A New Home for Pediatric Emergency Care

John Abbott
Rene Perez
Above, George E. Reed, MD
Payback from the Heart
“It’s a very old custom called payback,” George
E. Reed, MD `51, said, as he peered out of a
13th floor window of the Joan and Joel Smilow
Research Center, which overlooks NYU
Langone and the East River. “It’s primitive.”
Dr. Reed recalls a trip into the highlands of
Papua New Guinea. “We came across a field
of stakes, and attached to each stake was a
pig,” he remembers. “The tribal chief, obvious
in his native costume complete with face paint,
who was also the local banker, told us these
pigs were payback to a neighboring tribe who
helped his men win a battle. This is what
I mean by giving back.”
Dr. Reed’s own form of payback is an exceptional contribution to endow a professorship
in surgery. It is settlement, he explains, for a
remarkable education that contributed to his
life’s achievements. “A professorship enables
an outstanding person to stay in academic
medicine,” says Dr. Reed. “Chairs help us
attract great people, and keep them.”
Dr. Reed began his education in veterinary
science. His fascination with physiology in
medicine, however, combined with his empathetic nature, soon influenced his transition
into medicine. After getting his Doctor of
Veterinary Medicine degree during World War
II, he waived his deferment and enlisted in the
Army as a private. Following discharge from the
Army, he enrolled as a student at NYU School
of Medicine.
Upon graduation, two of Dr. Reed’s mentors, the late Ludwig Eichna, MD, professor of
medicine, and the late John Mulholland, MD
`25, previous chairman of surgery, provided
him with the opportunity to learn left-heart
catheterization. In 1956, this was a brand-new,
revolutionary procedure, and Dr. Reed jumped
at the chance.
“Dr. Mulholland said to me, ‘Dr. Eichna
wants to know if you’d be willing to go down to
Bethesda [the National Institutes of Health]
Payback from the Heart—continued on page 6
Robert Gottesman, Trudy Elbaum Gottesman and Mike Weaver have, with other members of KiDS of NYU,
moved pediatric medicine forward at NYU Langone.
A New Home for Pediatric
Emergency Care
Summer 2011—
Philanthropy in Motion
Twenty years ago Trudy Elbaum Gottesman and her husband, Robert Gottesman, learned from Dr.
Marcia M. Wishnick that a new group, KiDS of NYU, had just been formed to support pediatric medical and quality-of-life services at NYU. “We became interested in this group; we wanted to say thank
you because of the extraordinary care our family received from Dr. Howard Ginsburg, current chief
of the Division of Pediatric Surgery and a KiDS board member, Dr. Nancy Genieser, now an associate
dean at NYU School of Medicine, and Dr. Wishnick.”
The Gottesmans’ first thank you has since grown into a long-standing commitment to all things pediatric at the Medical Center; the most recent example is a remarkably generous gift from the Gottesmans
and KiDS of NYU toward building a Pediatric Emergency Care Center (PECC ) within the newly
expanding Emergency Department (ED).
“We see KiDS as the center of a wheel that supports everything that has an impact on the entire pediatric experience at NYU Langone,” explains Trudy, “from the recruitment of pediatric sub-specialists
to the creation of family-friendly waiting areas. We work closely with Dean Grossman and Dr. Manno
(Catherine S. Manno, MD, the Pat and John Rosenwald Professor of Pediatrics and chair, Department of
Pediatrics) and other staff on what’s needed, and the PECC was an important next step.”
This is not the Gottesmans’ or KiDS ’s first gift to pediatric emergency care. “The Gottesmans made
an earlier gift to increase the number of pediatric emergency care physicians in the Tisch Hospital ED,”
notes Dr. Manno. “We had to start with committed staff, and the Gottesmans understood and supported that. This new gift will create the best environment for children; it will also allow children who
are admitted to have a seamless transition from the moment they enter the PECC all the way to the hospital bed. The PECC will also provide rapid, safe evaluation and management for children who require
urgent pediatric care but recover quickly enough to go home with their families.”
Since children often enter the hospital through the ED, it creates a lasting first impression. “Children
in emergency care situations are frightened and anxious, and their fears are compounded if they are in
an area where adults are also receiving emergency medical treatment,” explains Maureen Gang, MD,
assistant professor, Department of Emergency Medicine.
