With the help of a $200 million gift from Kenneth and Elaine Langone, the school will continue providing students tuition-free medical education for generations to come.
Too often, the burden of debt associated with medical school deters aspiring physicians from pursuing their passions – but one school on Long Island is changing that narrative.
NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine is a school that, like its counterpart in Manhattan, provides full-tuition scholarships to every student, allowing them to follow their dreams in medicine without worrying about paying back loans.
This past July, a transformative, $200 million gift by longtime supporters Kenneth and Elaine Langone, ensured that guarantee will extend for many generations to come, ultimately expanding access to medical care on Long Island and beyond.
“By providing our future doctors with an affordable education, we are investing in a brighter and healthier future for all, particularly here on Long Island, where Elaine and I grew up,” said Kenneth Langone, co-founder of Home Depot and chair of the NYU Langone Board of Trustees.
In conjunction with the donation, the school was renamed NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine in honor of Robert I. Grossman, MD, CEO of NYU Langone Health and dean of the highly ranked NYU Grossman School of Medicine in Manhattan.
“This extraordinary gift from Ken and Elaine ensures that students for generations to come can follow their passion for medicine, regardless of their background and financial status,” Dr. Grossman said. “Our goal has always been to offer exceptional opportunities to the most talented students and, in this case, the students will go on to address a physician workforce shortage, particularly in the primary care disciplines.”
“Philanthropic gifts are so important to areas like medical education, especially when they're targeted to students who will address a physician workforce shortage, particularly in the primary care disciplines,” said Gladys M. Ayala, MD, MPH, dean of NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine.
NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine is the only medical school in the nation with an exclusively three-year program.
Along with free tuition, the school’s unique approach to medical education focuses on training future primary care physicians, many of whom choose to stay in New York. The school offers potential for a pipeline from medical school to residency training and practicing on Long Island, which could have a profound effect on quality healthcare access in the region.
Kenneth and Elaine Langone’s $200 million gift will fund full-tuition scholarships for current and incoming students.
The gift from the Langones advances a longstanding commitment to ensure the affordability of medical school. In 2018, NYU Grossman School of Medicine in Manhattan made the historic announcement offering full-tuition scholarships to every current and future student, the culmination of over a decade of fundraising efforts led by the Langones and Dr. Grossman.
When NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine opened in 2019, it did so with the same guarantee of full-tuition scholarships to current students, although the original endowment did not cover this support in perpetuity—until now. As a result of the Langones’ gift, all future students will avoid approximately $200,000 in debt, the median amount determined by the Association of American Medical Colleges. The yearly tuition costs covered by the scholarship at NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine total $59,738.
By alleviating that debt, NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine is able to expand opportunities to future doctors who wouldn’t have been able to pay full tuition. A third to half of its students come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds or families where they are the first generation to go to college.
Mina Musthafa, a first-year medical student who grew up in Jersey City, said she “would often wait several hours just to see the doctor.”
She continued: “That sparked my interest in providing primary care to underserved communities. Tuition-free enables me to explore freely, do research, shadow physicians, volunteer, and see where I shine best.”
One unique and impactful mission of the school is its focus on primary care. While certain areas of medicine are more lucrative than primary care, providing debt-free medical education helps encourage more future doctors to focus on this area of great need in many communities.
“Free tuition was a big selling point for me,” said Diego Alvarez Vega, a first-year student from Puerto Rico. “My parents don’t have the financial resources to pay for medical school. Now I can hone in on what I most enjoy doing without pursuing a high-paying specialty to pay off student loans,” he said.
While many four-year medical schools offer a three-year accelerated option, NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine is currently the only freestanding three-year medical school in the country. Traditionally, medical education was two years of basic science and then two years of clinical experience, but NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine has taken this structure and flipped it so students are doing basic science and clinical work at the same time in preparation for what would be full clinical exposure in year two and three.
This deliberate approach starts with applicants who already know what primary care-oriented field they want to pursue, so their education is geared toward their area of focus from the start.
NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine’s curriculum integrates basic science and clinical studies from year one.
Throughout the school’s three-year curriculum, a patient-centered approach prepares doctors who are highly skilled, intuitive and empathetic. The curriculum is designed to prepare students to be thinking like physicians in everything they do. By developing a nurturing and collegial atmosphere, including mentorship and advising programs, the school is also developing the right type of physicians to take care of diverse patient populations.
As NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine continues to create opportunities for future doctors, with the help of philanthropic gifts like this most recent one, health care will continue to evolve, improve and innovate on Long Island and beyond.
Learn more about NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine: medli.nyu.edu
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