12/13/2023 Vincent Palusci was elected to a three year term as a Trustee of the Robert J. Carlisle Fund for 2024-2026.
Elisabeth Gordon, M.D.
Inaugural Address, February 1, 2023
Good evening and Belated Happy New Year! Welcome everyone, members and guests, to the 1105th stated meeting of the Society of the Alumni of Bellevue Hospital. As most of you know, my name is Elisabeth Gordon and I am excited and honored to be your President for 2023-24.
Bellevue Hospital is the thing that unites us, but Bellevue is so much more than just a hospital. Bellevue is an institution- a longstanding institution of health, support, and sanctuary. And while Bellevue has not been without its share of problems and controversies, it has always remained a place dedicated to accepting and treating all who enter it’s doors, while simultaneously promoting continuous learning to help support and heal those patients and others, thereby earning a worldwide reputation as a bastion of care for New York and as a hospital for all people.
Those who study, train, teach, or do research at Bellevue are both drawn by these principles and absorb some of this history and ethos, and often remain dedicated to providing service and to continuing to study both medicine and numerous other topics that are relevant. I think, to a degree, it is this dedication, intellectual curiosity, and humanity that unite us, as much as our physical time at Bellevue, and I am proud to be a member and now president of this society whose members and meetings exemplify this history and attitude.
I would like to take a moment to thank our members for being the reason the society continues and to thank the executive committee for your dedication and for volunteering your time and hard work to continue this society and its traditions. And I would like to introduce those EC members, many of whom you already know, but are now in new positions.
- Our Vice President and President Elect is Sasha Roudenko, a radical radiologist!
- Our Treasurer is Elihu Sussman, a powerhouse of a pediatrician who has been a member of the society for over 40 years. Elihu also acts as our historian and as a trustee of the Carlisle Fund.
- Our Secretary is Kay Spencer, who is both a conscientious child psychiatrist and recorder of all things bellevue sociey!
- Our other Carlisle fund trustees are Vince Palusci and Paula Prezioso, both praiseworthy pediatricians. They, together with Elihu, marshal our finances to help ensure our ongoing meetings, hopefully in perpetuity!
- Vince Palusci also acts as our Web master to ensure our records are up to date on our webpage – yes, we do have one, it’s cool – check it out! (it’s found at www.bellevuesociety.com)
- Our Membership officer is now Steve Field, former president of our Society and a great gastroenterologist and magnanimous medical ethics instructor.
- Our awesome administrator is Rosz Palusci, who is also an awesome administrator at Notre Dame College and wife and glockenspiel player to Vince, who plays husband and the euphonium!
- And our phenomenal Photographer is Alice Dana, who is also a phenomenal photographer outside our meetings.
As the Society enters it’s 137th year, and 108th year at the Yale Club, we want to look both back at our history and forward to our future. First, let us pause to consider and honor all the members of the past, both distant and recent. So many of our members have contributed so much medical care and advances both to New York and to the world at large. This year, we sadly lost some of notable members, including Kurt Hirschhorn, MD, and Elizabeth Jones Crandall, MD. As has been the tradition of the Society, please join in a moment of silence for all our members of the Society Eternal.
And, as we look forward to our future, let me share with you where we stand in the present and what we hope to accomplish to improve our society, and carry it forth through the second century and into perpetuity.
- At the end of 2022, the society had 81 people on the membership list, including 4 who joined in 2022.
- We have just sent out Dues notices, and have added an option to pay by Zelle.
- We continue to take steps to attract new members. We shall be congratulating the new graduates of NYU/Bellevue programs and alerting them to their eligibility to join our society at the end of this academic medical year. And the members of the EC continue to reach out to any of our colleagues we believe would be a good match and actively invite them to participate. We encourage all of our members to think of their colleagues that would enjoy this unique opportunity and invite them to do so, as well.
- Our website is still running, and on it you can find important information about the society including but not limited to past and upcoming speakers and topics and more of the history of the society
- We have a facebook page under The Society of the Alumni of Bellevue Hospital and have added a Twitter account and Instagram account, both under the handle @BellevueSociety. Please join the facebook group and follow our twitter and IG feeds!
- Our finances are remaining relatively stable, at around $400,000, give or take, depending on the market fluctuations.
- We continue to have EC meetings after each stated meeting and invite anyone who is interested to join us and contribute to the governance of our Society.
So thank you all for being here with us tonight to celebrate our fellowship, our Society, and our future together and with Bellevue, and let us raise our glasses in a toast, as the Mayor and others toasted our society in 1897:
“To the City of New York—“God made the country and man made the town;”
To the People
To hygiene
To the Doctor’s Doctor
To the patient
To Bellevue Hospital
And to its Alumni”
May we have a happy and healthy new beginning and continued growth and success in 2023 and for many years to come!
Cheers!