SUNY Downstate Medical Center

Region: New York Country: USA

ABOUT THE COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
The History of Downstate Medical Center spans over 130 years, during which time it has undergone several name changes. In 1856 two physicians established a dispensary in downtown Brooklyn to provide care for poor immigrants. The Long Island College Hospital grew out of this dispensary. In 1858 the state granted the hospital's request for a charter to launch a medical school. The school, which opened its doors two years later, revolutionized medical education in the United States. The new school was unique because, for the first time in this country, the teaching of medicine was brought to the hospital bedside and the idea that physicians should be trained exclusively in university classrooms and lecture halls was rejected. It was truly a college hospital.

In 1931 the school was rechartered as the Long Island College of Medicine, with affiliated hospitals throughout Brooklyn. The "Downstate" era began on April 5, 1950 with a special ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, where a merger contract was signed between the Long Island College of Medicine and the newly constituted State University of New York. Several years later, the current campus of SUNY Downstate Medical Center was built in East Flatbush. In April, 1953, ground was broken for the current Basic Sciences Building, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower laid the cornerstone.

Dean's Message:
Medicine is a dynamic profession. Miraculous new technologies and scientific discoveries are constantly challenging physicians to remain at the forefront of their field. And yet, medicine has been, and will remain, an art as well as a science.

Here at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, we strive to prepare physicians who appreciate both the scientific challenges of medicine and its human dimensions. And we have done so for 140 years.

We were the first medical college in the United States to be founded within a hospital, and we revolutionized medicine by bringing the teaching of medicine out of the lecture hall and to the patient's bedside. Many of our founding faculty members were world-renowned for their medical advancements.

In the twentieth century, our faculty continued to expand the horizons of science and health. One of our faculty members established the first federally funded dialysis clinic and another produced the first human images using magnetic resonance imaging. Our scientists were the first to prove that alcoholism has a genetic link and the first to identify the important role that nitric oxide plays in cardiovascular health.

We also continue to innovate medical education. This fall we introduced a curriculum that integrates the basic sciences with clinical education across all four years of study. In the first year, students will complete ten different multidisciplinary units, covering everything from genes and cells to the cardiovascular system and neuroscience. Actual cases will be used to introduce students to each unit.

Students will also begin seeing patients during their first year of study through a weekly "doctoring experience." In this hands-on course, physicians recognized for their humanistic approach to care will guide the students in inpatient and ambulatory settings.

We believe this new curriculum will spark our students' intellectual curiosity. Our goal is to inspire students to become life-long learners, who seek to harness evidence-based medicine to their patients' needs.

Now, as never before, we need physicians who can balance the art and science of medicine. And we welcome your interest in SUNY Downstate.

Residency Programs

Anesthesiology
Dermatology
Emergency Medicine
Family Practice
Medicine
Nephrology
Neurology
Obstetrics and Gynecology
Ophthalmology
Orthopaedic Surgery
Otolaryngology
Pathology
Pediatrics
Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
Psychiatry
Radiology
Surgery
Transplant
Urology

SUNY Downstate's Medical Research Library of Brooklyn
The Medical Research Library of Brooklyn can trace its origins back to the Hoagland Laboratory in 1845. When SUNY Downstate Medical Center was founded in 1962, the Medical Society of the County of Kings joined with SUNY to create one of the largest medical collections in the nation at that time - over 250,000 volumes. Currently the Library provides access to about 4000 electronic journals and 356 electronic books. Additionally, access is provided to 113 electronic databases and a variety of search engines including WebFeat which will comprehensively search the library's resources. The collection also includes 388,320 printed journal volumes and 67,078 printed books.

The service departments of the Medical Research Library include: Evidence Based Medicine, Expert Searching, Collection Management, Technical Services, Access Services (Circulation, Interlibrary Loan, and Photocopying), Learning Resource Services (Learning Resource Center, Classroom Scheduling and Audio-Visual Delivery), Library Systems, Reference, Special Collections and Archives, and Administration.

The library provides services to the College of Medicine, College of Nursing, College of Health-Related Professions, School of Graduate Studies, School of Public Health, University Hospital, Graduate Medical Education, Administration, and Researchers.