SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

medical school A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, professional school, or forms a part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, ...

and hospital in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. It is the southernmost member of the

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY ) is a system of Public education, public colleges and universities in the New York (state), State of New York. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, larges ...

(SUNY) system and the only academic medical center for

health education Health education is a profession of educating people about health. Areas within this profession encompass environmental health, physical health, social health, emotional health, intellectual health, and spiritual health, as well as sexual and r ...

, research, and patient care serving Brooklyn's 2.5 million residents. It is the only state-run hospital in New York City. As of fall 2018, it had a total student body of 1,846 and approximately 8,000 faculty and staff. Downstate Health Sciences University comprises a College of Medicine, Colleges of Nursing, School of Graduate Studies, School of Health Professions, and School of Public Health, and University Hospital of Brooklyn. It also includes a major research complex and biotechnology facilities.

History

In 2010 SUNY Downstate celebrated its sesquicentennial, commemorating the year that the Long Island College Hospital (as it was then known) first opened its doors to students. Yet Downstate traces its roots back even further (to 1856) when a small group of physicians set up a free dispensary in

to care for poor immigrants. Known as the German General Dispensary, its original aim was to care for indigent Germans living in Brooklyn, but changing demographics soon required it to broaden its outreach. In 1857 it was reorganized as a charitable institution and renamed The St. John's Hospital—the first of many name changes. Officially chartered by the state in 1858 as the Long Island College Hospital of the City of Brooklyn, it was authorized to operate a hospital and confer medical degrees on candidates who attended two lecture courses and completed a three-year

preceptor A preceptor (from Latin, "''praecepto''") is a teacher responsible for upholding a ''precept'', meaning a certain law or tradition. Buddhist monastic orders Senior Buddhist monks can become the preceptors for newly ordained monks. In the Buddhi ...

ship under a practicing physician. The notion that care at the hospital bedside should be included as an essential part of medical training was revolutionary for its time, but other medical schools soon adopted the approach and it came to be regarded as essential pedagogy. In 1860 the school officially opened its doors to 57 (male) students. It was one of only 11 medical schools to admit African American students. The first faculty included many distinguished physicians, such as Dr. Austin Flint Sr., remembered for his role in introducing the stethoscope into standard medical practice in this country. Dr. Flint delivered the commencement address on July 24, 1860, when the school graduated its first new doctors. In the following decades The Long Island College Hospital greatly expanded both its facilities and medical school curriculum. By the time of the First World War, admission was opened to women and postgraduate training had been introduced. In 1930 the college and hospital were separated from one another so that each would be under its own governing board. The following year, the school was rechartered as the Long Island College of Medicine. In 1945, the college purchased a large tract of land that would become the site of the future Downstate Medical Center. The "Downstate" era began on April 5, 1950, with the signing of a merger contract between the State University of New York (SUNY) and the Long Island College of Medicine. The medical center came to be known as Downstate to distinguish it from the SUNY medical center in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...

, which is known as " Upstate". Several years later the current campus was built in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn. In 1954 President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

laid the cornerstone for the Basic Sciences Building. In the following years, the complex grew rapidly, with the addition of a student center and residence halls, as well as a nurses' residence. In 1966 Governor Nelson Rockefeller officiated at the dedication of University Hospital of Brooklyn (UHB), Downstate's own teaching hospital. The School of Graduate Studies, the College of Health Related Professions, and the College of Nursing were established that same year. In 1987 Governor Mario Cuomo and Mayor Edward Koch helped break ground for the new Health Science Education Building, where most student classes now take place. In early 2024, the hospital faced closure due to financial concerns, which would have negatively impacted the borough's BIPOC communities and faced significant delays in accessing healthcare. In April, it was reported spared from closure until 2025.

Academics

The vast majority of students are drawn from the New York City metropolitan area. Downstate's Colleges of Medicine, Nursing, and Health Related Professions and its School of Graduate Studies and School of Public Health collectively offer more than 30 health-focused programs.

Patient care

University Hospital of Brooklyn

University Hospital of Brooklyn (UHB) offers comprehensive, advanced medical care throughout Brooklyn. It includes a full-service, comprehensive hospital site (UHB at Central Brooklyn). It also previously owned a free-standing Urgent Care and Ambulatory Surgery Center in Bay Ridge, which has since been sold to nearby Maimonides Medical Center. There are also nine ambulatory satellite sites. UHB is licensed for 882 beds and annually provides care to over 300,000 patients. UHB is an 8-story facility with 8 intensive care and step-down units, 12 operating rooms, an adult and pediatric ER, diagnostic and ambulatory surgery facility, and 75 outpatient clinics. The flagship location for UHB, Central Brooklyn includes three community-based health centers in the neighborhoods of East New York, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and Midwood, plus a freestanding Dialysis Center.

