NYU Long Island School of Medicine held a “White Coat Ceremony” today—a rite of passage for students entering medical schools the world over—except this year’s initiation was unprecedented, coming on the heels of the Covid-19 pandemic. Adapting to this environment, the medical school has developed a “hybrid” curriculum for the upcoming semester: a combination of in-person and tele-education that may serve as a microcosm for how many colleges will model their curriculums for the upcoming school year.
More than 4,200 students vied for the 24 admitted slots for the “tuition-free” NYU Long Island School of Medicine, illustrating the unwavering dedication of these individuals entering the field of medicine during this challenging time.
“Our students are entering this field with a great solemnity and clarity of purpose, with the pandemic energizing them even more so to help advance medical care,” said Steven Shelov, MD, Founding Dean and Chief Academic Officer, NYU Long Island School of Medicine. “Our hybrid curriculum is unique to medical schools, from the very outset integrating basic science with clinical experiences–a bench-to-bedside approach where classroom learning transfers directly to clinical cases.”
As part of the hybrid model, tele-educational aspects will include weekly pre-recorded lectures by faculty followed by twice-weekly, virtual Q & A sessions. For in-person classroom training, the school will adhere to the strictest of infection prevention protocols, allowing for critical learnings such as anatomy and the delivery of outpatient clinical care. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) will be provided and utilized, including face shields as appropriate for up-close educational sessions. In-person learning sessions will be problem-based, with small groups of about eight students each pursuing medical case scenarios to collaboratively identify and diagnoses “illnesses.” Students will virtually research relevant medical issues on their own to contribute to in-person discussions.
NYU Long Island School of Medicine’s White Coat Ceremony
The school’s new White Coat ceremony included students reciting a version of the Hippocratic Oath acknowledging their commitment to serving humanity with honor, compassion, and dignity. During the ceremony, each student donned a white medical coat in a ritual that could be seen by family and friends via Zoom.
“Medicine is about lifelong learning, and the path to becoming a physician is not linear,” said Robert I. Grossman, MD, the Saul J. Farber Dean of NYU Grossman School of Medicine and CEO of NYU Langone Health. “To succeed requires enormous knowledge and understanding of diseases—and the ability to rapidly adapt to evolving medical sciences. NYU Long Island School of Medicine will provide our students with the capacity to create a legacy of significant accomplishment in all of these regards.”
Incoming Class of NYU Long Island School of Medicine
Incoming students come from all over the country with 17 from the Tri-State area—including three from Long Island—as well as from Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Virginia, and beyond. They hail from top universities such as Brown, Columbia, Duke, Johns Hopkins, and NYU, as well as schools in the CUNY/SUNY system such as City College of New York, Brooklyn College, and Stony Brook. Ten students are male, including one who is an award-winning K-12 school nurse, and 14 are female. Eight students entering the school are the first in their families to graduate from college; one shared a story about how a dearth of medical care in his rural, West Africa home region inspired him to become a primary care physician so that he could help keep patients healthy.
New York University’s flagship medical school on Long Island
NYU Long Island School of Medicine, which initiated its inaugural school year last summer, is New York University’s flagship medical school on Long Island, situated on the campus of NYU Winthrop Hospital. The school offers tuition-free scholarships with an innovative, accelerated three-year curriculum exclusively devoted to training primary care physicians. The curriculum is concentrated on internal and community medicine, pediatrics, OB/GYN, and general surgery, and contrasts with more traditional four-year schools that tend to focus on specialty medicine.
“It’s an inspiring time to study medicine,” said Andrew Hamilton, President of New York University. “The past six months have given us all a renewed appreciation for the heroism of doctors and nurses, and ‘essential’ seems too weak a word to describe the work that we are training NYU Long Island School of Medicine students to perform. In particular, they will be fulfilling a pressing need for primary care physicians in this country.”
About New York University
Founded in 1831, NYU is one of the world’s foremost research universities and is a member of the selective Association of American Universities. NYU has degree-granting university campuses in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai, and has eleven other global academic sites, including London, Paris, Florence, Tel Aviv, Buenos Aires, and Accra. NYU is a leader in conducting research and providing education in the arts and sciences, engineering, law, medicine, business, dentistry, education, nursing, the cinematic and performing arts, music and studio arts, public administration, social work, and professional studies, among other areas.
About NYU Winthrop Hospital
NYU Winthrop, the Long Island division of NYU Langone Health, is ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the top-10 New York metro-area hospitals. The medical center, founded in 1896, is an ACS Level 1 Trauma Center. The hospital features more than 75 divisions of specialty care, offering comprehensive inpatient and outpatient programs and services to address every stage of life. NYU Winthrop also has a Research Institute that conducts robust studies helping to shape the future of medicine. The hospital blends the progressive philosophy of a teaching and research institution with a personal approach to patient care that is the cornerstone of the organization.
For more information about undergraduate medical education at NYU Long Island School of Medicine, visit https://medli.nyu.edu.
