SUNY Upstate is an upper-division transfer and doctoral university with degree-granting programs in the Norton College of Medicine (NCOM), College of Health Professions (CHP), College of Graduate Studies (CoGS) and the College of Nursing.
Part of the SUNY system since 1950,[14] Upstate is located in the heart of downtown Syracuse next to Syracuse University. Many of Upstate's faculty provide patient care, teach, and conduct research at the University Hospital.
Upstate provides 10,959 jobs,[15] making it Central New York's largest employer.[16] The university adds more than $2.5 billion to the state economy annually. Nearly 7,900 SUNY Upstate alumni physicians are licensed in the United States and they generate more than $24.8 billion in economic activity and support or employ nearly 132,354 employees.[17]
History
Geneva Medical College (1834-1871)
Geneva Medical College
The present Upstate Medical University College of Medicine traces its ancestry to Geneva Medical College founded on September 15, 1834, as part of Geneva College, today known as Hobart and William Smith Colleges. The medical school, located in Geneva, New York, was the brainchild of Edward Cutbush, MD, who became its first dean. GMC held its first classes in February 1835, and became the first college to grant a full M.D. to a woman, Elizabeth Blackwell, in 1849.[1]
Among the early luminaries at GMC were Prof. of Surgery Frank Hastings Hamilton, pioneer in orthopedics, military surgery, and military hygiene; Stephen Smith, briefly a GMC student in 1847–1848, later an innovative sanitarian and surgeon in New York City; Lecturer in the Theory and Practice of Medicine Austin Flint, developer of modern methods of auscultation, cofounder (with Hamilton and several other GMC faculty) of the University of Buffalo College of Medicine, and eventually President of the American Medical Association (AMA); and Prof. of Anatomy and Physiology Willard Parker, who became the premier surgeon at Bellevue.[1]
Elizabeth Blackwell, MD, the first woman to be granted admissions to a US MD school.
Syracuse University College of Medicine (1871-1950)
In 1871 Hobart disbanded GMC and sold its library, anatomical specimens, and other tangible assets to Dean John Towler. Acting as a private citizen, Towler donated these materials to the new Syracuse University on condition that the trustees immediately establish an AMA-approved medical school. Thus the Syracuse University College of Medicine came into being on December 4, 1871, with Frederick Hyde as dean.[1]
Syracuse Medical College class of 1897 (pictured in 1894).
In the latter part of the century, the SU College of Medicine was among the first to institute a graded medical instruction program, with definite pre-clinical and clinical years and organize its curriculum according to the so-called "German model," with intense scientific and especially laboratory training for students in the first two years, and rigorous clinical training on rounds thereafter.[1]
This tradition of steadily improving educational methods, practices, and facilities placed the SU College of Medicine in a good light for the Carnegie Foundation's Flexner Report in 1910. The Flexner Report hastened the demise of many medical schools in the United States and Canada, but, as Abraham Flexner wrote, "Of the eleven medical schools now existing in the state, only the bona-fide university departments can then expect to survive: outside of New York city, Syracuse University alone has just now a chance."[14]
Acquisition by The State University of New York (1950 - Present)
In 1950, State University of New York (SUNY) moved to add a medical center in Syracuse and ultimately acquired the College of Medicine from Syracuse University as a part of Governor Thomas E. Dewey's vision for Upstate New York.[14] After carrying the names "SUNY Upstate Medical Center" (initially) and "SUNY Health Science Center at Syracuse" (1986), the institution was renamed to become SUNY Upstate Medical University in 1999.
