NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn, formerly NYU Lutheran Medical Center, announced a new name and a major philanthropic gift, marking a significant collaboration and unifying vision to improve the health and wellness of diverse populations across the Brooklyn community.

The philanthropic pledge of $25 million made by the Bezos Family Foundation will support major initiatives to help mothers, children, and families in the Brooklyn community. The gift will provide long-term funds for critical new positions and initiatives based on the science of early brain development to advance mother–baby care across the institution and support families during the critical first years of a child’s life. The investment will also establish a lasting partnership between the departments of Population Health and Obstetrics and Gynecology to ensure that there is a measurable impact on family and community outcomes over generations.

“This is a significant step forward for our medical center, which has made considerable changes and improvements to better help patients and communities across Brooklyn,” says Bret J. Rudy, MD, executive hospital director and senior vice president at NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn. “This generous gift from the Bezos Family Foundation represents a major milestone in our institution’s history. What our talented physicians, researchers, and staff will be able to accomplish thanks to the foundation’s support will enable NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn to provide outstanding care for the community—making us a destination for growing families.”

Helping Mothers, Children, and Families in the Brooklyn Community

As a leading hospital in the Brooklyn area, NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn is on track to deliver approximately 4,500 babies annually by 2018 and has more than 600,000 visits per year to its network of 9 Family Health Centers—many of these visits for prenatal and infant health. This gift represents a milestone in a philanthropic history spanning a decade between the Bezos Family Foundation and NYU Langone, most notably leadership giving towards ParentCorps, an early childhood education program now being scaled throughout New York City’s prekindergarten programs, reaching more than 70,000 4-year-olds each year; an endowed professorship in the Department of Population Health, held by Laurie Miller Brotman, PhD; and initiatives across the institution.

“When we first visited NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn, we realized why it has been a beacon for Sunset Park and the surrounding community for more than 100 years,” says Jackie Bezos, president of the Bezos Family Foundation. “Given the nearly decade-long relationship our foundation has had with NYU Langone, and the high-quality outcomes they have achieved, the combination of academic rigor and community commitment presented an important new opportunity to support their work and provide resources to infuse the latest science on early brain development,” adds Mike Bezos, vice president of the Bezos Family Foundation. “This is a wonderful community and our hope is for them to experience care that is greater than they have ever had before.”

As part of the gift, an endowment will be established, allowing the Department of Population Health to work closely with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology to develop and track measures of family and community wellbeing, including physical health, school readiness, economic stability, and other qualities of daily life that are increasingly understood to drive gains in overall family health.

Additional innovations supported by the gift include:

• Establishing multiyear, science-based programs to help support overall family health and child development initiatives for infants born at NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn. Over time, families will be able to access additional resources such as parenting groups and early childhood development experts who are culturally aware of the diverse needs of the community.
• Providing ongoing care for families after they leave the hospital, including access to community-based programs, support from community health workers, and assistance with navigating community resources.
• Supporting research to identify and evaluate the most effective approaches to achieving optimal health outcomes over time, tailored to specific communities and their social and cultural norms.
• Enhanced training and development of staff focused on children, families, and caregivers between NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn and other NYU Langone facilities.
• An endowed professorship will be established to create a focused vision for care strategies over the long-term, and provide oversight that bridges departments to help create, support, and measure the impact of new initiatives.

As a result of these new efforts, NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn will be able to help even more families in the Brooklyn area, and tailor its mother–baby initiatives to have the best outcomes, as well as monitor the results with expertise from the Department of Population Health.

“This gift establishes an on-the-ground core at NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn for NYU Langone’s Department of Population Health, facilitating future large scale initiatives to positively impact community wellbeing,” says Marc Gourevitch, MD, MPH, chair of the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone. “It is certain to have a substantial and beneficial impact for families in the Brooklyn community, while also illuminating strategies that can be scaled more broadly. We are truly thankful to the Bezos Family Foundation for their support.”

About NYU Langone Health

NYU Langone Health is a world-class, patient-centered, integrated academic medical center, known for its excellence in clinical care, research, and education. Included in the 200 locations throughout the New York area are 5 inpatient locations: Tisch Hospital, its flagship acute-care facility; Rusk Rehabilitation, ranked as one of the top 10 rehabilitation programs in the country; NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital, a dedicated inpatient orthopedic hospital with all musculoskeletal specialties ranked top 10 in the country; Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone, a comprehensive pediatric hospital supporting a full array of children’s health services; and NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn, a full-service teaching hospital and Level 1 Trauma Center located in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Also part of NYU Langone Health is the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center, and NYU School of Medicine, which since 1841 has trained thousands of physicians and scientists who have helped to shape the course of medical history.

About the Bezos Family Foundation

The Bezos Family Foundation is a private, independent foundation established by Jackie and Mike Bezos, who along with their children and spouses, serve as directors. Its vision is that all young people are prepared to achieve their full potential and make a meaningful contribution to society.

The Bezos Family Foundation supports rigorous, inspired learning environments for young people, from birth through high school, to put their education into action. Through investments in research, public awareness, and programs, the foundation works to elevate the field of education and improve life outcomes for all children.

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