Surrounded by family and friends, NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine's entering class of 2029 received their official white coats on July 24 during an emotional ceremony marking the beginning of their careers in medicine.

“We have great expectations for each and every one of these students, who have expressed a true commitment to our school’s mission to inspire the next generation of primary care physicians,” said Gladys M. Ayala, MD, MPH, the school’s dean. “Their dedication and compassion will be assets to communities that are in much need of their clinical care and expertise.”

The Mineola medical school was the first in the nation to offer a three-year, tuition-free degree with a focus on primary care. Its mission is to help address the shortage of primary care physicians on Long Island and throughout the New York area.

These are some of the 24 incoming students who hope to make an impact on primary care:

• Samuel Levitan, a 23-year-old from Albertson, Long Island, who attended public school in Mineola from prekindergarten through high school, where he was an Eagle Scout and junior firefighter. His scoutmaster encouraged the civic-minded teen to consider a career in medicine after the school opened in 2019. Levitan found his passion in family medicine and hopes to become a practicing physician in the community where he grew up. “I want to stay on Long Island, be able to practice here, and eventually buy a house without having to worry about medical debt,” he said. “This has been true serendipity, giving me a chance to give back to the community I love.”
• Elizabeth Goberdhan, a 22-year-old who grew up in Jamaica, Queens, and who decided to become a primary care physician after experiencing a medical shortage in her community. Goberdhan suffered from Hashimoto’s disease, a debilitating thyroid condition, at a young age. She was ultimately diagnosed and treated at the former Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola before it merged with NYU Langone Health and became NYU Langone Hospital—Long Island. “When I got the call that I was accepted to medical school in the same building where I was formerly a patient, it was the best day of my life,” she said. Goberdhan hopes to eventually do her residency at the hospital to provide quality care to the community.
• David Besprozvany, a 26-year-old from Long Island City who has wanted to be a physician since early childhood, because he considers it a uniquely meaningful profession. “To be given a window into another person’s life, to help guide them through health challenges, and to support their ability to live as fully as possible is, to me, one of the greatest forms of service one human being can provide to another,” said Besprozvany, who will pursue a career in primary care.

     
About NYU Langone Health

NYU Langone Health is a fully integrated health system that consistently achieves the best patient outcomes through a rigorous focus on quality that has resulted in some of the lowest mortality rates in the nation. Vizient Inc. has ranked NYU Langone No. 1 out of 118 comprehensive academic medical centers across the nation for four years in a row, and U.S. News & World Report recently ranked four of its clinical specialties No. 1 in the nation. NYU Langone offers a comprehensive range of medical services with one high standard of care across seven inpatient locations, its Perlmutter Cancer Center, and more than 330 outpatient locations in the New York area and Florida. The system also includes two tuition-free medical schools, in Manhattan and on Long Island, and a vast research enterprise.

About NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine

NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine is the only medical school in the country to offer a three-year, tuition-free medical degree in primary care. Its mission is to prepare graduates to deliver outstanding patient care and become authorities in local and national health systems. The school first opened its doors in 2019 and is fully accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the foremost accreditor of medical schools in the US and Canada. NYU Grossman Long Island’s graduate medical education programs offer postgraduate medical education training in more than 20 specialties. Throughout all these programs, the school encourages research collaboration in basic, clinical, and translational sciences to solve today’s most urgent healthcare needs.

Media Inquiries

Rosemary Gomez
Phone: 516-663-2709
Rosemary.Gomez@NYULangone.org