Notes Dr. Manno, “What the Gottesmans and KiDS have done is to support a PECC that offers
children and families an experience that is completely separate from the adult emergency room, from
entry to registration to triage and evaluation. They not only provide for the building of a state-of-the art
facility, but they provide valuable insight and guidance, helping us to get this right for families and their
children.”
Trudy concurs. “We’ve also had an influx into KiDS of younger partners with young children, like
Mike.” Mike Weaver joined the KiDS of NYU board in 2008 and has been active as the chair of its
Associates Committee, which is geared toward bringing younger members to KiDS . “We talk about big
capital projects like the PECC , but it’s also important to our board members to focus on the patient’s
A New Home for Pediatric Care— continued on page 6
Rene Perez
Rene Perez
A Message from
Bob Grossman and
Lisa Silverman
Dear friends,
Jack Dodick, MD, Department of Ophthalmology Chair
It is with great pleasure that we acknowledge some
of the generous men and women who, like you, have
made NYU Langone Medical Center a destination for
exceptional health care. Among the qualities we all
share in our support of our great institution, an inherent sense of community.
As Trustee Bernard Schwartz says, “It’s about the
people.” This is a continuing theme throughout
the Summer 2011 issue of Philanthropy in Motion,
whether we are talking to Mr. Schwartz and his wife
Irene, Department of Ophthalmology Chair Jack
Dodick, MD, Trudy Elbaum Gottesman and her husband Robert Gottesman, or any other donors
and staff members.
Our community is a giving and compassionate one,
as dedicated to technological advances in medicine
as it is to maintaining the humanity that distinguishes
us. These traits are what drew Veronica Mainetti to
become involved with faces, our pioneering epilepsy research and care program. And those same
qualities, plus the leadership of our Board Chair Ken
Langone, allowed us to set a record for funds raised
at this year’s Violet Ball (see page 5).
The NYU Langone Medical Center community is as
strong as the people who form it and, because of
wonderful friends like you, we are thriving. Thank you
again for your commitment, and please let us know
what we can do for you. We also welcome comments
and suggestions from our readers, which can be sent
An Eye Toward the Future: The Faculty Gift
Jack Dodick, MD, has created one of the country’s finest residency programs in ophthalmology,
invented the first laser cataract removal device
with a physicist, and has traveled throughout
the developing world to train local physicians in
surgical ophthalmic techniques.
And now, this consummate department chair
and mentor is on to his next goal, a generous
personal financial commitment to jump-start
the creation of an advanced ophthalmic research
and clinical care center at NYU Langone. “I
want to give back while I’m on the right side of
the grass,” explains Dr. Dodick. “I remember
what Ken Langone once said, ‘I’ve never seen a
hearse with a U-Haul behind it!’”
Dr. Dodick is also a firm believer in Dean
Grossman’s philosophy, and has been deeply
moved by leadership gifts to the Medical Center.
“I believe in the trajectory of the school and the
hospital, in expanding research,” he explains.
“And to become a great institution, you have to
commit. I am interested in basic research, and I
wanted to get the ball rolling.”
He arrived at NYU Langone in 2005 as
chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology,
and the changes he has made since then are
extraordinary. The soft-spoken native of Canada
relishes a challenge. He is the youngest of five
boys, all of whom became physicians, following
a family tradition that began in Eastern Europe,
where his parents and most of his siblings were
born. His two sisters married physicians.
Dr. Dodick first came to New York City for
an internship, a residency, and then a fellowship.
He never left, and explains that his intrinsic
nature has always been to be the best at what I
do; and to be among the best in New York, that’s
quite an accomplishment.”
“I remember when I was invited to become
chair by Dean Glickman (who retired in 2007),
and he said to me, ‘fix the department.’ So I
recruited bright, young talent. I empowered and
supported them, and I got out of their way. I
find that when you do that, people give you 150
percent effort.”
Today, Dr. Dodick’s residency program has 21
residents, a large one by national standards, and
it recently received a full five-year accreditation
with commendation. Dr. Dodick shares much of
the credit with his staff, and he heralds the collegial atmosphere at NYU Langone.
“When I came here I was so impressed by the
extraordinary warmth and collegiality, by the
way the physicians and staff worked together
and supported each other and the dedication
they had to their patients,” he says. “This is a
special place.” To make a gift to the Department of
Ophthalmology, please contact Colby Collier, executive director, development, at 212.404.3649 or colby.
collier@nyumc.org.
to pim@nyumc.org. Have a terrific summer!
