New York Medical College (NYMC) appointed Neil W. Schluger, M.D., Barbara and William Rosenthal Chair of the Department of Medicine and professor of medicine, as the dean of the School of Medicine (SOM). The search comes to an end as the faculty/student search committee spent eight months interviewing prospective candidates from across the country to succeed Jerry L. Nadler, M.D., who stepped down as dean in January 2023 following the death of his wife and supporter of the SOM, Mary Latona Nadler. Dr. Schluger assumes his new duties on August 15.
Recently recognized by Crain’s New York Business as a 2023 Notable Health Care Leader for his exceptional work and dedication to health care, Dr. Schluger is an international renowned pulmonologist. His leadership on the NYMC campus and at Westchester Medical Center, as the director of medicine, began in 2020. He distinguished himself as a clinician, researcher and educator, leading a department of more than 425 faculty members and teaching more than 800 medical students and residents. In 2021, he took on the additional role of associate dean for clinical and translational research for the SOM.
“After an extensive national search done by a committee with broad representation, there was a clear consensus that our own chair of medicine was by far the best candidate for dean of the School of Medicine at New York Medical College. We are excited that Dr. Schluger has agreed to become our next dean,” said Alan Kadish, M.D., president of NYMC and Touro University (TU).
“There is a theatrical adaption of the Sherlock Holmes’ story The Adventure of The Abbey Grange,” said Edward C. Halperin, M.D., M.A., chancellor and chief executive officer, NYMC and provost for biomedical affairs, Touro University (TU). “In the adaptation, one of the central characters of the story is referred to as ‘a large-souled man.’ That was my opinion of Dr. Schluger when I met him three years ago. The fact that he was the first choice to become dean in the seventy evaluations I received regarding the finalists confirmed my judgment.”
Previously, Dr. Schluger served as chief of the division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center; professor of medicine, epidemiology and environmental health sciences; director of the Population and Global Health Track for the Scholars Projects Program; and co-director of the Programs in Education and Global and Population Health for the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University.
Dr. Schluger’s influence expands well beyond the U.S., as he is a founder of the East Africa Training Initiative (EATI) in Pulmonary Medicine. The two-year fellowship training program in pulmonary and critical care medicine, which marked its tenth anniversary in 2023, is the first training program of its kind in Ethiopia and the broader East African region. Before the launch of EATI, Ethiopia had only one pulmonologist for its 110 million people. Thus far, the initiative graduated 18 specialists, including two pediatric pulmonologists and two physicians from Rwanda and Tanzania, who have assumed leadership roles at hospitals across East Africa.
He has been a principal investigator in the Tuberculosis Trials Consortium, an international collaboration sponsored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for 25 years and was the chair of the consortium from 2000-2016. Dr. Schluger has been an author or editor of several editions of the Tobacco Atlas, the definitive work describing the extent and consequences of the global epidemic of tobacco use, published by Vital Strategies and the American Cancer Society. Dr. Schluger also serves as a member of the board of trustees at Vital Strategies, a global not-for-profit organization devoted to public health issues.
Dr. Schluger is the author of more than 200 articles, chapters and books. His work has been published in The New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of the American Medical Association, The Lancet and The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, among other leading journals. Dr. Schluger is an associate editor of The American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Medicine. He is a past chair of the American Lung Association of New York and past chief scientific officer of the World Lung Foundation.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Schluger rose to the occasion and became a voice in the media on re-infection, long-term symptoms and the use of hydroxycholoroquine for treating COVID-19. He was an author of the lead article, “Observational Study of Hydroxychloroquine in Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19,” published in The New England Journal of Medicine, May 7, 2020. Dr. Schluger used data from an observational trial he led where 1,400 COVID-19 patients were given hydroxychloroquine and showed that there was no evidence that the drug had any benefit of the patient’s conditions.
Board-certified in pulmonary disease and internal medicine, Dr. Schluger is a graduate of Harvard College and earned his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania and completed a residency in internal medicine and served as chief resident at St. Luke’s Hospital in New York. He later completed a three-year pulmonary and critical care medicine fellowship at The New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center.
