Albany Medical College - Notable Alumni and Faculty

Notable Alumni and Faculty

• Alden March, founder of Albany Medical College, co-founder and past president of the American Medical Association.
• David Nalin, discoverer of oral rehydration therapy, which is accredited with saving an estimated 50 million lives from diarrhea across the world. Both The Lancet and UNICEF cited ORT as one of the most important medical advances in the 20th century.
• Steven J. Burakoff, cancer specialist and the author of both Therepeutic Immunology (2001) and Graft-Vs.-Host Disease: Immunology, Pathophysiology, and Treatment (1990)
• Theobald Smith, pioneering epidemiologist and pathologist and is widely-considered to be America's first internationally-significant medical research scientist.
• William H. Oldendorf (1925 - December 14, 1992), an American neurologist, physician, researcher, medical pioneer, founding member of the American Society for Neuroimaging (ASN), and originator of the technique of Computed Tomography. Winner of the Lasker Award, his fundamental discovery also led to MRI, positron emission tomography (PET), single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and other imaging techniques. Originally nominated for the 1979 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with his colleagues, his name was eventually withdrawn for political reasons.
• Sir James W. Black, Visiting Professor, a Scottish doctor and pharmacologist who invented Propranolol, synthesized Cimetidine and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1988 for these discoveries.
• Ivar Giaever, 1973 Nobel Prize in Physics Recipient, performed antibody-antigen experiments at The Albany Medical Center.
• Willis R. Whitney, an American chemist and founder of the research laboratory of the General Electric Company.
• Dr. Ralph Alley, former Head of the Division of Thoracic Surgery at Albany Medical Center, adviser to David S. Sheridan, inventor of both the modern catheter and endotracheal tube.
• Dr. Joseph T. Doyle, early spokesman on the cardiovascular disease risks from smoking, publishing two landmark articles on the Framingham Heart Study and the Albany Heart Study in the New England Journal of Medicine and Journal of the American Medical Association. As spokesman for the study, he lectured widely around the world on these findings. He was Head of the Division of Cardiology at Albany Medical Center from 1960 until his death in 1984.
• Sally Temple, Ph.D., Professor, MacArthur Fellow and Director of the New York Stem Cell Institute.
• Kenneth Blackfan, well-known pediatric hematologist and mentor of Louis K. Diamond and Sidney Farber, proclaimed "father" of modern-day chemotherapy. Diamond-Blackfan Syndrome is named after him. Children's Hospital Boston is located on Blackfan Street, which is named after Blackfan.
• Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, noted for his pioneering surveying expeditions of the Rocky Mountains in the late 19th century
• Timothy Johnson (TV medical presenter), Emmy award winning television personality, author and physician who, as "Dr. Tim Johnson", is best known to TV viewers in his capacity as the longtime chief medical correspondent for ABC News.
• Dr. "JD" Jonathan Doris, MD '98, assistant director for the Los Angeles Medical Center's Electrophysiology fellowship and a medical advisor for Scrubs (TV Series). Longtime friend of Bill Lawrence (producer), he is the basis for the lead character, J.D. (Scrubs).
• Richard Selzer, MD, widely published short-story writer and novelist, Guggenheim Fellowship recipient, and surgeon at Yale University School of Medicine.
• James Salisbury, M.D. physician, and the inventor of the Salisbury steak
• Dr. Nancy E. Gary, former dean of Albany Medical College. Executive Vice President of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and Dean of its F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, 1992-1995.
• Dr. Gary Gottlieb, current president of Brigham and Women's Hospital and succeeding CEO of Partners HealthCare.
• Dr. James Mandell, former Dean of Albany Medical College and current CEO of Children's Hospital Boston.
• Dr. Robert A. Crone, M.D., former President and CEO of Partners Harvard Medical International.
• Dr. Edward Bove, well known for his contributions to the repair of congenital heart defects, most notably Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome.
• Sir San Crombie Po (1870–1946), a Karen nationalist who devoted himself to improving the situation of the Karen people of Burma in the early 20th century.
• Jeffrey M. Friedman, MD, PhD a molecular geneticist at New York City's Rockefeller University. His discovery of the hormone leptin and its role in regulating body weight has had a major role in the area of human obesity. For these achievements, he received the prestigious Gairdner Foundation International Award.
• John A. Sampson (August 17, 1873–December 23, 1946), a gynecologist who advanced the study of endometriosis. The Sampson artery is named after him.
• Chester Bidwell Darrall, Union Army Surgeon and Republican Congressman from Louisiana in the latter 19th Century.
• Edward Khantzian, co-originator of the self-medication hypothesis of drug abuse.
• Dr. Segun Toyin Dawodu, MD, JD, MBA, LL.M is Currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, a Physician and an Attorney who established the first website on socio-political issues of Nigeria.