Spurred by Mr. Lang’s robust campaign to motivate young students to strive early to get into college and also by his Foundation’s generous funding, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital broadened its commitment to health education and to its community in 2003 by launching a college prep program. The Lang Youth Medical Program is a six-year longitudinal program serving 85-90 seventh-through-twelfth-grade students from New York City School District Six, located in the Hospital’s neighborhood of Washington Heights/Inwood.
The Program is managed by education specialists hired by the Hospital, who are assisted by staff and students of NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. It provides mentoring and 300 structured hours of curriculum-based programming annually, rigorously promotes a culture of peer support, requires parental involvement, and provides summer internships and other incentives for achievement. The Program helps each Lang Scholar gain admittance to a top New York City high school and then to a four-year college. Its goals are to cultivate and nurture an interest in science and healthcare; instill a sense of personal commitment to community service; help close gaps in quality education; form intelligent, community-minded, engaged citizens; contribute to the healthcare profession pipeline; and interrupt the cycle of inter-generational poverty.
There are currently 61 program alumni who are attending or have graduated from college, including Barnard, Columbia, Cornell, New York University, and the SUNY and CUNY schools. Additionally, two alumni are now working at NewYork-Presbyterian, one as a Patient Navigator in the Adult Emergency Department and one as a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Nurse.