The first decade of the 21st century has been one of growth: the opening of the Institute for Human Performance for basic and clinical research; the East Tower expansion of University Hospital that houses the Golisano Children's Hospital and other clinical specialties; the Upstate cancer center; the Nappi Longevity Institute; a renovated gross anatomy lab; the Setnor Academic Building with a unique clinical skills center; and the purchase of land for a new Biotechnology Research Center; Geneva Tower including expansion of facilities past Interstate 81.[1]
The university's main campus is located in the University Hill neighborhood of Syracuse, New York flanking Interstate 81. It includes Upstate University Hospital, the Institute for Human Performance, Setnor Academic Building, Central New York Gamma Knife Center, Jacobsen Hall, Regional Oncology Center, Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital, Weiskotten Hall, the Health Sciences Library, Silverman Hall and Geneva Tower residence hall. A clinical campus in Binghamton, New York was established in 1976. Medical students spend their first two years of medical school in Syracuse, New York and then approximately a quarter of the class completes their training in Binghamton. Although the Clinical Campus is community-based, Binghamton students spend similar amounts of time in hospitals on their rotations.[18]
Medical students on the Syracuse campus complete their clinical years at Upstate's own University Hospital and its affiliates. Students on the Syracuse campus learn alongside doctors at the Central New York Gamma Knife Center, Upstate's Clark Burn Center, the Joslin Diabetes Center etc.[19]
Upstate University Hospital is a 752-bed non-profit, teaching hospital located in Syracuse, New York.[20] Upstate University Hospital is a part of the Upstate Health System, as the flagship hospital in the system. As the hospital is a teaching hospital, it is affiliated with the Upstate Medical University.[21] The hospital is also an American College of Surgeons verified Level 1 Trauma Center, the only in the region and one of 21 in New York.[22] Attached to the hospital is the Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital that treats infants, children, teens, and young adults aged 0–21.[23]
Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital, an acute care children's hospital features 71 pediatric beds and provides comprehensive pediatric care.
In addition to being the region's only Level-I Trauma Center, Upstate includes:[24]
Numann Center for Breast, Endocrine & Plastic Surgery
University Hospital's New York State Designated Centers include:
Upstate Level I Adult Trauma Center
Upstate Level I Pediatric Trauma Center, 1 of only 4 in New York
Upstate Comprehensive Stroke Center
Clark Burn Center
Upstate Designated AIDS Center
There are seven clinical departments that offer surgery at Upstate University Hospital. Collectively, the hospital offers more surgeons, robotic instrumentation and specialty procedures than any other facility in Central New York, with the Department of Surgery providing the largest component. In addition, the past decade has seen the expansion of cancer surgical specialties at Upstate. The surgeons who treat cancer see patients through the Upstate Cancer Center, a newer facility which provides disease-specific, multidisciplinary care to patients with different types of cancer.[25]
Academics
Upstate Medical University Banner
Upstate is an upper-division transfer and doctoral university classified as a Special Focus Four-Year: Medical Schools and Centers, 1 of only 54 in the nation, specializing solely in health care careers.[26] This means students applying to the bachelors programs take the prerequisite courses (minimum 60 semester hours) at another college and then complete their junior and senior years of the bachelor's degree at Upstate for their program of study. Students in the graduate and post-graduate programs enter having completed a bachelors and/or a master's degree prior to enrollment.[27]
Total enrollment is 1,592 students (including 699 medical students) in addition to 619 residents and clinical fellows.[28] Upstate employs 623 full-time faculty members and 1,809 part-time and voluntary faculty.[13]
The College of Medicine is the highest-funded school within the university, as a result graduates continue to do exceptionally well in matching into high quality programs for residency and match at a higher rate than the national average.[29][30] Students in the College of Medicine have access to research facilities, classrooms, laboratories and clinical facilities, including the Clinical Skills Teaching Center, Surgical Simulation, Research and Training Center, Gross Anatomy lab and Research Labs at the Institute of Human Performance (IHP).[31]
All College of Medicine students spend their first two years at the Upstate Medical University campus in Syracuse. At the start of the third year, one-fourth of the class moves to the Binghamton Clinical Campus, one hour south of Syracuse for their third year, and most elect to stay for their fourth. The rest of the class remains in Syracuse.[32]
Upstate University Hospital, Community Campus
As an academic medical center, most of the physicians and surgeons providing services at Upstate University Hospital are also faculty at Upstate's College of Medicine, demonstrating an ongoing commitment to education and training. Several departments — General Surgery, Ophthalmology, Urology, Orthopedics and Neurosurgery, in particular — have considerable faculty and external funding dedicated to their research mission. Surgeons also partner with external institutions, such as nearby Syracuse and Cornell Universities for tissue engineering and brain tumor research.[25]
Along with the University Hospital, the College of Medicine has five clinical affiliates in Syracuse and over 400 clinical sites throughout Central New York, including:
Crouse Hospital, in operation since 1887 serves more than 22,000 discharges, over 82,000 emergency services visits and more than 365,000 outpatient visits each year[34]
Upstate Community Hospital, boasts a medical staff of 460 physicians who provide premier out-patient and surgical services to more than 12,000 patients each year[35]
St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center, is ranked among the top 15 heart surgery centers in the country and conducts over 9,000 surgeries and nearly 5,000 outpatient surgeries yearly[36]
On December 22, 2021, the College of Medicine was renamed the Alan and Marlene Norton College of Medicine in recognition of a $25 million estate gift made by Alan and Marlene Norton.[38][39] Alan Norton graduated from the College of Medicine in 1966 and then went on to complete his residency and fellowship training at the Wilmer Eye Institute of Johns Hopkins University and Massachusetts Eye and Ear.
