The Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University opened today with an entering class of 56 students. The opening lecture was delivered by Dr. Marcus D. Kogel, dean of the college, who formerly served as Commissioner of Hospitals for the City of New York. The college, co-educational and completely non-sectarian in the selection of faculty and students, is the first medical school under Jewish auspices established in America.
The Albert Einstein Medical College is the core of a $100,000,000 “Medical City,” which includes the $40,000,000 Municipal Hospital Center constructed by the City of New York and the $45,000,000 Psychiatric Hospital to be constructed by the State of New York. The medical college itself is the initial unit of a $25,000,000 project which will eventually include schools of dentistry, public health and post-graduate study. The combined facilities of the “Medical City” will cover over 200 acres and have a combined bed capacity of 5,400, constituting one of the most comprehensive centers of medical education, care and research in the country.
The 1,400-bed Municipal Health Center is adjacent to the college and serves as its clinical teaching center. The faculty of the medical college serves as the professional staff of the hospital center. The hospital center comprises the 511-bed Nathan B. Van Etten Hospital for chronic diseases, which opened early this year, and the 898-bed Abraham Jacobi Hospital, a general hospital, which is scheduled to be ready for use by the end of this year.
AIMS OF COLLEGE OUTLINED BY YESHIVA UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT
Addressing the first class, Dr. Samuel Belkin, president of Yeshiva University, said: “This medical school is dedicated and consecrated to the proposition that we who are living in our modern age, an age torn by hatred and suspicions, by threats of atomic bombs and destruction, an age divided between the concepts of freedom and liberty and the concepts of goose-stepping enslavements and imprisonments, have the moral responsibility not to become bitter, cynical and despondent, but in the spirit of dedication rather help in the creation of the instrumentalities for the alleviation of human suffering.
“We hope that we may be able, with the other great colleges of medicine, to make a contribution to the advancement of medical science, to be privileged to restore good health to the physically sick, to bring vigor and peace of mind to the mentally disturbed, so that in years to come it may be said that we too have added a brick in the structure for the improvement of the health of our metropolis, state and union.”
Dr. Kogel, speaking to the students, drew attention to the multi-faceted program of the medical college. “Our program for the student of medicine is a broad one to prepare him to cope with problems in a world full of tensions and frustrations,” he said. “We hope to equip him to take full advantage of the many wonderful possibilities in the fields of preventive, curative and rehabilitative medicine. At the same time we hope to orient the student from the very beginning to the many social and inter-personal factors that play so important a part in our well-being.
“We hope to place medicine in the perspective of community needs, attitudes and values regarding health and health services in their broadest sense. Specific attention will be given to the variances in both individual, as well as group response to disease, accidents, illness, the prevention of these, medical care and rehabilitation. The factors of age, sex, economic status, cultural origins, education, religion, family structure, occupation, employment and health status variables can then be treated as sources of variance.”
The Einstein Medical College is America’s 83rd medical school, with a faculty of 200, both full-time and non-paid clinical personnel. It was named for Professor Albert Einstein on his 74th birthday. The renowned scientist maintained an active interest in the progress of the College until his death this year.
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