reorganization of the teaching program. Dr. Snyder developed resident clinical clerkships which led to the elimination of the traditional internship. He broadened the educational focus of the College, creating the graduate and post graduated divisions in nursing with degree granting authority including the Ph.D. While president of the College, he was presented with the Bronze Medal of the City of New York for his contributions to education, research and health care. Dr. Snyder left the College in 1966 to serve as director of professional relations for Merck Sharp and Dohme.

In 1977, he moved to Whispering Pines, N.C. and joined a citizen group that founded the Aberdeen Medical Clinic. In 1984, Dr. Snyder became medical director of North Carolina Medicare Peer Review Organization, responsible for oversight of care provided to Medicare patients. He held that position at the time of his death.

Ralph E. Snyder, M.D. '1950, passed away on August 6, 2000, in Pinehurst, N.C., at the age of 78

Upon the death of College President and Acting Dean Claude Burrett, J.A.W. Hetrick Jr., M.D., ‘1918, served as acting dean from 1941-1942, then as dean from 1942-1953, and then as president from 1953-1957.

Dr. Hetrick was born in Asbury Park, N.J., in April 1895. He enrolled at New York Medical College and graduated under the accelerated program during World War I. He graduated in February 1918 and interned at the College's Flower and Fifth Avenue Hospitals and also at Essex County Hospital in New Jersey. He later studied at Post Graduate College of the New York Ophthalmic Hospital where he received his credentials in Eye, Nose and Throat in 1921.

Dr. Hetrick later becomes superintendent of Essex County Hospital, and in 1922, was made an instructor of otolaryngology at the College. In 1924, he acted as registrar in the College's administrative offices. In 1927, he became assistant dean and in 1935 he became associate dean. He was made professor and head of the Department of Otolaryngology in 1928. Dr. Hetrick was made a member of the American College in 1926 and became a diplomate of the Board of Otolaryngology in 1935.

In 1941, shortly after the death of College President and Acting Dean Burrett, Dr. Hetrick was appointed acting dean. A short time later Dr. Hetrick was appointed dean and later president of the College. In May 1948, through his efforts, he founded a new society titled, The Society of the New York Medical College Flower and Fifth Avenue Hospitals and Affiliated Institutions, which, in 1992, later becomes the New York Medical College Medical Education Consortium managed by the NYMC School of Medicine Office of Graduate Medical Education (GME).

On November 21, 1918, he married Lillian Morgan. Ms. Morgan volunteered at Prentiss Library at the College's Flower and Fifth Avenue Hospital which, when the library was moved across the hall in 1966, was renamed the Lillian Morgan Hetrick Library (1966-1970) in honor of her years of service.

In 2006, their daughter, Lillian Hetrick Huber, upon her death, bequeathed $1 million to endow the College's Health Sciences Library. Mrs. Huber’s son (and grandson of the late Dr. J.A.W. Hetrick Jr.), Jeffrey B. Chick, M.D.’75, presented the gift to the College at the dedication ceremony announcing The Lillian Hetrick Huber Health Sciences Library Directorship Endowment.

Born in North Greece, Monroe County, New York, on July 13, 1878, Claude A. Burrett, Ph.B., M.D., FACS, graduated with a medical degree from the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical College in 1905.

Dr. Burrett was director of the pathogenic laboratory and instructor in toxicology at the University of Michigan College of Homeopathic Medicine, Ann Arbor, from 1905 to 1908; from 1908 to 1913, assistant professor of genito-urinary surgery, deriatology and electro-therapeutics; and from 1913 to 1914, professor of surgery and genitourinary surgery. At the Ohio State University College of Homeopathic Medicine, Columbus, Dr. Burrett was professor of surgery and acting dean from 1914 to 1915, and dean and professor of surgery from 1915 to 1922.

At the New York Medical College, Flower and Fifth Avenue Hospitals, he was dean, professor of surgery and director from 1925 to 1939, and its president from 1939 to 1941. He was elected a Fellow of the Academy November 4, 1937. Dr. Burrett was a Fellow and a former member of the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons, a member of the Medical Council of the State Board of Regents, a trustee of Syracuse University, a Fellow of the American Medical Association and a member of the State and County Medical Societies. During the World War, Dr. Burrett was surgeon to the student army training corps at Ohio State University and a member of the medical division of the Ohio Defense Board.

Claude A. Burrett passed away in New York City on March 3, 1941.

Israel Simon Kleiner, Ph.D., served as acting dean of New York Medical College (NYMC) from 1921-1922 and dean from 1922-1925.

Born in New Haven, Conn., Dr. Kleiner graduated from Yale University with a Ph.B. (1906) and Ph.D. (1909) in physiological chemistry. He is credited as being the first to demonstrate the effect of extracts from the pancreas causing hypoglycemia which eventually helped lead to the discovery of insulin.

Dr. Kleiner came to NYMC in 1919 as a professor of physiological chemistry. After retiring from the deanship in 1925, he continued to serve on the faculty and in 1948 he became the director of the Department of Physiological Chemistry. Dr. Kleiner co-authored highly regarded textbooks such as Human Biochemistry (with James M. Orten) and Laboratory Instructions in Biochemistry (with Louis B. Dotti). Prior to joining NYMC, Dr. Kleiner worked at the Rockefeller Institute and served on the faculty of Tulane University.

He was the 1959 recipient of the Van Skye Award in Clinical Chemistry from the New York Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Kleiner passed away in New York City on June 15, 1966, at 81 years old.