GREETINGS TO THE CLASS OF 1958

Good evening.  My name is Alan Levine, and it is my honor and pleasure to welcome you to the 50th Anniversary of the graduation of the Class of 1958 from the NYU School of Medicine.

On that warm, sunny day on June 3rd of 1958, just having sworn to the ancient Hippocratic oath and proudly bearing our new MD degrees, the 125 members of the  first class in the “new building”  exited from our shared academic home of the past 4 years, looked across First Avenue at Louis Provenzano's gas station, and wondered what happens next. 

There was no way for each of us to ever imagine the career and personal paths we were about to embark upon for the next 50 years.  NYU was the nest from which we fledged, scattering to different parts of the country and beyond, and engaging in all varieties of medical endeavors. Some ultimately became professors and chairs of departments, several, eminent scientists and respected teachers, and others, practitioners of the time honored art of diagnosing, treating and caring for the ill. Most of us married, at least once, had children, some of whom stayed close by and others settling in distant locations.

The next generation arrived, reintroducing us to the wonders of infancy and childhood and the seemingly limitless rewards of grandparenthood. Our classmates accomplished much, distinguished themselves in innumerable ways, were awarded many honors, treated hundreds of thousands of patients in this country and abroad, and experienced, and for some, participated in the revolutionary advancements over the last several decades in medicine, surgery and the basic sciences. Our class represents the epitome of all that is noble and dignified in our profession.

We have earned the privilege and right to feel proud and honored to belong to the distinguished Class of 1958 of the New York University School of Medicine...the place where it all began.