They come from all walks of life and have overcome many obstacles to achieve their dream of becoming doctors. Now that dream is one step closer to reality as 24 aspiring physicians received their official lab coats during the White Coat Ceremony at NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine, marking the beginning of their career in medicine.

“These future doctors come from a variety of backgrounds, but have one thing in common—a true passion to serve the community as primary care physicians,” said Gladys M. Ayala, MD, MPH, the school’s dean. “We’re excited to see how their perseverance and resilience will drive them to become experts in their specialties and ultimately provide patients with top-notch care.”

Here are the backgrounds of some of this year’s incoming students:

• Annabelle Dalzon, who grew up in Haiti, has been working as a medical assistant at an obstetrics–gynecology and women’s primary care practice in the Mineola area since graduating cum laude from Boston College, where she majored in neuroscience and minored in philosophy.
• Chrysalis Mandel, an aspiring pediatrician from Long Beach, New York, was a full-time merit scholarship student and magna cum laude graduate from CUNY Hunter College and CUNY Macaulay Honors College, where she majored in psychology (behavioral neuroscience) and minored in English.
• Rebecca Rozario, MPH, originally from Brooklyn, received her bachelor’s degree in anthropology from CUNY Queens College and a master’s degree in public health from Columbia University. Before attending NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine, she had a 12-year career with NYC Health + Hospitals in various leadership roles.
• Bilal Salam, who grew up in Brooklyn, witnessed firsthand disparities in healthcare, which served as a catalyst for his interest in primary care. An honors scholar, he received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from CUNY Hunter College while working as a frontline medical assistant at an urgent care facility during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I was raised in Brooklyn after my parents emigrated to the United States from Pakistan in the 1990s. My father worked seven days a week to support us, and I am the first generation in my family to graduate college,” said Salam. “Although my parents did everything they could to support me along the way, I would have never been able to go to medical without the free tuition here. It has taken my dream and made it a reality.”

NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine, which first opened its doors in July 2019, is the only school of its kind in the country to offer an accelerated three-year medical degree with a Full-Tuition Scholarship. Its mission is to train primary care physicians to become academic leaders and address the physician workforce shortage in New York State.

The school prides itself on recruiting students predominantly from the New York metro area, with 75 percent of its incoming students from the tristate area and 50 percent from New York in this year’s class. The school offers a direct link to residencies at NYU Langone Hospital—Long Island in much-needed specialties, such as internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, and general surgery.

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