“I’m excited and humbled to have been chosen as the next Dean of the School of Medicine of New York Medical College, a school with a wonderful history of educating students of diverse backgrounds who have become great physicians and leaders in medicine,” said Dr. Schluger. “I look forward to working with the School’s leadership, faculty, hospital affiliates and students to continue this tradition and to creating exciting new programs and initiatives that will prepare the next generation of physicians to achieve excellence in the great NYMC tradition.”
About New York Medical College:
Since 1860, New York Medical College (NYMC) has trained generations of students from all over the world to deliver skilled and compassionate medical care, explore the basic science questions that lead to important discoveries, and provide leadership in the field of public health and essential services to people with specialized care needs.
The School of Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and School of Health Sciences and Practice, the Touro College of Dental Medicine at NYMC, and the Touro College School of Health Sciences’ nursing program at NYMC – all on the Valhalla campus in Westchester County, New York, provides a large catchment area that enables our students to treat and work with culturally and economically diverse populations, and pursue a wide range of career, residency and internship opportunities. Our affiliate hospitals are some of the finest in the tri-state area, and our faculty is unsurpassed in their dedication and skill.
NYMC is located on a 565-acre suburban campus shared with Westchester Medical Center, 15 miles outside of the New York City limits.
NYMC is distinguished by its inclusive and humanistic approach to education. Historically, we were ahead of our time in admitting and graduating women and students of color. Having joined the Touro College and University System in 2011, we are enjoying a new era of growth, diversity and opportunity, illustrated by recent innovations such as our Clinical Skills and Simulation Center, Biotechnology Incubator and impressive growth in applications and fundraising. After 159 years, NYMC is stronger than ever – excellent news for our students and the populations they serve.
About Neil W. Schluger, M.D.:
Neil W. Schluger, M.D., is the Barbara and William Rosenthal Chair of the Department of Medicine at New York Medical College (NYMC) and director of medicine at Westchester Medical Center (WMC), in Valhalla, New York, roles he assumed in July of 2020. In addition to directing the department of more 425 faculty members and teaching more than 800 medical students and residents at NYMC, Dr. Schluger focuses on public health challenges including tuberculosis, tobacco use, air pollution and the global aspects of lung health. In 2021, he took on the additional role of associate dean for clinical and translational research ****in the School of Medicine (SOM).
Dr. Schluger is a founder and director of the East Africa Training Initiative in Pulmonary Medicine. Through this program, the first generation of pulmonary physicians in Ethiopia has been trained and an academically-oriented pulmonary division has been established at Ethiopia’s leading public hospital. He also serves as senior advisor for science at Vital Strategies, a global not-for-profit organization devoted to public health issues.
He has been a principal investigator in the Tuberculosis Trials Consortium, an international collaboration sponsored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for 25 years and was the chair of the consortium from 2000-2016. He is also co-editor and a co-author of The Tobacco Atlas, the definitive work describing the extent and consequences of the global epidemic of tobacco use, published by Vital Strategies and the American Cancer Society.
He is the author of more than 170 articles, chapters and books, and his work has been published in The New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of the American Medical Association, The Lancet and The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, among other leading journals. He is an Associate Editor of The American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Medicine. Dr. Schluger is a past-president of the American Lung Association of New York.
Prior to joining NYMC and WMC, Dr. Schluger served as chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC). Under his leadership, the division maintained strong programs in basic, translational and clinical research with a highly competitive fellowship training program and grew from 10 faculty with an $8 million operating budget to 50 faculty with an operating budget of $40 million. Most recently, he served as professor of medicine, epidemiology and environmental health sciences, director of the Population and Global Health Track for the Scholars Projects Program and co-director of the Program for Education in Global and Population Health for the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University.
Board-certified in pulmonary disease and internal medicine, Dr. Schluger earned his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania and completed a residency and served as chief resident in internal medicine at St. Luke’s Hospital in New York. He later completed a three-year fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at The New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center.
The Rosenthal Chair was endowed in 2001 by William Rosenthal, M.D., and his wife Barbara. A significant contributor to scientific advancement in the field of gastroenterology, Dr. Rosenthal, who became the College’s first endowed professor in 1969, trained generations of physicians who have contributed to the field of gastroenterology through research, teaching and clinical care during his decades-long tenure.