This catalog record includes a video recording made by Dr. Anagnostopoulos, a digital copy of the transcript of that talk and a digital copy of his curriculum vitae and a digital collection of documents regarding the start of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Service. Dr. Constantine Anagnostopoulos dictates reminiscences from his career, focusing on the start of the full-time academic cardiothoracic surgery program at the former St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center of Columbia University in 1992, (AKA Mount Sinai Morningside). Materials include the recording, a transcript of the recording, a copy of Dr. Anagnostopoulos' curriculum vitae and a PDF scrapbook of documents, put together by Dr. Anagnostopoulos, relating to the start of the cardiothoracic program and its continued success.

In this interview, Barbara Dennis describes what life was like as a student nurse at The St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing in the late 1950s, working on the Hospital floors, the demands of the schedule, what kind of a social life they had within the Hospital and outside of it. She talks about the School of Nursing pin, the caps and uniforms they wore and some of the traditions in which they participated. She also mentions the Nursing Visitor Exchange Program, how she met her husband at the hospital, and then how her career at St. Luke’s and afterwards developed.

Dr. Romas is an urologist who worked at St. Luke’s Hospital from 1984 to 2014 before moving to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. In this interview, he conveys information on his Greek background, his childhood life and schooling, medical training and as an administrator at St. Luke’s, as well as information about his family and personal interests. He also tells some interesting and funny experiences in practice.

During this interview Dr. Prigollini talks about his educational background in Argentina and his reasons for coming the US; he relates stories about his work in a diabetes study at Columbia and how he found his way to St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center and his work there.

In this interview, Dr. Palazzo relates stories of her internship, residency and fellowship experiences, the mentors she had and how she became interested in cardiology and into clinical research. She and Dr. Braun also talk about women in medicine and her family and outside interests.

Dr. Jeanne Baer describes her family’s background in Germany and France in the years leading up to World War II, their life evading German troops in France, and their move to the US in 1948. She discusses her schooling in Pennsylvania, and her acceptance and training experiences in medical school through her residency in medicine. She provides interesting details of training in the 1960s including fellowship training in gastroenterology and finally her appointment to the radiology department at St. Luke’s Hospital and the work she did there. Baer particularly mentions Dr. Virginia Kanick with whom she formed a close friendship and training in the 60s and 70s as a woman in what was a man’s field.

In this interview Dr. Kotler talks about his childhood influences and interest in medicine, his schooling and his desire to not be a only a scientist but an academic physician; his early research that became heavily HIV-based and experiences around that research and patient care; he also touches on the subjects of changes in medical practice and equipment; writing grants and journal articles and those challenges, and comments on the changing names of Mount Sinai Health System hospitals. He mentions the following names: Drs. Russ Gaetz, Bill Ramey, John Scholes, Fred Clayton, Mike Lange, Yori Inada, Michael Greico, Michael Lange, Peter Holt, Mary O’Sullivan, Joe Sonnabend, Richard Pierson, Steve Heymsfield, Jack Wang, Anthony S. Fauci, Sami Hashem, Jan Orenstein, John H. Keating, Ted Van Itallie, Carl Hoffman, Jim Fingerhut, and George Cahill.

In this interview, Dr. Lombardo talks about fulfilling his father’s dream of becoming a doctor, and his interest in being a clinician and a researcher. He shares memories of being influenced by several professors at New York Medical College and St. Luke’s into studying gastroenterology, and shares stories about practicing at St. Luke’s, but also learning points of cardiology from Dr. Miles Schwartz, with whom he shared private practice space. He talks about his family, and his decision to retire, and what keeps him occupied post-retirement. He and Dr. Braun commiserate on their opinion of the state of medical education and training today. Significant names mentioned include Drs. Jersey Glass, Peter du Ray, Mike Grieco, Miles Schwartz, Richard McCray, Peter Holt, William Athos, and Robert Beakman. Dr. Jeanne Baer is also in attendance and speaks up near the end of the interview.

Dr. Weiss offers insight into his career choices and development and includes some interesting stories from is experiences, background on the development of the Department of Medicine at Roosevelt Hospital, and experiences in his research.

Patricia Bloom discusses her early years in Minnesota, the roots of her interest in international community medicine; her medical education and meeting her husband, Harrison Bloom, in medical school; their joint interest in pursuing a social medicine program during residency; how she was introduced to geriatrics at Montefiore and then later was persuaded to move to St. Luke’s Hospital and help found their geriatrics program, and continue to develop her medical career. Dr. Bloom spends time discussing the challenges of raising children while working full time, international medical students in the U.S., and the challenges of medicine in Africa, particularly among the older population. She mentions a number of colleagues including David Hammerman, Gerard M. Turino, Michael Grieco, Greg Steinberg and Joel Barrish.

