Get to know our 40th Anniversary Gala Honorees

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Institute for Family Health, as well as the retirement of our founding CEO Dr. Neil Calman. Our 40th Anniversary Gala, which takes place on May 1 at the New York Academy of Medicine, celebrates our legacy of providing high-quality, affordable health care and workforce training to New Yorkers.

At the gala, we will honor two distinguished leaders in the fields of family medicine, community health care and medical education:

 

 

Dr. Neil S. Calman, MD, FAAFP
Co-Founder and Retiring Chief Executive Officer, The Institute for Family Health

Since launching the Institute in 1985 with three co-founders, Dr. Neil Calman has grown the organization from a small non-profit with four staff members to one of the largest community health centers in New York State, serving over 100,000 patients annually at 27 locations.

Under Dr. Calman’s leadership, the Institute for Family Health has distinguished itself through efforts to build and sustain new community health centers in high-need communities; launch innovative workforce development programs, including one of the first “Teaching Health Center” programs in the nation; develop clinical and community programs that address the social drivers of health; and advocate for policies that advance the community health center model of care.

Dr. Neil Calman has dedicated his career to improving healthcare access and quality for underserved communities. His work has consistently focused on addressing health inequities and supporting the next generation of health care providers to be well-prepared to advance the health center mission. His commitment to health centers’ core values, dedication to accessible and high-quality services, and willingness to innovate and grow are unmatched.

 

 

Carmen Renée Green, MD
President and Dean, The City University of New York (CUNY) School of Medicine

Carmen Renée Green, MD, was appointed Dean of the CUNY School of Medicine on October 4, 2021. Located in Harlem, CUNY School of Medicine is home to an accelerated 7-year BS/MD and one of the nation’s oldest public Physician Assistant programs. The School has a holistic admissions process and has never used the MCAT. An immediate priority was getting CUNY Medicine fully accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). The School had been on provisional-probationary status; with Dean Green’s leadership, it earned a full five-year accreditation—the longest timeframe possible for a first attempt. In October 2023, Dean Green successfully petitioned the CUNY Board of Trustees to expand the School’s offerings to include a traditional four-year MD—the first step in a long-term strategic growth plan. Her visionary leadership led to the school becoming an independent stand alone and CUNY’s 26^th College in November 2024.

Under her leadership, the school leads NY and the nation in producing physicians traditionally under-represented in medicine. Her vision of inclusive excellence focuses on producing doctors New Yorkers need and want to see while being at the forefront of developing strategies to address the social determinants, thereby eliminating inequities in our time. Dr. Green recruited an executive leadership team to spur innovation, expansion, and address the social determinants of medical education. Curricular innovations include the Bridge to M1 and Bridge to Clerkship Programs to prepare students for entry into the medical school and USMLE while also incorporating a mandatory Pre-Matriculation Program that provides incoming undergraduates with exposure to community-based and biomedical research before their first semester.

An academic ambulatory and obstetrical anesthesiologist, pain medicine physician and physician scientist, she is an elected fellow of the NY Academy of Medicine, Gerontological Society of America, and Association of University Anesthesiologists. A Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy fellow at the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), she worked in the U.S. Senate’s Children & Families subcommittee within Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and helped draft the National Pain Care Policy Act, within the Affordable Care Act. Dean Green’s groundbreaking research sits at the nexus of public health and healthcare quality, equity, and policy.  She authored germinal and seminal papers poignantly revealing inequities, diminished healthcare quality, and suboptimal access and pain care for women, minorities, and low-income people, and was the first to identify hospital security errors. Her recent honors include being named one of Forbes magazine’ 50 over 50 for impact and a Trailblazer in Higher Education. She has made presentations across the globe including the US Congress, NIH, and NAM. Her former students now mentor and inspire others.

Want to learn more about our 40th Anniversary Gala? Visit institute.org/gala. Limited tickets and sponsorships are still available!