New York University School of Medicine recently announced that it will be renamed in honor of Robert I. Grossman, a Penn Medicine graduate and former professor.
The school will now be known as the NYU Robert I. Grossman School of Medicine. Grossman, the current dean of NYU School of Medicine, graduated from Penn Medicine in 1973 and completed residency in neurosurgery and radiology. He later became a professor of radiology, neurosurgery, and neurology at the Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as chief of neuroradiology and associate chairman of radiology.
Grossman became dean of NYU School of Medicine as well as CEO of NYU Langone Health in 2007, just six years after he left Penn to take over NYU’s radiology department. He called Penn a “tremendous training ground” for his career in medicine.
In 2010, Grossman received the Distinguished Graduate Award, the highest honor for graduates of Penn's Medical School. The award honors highly successful alumni whose achievement – in research, clinical practice, or medical education – has been recognized nationally or internationally.
In August 2018, NYU School of Medicine announced that it would offer free tuition for all current and incoming students, regardless of their financial situations. Grossman, who spearheaded this initiative, addressed the significant cost of attending medical school.
"We believe that with our tuition-free initiative, we have taken a necessary, rational step that addresses a critical need to train the most talented physicians, unencumbered by crushing debt,” Grossman said in a past statement.
With this announcement, NYU became the first top-10 ranked medical school to make admission free to all students, regardless of their ability to pay. Shortly after the announcement, NYU School of Medicine saw a drastic increase in applications, in particular from groups underrepresented in medicine, according to Inside Higher Ed.
For his part in this decision, Grossman was named one of TIME's 50 Most Influential People in Healthcare in 2018.
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