Throughout the history of the College, commencement exercises have been held at Chickering Hall New York, Town Hall, Carnegie Hall, the old Waldorf=Astoria Hotel, the New York Academy of Medicine, the Cathedral School of St. John the Divine, Carnegie Hall and on campus in Valhalla. Regardless of the location of the ceremony, these traditions still remain.
The use of the mace in formal collegial processions dates from thousands of years ago. In medieval times, the mace was used as a weapon of war or was borne by a royal bodyguard to precede the king in processions. By the 1500s, maces lost their warlike appearance and, decorated with jewels and precious metals, were used more for ceremonial functions.
The ceremonial mace, usually about four feet in length, survives today as a symbol of authority. Notable instances of its use are found in the sessions of the British House of Commons, where it is placed on the treasury table, and in the sessions of the United States House of Representatives, where it is placed to the right of the speaker.
In 1985, to commemorate the 125th anniversary of New York Medical College, Board of Trustees member the Honorable Emil Mosbacher commissioned Tiffany & Co. to create a new mace for the College. The mace was made from walnut wood that was removed from the building, located at the corner of Third Avenue and 20th Street in Manhattan, in which the College was originally housed in 1860. The mace is 42 inches long and contains silver engravings of the College seal on two sides. On the other two sides are depicted William Cullen Bryant, the founder of the College (originally known as the Homeopathic Medical College of the State of New York in the City of New York), and Samuel Hahnemann, the father of homeopathic medicine.
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This citation is awarded to a graduating student in recognition for outstanding contributions of service and dedication to the College throughout the medical school years.
The Alumni Endowed Scholarship was established in 2000 with donations from School of Medicine alumni. It is presented to graduating medical students who have achieved a distinguished academic record and who have contributed outstanding service to the College community.
This award is presented to an outstanding student who demonstrates great promise in the specialty of anesthesiology.
This award was established in memory of Peter and Josephine Bentivegna, parents of Saverio S. Bentivegna, M.D. ’50, and grandparents of Peter Bentivegna, M.D. ’85, and Michael Bentivegna. It is awarded to a graduate who has earned honors in his or her surgical rotation and is entering the field of surgery.
This award is presented to a graduate who, after endeavors in another career, has chosen to enter the field of medicine and has achieved a distinguished academic record while serving the College community and student body with dedication and enthusiasm.
This award is given to a member of the graduating class for exceptional achievement in the undergraduate study of pathology and pathophysiology. This award honors Maurice M. Black, M.D. ’43, a New York Medical College alumnus and a distinguished academician, for his lifelong devotion to research, teaching and patient care.
Established by the Board of Trustees in honor of William Cullen Bryant, College founder and president of the Board of Trustees for ten years, this award is presented to a graduate who has achieved a distinguished academic record and has contributed outstanding service to the College community and student body.
This award has been established to honor the memory of Leonard H. Charnelle, M.D. ’52, whose devotion to his patients and passion for the art of medicine touched everyone who knew him. It is presented to a graduate who has demonstrated academic excellence and passion for primary care and is entering a primary care residency.
This award, which is presented to a graduate who has demonstrated the greatest interest and proficiency in urology, honors the late Sprague Carleton, M.D. ’06, who was chairman of the urology faculty for many years.
This award was established by Ashoke K. Das, M.D., Ph.D., in memory of his wife, Geeta Mukhopadhyay Das, M.D., a former New York Medical College faculty member at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center. It is presented to a graduate who is entering a residency in psychiatry and who has demonstrated excellence and understanding in the area of child abuse and suicide prevention.
Basic Science Poster Presentations
Clinical Science Poster Presentations
Oral Research Presentations
Best Graduate Level Poster
These awards are presented annually by the Medical Student Research Forum Committee to medical student researchers who have been judged by the faculty to have excelled in presenting their research.
This award is presented each year by the Dean of the School of Medicine to a medical student who has demonstrated dedication to research endeavors in a New York Medical College laboratory during the time he or she was a medical student.
This award is presented to a graduate who has demonstrated the greatest interest and proficiency in the field of emergency medicine.
Presented each year by the Department of Radiology to a medical student who has shown the most proficiency in the specialty of radiology, the award honors the late Rita F. Girolamo, M.D. ’51, an alumna of New York Medical College who served countless numbers of students and radiology residents as teacher, counselor and friend.