In this interview, Dr. Todd touches on his medical school experiences, including time at the NIH as a medical student; how he eventually gravitated to vascular surgery from cardiac surgery; describes what St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center was like, even 21 years after the merger of the two hospitals, and mentions the Vietnam War draft, family life, and changes in surgery between the 1960s to current day, including changes in procedures and equipment. Significant names mentioned include: Drs. Richard Marx, Walter Wichern, Sigurd Ackerman, David Tilson, Andrew Morrow, Kathy McNicholas, Grace Kim, Ann Rogers, Jim McGinty; The Cleveland Clinic, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Roosevelt Hospital, St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center.

In this interview Dr. Allendorf talks about how he became interested in pediatrics, and shares stories about his experiences working at St. Luke’s Hospital (Mount Sinai Morningside), and some of the significant people that influenced him and worked with him. Some of those names include: Leif Holgersen, Richard Stark, Lucy Swift, Sidney Bender, Miles Schwartz, Lou Cooper, Leo Wilking, John Driscoll, and Marilyn Menegus. Significant topics include residents’ skits lampooning the attending staff, Roosevelt Hospital library, Babies Hospital.

In this interview, Dr. Thayaparan relates information about her childhood family and schooling in Sri Lanka, the stories of Dr. Tom Dooley, a medical volunteer in Africa, that were the inspiration for her to be a doctor, her reasons for immigrating to the U.S. and the development of her career here, and what led her focus on pathology. She also mentions information about her own family and dealing with childcare issues while working at the Hospital, and some of her post-retirement activities.

During this interview with Dr. Shahrivar, he touches on his childhood, his love of basketball and being on the State team, his medical training in Iran, and moving to the U.S. to continue in rotating internship between pediatric, medicine, and surgery. He describes how his interests in obstetrics quickly moved to neonatology when he was drawn to premature babies that didn’t do well. He relates his experiences working in neonatology and the development of the field, including the establishment of board examinations, setting up a fellowship program at St. Luke’s, community response to focusing the NICU program at the former Roosevelt Hospital. He touches on being a consultant Department of Health of the State and the City of New York, and becoming involved with alcohol addiction, fetal alcohol syndrome and drug addiction. Significant names or topics mentioned include: Drs. Lucy Swift, Stuart Shelton Stevenson, Judy Frank, Tom Moore, Stanley James, Dick Berman, Waldo E. Nelson, Doris Wethers, and Bob Neuwirth; field day activities, St. Luke’s Alumni Association.

Dr. Ennio Gallozzi, an anesthesiologist who was born, raised, and trained in Rome, Italy, discusses his life, and how he came to study in the US and continue training at St. Luke’s as a resident in anesthesiology, eventually spending 44 years at the hospital. He mentions life growing up under Mussolini, and the devastation WWII wrought on Rome, and includes stories about colleagues and family life.

Dr. Lawrence Scharer, a pulmonary specialist, discuss his life and career with Dr. Norma Braun. He describes his upbringing in the Bronx, his education at Columbia University and the College of Physicians and Surgeons and his career at Roosevelt Hospital (now Mount Sinai West). He also touches on his family life, and his time as a Captain in the Army Medical Corps, stationed in Seoul, S. Korea.

In this oral history interview, native New Yorker George Dermksian touches on his childhood background, college and medical training and continued training under Dr. John Keating at St. Luke’s Hospital. That was a time of significant changes in the hospital training program and the healthcare insurance industry and he has some interesting observations about both. He also provides some interesting background details on everyday life at the hospital, and about how he came to choose cardiology as a specialty.

At the time of this interview, Dr. Xavier Pi-Sunyer was a Professor of Medicine at Columbia University and Co-Director of the Nutritional Obesity Research Center. Dr. Pi-Sunyer discusses his formative years in Spain, France, Mexico, and finally the US. He highlights his internship/residency at the former St. Luke’s Hospital; introduction to endocrinology at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, England, continued training in public health at Harvard University and his return to St. Luke’s, via Nigeria and Boston, where he became acquainted with Dr. Theodore Van Itallie. Dr. Van Itallie drew him back to New York to help establish the Endocrine Division and research laboratories for nutrition and metabolic research where the team carried out various grant-funded research projects. The most significant the discovery out of which is the hormone leptin. Dr. Pi-Sunyer also provides information on his own family, hobbies and interests, and comments on the mergers of St. Luke’s with Roosevelt Hospital and later the Continuum Health Partners.

In this interview, Dr. Hassan Khouli discusses his childhood in Syria, and immigration to the U.S. circa 1998 to continue to study medicine and develop his skills through several fellowships, which eventually brought him to Mount Sinai St. Luke’s. He discusses the various stages of study and the development of his interest in critical care and simulation medicine, as well as working at St. Luke’s, and more personal topics such as his family and hobbies.