[June 18, 2007]

HEALTHCARE PIONEERS HELP GRADUATING STUDENTS CELEBRATE AT SUNY DOWNSTATE’S COMMENCEMENT

First American Heart Transplant, Performed in Brooklyn, Remembered

Four hundred and eighty-one students obtained degrees at SUNY Downstate Medical Center’s 2007 commencement ceremonies, held recently at Carnegie Hall. Degrees were granted in medicine, nursing, allied health, public health, and the basic sciences, with speakers congratulating the new healthcare professionals and scientists and offering words of advice based on their years serving the health needs of others.

Honorary degrees from the State University of New York were awarded to several pioneers and leaders of medicine, nursing and allied health. Among them was Dr. Adrian Kantrowitz, a 1943 graduate of Downstate’s College of Medicine. Dr. Kantrowitz, who received an honorary Doctor of Science degree, performed the first heart transplant in the United States in 1967 at Maimonides Hospital while a member of the SUNY Downstate faculty. A prolific cardiac innovator, the citation accompanying his degree noted that through his extraordinary career his contributions to medicine and surgery have saved countless lives. He continues to work at developing and improving cardiovascular devices to this day through a company he founded, L.VAD Technology, Inc., based in Detroit.

Also receiving an honorary Doctor of Science degree was Dr. Michael C. Gelfand, a 1968 Downstate graduate who also performed his residency at Downstate. Dr. Gelfand has made significant contributions to the understanding of immunology and combination drug therapy, and is an active philanthropist. Both degrees were awarded at the commencement ceremony for Downstate’s College of Medicine, School of Graduate Studies, and Master of Public Health program.

Dr. Donald E. Wilson delivered the commencement address and received SUNY Downstate’s Ailanthus Award for his contributions to medicine. Dr. Wilson, a former chair of the Department of Medicine at Downstate, is a nationally known advocate for diversity and equity in healthcare and medical education. He recently stepped down from the position of dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Maryland. He was the nation’s first African-American to have been named dean of a predominantly white medical school.

Dr. Marvin Moser, clinical professor of medicine at Yale University’s School of Medicine and a foremost authority on hypertension, received the President’s Award for his contributions to cardiology. Dr. Moser is a 1947 graduate of Downstate’s College of Medicine.   

Dr. Richard A. Smith, one of the founders of the modern allied health professions movement, delivered the commencement address at the ceremony for the Colleges of Nursing and Health Related Professions, and received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. The founder of MEDEX, one of the first programs to train physician assistants, Dr. Smith also helped develop the nurse practitioner profession. An expert on health care delivery in developing countries, he was called to South Africa by President Nelson Mandela in 1993 to head the team designing the nation’s new national health system.

Dr. Jeanette Lancaster received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at the ceremony. Dr. Lancaster is the newly elected president of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and dean of nursing at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. An authority on community health nursing, she is an advocate for reducing gender imbalances in decision-making positions and for nurse workforce development and retention.