Established by the families of Joseph G. Giuffrida, M.D. ’42, and Dante V. Bizzarri, M.D. ’42, this award is given to a graduate who has demonstrated exceptional interest, ability, and compassion in the field of anesthesiology. Throughout their careers, Drs. Giuffrida and Bizzarri, alumni of New York Medical College, emphasized compassion and devotion to the patient and the patient’s comfort.
M.S. Thesis
M.S. Literature Review
The Graduate Faculty Council Awards are presented annually to one or more Master’s graduates who have a record of high academic achievement and who have best demonstrated excellence in scientific writing, critical analysis and scholarship.
The Graduate Faculty Council Award is presented annually to a graduate in the Ph.D. program who has maintained a record of high academic achievement and has best demonstrated noteworthy creativity and scholarship in biomedical research.
The Graduate Faculty Council Award is presented annually to M.D./Ph.D. graduates who have a record of high academic achievement and have best demonstrated noteworthy creativity and scholarship in biomedical research.
The James Matthew Hagadus, M.D., award honors the School of Medicine graduate who, in addition to exhibiting academic achievement, has demonstrated those special intangible qualities of compassion, sensitivity, intuition and independence of spirit and intellect that make a doctor “the good physician.”
The late Johanna P. Hagedoorn, Ph.D., who retired from the College in 1988, was a beloved and highly esteemed member of the anatomy faculty for many years. She skillfully initiated entering medical students to the study of medicine and instilled in them passion for inquiry and caring for the human condition. This award is given to a second-year medical student who expresses concern and understanding for fellow students in a manner exemplary of a sincere and caring physician.
These awards, established by David Harrison, M.D., a 1921 graduate of New York Medical College, express his appreciation to his alma mater and give recognition to students in the graduating class who have achieved the three highest academic standings.
Established by the Gralnick Foundation in memory of Stephen P. Jewett, M.D., this award is presented to the graduate who has shown the greatest interest and proficiency in the field of psychiatry.
This award is presented to the students who have demonstrated the greatest proficiency and achievement during the internal medicine clinical rotations in the third and fourth years of medical school.
This award is presented to a graduating medical student who embodies the intellect, curiosity and generosity of spirit of a genuine neurologist and who will be the kind of physician who appreciates the profession’s lifelong gifts of insight, wonder and humility.
This award is presented to a graduate who has demonstrated the greatest interest and proficiency in the field of neurological surgery.
This award was established in honor of Betty Sze O’Neill, past president of the Board of Directors of Saint Francis Hospital, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. It is presented to a graduate who has elected to specialize in family practice and has demonstrated academic excellence with qualities that characterize the dedicated family practice physician.
This award is presented to a graduate who has shown the greatest interest and proficiency in the field of orthopaedic surgery.
This award is presented to a graduate who has excelled in research investigations focused on pediatrics and who also exemplifies the core characteristics of empathy, collegiality, collaboration and academic excellence.
Established by the Board of Trustees in memory of Martha Lucas Pate, Ph.D., former trustee of the College, this award is given annually to a graduate student in the basic sciences who has demonstrated academic excellence and leadership in social and humane concerns in medicine, science or health.
This award is given to two first- or second-year students who demonstrate commitment to leadership and primary care through service to New York Medical College or surrounding communities.
Established by Eileen H. Pike, Ph.D., a distinguished scientist, devoted teacher and esteemed member of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology for 24 years, this award is presented to students who demonstrate academic excellence, aptitude and interest in microbiology.
This award is given annually to medical students who have demonstrated excellence or exceptional ability in medical research.
This award was established by the family of Dr. Rappaport to honor his 33 years of dedicated service to the New York Medical College community and to pay tribute to his extraordinary commitment to the field of hospital dentistry. This award is given in the tradition of excellence of the founding chairman of the first dental department at a U.S. medical school to an outstanding graduate in the Oral Maxillary Facial Surgery/M.D. program at New York Medical College.
This award was established by the Department of Physiology to honor Walter Redisch, M.D. Dr. Redisch was the embodiment of a true academic clinician and physician scientist who dedicated his life to the application of basic research and to clinical medicine for the benefit of his patients and mankind.
