When Einstein students graduate this May, the occasion will mark the 60th anniversary of our first commencement. Even more significant, those newly minted physicians and scientists will be the first to receive diplomas from Einstein as an independent academic institution with the authority to confer its own medical and graduate degrees, which will bear the new and distinctive “Einstein seal.” (Learn more about this here.)

Few events in the College of Medicine’s 64-year history are so important. This further solidifies our collaboration with Montefiore and helps ensure our future as a top-tier medical school and leading biomedical research institution.

Our cover story is a great example of this collaboration. It describes the effort by Einstein and Montefiore rheumatologists to better diagnose and manage lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease that inflames and damages tissues and organs. Lupus primarily affects young women, particularly those of color. Einstein’s Irene Blanco, M.D., who directs the adult lupus clinic at Montefiore, is working to recruit more minority lupus patients for clinical trials.

The lupus article also describes the essential care offered by physicians working in the Lupus Nephritis Clinic at Children’s Hospital at Montefiore. Promising research led by Chaim Putterman, M.D., chief of rheumatology at Einstein and at Montefiore, may one day allow skin cell analyses to replace invasive kidney biopsies.

Another article focuses on unlocking the secrets of the human brain. It describes the work of four Einstein researchers who are using optogenetics to reveal how the cerebellum is linked to addiction, how the hypothalamus controls behavior, and more.

As I’ve told our students and faculty many times since I arrived on campus last July, these are exciting times to be in science and medicine. The work we do can profoundly influence people’s lives for the better—and there is nothing more rewarding than that.

Gordon F. Tomaselli, M.D.
The Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Executive Vice President, Chief Academic Officer
Montefiore Medicine