Make a Gift Now
Robert I. Grossman, MD
The Saul J. Farber Dean and CEO
Lisa J. Silverman
Vice President of Development and Alumni Affairs
page 2
philanthropy in motion— summer 2011
Our physicians and nurses strive each day
to offer exceptional and compassionate care
to patients and their families. If you would
like to honor that special physician or nurse,
consider a gift to NYU Langone Medical Center’s
annual Faculty & Friends Campaign. To make
your contribution, please visit our website
at www.facultyandfriends.org or contact
Temra Bellanton, director, development, at
212.404.3854 or temra.bellanton@nyumc.org.
John Abbott
John Abbott
John Abbott
Above, The late Stephen C. Moss made gifts to clinical care and
research as well as to special programs that brought much cheer to
pediatric patients like this youngster.
In Memoriam
Irene and Bernard L. Schwartz with Daniel Sodickson, MD, PhD
The Life He Lived
It’s the People: For the Schwartzes,
technology alone is not enough
NYU Langone Medical Center Trustee Bernard L. Schwartz recalls the first time he met Dean and
CEO Bob Grossman, MD. It was ten years ago, and Dean Grossman, then chair of the Department
of Radiology, visited Mr. Schwartz to discuss extraordinary advancements in magnetic resonance
imaging (MRI ) equipment.
“We talked,” says Mr. Schwartz, who understood technology from his decades-long tenure as
chairman and CEO of defense and satellite company Loral. “And I knew this technology was the
most modern in the world, that it would elevate NYU, and that we had the opportunity to transform medicine.”
The equipment, however, needed a home on campus. So in 2003, Mr. Schwartz and his wife, Irene,
made a generous gift to create the Bernard and Irene Schwartz Center for Biomedical Imaging
(CBI ). And they stepped forward again, a year later, with another leadership contribution to create
the like-named Neurointerventional Radiology Center. The two centers are prerequisites for the
development of sophisticated diagnostic imaging and more effective, targeted treatments for all
manner of disease.
According to Daniel Sodickson, MD, PhD—a physicist who also trained in medicine—and the
director of the Schwartz CBI, the Schwartzes’ philanthropy has created a groundswell of progress in
faculty recruitment and research at NYU Langone. The Schwartz CBI’s pride and joy is the 7-Tesla
MRI machine, “a remarkable and revolutionary tool which stretches the limits of what we can see,”
says Dr. Sodickson.
“You can’t find many places in the world with this high-resolution capability; it makes the invisible
visible,” he continues. “We’ve assembled a team of top people, including inventors of some of the key
new technologies in modern MRI.” One of the team’s projects is the development of a comprehensive
cardiovascular exam that can provide, in five minutes, the same structural and functional profile of a
heart that previously took one hour to achieve, and all without exposure to ionizing radiation.
The Schwartzes have not limited their support of the Medical Center to technology development. They have been long-time contributors to the School of Medicine, the Institute for Surgical
Research, the Urology Department, hematology research and the capital campaign. Their first gift
to NYU Langone 14 years ago created a named program that emphasizes humanism in medical
education and practice. “Technology alone is not enough. People are the most important part of it
for Irene and me,” explains Mr. Schwartz.
The Schwartzes are also native New Yorkers. “New York City has been enormously good to us,”
says Mr. Schwartz, “and we believe that a city of this stature needs and deserves the highest quality medical institution. That’s NYU Langone.” In addition to medicine, the Schwartzes’ New York
City-based support focuses on education and culture. “We’ve given to different institutions but I’m
not sure anything approaches the satisfaction we get from giving to medicine and giving to NYU
Langone. It’s an investment that provides a gratifying return.” To make a gift to biomedical imaging,
please contact Renée Davis, director, development, at 212.404.3692 or renee.davis@nyumc.org.
page 3
He had planned to leave the party at noon to
attend a showing of his favorite musical, West Side
Story; but then the pizzas arrived late, and volunteer Stephen C. Moss decided that the pediatric
patients at NYU Langone needed his help with
their party more than he needed to see the show.
“It was the July Fourth weekend, and he insisted on
staying,” recalls Joseph Lee, a music therapist.
