Photos: Shalom Burkis/COLlive
Philanthropists Yossi and Penina Popack, who have roots in the Crown Heights and the Five Towns in Long Island, were recently honored at the National Founder’s Dinner of New York Medical College, a private biomedical health sciences university based in Valhalla, New York.
At an elegant event held at the beautiful Marina Del Rey in Throgs Neck, New York, academic, health care, business and community leaders gathered to celebrate NYMC’s proud history and promising future and to honor distinguished community leaders for their impactful and transformative achievements.
“Our annual Founder’s Dinner is a time for the New York Medical College community to come together to celebrate the culmination of the school’s accomplishments in the past year, and recognize those who have made vital, positive impacts on our students,” said Edward C. Halperin, M.D., M.A., chancellor and chief executive officer of NYMC. “Through the support of those who attended the Founder’s Dinner, we are able to fuel groundbreaking biomedical research as well as support the next generation of graduates through the scholarship funds raised.”
Popack, a member of the NYMC Board of Trustees, and his wife Penina were recipients of the Israel S. Kleiner Award, recognizing their efforts to establish the Miriam Popack Chair in Bioethics and the Holocaust, designed to ensure that medical ethics lessons from the Holocaust are taught to generations of students in the medical, dental and other health professions. The endowed chair is envisioned to be a university system-wide resource for research and teaching throughout the NYMC and the Touro College and University System (TCUS), and to be a national resource for teaching the lessons of the Holocaust to health professionals.
“As a member of the NYMC Real Estate Committee, Popack, who is founder and principal of a New York real estate firm, used his extensive knowledge to ensure maintenance of the College’s facilities while reducing and waste of resources,” the school said.
Popack and his wife Penina serve on numerous boards such as the National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education, Chabad on Campus International, and Tzivos Hashem.
The event, emceed by Vilma E. Bordonaro, M.B.A., NYMC chief of staff, and Michael Crupain, M.D. ’06, M.P.H., chief of staff and senior vice president of clinical operations of Sharecare, also honored NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan with the Alfred B. DelBello Distinguished Service Award, which was accepted by Christina Contreras, MPA, LMSW, FABC, chief executive officer of NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan.
Brij M. Singh Ahluwalia, M.D., professor and former chair of neurology and Chitti R. Moorthy, M.D., professor and former chair of radiation medicine, were also recognized for their dedicated service to NYMC and its students.
“It was a pleasure to celebrate our distinguished honorees and to announce the creation of the first ever endowed chair in bioethics and the Holocaust at NYMC which will impact the way in which our students learn, care and practice in their respective fields. This year’s event raised $450,000 toward the endowment and other important student initiatives at NYMC,” said Bess J. Chazhur, M.S., chief development officer and executive director of alumni relations. “We thank our generous donors for their participation and support.”
This year’s presenting sponsor of the Founder’s Dinner was Greystone & Co., Inc. Gold sponsors were Mr. Gary Barnett and the Howard and Debbie Jonas Foundation and silver sponsors were Boston Children’s Health Physicians, Drs. Ben and Esther Chouake, Mr. Ruben Medina and Westchester Medical Center.
Dr. Allan Kadish president of Touro College who own NYMC (New York Medical College) as well as Rabbi Moshe Krupka executive vice president of Touro College.