This distinguished lecture series was established in 1969 by Nathan W. Chaikin, M.D., F.A.C.P., F.A.C.C., who personally supported it until his death in 1984. For the next twenty years, the lectures were funded by Dr. Chaikin’s widow, Frances J. Chaikin, in honor of her late husband. Today it is generously underwritten by the Annual Chaikin Lecture Endowed Fund, which was established through a bequest from Mrs. Chaikin’s estate following her death in 2003.
Nathan Wolf Chaikin, M.D. (1895-1984) was an associate professor of clinical medicine at New York Medical College for over thirty years. After emigrating from Russia as a teenager, he studied pharmacology at Columbia University and then earned a medical degree from the University of Buffalo. A noted gastroenterologist with exceptional diagnostic skills, he established a private practice in Manhattan and served as an associate visiting physician at Flower-Fifth Avenue Hospital and visiting physician at Metropolitan and Bird S. Coler Memorial Hospitals in New York City. He also hosted a weekly journal club that met to discuss new articles in the professional literature and served as president of the Russian American Medical Society.
Frances J. Chaikin (1904-2003) was a generous and worldly woman who graduated from New York University and then taught high school biology in her native Hartford, Connecticut for many years. She met Dr. Chaikin when they were both in their 40’s. For the next forty years, they entertained and traveled widely together, and Mrs. Chaikin actively supported Dr. Chaikin in his practice. Her bequest to the College stands as lasting evidence of her great generosity and her pride in her husband’s career.
“The Annual Chaikin Lecture Endowed Fund allows us to invite nationally and internationally known experts in gastroenterology to speak to the New York Medical College community and to participate in case presentations by our fellows free of any influence from outside funding,” said Edward Lebovics, M.D., professor of medicine and Sarah C. Upham Professor of Gastroenterology.
Professor emeritus Louis R.M. Del Guercio, M.D., served as chairman of the Department of Surgery for 24 years before retiring in 2000. This event was established in 2002 to commemorate Dr. DelGuercio’s distinguished leadership and pioneering research efforts throughout the course of his career.
The day-long event features a moderated poster session, podium presentations of scientific papers and a distinguished visiting professor lecture. It was created to stimulate interest and promote surgical research throughout New York Medical College and its affiliated hospitals.
Click here for more information on DelGuercio Day and a list of past lectures.
Gabor Kaley, Ph.D., served on the NYMC faculty for 43 years. A
member of the faculty since 1964, he helped establish GSBMS, and became chairman of the Department of Physiology in 1970. Until he stepped down from that post in 2007, he had the distinction of being the longest sitting chair of physiology in the nation.
Born in Budapest, Hungary, Gabor Kaley first studied medicine, but when war intervened, he was sent to a labor camp in Yugoslavia where only 600 of the 6,000 inmates survived, After the war, he boarded a ship for America where he worked as a busboy, cab driver and singing waiter to pay for his studies. After receiving a B.S. in biology at Columbia University, he was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Korean War, and later used the GI Bill to earn an M.S. in physiology from New York University and a Ph.D. in experimental pathology.
Click here for more information on the Kaley Lecture and a list of past lectures.
There are two endowment funds on campus that carry the name of Saul A. Schwartz: AOA History of Medicine Visiting Professor Lecture, which was started in 2013 by Edward C. Halperin, M.D., M.A., chancellor and CEO, and AOA Visiting Professor Lecture, which held its 60th lecture in 2016.
The Annual Saul A. Schwartz, M.D., AOA Lecture was established through a bequest from Saul A. Schwartz, M.D. ’30, professor emeritus, who was instrumental in establishing the College chapter of AOA in 1957. His influence and generosity to the College will continue to be felt long into the future through the endowed fund that helps to support the annual AOA lecture that bears his name.