That was typical of Steve, and on a weekly basis,
he gave his time and he gave his money so that sick
children and their families could find pleasure in
life, and take their minds off what ailed them. He
also made gifts to research and clinical care. And
when he died last year, suddenly and unexpectedly
and much too young, the loss of life was keenly felt.
Jeanette Moss, his mother, recalls, “My son
was always modest, even as a child. Occasionally,
when he came up to visit (in Buffalo), he would
bring some of the thank-you notes he received
from children and parents. He kept all of them.”
Today, because of the estate plan Steve created
while he was alive, pediatric patients and their
families will continue to receive comfort from his
remarkable generosity. To create your own legacy
at NYU Langone Medical Center, please contact
Marilyn Van Houten, senior director, development, at
212.404.3653 or marilyn.vanhouten@nyumc.org.
philanthropy in motion— summer 2011
Jay Brady and Chris London
2011 KiDS of NYU
Springfling
NYU Langone raised nearly $1.3 million in support of
children’s health care at the Plaza Hotel on May 10.
KiDS of NYU Board Member Patty Newburger and her
husband, Medical Center Trustee Brad Wechsler, acted
as chairs of the event which celebrated the career of
honoree David S. Feldman, MD, chief of pediatric
orthopaedic surgery at the Hospital for Joint Diseases.
This year also marks the 20th anniversary of KiDS of
NYU, led by KiDS Board Chair and Medical Center
Trustee Alice Tisch.
Clockwise from the top left,
Front row: speakers Maurice
Elbaz and Kyra Slive with
Douglas Mu; second row:
Alice Tisch, Theresa Wong
Mu, and Dr. Feldman; NYU
Langone Trustee Gary Cohn
and Lisa Pevaroff Cohn; Trudy
Elbaum Gottesman and Meg
Geslin, KiDS of NYU board
members; First Deputy Mayor
Patti Harris, Dr. Feldman, Patty
Newburger, Brad Wechsler,
and Jane Rosenthal
Phil Gallo, NYU Photo Bureau
2011 faces Gala
Werner Doyle, MD, and his former patient, M.
Morgan Hildesley, were honored at this year’s faces
Gala. The event, held at Chelsea Piers and underwritten by Michael Weisberg, raised over $4.2 million for
epilepsy research at NYU Langone’s Comprehensive
Clockwise from above, Mrs.
Hildesley with her daughter,
M. Morgan Hildesley, and
husband, C. Hugh Hildesley,
the evening’s auctioneer;
Gala Co-chairs Ginny and
Steven Spiegel with faces Board
Member Loretta Glucksman;
Dr. Doyle; NYU Comprehensive
Epilepsy Center Director Dr.
Orrin Devinsky with Leah and
Michael Weisberg
page 4
philanthropy in motion— summer 2011
Epilepsy Center. Ginny and Steven Spiegel and
Barbara and Jospeh Walsh II served as co-chairs;
Veronica Mainetti was auction chair.
Ann Watt and Jay Brady
2011 Violet Ball
Honors Fiona and Stanley
Druckenmiller; Sets a Record!
Fiona and Stanley Druckenmiller were honored at
this year’s Violet Ball for their extraordinary leadership, including their $100 million gift to establish
a Neuroscience Institute at NYU Langone. The May
4 gala at Cipriani 42nd Street raised a record $9.7
million for institution-wide initiatives and introduced
Richard Tsien, DPhil., the institute’s incoming director.
Medical Center Board Chairman Ken Langone, and
Bob Grossman, MD, the Saul J. Farber Dean and CEO,
led the evening’s festivities.
Left to right from the top, This
year’s Violet Ball drew some
850 guests, Trustee and honoree Fiona Druckenmiller; Board Chairman Ken Langone
and Elaine Langone; Trustee
Sylvia Hassenfeld and Trustee
Alice Tisch; Billie Tisch and Dr.
