Roger Chirurgi, M.D., FACEP, Changes Uniforms, Never the Mission

Raised in a blue-collar family who worked for the City of Yonkers, Dr. Chirurgi joined the workforce at 20 years old at the Yonkers Water Treatment Plant. Determined to continue his education, he attended Westchester Community College while working fulltime. After becoming a Yonkers police officer in 1985, he was inspired by firefighter friends who would talk excitedly about the job and how the flexibility with swapping shifts made going to college full time feasible. A strong score on the civil service exam led him to join the Yonkers Fire Department in 1986, where he served for 20 years.

“I’ve had a few epiphanies in my life, small ones, but very meaningful,” he says. One of them came after speaking with his friend who suggested he apply to medical school after seeing his transcript saturated with As.

“He said, ‘Wow! You know you're smart enough to be a doctor,’” recalled Dr. Chirurgi, who was a business major at the time. “And quite honestly, for the first time in my life, I thought, ‘Wow, I'm smart enough to be a doctor.’ I didn't have any mentors. That’s why I do so much mentoring at NYMC. I tell the students all the time, ‘My life is wonderful. And I made a lot of lucky decisions in my life, and I was like a cork floating on the ocean. Just floating along, and somehow I ended up in Tahiti, not, you know, in a landfill in Staten Island.’”

Accustomed to the strong camaraderie of public service, Dr. Chirurgi valued mentorship, believing that when push came to shove, the support and guidance of trusted colleagues could make all the difference. At NYMC, he has continued to serve as the house advisory dean for Steward House, emergency medicine specialty advisor, and faculty advisor to the student-led Emergency Medicine Interest Group. “When you feel like people support you, you'll go the extra mile,” says Dr. Chirurgi. “It creates a different environment.”

While serving as a firefighter—trading shifts with colleagues, studying at the Engine 314 firehouse, and responding to emergencies—he earned a bachelor's degree in biology from SUNY Purchase and a medical degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in 1994 before starting his emergency medicine residency at St. Luke’s–Roosevelt Hospital Center in Manhattan. His years as a police officer and firefighter laid the groundwork for his interest in the rapid decision-making, public service, and patient care in high-pressure situations that comes with emergency medicine.

During some of the most challenging moments in recent history, Dr. Chirurgi has served on the front lines. As a medical student during the HIV/AIDS crisis, he helped educate colleagues and combat misinformation within his firehouse community. During the September 11 terrorist attacks, he stood ready to respond at both Ground Zero and in the emergency department. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, surrounded by his fellow physicians in full PPE, he found a profound sense of purpose in his work.

As an assistant chief of the Yonkers Fire Department and the associate director of the emergency department at United Hospital in Port Chester, New York, Dr. Chirurgi was looking for more ways to have a broad impact. He went back to his other aspiration, becoming a professor.

“In fact, the plan was if I didn't get in medical school when I was in college, I was just going to stay in college, get a master's, get a Ph.D., then become a college professor, and that would be my life,” he recalls. “I just love that sort of aspect. Even just walking on the campus of NYMC, I love that feeling... I would be fine being an ER doctor, but I wouldn't feel as fulfilled as I do being a teacher of doctors.”

In 2007, he retired from the fire department and was appointed associate program director of NYMC’s emergency medicine residency program at NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan. Since then, he rose to become residency program director and medical director of simulation, helping shape the training of future emergency physicians. He has made NYMC his home ever since, and has been recognized with numerous awards and honors for excellence in teaching and mentoring, including being inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society.

“Some see a straight line,” Dr. Chirurgi says about his career trajectory. “There was no straight line. One piece of advice I share with young faculty is the same advice I received early in my career: say yes to everything. By doing so, you meet new people, build connections, and discover opportunities you never expected. Those experiences help you find the niche you truly love. Once you've established your career and know where you want to focus, that's when you can start saying no a little more often—though I still have a hard time doing that.”