Entrance into New York Medical College just got a little bit easier - not academically, of course, but physically. More than a dozen new directional signs featuring the College name and the universal graduate silhouette have been installed on area highways and roadways directing drivers to campus. NYMC's Vice President for Government Affairs Robert W. Amler, M.D., M.B.A., worked with New York State Assemblyman Thomas J. Abinanti (D-Greenburgh/Mt. Pleasant) , and the New York State Department of Transportation to get the new signs approved and installed.

The new signs provide clear guidance to the NYMC campus and distinguish the College from neighboring institutions such as Westchester Medical Center and Westchester Community College. "Part of raising our public profile is making the campus easy for visitors to locate with appropriate signage," said Edward C. Halperin, M.D., M.A, chancellor and chief executive officer at NYMC. "Thanks to the efforts of Assemblyman Abinanti, Dr. Amler, and State Department of Transportation, we now have new way-finding signs which should certainly do the trick."

Complementing the recent Missing Type Campaign  - in which the letters A, B, and O were removed from prominent signage, displays and content at NYMC and all over New York to highlight the profound shortage of blood in the world - NYMC's Donate Life Club hosted the first blood drive of the 2016-17 school year on September 6. 

The effort resulted in 54 blood donations for the New York Blood Center, which provides lifesaving blood products and services to nearly 200 hospitals in New York, New Jersey, Long Island, the Hudson Valley, and parts of Connecticut and Pennsylvania. 

This year's Blood Drive also included a Gift of Life table at which approximately 35 NYMC community members joined the Bone Marrow Registry with a simple swab of their cheek. The Registry is an active log of all potential donors who may be matches for patients in need of a bone marrow or blood stem cell transplant as part of their treatment for leukemia or other blood-related diseases. 

According to Tanya Lemelman, Liana Grosinger, Sammy Gelnick, all of the SOM Class of 2019, who helped organize the event, the Blood Drive was a success, for the donations it collected and also for the awareness and sense of goodness it spread. "Giving blood is one of those special activities where the donor benefits as much as the recipient," said Mr. Gelnick. "It simply makes you feel good - that you've shared a bit of your own health and self with someone who really needs it."