Bob Grossman; Trustee Helen
Kimmel; Trustee Lori Fink;
Mayor Michael Bloomberg,
Honoree Stan Druckenmiller,
Dr. Richard Tsien; Dr. Richard
Tsien with his wife, Dr. Julia
Shiang; Trustee Tom Murphy Jr.
with University President John
Sexton; Gideon Gil with his wife,
Trustee Debbie Perelman
Jay Brady
The Center for Emergency
Services Breaks Ground
NYU Langone Medical Center broke ground on a
new 22,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Center
for Emergency Services on May 2. The 40-bed
center is supported by gifts from the Elmer and
The Joel E. Smilow
Comprehensive Prostate
Cancer Center Opening
Mamdouha Bobst Foundation, Trustee Elizabeth
Dater Jennings and William M. Jennings Jr., Ellen
and Robert Kapito, Ruth Lapidus and Trustee
Sidney Lapidus, Trustee Louis Marx Jr., Trustee
Thomas S. Murphy, the Sephardic Hospital
Fund-Medstar, The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation,
and Barbara and John Vogelstein. The center will
also have a dedicated pediatric emergency area
thanks to the generosity of Trudy Elbaum
Gottesman, Robert Gottesman, and KiDS of NYU.
There was a strong turnout at the groundbreaking for
the Center for Emergency Services.
page 5
philanthropy in motion— summer 2011
Jay Brady
Ann Watt
Above, left to right: NYU
Langone Trustee Eleanor
Jackson Piel, Esq., Center
Above, left to right: Meet
KiDS Strikes Again!
superhero Harry Lackowitz!;
Jesse Goldman, Pristine
Johannessen and Rose
KiDS of NYU held its annual KiDS Strikes Again!
Goldman
Bowling Party, at Chelsea Piers in January, raising
medical director Nieca
The Center for Women’s
Health Debuts
Goldberg, MD, and Sandra
Wilkin Frowley; Denise
Benmosche
A celebration launching NYU Langone’s new Center
$100,000 to support pediatric care at the Medical
for Women’s Health, located at Third Avenue and
Center. Thanks to the dedicated co-chairs, the
84th Street, took place at the 92nd Street Y in
event drew 400 guests, including parents, pediatri-
October. Trustees, friends and staff gathered round
cians, friends, and kids, who ranged in age from
to herald the arrival of a comprehensive facility dedi-
tots to teens.
cated specifically to women’s health on New York’s
Upper East Side.
Jay Brady
Jay Brady
Bank of America made a
generous gift to the event,
and has been a philanthropic
leader in heart health for
the public through the NYC
Healthy Hearts program
at NYU Langone. Here,
one family joins in with the
Susan B. Kaplan and Nancy
festivities.
Kaplan Belsky
One Family’s Vision
Auxiliary Celebrates Annual
Mend-a-Heart Day
A reception celebrating the opening of The Rita J. &
Stanley H. Kaplan Stem Cell/Bone Marrow Transplant
The Auxiliary of NYU Langone held its annual Mend-a-
Center, located in Tisch Hospital, was held January
Heart Day, which raises money and collects in-kind
25. Several members of the Kaplan family, whose
gifts that help provide educational and psychological
foundation provided funds to create the center, were
support for pediatric patients suffering from congenital
in attendance. The Kaplans have been generous,
heart disease and their families. The May 1 event raised
long-standing donors to the Medical Center’s cancer
over $6,000, was attended by close to 350 people
initiatives.
and brought together a community dedicated to these
patients’ well-being.
Payback from the Heart— continued from page 1
A New Home for Pediatric Emergency Care—
continued from page 1
to learn the left-heart catheterization technique?’”
outstanding,” says Dr. Reed. “That concept is very
recalls Dr. Reed, fondly, “and I replied, ‘When do I go?’”
important to me. I have made it a point throughout
The rest is history. Dr. Reed started his fellowship at the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Institute for
Experimental Physiology, Surgery, and Pathology.
Because of the fellowship, he was able to learn the
procedure that gave rise to the cardiovascular surgery
my professional life to be associated only with institutions where patients can receive care regardless of
their ability to pay.”
Dr. Reed’s actions speak as loudly as his words; his
dedication and innovation as a student and as profes-
program at NYU Langone Medical Center. For almost
sor of surgery at NYU School of Medicine and his gen-
five years, Dr. Reed was the sole attending on call for
erosity as a philanthropist have truly left NYU Langone
cardiovascular surgery at NYU Langone and its affili-
a better place than when he found it. To make a gift to
ate, Bellevue.
the Cardiac and Vascular Institute, please contact Ken
Dr. Reed’s voice brims with admiration as he
talks about Bellevue and its relationship to NYU,
Hurd, senior director, development, at 212.404.3569 or
kenneth.hurd@nyumc.org.
which, he pointed out, was one of the first examples
of a successful public/private healthcare partnership. “Bellevue is what makes NYU Langone truly
page 6
philanthropy in motion— summer 2011
quality of life,” he explains. “Each child only has
one experience, and we can always learn more
about how we can help remove the ‘scary’ from
pediatric medicine.”