On April 20, 2022, SUNY Upstate Medical University and Syracuse University reached a partnership to start a joint M.D./MBA program that will allow students the opportunity to earn two degrees within a five-year program.[40]
Syracuse Veterans Affairs Medical Center, students and residents get their training in part with an affiliation with Upstate.
The college also offers fellowships to budding undergraduate students through its Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Program, along with research training opportunities through its Post-baccalaureate Research and Education Program (PREP-Up).[42]
Center for Forensic Science
PhD students are given a full year before making the crucial decision as to the topic and mentor for their thesis research. During the first year, candidates rotate through three labs, choosing from a variety of well funded labs in leading-edge research areas. To help select rotations, faculty members from each department program take an afternoon early in the semester to present the research carried on in the program. After successful completion of lab rotations and a first-year core curriculum taught by faculty from throughout the college, students select their dissertation mentor and transition into the appropriate degree-granting program.[43]
Ph.D. students receive a competitive 12-month stipend of $27,121 and a full-tuition scholarship. By receiving stipends, Ph.D. students become part of the SUNY Graduate Student Employees Union, which provides periodic and automatic increases in stipend awards in addition to other benefits, including a low-cost health care package.[44]
College of Nursing
To meet the shortage of nurses, the State University of New York Upstate Medical University initiated an Associate degree program in 1959. More than 500 registered nurses were graduated from the program between 1959 and 1976. In 1974, as a response to the need for primary care nurses, a Nurse Practitioner Certificate Program was implemented. This program was supported primarily by federal grant monies.[45]
Student Activities Center
As enrollment grew, the College of Nursing was initially established in 1986, with Dr. M. Janice Nelson appointed as the first dean.[45] Soon after, it began offering bachelor's and master's degrees and currently has the following advanced education programs for RNs: Bachelor of Science, Master of Science (PNP, FNP and FPMHNP tracks), Post Masters Advanced Certificate (PNP, FNP, FPMHNP tracks) and Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP).[46]
The College of Health Professions annually admits over 130 students into its programs. There are 32 full-time and 8 part-time faculty. In addition, there are more than 240 clinical and adjunct faculty who contribute to the college's educational programs.[47]
Research
As a biomedical research enterprise, Upstate focuses on the most prevalent human diseases, including cancer, diabetes, heart disease, nervous system disorders, vision, and infectious diseases. The quest for treatments and cures is built upon expertise in structural, molecular and systems biology. Grants are concentrated in five basic science departments; Upstate's clinical departments host more than 450 active clinical trials. Upstate's research expenditures of more than $35 million ripple through the state economy and generated an additional $20.7 million in indirect and induced activity.[15]
Institute for Human Performance
Upstate Medical University completed the construction of the Upstate Cancer Center, a five-story $74-million facility, in July 2014 and expanded it in 2018 to meet patient's demands and further research capability.[48][49] In addition, the Nappi Longevity Institute at Upstate Medical University—a five floor, nearly 200,000 square foot health and wellness complex—will be completed in 2023. To fund the $154 million project, Upstate received a $70.6 million grant as part of the Capital Restructuring Financing Program and Essential Health Care Provider Support Program, and an additional $70.6 million in matching bonds from New York state.[50] Upstate is currently designated as a Center of Excellence for Alzheimer's disease by New York State.[51]
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo congratulated Upstate Medical on its No.1 ranking COVID-19 saliva test by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for detecting the virus in its earliest stages. The test developed by Upstate Medical and NY Start-Up Quadrant Biosciences, called Clarifi COVID-19, was also cited by the FDA as being among the most sensitive tests.[52]
