NYMC Celebrates Fascinating Friends at Annual Founder’s Dinner
The evening honored members of the community for their achievements while raising funds for educating future physicians, public health professionals and research scientists.
Guests enjoyed an evening celebrating fascinating friends on October 27 at the New York Medical College (NYMC) Annual Founder’s Dinner at Marina Del Ray in Throgs Neck, New York. In accordance with New York City Department of Health guidelines, academic, health care, business and community leaders gathered to celebrate NYMC’s proud history and promising future and to honor distinguished community leaders for their impactful and transformative achievements.
“Our annual Founder’s Dinner is a time for the New York Medical College community to come together to celebrate the culmination of the school’s accomplishments in the past year, and recognize those who have made vital, positive impacts on our students,” said Edward C. Halperin, M.D., M.A., chancellor and chief executive officer of NYMC. “Through the support of those who attended the Founder’s Dinner, we are able to fuel groundbreaking biomedical research as well as support the next generation of graduates through the scholarship funds raised.”
Joseph Popack, a member of the NYMC Board of Trustees, and Penina Popack, were recipients of the Israel S. Kleiner Award, recognizing their efforts to establish the Miriam Popack Chair in Bioethics and the Holocaust, designed to ensure that medical ethics lessons from the Holocaust are taught to generations of students in in the medical, dental and other health professions. The endowed chair is envisioned to be a university system-wide resource for research and teaching throughout the NYMC and the Touro College and University System (TCUS), and to be a national resource for teaching the lessons of the Holocaust to health professionals.
The event, emceed by Vilma E. Bordonaro, M.B.A., NYMC chief of staff, and Michael Crupain, M.D. ’06, M.P.H., chief of staff and senior vice president of clinical operations of Sharecare, also honored NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan with the Alfred B. DelBello Distinguished Service Award, which was accepted by Christina Contreras, MPA, LMSW, FABC, chief executive officer of NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan.
Brij M. Singh Ahluwalia, M.D., professor and former chair of neurology and Chitti R. Moorthy, M.D., professor and former chair of radiation medicine, were also recognized for their dedicated service to NYMC and its students.
“It was a pleasure to celebrate our distinguished honorees and to announce the creation of the first ever endowed chair in bioethics and the Holocaust at NYMC which will impact the way in which our students learn, care and practice in their respective fields. This year's event raised $450,000 toward the endowment and other important student initiatives at NYMC,” said Bess J. Chazhur, M.S., chief development officer and executive director of alumni relations. “We thank our generous donors for their participation and support.”
This year’s presenting sponsor of the Founder’s Dinner was Greystone & Co., Inc. Gold sponsors were Mr. Gary Barnett and the Howard and Debbie Jonas Foundation and silver sponsors were Boston Children’s Health Physicians, Drs. Ben and Esther Chouake, Mr. Ruben Medina and Westchester Medical Center.
Proceeds of the evening benefit NYMC students through scholarships and important initiatives, and further NYMC’s mission to educate the next generation of physicians and healthcare providers and support life-saving biomedical research.
Photo from left: Alan Kadish, M.D.,president, NYMC and TCUS; Joseph Popack, member of the Board of Trustees; Chitti R. Moorthy, M.D., professor and former chair of radiation medicine; Christina Contreras, MPA., LMSW, FABC, chief executive officer at NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan; Brij M. Singh Ahluwalia, M.D., professor and former chair of neurology; and Edward C. Halperin, M.D., M.A., chancellor and chief executive officer, NYMC, provost for biomedical affairs, TCUS.