This award is given annually to the student who most exemplifies the ideals of the late Wilfred F. Ruggiero, M.D., F.A.C.S., including surgical astuteness, dependability, compassion and devotion to the patient.
This award is given annually by the New York Medical College Obstetrical and Gynecological Society to graduating students who have demonstrated the greatest interest and achievement in the art and science of obstetrics and gynecology.
Awarded to those graduates who, in the judgment of the faculty, have exhibited excellence in their academic work over the course of their graduate education.
Awarded to a doctoral degree graduate of high academic achievement who, in the judgment of the faculty, has demonstrated excellence in academic writing, creativity, critical analysis, and scholarship.
Awarded to the graduates in physical therapy and speech-language pathology who, in the judgment of the faculty, have consistently demonstrated outstanding performance in full-time clinical experiences, and who have sought out challenging clinical experiences and shown significant growth in those experiences.
Awarded to the graduates who, in the judgment of the faculty, have consistently demonstrated exemplary professional behavior through service to clients or care of patients, commitment to the profession and respect at all times to clients or patients and other health professionals.
Awarded to a public health graduate who, in the judgment of the faculty, has demonstrated the highest quality of performance and effort in the public health practicum course.
Awarded to those graduates who, in the judgment of the faculty, have demonstrated outstanding scholarship as evidenced by a scholarly product that reflects excellence in research and discovery, synthesis and integration, application and practice, or teaching and education.
This award was established by the Westchester Community Foundation in honor of Dr. Lester J. Schultz, who was an active participant in community affairs of Westchester County. It is awarded to a third- or fourth-year medical student who is a resident of Westchester County and has maintained a strong academic record.
This award is presented in recognition of a student’s diligence in the pursuit of knowledge, intellectual curiosity, clinical competence and general excellence in pediatrics during the third year. The award honors the late Lawrence B. Slobody, M.D. ’36, distinguished pediatrician and former president of the College.
This award is presented to a graduate who has had an outstanding scholastic record throughout the four years of medical school and has demonstrated exceptional clinical skills. Samuel Spiegel, M.D., a distinguished surgeon for 60 years, was a member of the College’s courtesy staff from 1920 until his death in 1958.
This award is presented to a graduate in recognition of outstanding leadership and achievement in the discipline of obstetrics and gynecology.
In honor of the late Louis R. M. Del Guercio, M.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery in recognition of his twenty-six years of leadership until his retirement in 2002, this award is presented annually by the Surgical Society of New York Medical College to a graduate who has shown the greatest proficiency in the art and science of surgery.
This award is presented annually to the Department of Surgery at a College-affiliated teaching hospital in recognition for excellence in surgical teaching as determined by student evaluations.
This award was established by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine and is presented annually to a graduate who has demonstrated outstanding proficiency in emergency medicine as selected by the faculty of New York Medical College.
Established by the Department of Pathology in memory of Victor Tchertkoff, M.D., this award is given each year to a member of the graduating class who has demonstrated exceptional interest and ability in the field of pathology. Dr. Tchertkoff played a leadership role for half a century in the development of the Department of Pathology at New York Medical College and its affiliated hospitals. He will be remembered as a skilled diagnostic pathologist and a devoted teacher of graduate and undergraduate students in pathology.
This award is sponsored by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation and is presented to a graduate and a faculty member who best demonstrate the ideals of outstanding compassion in the delivery of care, cultural sensitivity and respect for patients, their families, and healthcare colleagues, as well as demonstrated clinical excellence.
This award is sponsored by the Westchester Neuroscience Research Foundation and is presented to a graduate who has demonstrated academic excellence and is entering the field of neurosurgery.
This award was established by the daughters of Charlotte D. Yudell, M.D. ’33, and their families to recognize a woman in the graduating class who best exemplifies the dedication to high standards of patient care, the pioneering spirit, and the social awareness demonstrated by Dr. Yudell in the practice of medicine.
This award is given by Alpha Omega Alpha.
This citation is given by Gold Humanism Honor Society.
This award is given by Cor et Manus.
This citation is given for Community Service.
This award is given for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring.
This citation is given to the School of Medicine for appreciation.
This award is given for dedication to the School of Medicine yearbook.