HEAT (Health and Education Alternatives for Teens) Program

HEAT is a program established and directed by Dr. Jeffrey Birnbaum which offers culturally competent care for youth who are living at high risk of developing HIV/AIDS. HEAT has a special focus on care for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth but does not limit its services to these populations. The program offers comprehensive clinical services for HIV/AIDS patients as well as sexual health and transgender care services. HEAT is actively involved in community outreach and Dr. Birnbaum has received various awards for his efforts in combating HIV/AIDS

Brooklyn Free Clinic

The Brooklyn Free Clinic (BFC) is a student-run free clinic operated primarily by the students of the College of Medicine. The BFC offers medical and psychiatric care and health maintenance screening to the uninsured populations of Brooklyn. The clinic hosts an annual conference on health seen through the eyes of medicine, art, technology and community called BFC What's Next. The clinic has won multiple awards for its advertisement campaigns including a gold medal in conjunction with CDMiConnect at the 2014 MMM Awards for their "We Need U" campaign and a bronze medal at the CLIO Healthcare Awards.

SUNY Downstate at Bay Ridge

SUNY Downstate at Bay Ridge serves the communities of Bay Ridge/Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, and Sunset Park. It features a walk-in Urgent Care Center, Ambulatory Surgery Center, Advanced Endoscopy Center, and Laser Vision Correction Center. It has onsite laboratory and radiology diagnostic facilities and medical offices for doctors in many clinical specialties.

Research

SUNY Downstate is an important research facility where scientists and clinicians explore many urgent health problems. Historically, areas of research strength include cardiovascular biology, neuroscience, and instrumentation. Current strengths include GABAergic inhibition, learning and memory mechanisms; pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and cardiomyopathy; robotic prosthetic devices; HIV/AIDS; pain and addiction; optical tomography imaging technology; and fundamental cell biology (mechanisms of transcription and translation). Downstate's role as the only academic medical center in Brooklyn is central to its powerful role in clinical, translational, and public health research. Downstate's research spans the entire "bench to bedside" spectrum as an integrated entity, bringing together basic scientists, clinical researchers, and practitioners with common interests. Downstate is the fourth highest grant recipient of SUNY's 64 campuses. In FY 2011, sponsored research programs, including those funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), DARPA, and private foundations, totaled over $60 million. Downstate is the only healthcare facility in Brooklyn that holds the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology.

Controversies

In 2013, SUNY Downstate released a court ordered financial audit which found the institution in need of capital funds citing large losses from 2007 through 2011. The audit cited bloated salaries for top administrators, underuse and poor financial decisions contributed to the losses. In January 2020, two SUNY Downstate surgeons filed lawsuits accusing the medical center of retaliation against them for reporting patient safety and death concerns in the heart-surgery and organ-transplant programs. Prior to the complaint, the institution paused these two programs in July 2019 due to pressure from the

New York State Department of Health The New York State Department of Health is the department of the Government of New York (state), New York state government responsible for public health. Its regulations are compiled in title 10 of the ''New York Codes, Rules and Regulations''. ...

and the

United Network for Organ Sharing The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) is a Nonprofit organization, non-profit scientific and educational organization that administers the only Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) in the United States, established () by th ...

when reviewers found issues in the programs and recommended a more extensive review in hopes to remediate the problems.

Notable faculty

* Alexander Skene, MD - authority on women's diseases; discovered the paraurethral glands known as

Skene's gland In female human anatomy, Skene's glands or the Skene glands ( , also known as the lesser vestibular glands or paraurethral glands) are two glands located towards the lower end of the urethra. The glands are surrounded by tissue that swells with ...

or Skene's ducts (1880). * Robert L. Dickinson, MD - published first "modern" pamphlet on voluntary birth control (1931). * Chandler McCuskey Brooks, PhD - Head of the Graduate program (1956–1966), laid much of the groundwork in spinal cord and hypothalamic physiology, and cardiac pacemaker function (1950s). * Robert Furchgott, PhD - awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for research on nitric oxide (1998). * Carl Axel Gemzell, MD/PhD - first to use FSH to treat anovulatory women.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suny Downstate Health Sciences University * Teaching hospitals in New York City Hospitals in Brooklyn Universities and colleges in New York City Nursing schools in New York City Hospitals established in 1860 Universities and colleges established in 1860 Universities and colleges in Brooklyn East Flatbush, Brooklyn Schools of medicine in New York City * Downstate