On March 12, 2021, Upstate announced the opening of the Upstate Medical Vector Biocontainment Lab established to research infectious diseases that pose major public health risks. The new $7.6 million 2,500-square-foot laboratory was funded by New York State investment and will house clinical experts from State University of New York institutions who will collaborate on cutting-edge research of Coronavirus, Lyme, West Nile, Zika, Dengue, and other infectious diseases. The VBL also features a Human Challenge Room, where a human test subject may receive a mosquito bite, allowing for natural disease transmission and a potentially more accurate understanding of the disease and how to treat it.[53][54]
“You would find this only at the CDC or in an Army laboratory,” Thangamani, MD said of the Human Challenge Room. “It’s rare to find this in an academic setting."[54]
On March 3, 2022, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a patent to Upstate Research Foundation, Quadrant Biosciences and Penn State Research Foundation for developing a novel epigeneticsaliva test for autism. The patent covers the scientific foundation for the development of a saliva-based, multiomic autism diagnostic aid, that can differentiate individuals with autism from individuals with typical development or developmental delays by measuring microRNA (miRNA) and microbiome levels in saliva.[55]
Cross-Functional Collaboration
In 2013, Upstate Medical University, in partnership with SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF), Syracuse University, Cornell University, the University of Rochester and SUNY Buffalo received a $2 million federal grant to acquire an 800 MHz Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectrometer. The acquisition of the spectrometer filled a void in the region's research landscape as this instrument will be the only one of its kind in Central and Western New York. "It speaks volumes about the power of a system when this grant was led by SUNY Upstate, the equipment will be housed at ESF, and its use will be open to scientists from across Central and Western New York," said SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher.[56] In addition, Upstate and ESF were recently awarded $15 million through a competitive grant program to create the SUNY Institute of Environmental Health & Environmental Medicine.[57]
In addition, a joint Master of Public Health degree program and a joint PhD program in biomedical engineering are offered by SUNY Upstate and Syracuse University.[58] The campuses of the two universities are adjacent to each other on University Hill in Syracuse. In 2021, a research collaboration between Upstate Medical University and Syracuse University on detecting Alzheimer's disease won the IAAI-21 Deployed Application Award on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence. In their paper the team states, "Our research is the first to develop an effective machine learning approach that can identify the latent patterns due to preclinical AD from MRI brain scans, which can significantly improve AD patients’ intervention and treatment.”[59]
Selectivity
Most recently, the MD program received over 7,000 applications for 160 seats, an increase of over 26% from the previous year to what some described as the "Fauci Effect".[60][61][62] In 2020, the incoming class had an average GPA of 3.77 and MCAT score of 513, which is 90th percentile nationally.[63][64] Over 52.6% of applicants were "Out of State" with respect to state residency and the remaining 47.4% were NYS residents.[60]
In 2020, the PA program was ranked #46 nationally in the Best Physician Assistant Programs by U.S. News & World Report. The Physical Therapy program (DPT) was ranked #57 nationally in the Best Physical Therapy Programs by US News. In addition, the MPH program was ranked #104 nationally in the Best Public Health Schools category by US News.[69]
Notable alumni
College of Medicine, Class of 1876
Charles Antzelevitch, PhD - American cardiovascular research scientist in the fields of cardiac electrophysiology and arrhythmia syndromes.
Mary Fowkes, MD/PhD - American physician and neuropathologist. She is noted for her early autopsies of COVID-19 victims that significantly contributed to the identification of long-term effects of the novel coronavirus
Sarah Loguen Fraser, M.D. - in 1876, became the first woman to gain an M.D. from Syracuse University School of Medicine; believed to be the fourth African-American woman to become a licensed physician in the United States
Michael Weitzman, M.D. - American pediatrician specializing in public health and policy known for his research focusing on the social and environmental determinants of child health.
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