Albert Einstein College of Medicine Celebrates Its 66th Commencement

Albert Einstein College of Medicine honored the Class of 2024 on Thursday, May 23, at its graduation ceremony in David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center. At the event, Einstein conferred 187 MD degrees and 23 PhD degrees. In addition, 13 graduates of Einstein’s Medical Scientist Training Program received both an MD and a PhD degree.

Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, who served as the 19th director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 2021 to 2023, delivered the keynote address. She noted that many patients face barriers to care, including poverty, poor housing, unsafe environments and the lack of access to medical treatment.

“So, too, barriers can stand in our way as researchers and physicians,” she said. “I ask you to recognize those barriers, and to use your voice to break them down … to end the practice of marginalizing people, clinically and professionally, based on their identity, and to use your voice to eliminate the structural barriers to opportunity for everyone in this country … and to drive equity in policy change.”

Other speakers included Philip O. Ozuah, MD, PhD, President and CEO, Montefiore Medicine, and Yaron Tomer, MD, the Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Chief Academic Officer, Montefiore Medicine. Amanda C. Raff, MD ‘98, Attending, Nephrology, Montefiore Einstein, and Associate Chair of Medicine for Undergraduate Medical Education, Professor, Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, served as grand marshal.

“I’m looking forward to continuing to grow and to learn and take care of patients who have entrusted their lives to me. And to put the skills that I learned from Einstein—and everything that I learned from Einstein—to use and build on that,” said Bianca Ulloa, MD, PhD, who matched to internal medicine/research at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center.

“I’m going into general surgery, and I’m really excited about taking care of patients with various needs. I really want to work with patients from underserved communities,” said Andrew Brook, MD, who will be a resident at Mass General Brigham-Massachusetts General Hospital. “Einstein has prepared us to care about our patients and focus on social determinants of health. They’ve done a good job of making us not only hard workers, but caring doctors who are going to go on and be able to handle any kind of situation that we see.”

At the event, the Einstein Alumni Association honored several alumni with awards:

• Dominick P. Purpura Lifetime Achievement Award: Esther Eisenberg, MD ’76, Professor Emerita, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
• Distinguished PhD Alum Award: Jayanta Chaudhuri, PhD ’97, Tenured Professor, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and in the Immunology and Microbiology Pathogenesis Program, Weill Cornell Graduate School
• Distinguished Alum Clinical Practitioner Award: Jack Stern, MD, PhD ’74, Associate Clinical Professor, Neurosurgery, New York Medical College
• Distinguished Alum Humanitarian/Service Award: Harold Alan Pincus, M.D. ’75, professor of psychiatry and of health policy and management and co-director, Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute; senior scientist, the RAND Corporation
• Distinguished Alum Einstein Service Award: Irene Blanco, M.D. ’04, M.S. ‘10, professor of medicine and director of lupus clinical services, Northwestern Medicine; co-director, Clinical Research Ethics and Equity Consultative Service of Northwestern University’s Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute
• Einstein Honorary Alum Award: Miriam Schechter, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics, director of medical student education in the department of pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine; pediatrician, Montefiore Health System Comprehensive Family Care Center
• Rising Star—Clinical Practitioner Award: David Gross, M.D., Ph.D. ’14, interventional cardiologist, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the West Roxbury Veterans Affairs Medical Center; instructor of medicine, Harvard Medical School
• Rising Star—Scientific Investigator Award: Michelle Antoine, Ph.D. ’13, Earl Stadtman tenure-track investigator and chief of the section on neural circuits, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health

The graduation ceremony also honored several Einstein faculty members for teaching or research excellence:

• Samuel M. Rosen Award for Outstanding Teaching (Pre-Clerkship): Oladimeji Oki, MD, Attending, Family Practice, Montefiore Einstein, Assistant Director, Medical Student Education, Assistant Professor, Family and Social Medicine, Director, Health Systems Science and Health Equity Course, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
• Samuel M. Rosen Award for Outstanding Teaching (Clinical): Sandhya Mittal, MBBS, Assistant Professor, Obstetrics & Gynecology and Women’s Health, Obstetrics & Gynecology Clerkship Site Leader, Jacobi Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
• Harry Eagle Award for Outstanding Pre-Clerkship Teaching: Mark Rubin, MD ’77, Attending, Gastroenterology, Montefiore Einstein, and Assistant Professor, Medicine, Director, Gastroenterology and Liver Systems course, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
• Harry H. Gordon Award for Outstanding Clinical Teaching: Francis Baccay, MD, General and Acute Care Surgeon, Montefiore Einstein, Associate Professor, Surgery, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
• Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Teaching: Rachel Katz, MD ’95, Pediatrics Clerkship Site Leader and Assistant Dean, Jacobi Medical Center, Professor, Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
• Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Teaching: Amanda Raff, MD ’98, Director, Renal Systems Course and Medicine Acting Internship; Associate Chair of Medicine for Undergraduate Medical Education, Professor, Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
• LaDonne H. Schulman Award for Excellence in Teaching: Ana Maria Cuervo, MD, PhD, Co-Director, Einstein Institute for Aging Research, Distinguished Professor of Developmental & Molecular Biology, Robert and Renée Belfer Chair for the Study of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
• Saul R. Korey Award in Translational Science and Medicine: Amit Verma, MBBS, Associate Director, Translational Science, Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center, Director, Division of Hemato-Oncology, Oncology, Montefiore Einstein, and Professor, Oncology, Medicine, and Developmental and Molecular Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine