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Robert L. King
CHANCELLOR, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

John L. LaRosa, M.D.
PRESIDENT OF SUNY DOWNSTATE MEDICAL CENTER


A VITAL UNIVERSITY

The State University has built an unprecedented record of service since it was founded in 1948. Adopting the motto, "To Learn, To Search, To Serve," State University has become the largest comprehensive university system in the United States, educating students in a complete range of academic disciplines on its 64 campuses.

State University's distinguished faculty includes internationally recognized figures in all the major disciplines, whose efforts are recognized every year with prestigious awards such as the Fulbright-Hayes, Guggenheim, MacArthur, and Danforth fellowships. In 1998, Dr. Robert F. Furchgott, SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine, becoming SUNY's third Nobel laureate.

The State University community comprises almost 480,000 people. Some 77,561 members of the University staff serve more than 402,000 students studying on campus or in the workplace. The growing number of graduates now exceeds 2 million, thanks to one of the best graduation rates in the nation among public universities.

As a public institution, the State University takes the lead in broadening access to higher education rather than guarding it for a select few. For the 2002-2003 year, minority enrollment was 73,600 students, at 18.3 percent of the University's student body an all time high. Approximately 33% of the students are 25 years of age or older.


State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center —

One of four academic medical centers in the SUNY System. The campus is located in the heart of Brooklyn—New York City's most populous and most ethnically and culturally diverse borough. Downstate includes Colleges of Medicine, Nursing, and Health Related Professions and a School of Graduate Studies, as well as its own teaching hospital, an M.P.H. Program, and extensive research facilities.

    The College of Medicine grants the M.D. degree and is widely known for the strength of its clinical preparation and the diversity of its student body. The Association of American Medical Colleges places SUNY Downstate as 6th nationally in the number of alumni who hold faculty positions at academic medical centers. In conjunction with the School of Graduate Studies, an M.D./Ph.D. dual degree program is offered.

    The Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) Program is housed in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health. The program's emphasis on urban and immigrant health fills a need in public health training in our city and addresses vital public health issues. In addition to the regular M.P.H. degree, the program also offers concurrent degrees in cooperation with the College of Medicine, the College of Nursing, and the College of Health Related Professions.

    The School of Graduate Studies offers the Ph.D. degree in two interdepartmental programs: Molecular & Cellular Biology, and Neural & Behavioral Science. In addition, the faculty of the School of Graduate Studies provides the biomedical component of the Polytechnic University M.S. program in biomedical engineering; a joint Ph.D. program in biomedical engineering was recently approved by the state education department.

    The College of Health Related Professions has a greater than thirty year history in allied health education and offers two-year, upper-level college programs leading to the B.S. degree in Diagnostic Medical Imaging and Physician Assistant, a combined B.S./M.S. degree in Health Science/Physical Therapy, and master's degree programs in Midwifery, Occupational Therapy, and Medical  Informatics.

    The College of Nursing offers a two-year upper-level R.N. to B.S. degree program; an accelerated B.S. program for non-nursing college graduates; and the M.S. degree in advanced practice nursing roles (nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist, nurse midwifery and nurse anesthesia), advanced certificates (post-master's in nurse practitioner) and a concurrent M.S.-M.P.H. degree.

    Formally known as SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn, SUNY Downstate includes a 376-bed teaching hospital (University Hospital of Brooklyn) with advanced diagnostic and treatment centers, 3 satellite primary care centers, a dialysis center, and the Medical Research Library of Brooklyn, dormitories, a student center, and parking facilities. It is also the site of a new Advanced Biotechnology Park and Biotechnology Incubator, the first to be built in New York City in more than ten years, and is the current home of the new, NIH-funded Brooklyn Center for Health Disparities.

    In 1998, one of its faculty members, Dr. Robert Furchgott, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his research into nitric oxide's role as an important cell messenger in the human body, work conducted in his laboratory at SUNY Downstate. The first human images produced by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) were produced at Downstate, by MRI inventor Dr. Raymond Damadian.

    SUNY Downstate Medical Center is committed to encouraging applicants from under-represented populations. The Center's website is www.downstate.edu.

    Students: 1,054 full-time; 376 part-time

    Faculty:      549 full-time; 100 part-time