Suny Downstate Medical Center

Formally known as The State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn—but better known to our patients and Brooklyn neighbors as SUNY Downstate Medical Center—they are older than the Brooklyn Bridge. They trace their roots back to 1860, when a school of medicine was founded at the Long Island College Hospital. The new college’s faculty revolutionized medical education in this country by bringing the teaching of medicine to the hospital bedside, thus rejecting the idea that physicians should be trained exclusively in university lecture halls. Today, SUNY Downstate is one of the nation’s leading urban medical centers. SUNY Downstate comprises a College of Medicine, College of Health Related Professions, College of Nursing, School of Graduate Studies, School of Public Health, and University Hospital of Brooklyn. The quality of our education, research, and patient care programs was confirmed with the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Medicine to Dr. Robert Furchgott, a member of our School of Graduate Studies faculty since 1956. Dr. Furchgott’s identification of nitric oxide as a signalling molecule important in vascular health has revolutionized care for heart, stroke, impotence, and other diseases. As the only academic medical center in Brooklyn, they serve a large population–over 2.3 million people–and one that is among the most diverse in the world. They are also an engine of opportunity for students interested in pursuing careers in health care. Many of their students are the first in their families to attend college.

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