“The Pediatric Emergency Care Center is
one step in an evolution towards greater excellence in children’s health care at NYU Langone,”
notes Mrs. Alice Tisch, current KiDS of NYU
board chair. “Under Dean Grossman’s leadership and guidance, we have partnered with the
Medical Center to help build an exceptional
team of pediatric specialists. The PECC will be
a jewel of a facility, one that signals our arrival
as a true center for the best in pediatric care.” To
make a gift to pediatric medicine at NYU Langone
Medical Center, please contact Caitlin Galblum, associate director, development, at 212.404.3648 or caitlin.
galblum@nyumc.org.
Sasha Nialla
Left, Marc Triola, MD, director
of the Division of Educational
Informatics, is one of the developers of the new curricula.
Above, A generous grant from
the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation
has allowed NYU School of
Medicine to create a teamworkbased curriculum using
advanced technologies.
Breaking the Mold: New team-based curricula
mirrors today’s clinical reality
When George E. Thibault, MD, became president of the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation in 2008,
he decided to conduct an overview of how well
current medical education was preparing students to work within today’s clinical care system,
which has undergone sweeping changes from
prior decades.
“After several months of study, we saw a critical need to realign education with changes in our
society,” explained Dr. Thibault. “The country’s
demographics and health care needs as well as
health-care delivery have all changed, and yet
our schools have not kept pace with these dramatic shifts. We began to look for opportunities
to better align the education of health professionals with contemporary health needs and a
changing health care system.”
Dr. Thibault found one of those opportunities at NYU School of Medicine and NYU
College of Nursing, where a generous, four-year
grant from the foundation is facilitating “NYU
3T: Teaching, Technology, Teamwork,” a technologically advanced educational program that will
give students in the nursing and medical schools
the chance to learn collaboratively and in ways
that will foster exceptional team-based and
patient-centered care.
Part of the 81-year-old foundation’s mission to
foster innovation in health professional education is the development of new models of clinical
education, especially those that advance interprofessional teamwork. Dr. Thibault points out
that it was fundamental that NYU College of
Nursing, led by Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, and the
Erline Perkins McGriff Professor and Dean, be part
of the project.
“Nurses are absolutely central to how we
deliver care, and we need to model that early on
in the education process, so that health professionals learn how to work as a team,” explains
Dr. Thibault. “Interprofessional education and
teamwork are essential to reform the healthcare
system.”
Dr. Fulmer says the timing is auspicious given
recent advances in technology. “When you have
the opportunity to use technology for asynchronous learning, chat rooms and virtual patients, it
opens up a whole new way for interprofessional
education,” she explains. “Changes in nursing
education trends are fueling the success of the
program. Today, many NYU nursing students
are ‘second-degree’ students who have previously
earned a liberal arts degree. They have completed their pre-nursing education like those who
have completed their pre-med education. This
helps create a more even playing field between
the two student groups as they participate in
NYU 3T.”
Continues Dr. Thibault, “Our foundation is
looking for institutions that are moving away
from the traditional, fragmented practice of
rotation. We thought NYU was an excellent
place to make an investment, and that we could
learn from the innovations that the nursing and
medical schools were undertaking. It’s also
equally important to us that the institutions we
fund work on an open-access model and not a
competitive one.”
Marc Triola, MD, director, Division of
Educational Informatics, explains that the
open-access practice allows him and Dr.
Fulmer to work with other institutions to build
the model. And the students themselves? “They
love it!” says Dr. Triola. “We incorporated students’ ideas during the original pilot program.
And we’re also collecting research data on the
curriculum’s effectiveness. That is one of the
special aspects of this grant. It allows us to
develop the model as well as do an assessment
of it, and this is crucial. It would have been
difficult to get a project like this off the ground
without the grant from the Josiah Macy Jr.
Foundation.” To make a gift to curriculum development at NYU Langone Medical Center, please
contact Robert Danzig, senior director, development,
at 212.404.3576 or robert.danzig @nyumc.org.
Join us today!
