Founder’s Dinner Set for October 22
Three Pillars of the NYMC Community to be Honored at Gala
Join New York Medical College (NYMC) at the special 165th Anniversary Founder’s Dinner on Wednesday, October 22, at 6:00 p.m. at the waterfront VIP Country Club in New Rochelle, New York. This year’s event will honor three distinguished members of the NYMC community: Renee Garrick, M.D., FACP, FASN, left; Martin S. Katzenstein, M.D. '78, center; and John T. Pellicone, M.D., FACP, FCCP, FAACVPR, right. Register for the event.
The Jackson E. Spears Community Service Award will be bestowed upon Renee Garrick, M.D., FACP, FASN. The award named for long-time board member Jackson E. Spears (1906-2003) honors individuals or organizations who have demonstrated exceptional service and commitment to their communities. Dr. Garrick has been a member of the staffs of Westchester Medical Center (WMC) and NYMC since 1985. She served as vice dean of NYMC and chief medical executive of WMC beginning in 2005, and as chief medical officer of the Westchester Health Network from 2015 until her retirement in 2025. In these roles, she oversaw graduate medical education, clinical care, academic affairs, quality and safety, and regulatory initiatives for WMCHealth, a 1,700-bed, ten-hospital health system and the only academic medical center in the Hudson Valley.
A practicing nephrologist with more than 40 years of clinical experience, Dr. Garrick has held leadership roles at the local, state, and national level in quality and safety. She has long served on the Quality Committee of the Healthcare Association of New York State, including as chair since 2021, and is a member of the New York State Office Based Surgery Safety Committee. Nationally, she co-chaired the National Quality Forum Renal Standing Committee, advised the National Institutes of Health on Data Safety Monitoring Boards, and serves in the American Society of Nephrology/Centers for Disease Control collaborative on dialysis safety, where she chairs the Human Factors Committee. She also sits on the American Society of Nephrology Advisory Panel on Excellence in Patient Care. In 2024, she received the Renal Physicians Association Distinguished Service Award.
Dr. Garrick has served on the Westchester Healthcare Corporation Board for more than 20 years, is a fellow of both the American Society of Nephrology and the American College of Physicians and has been named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor annually for 24 years.
The Distinguished Leadership and Service Award will be presented to Martin S. Katzenstein, M.D. '78, for his contributions to health care, science, and our communities that have profoundly impacted the practice of medicine and have added immeasurable prestige to the College. An alum of NYMC, Dr. Katzenstein has served on the faculty at since 1984. Dr. Katzenstein has chaired the College's Board of Advisors since 2014 after years of serving as a member of the Board, which is comprised of leading professional, communal, philanthropic and business leaders, tasked with providing ongoing guidance, support and resources, for the growth and development of NYMC. Dr. Katzenstein also serves as assistant dean for clinical affiliations at NYMC, vice president for community affairs for Touro University and as a member of Touro's Board of Governors.
Dr. Katzenstein currently serves as chief of service and director of neonatology at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, New York, and as director of community alliances for Boston Children's Health Physicians as well as an attending neonatologist at Westchester Medical Center. He previously served as chief of neonatology at Montefiore North, Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center and St. Agnes Medical Center.
The Alfred DelBello Distinguished Service Award for individuals who have helped advance NYMC’s mission of education and research through service, commitment and expert ability will be presented to John T. Pellicone, M.D., FACP, FCCP, FAACVPR. A native of Brooklyn, New York, Dr. Pellicone earned an honors degree with distinction in chemistry from Dartmouth College. He received his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons followed by an internal medicine residency at Montefiore Medical Center. He completed a pulmonary fellowship at the NYU-Bellevue Medical Center.
Dr. Pellicone opened his private practice in pulmonary medicine in 1986 and then joined the staff of Helen Hayes Hospital as director of the Special Care Unit. He was named chief medical officer of Nyack Hospital in 2001. The following year he was named the chief medical officer at Helen Hayes Hospital, making him the only chief medical officer overseeing two institutions within the New York Presbyterian Healthcare System. In 2015, he was named chief medical officer at NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan. Following his retirement from Metropolitan in May of 2025, he joined the NYMC School of Medicine as the Phase 1 Curriculum Committee co-director.
