The new agreement builds upon the longtime collaboration between Steven M. Safyer, M.D. ’82, president and CEO of Montefiore, and Einstein’s Dean Allen M. Spiegel, M.D.

For more than 50 years, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University has benefited from its close relationship with Montefiore, its University Hospital and academic medical center (see timeline). For over 20 years, Einstein clinical faculty have been employed by Montefiore, forming the basis of a strong partnership. Now, under an agreement between Yeshiva and Montefiore Health System, the bonds between Einstein and Montefiore have become even stronger. Upon the closing of the new arrangement in September 2015, Einstein becomes its own legal entity, with Montefiore having operational and financial responsibility and Yeshiva remaining the academic degree-granting institution until Einstein grants its own degrees.

“The new agreement strengthens the decades-long synergy among our educational, research and clinical enterprises.” — Dean Allen M. Spiegel, M.D.

“This is truly a historic moment in the evolution of the Einstein-Montefiore relationship,” notes Allen M. Spiegel, M.D., Einstein’s Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean. “The new agreement fully integrates the complementary strengths of both institutions. It builds on the decades-long synergy among our educational, research and clinical enterprises and will solidify our shared, strong foundation in translational medicine.”

Meeting the Challenges of a New Era

In 2006, shortly after becoming Einstein’s dean, Dr. Spiegel worked with Einstein’s senior faculty to develop a strategic research plan. The plan identified the need to reinvigorate Einstein’s longtime partnership with Montefiore. After his appointment as president and CEO, Steven M. Safyer, M.D. ’82, led Montefiore’s strategic planning process that identified the need to strengthen its partnership with Einstein. Both institutions sought to strengthen ties in clinical care, medical research and teaching and streamline collaborations. In 2009, the two leaders signed an updated affiliation agreement that yielded the following results:

• outstanding new clinical department chairs and other key clinical faculty;
• the prestigious National Institutes of Health Clinical and Translational Science Award given to Einstein and Montefiore and renewed in 2013;
• a National Cancer Institute grant awarded to the Montefiore Einstein Center for Cancer Care to conduct clinical trials and research focused on reducing healthcare disparities in cancer care;
• combining separate Montefiore and Einstein Institutional Review Boards into a single unified board;
• creation of Montefiore-Einstein Centers of Excellence in transplant, cancer care, children’s health and heart and vascular care; and
• coordinating all NIH grants through Einstein.

Realigning and Unifying

“The agreement will open up exciting new opportunities for us to generate discoveries and improve the health of humanity.” — Steven M. Safyer, M.D. ’82

“The agreement is probably the most significant step in the life of the College of Medicine since its founding,” says Dean Spiegel. “By providing for a strong Einstein, the new framework will greatly enhance our core missions of research excellence, outstanding medical education and improved human health.”
“The agreement will open up exciting new opportunities for us to generate discoveries and improve the health of humanity, as we work together pioneering new treatments and models of care,” says Dr. Safyer.
On February 4, 2015, Dean Spiegel, Dr. Safyer and President Richard M. Joel announced that the Boards of Yeshiva University and Montefiore Health System had voted unanimously to approve the comprehensive terms of the agreement, under which Einstein will seek the authority to grant degrees. Now come the efforts needed to transition to the “New Einstein.”