On March 15, 1953, the day following his 74th birthday, Dr. Albert Einstein agreed to lend his name to the first medical school built in New York City in more than five decades. The Nobel Prize-winning scientist and humanitarian agreed to do so on the condition that the school would “welcome students of all creeds and races.”

Albert Einstein College of Medicine welcomed its first students two years later. The first class, who was welcomed on campus two years later, included 53 men and three women and graduated in 1959.  

This year, the anniversary of the occasion falls on Match Day, a milestone event during which fourth-year medical students learn where they matched for their residency years.  Learn more about Einstein’s Match Day on our website.