Named for the year in which the NYU School of Medicine was founded,
The 1841 Society honors donors who contribute $1,000 or more annually to
NYU Langone Medical Center. Support NYU Langone and receive unique
benefits and services designed with you in mind. To make your gift, please
visit http://development.med.nyu.edu/ or call the Development Office
at 212.404.3640.
page 7
philanthropy in motion— summer 2011
NON-PROFIT ORG.
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
NEW YORK, NY
PERMIT NO. 8167
Veronica Mainetti, a 31 -year-old native of Rome, runs
I N S I D E
T H I S
I S S U E :
the States-side office of her family’s multinational
real estate firm, Sorgente Group. She spoke with
us recently about her involvement with faces, NYU
Langone’s epilepsy and seizures program. A generous
A New Home for Pediatric Emergency Care—cover
donor, Ms. Mainetti also served as the auction chair
An Eye Towards the Future: The Faculty Gift—page 2
at the March 2011 faces gala.
It’s the People: For the Schwartzes, technology alone
is not enough—page 3
Q: How did you become interested in faces?
A: I learned about faces around three years ago; it was
through an article that stressed the urgency and need
for epilepsy research in the U.S. It also spoke a little
Special Events—pages 4, 5 and 6
Breaking the Mold: New team-based curricula mirrors
today’s clinical reality—pages 7
bit about epilepsy within history. In ancient times,
people believed that epilepsy came from demons, and
was contagious by touching or being breathed on. I
was diagnosed with a petit mal (seizure) as a child,
and I can tell you that people still had strange ideas
about it, as unfounded and ridiculous as it is. People
have known about epilepsy for thousands of years
but have not understood it until recently, and it is
thanks to organizations such as faces that people are
getting a better education on the matter.
Q: What inspired you to become more involved with faces?
A: The first time I attended the gala, three years ago,
Philanthropy in Motion is published by NYU Langone
Medical Center for the Office of Development. Readers
are invited to send their comments to PIM @nyumc.org
To make an online gift to NYU Langone Medical Center,
please visit http://development.med.nyu.edu/.
If you wish to have your name removed from NYU Langone
Medical Center’s Office of Development mailing lists,
please e-mail us at: developmentoffice@nyumc.org and
include the mailing address where you are currently
receiving correspondence.
I was seriously impressed by the number of amazing people I was able to meet. Dr. Orrin Devinksy
is incredible, brilliant, and he has an unbelievable
team of people dedicated to finding a cure. It was an
absolute pleasure to work as the faces auction chair,
a true privilege to work closely with such excellence
and to follow in the footsteps of the many exceptional
founding volunteers.
Q: You are an executive within a large, international
family business. How do you parlay your experience as a
successful businesswoman into your work with faces?
A: At Sorgente Group, we invest mainly in historic
and trophy properties. For me, being able to preserve
a piece of history is rewarding—it’s what I truly love
about my job. I gain the same sense of fulfillment in
my work with faces. To team up with a remarkable
group of people and fundraise and help others, it is
just as rewarding. It is also encouraging for me to see
how much of a priority philanthropy is becoming in
New York University
Martin Lipton, Esq., Chairman, Board of Trustees
John Sexton, President
Robert Berne, PhD, Senior Vice President for Health
Debra A. LaMorte, Senior Vice President for
Development and Alumni Relations
NYU Langone Medical Center
Kenneth G. Langone, Chairman, Board of Trustees
Robert I. Grossman, MD, Dean and CEO
Lisa J. Silverman, Vice President for Development and
Alumni Affairs
Beth Rowan, Senior Director, Stewardship
Philanthropy in Motion
Nancy Owen Rieger, Editor
Meghan Gourley, Deputy Editor
Design per se, Inc., Design and Production
Copyright ©New York University
All rights reserved.
the U.S. and in Europe. To make a gift to epilepsy
research and care at NYU Langone Medical Center,
please contact Brian Bachand, executive director, faces,
at 646.558.0824 or brian.bachand@nyumc.org.
NYU Langone Medical Center
Office of Development and Alumni Affairs
One Park Avenue, 17th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Tel. 212.404.3640
Fax. 212.404.3687
Website: http://development.med.nyu.edu
Philanthropy in Motion
Meet the Volunteer:
One Woman’s Personal
Commitment to Patients
with Epilepsy
a newsletter for the NYU Langone donor community
Veronica Mainetti