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Family and Community Medicine


Lori Solomon, M.D., M.P.H.The Department of Family and Community Medicine was established in 1978, and is one of the largest family medicine departments in the NY metro area, boasting over 200 physicians, public health professionals and administrators, midwives, dieticians, nurse practitioners and other health professionals.

The purpose of the Department is to produce sufficient primary care physicians to meet the needs of the NY metro area, and the wider United States; to ensure that each NYMC student has been taught the generalist competencies they need to become great doctors; and to provide the community and preventive medicine education and training that students and residents need to improve health and function effectively in our complex healthcare system.

The Department is responsible for a 4-week Family Medicine Clerkship for 3rd year students where all students are placed in ambulatory practices in New York and New Jersey. Students receive one-on-one instruction from physicians in their offices and work on and refining clinical skills especially with regard to focused history and physical examination on undifferentiated patients. Through an on campus teaching day students receive interactive shops and simulation in topics such as musculoskeletal exam techniques, medical error disclosure, medical documentation and evidence-based medicine. All students complete a required service learning project in which they address a community need through collaboration with other healthcare professionals and then reflect on lessons learned through the experience.

We contribute numerous faculty to the Office of Undergraduate Medical Education courses, especially Foundations of Clinical Medicine-1 (FCM-1); Foundations of Clinical Medicine-2 (FCM-2); Clinical Correlations; and Transition to 3rd Year.

We offer the following electives for 4th year students: Family Medicine Electives at our affiliated residency programs; Complementary and Alternative Medicine with a Special Focus on Homeopathy; Computers in Health Sciences; Preventive Medicine Elective, and Rural Medicine for America’s Veterans in Beckley, WV.

The NYMC Dept. of Family and Community Medicine includes our family medicine undergraduate division which is based on the college campus, and the New York Medical College Family Medicine Residency Program at St Joseph’s in Yonkers.

Clerkships

The Family Medicine Clerkship was developed to provide concentrated clinical experience in primary care settings. This 4 week clerkship emphasizes ambulatory treatment of the individual in the context of the family and the community. Treatment experience includes the full spectrum of medical and psychosocial problems commonly seen in the primary care setting. Students are assigned to work directly with an office-based Family Physician or other primary care physician. We place students in practices located throughout New York City, Westchester County, Ulster County, Open Door Family Medical Centers and at our affiliated residency sites in Yonkers and Hoboken NJ.

While most of the clerkship is spent in direct patient care activities, students also receive interactive teaching sessions on campus covering a range of topics including geriatrics, preventive care, evidence-based medicine, medical error disclosure, musculoskeletal examination and medical documentation. Students participate in two standardized patient sessions in which they receive formative feedback on their communication and clinical skills. Students track their experiences through an online patient log and complete required interactive online cases to supplement their experiential learning.

Students are also expected to complete a service learning project during their clerkship in which they work with other healthcare team members at their site to address a community health need or increase provision of preventive health services. After working on a project, students complete a written exercise in which they reflect what they learned about working collaboratively with other disciplines and the relevance to their professional development.

Family Medicine Residency Program

The NYMC Saint Joseph's Family Medicine Residency Program is aligned with Saint Joseph Medical Center's mission of providing excellence in healthcare through a culture of support that treats all those it provides care to in an environment of caring and compassion that respects the dignity of human life. Residents receive a rigorous and rewarding educational experience that prepares them to successfully meet the needs of the various populations that an inner-city community hospital such as St. Joseph's serves. With a population of nearly 200,000, Yonkers is the fourth largest city in New York State and the largest city in Westchester County. Nearly 25 percent of Yonkers residents are aged 18 or under and seniors make up 15 percent of the population. Yonkers is one of the most diverse cities in New York State and the region, with 31 percent of residents foreign-born, 46 percent of households speaking a foreign language and a school district comprised of students hailing from 100 different cultures and nationalities.

Learn more about the NYMC residency programs, including the family medicine residency. 

Meet the Team

Department of Family and Community Medicine
New York Medical College
19 Skyline Dr., 1S-D43
Hawthorne, NY 10532
(914) 594-2260

Lori Solomon, M.D. '99, M.P.H. '09
Chair and Clinical Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine‌

Albert B. Lowenfels, M.D.  a graduate of New York University School of Medicine, received his initial training in surgery at Bellevue Hospital and additional education at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO), the New England Epidemiology Institute, and the European Institute of Oncology. He has been a member of the Department of Family and Community Medicine throughout the 21st century and is currently Director of Research for the department.  His publication record based on >200 peer-reviewed publications and several textbooks, reflects an interest in cancer, gastroenterology, infectious disease, trauma, alcoholism, and lifestyle diseases such as diabetes.

Sharon Jacob is the Administrator of the Department of Family and Community Medicine. While working on her M.B.A. in Health Administration at Eastern University, she had the opportunity to work in the area of Administration/Medical Education with Penn Medicine (Surgical Transplant/Bariatrics), Montefiore (Radiology) and Westchester Medical Center (Neurology).  

Alicia Parrish is the Medical Education Coordinator for the Family Medicine program. Alicia graduated from Pace University with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree and worked in the Human Resources department most recently as the Manager, Recruitment and Onboarding for NYMC. Over the years, she strengthened her skills interviewing clients, specifically the underserved population, for job training and placement opportunities. She conducted training classes on resume writing, interviewing techniques, as well as actively sourced and scheduled student  interviews with business clients.  Having worked in several financial institutions, she was heavily involved in the recruitment activities for both exempt and non-exempt level positions.

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