Herman B. Gray is the keynote at CCNY's CUNY Med Class of 2025 Clinical White Coat Ceremony on Aug. 10

Herman B. Gray, MD will be the keynote speaker at The CUNY School of Medicine at The City College of New York's Class of 2025 Clinical White Coat Ceremony on Thursday, Aug. 10. He will address the student medical doctors, their parents/guests, faculty, staff and students.

Dr. Gray, MD, MBA, is the chair of the Wayne State University Department of Pediatrics. He is the former president and CEO of United Way for Southeastern Michigan as well as the former president and CEO of Detroit Medical Center Children’s Hospital of Michigan. Dr. Gray received his medical degree from the University of Michigan in 1976 and a Master’s of Business Administration degree from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in 2003. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, has served on a variety of state and national committees and organizations, and is one of the founding commissioners on the U.S. Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission.

“As chair of the Pediatric Department at Wayne State University, I strive to ensure that medical students understand and advocate for the needs of diverse children and families and that they work to help end healthcare inequities, said Dr. Herman B. Gray. “I applaud the CUNY School of Medicine and Dean Green for their shared commitment and continued mission to address healthcare inequities in New York City, especially for children and the most vulnerable, and to increase diversity and representation in medicine.”  

The Clinical White Coat Ceremony will be the first in which the CUNY Med third year medical students (M3s) will participate. This ceremony celebrates the completion of their undergraduate education and formally welcomes them to the medical profession as student doctors. The Class of 2025 formal White Coat ceremony that was scheduled in 2020 was cancelled due to the COVID Pandemic. 

“We are honored to have such a tremendous advocate for children, families, and healthcare equity who has done legendary work and led humanitarian efforts supporting pediatric health care and specialty care for children with special needs, said Carmen Renée Green, MD, Dean, CUNY School of Medicine.  As the former Chief Medical Consultant for the Michigan Department of Community Health – Children’s Special Health Services and as Vice President and Medical Director of Clinical Affairs for Blue Care Network, Dr. Gray understands the myriad of challenges that are facing health care systems and the clinical training required to educate our future doctors and researchers in fully understanding and helping to change health disparities and healthcare inequities. For his efforts, he will receive The CUNY School of Medicine Social Mission Award.” 

Marina Frimer, MD, will be the Alumni Speaker at Thursday’s ceremony. Dr. Frimer is a Gynecologic Oncologist and the Associate Chief of Research and Academic Development at Northwell Health. She is the President of the Sophie Davis/CUNY School of Medicine Alumni Association. Dr. Frimer and her husband Michael Weiler generously donated the white coats for our students.

For 50 years, CUNY Med has been a national leader in addressing and eliminating educational and healthcare inequities in New York City and beyond, and ensuring representation in medicine. CUNY Med is dedicated to producing health professionals who are underrepresented in medicine and ranks number one in New York State in producing African American physicians and number two in New York State in producing Latinx physicians. Eighty-three percent of students are bilingual and multilingual. 

The CUNY School of Medicine, which provides a seven-year BS/MD curriculum (which includes an accelerated three-year pre-medical curriculum within the Sophie Davis program and a four-year MD program) and its historic and highly selective Physician Assistant program, are transforming the healthcare system in New York City. 

The CUNY School of Medicine BS Commencement and White Coat ceremony is scheduled to take place on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, from 5:15-6:45 p.m. in The Marian Anderson Theatre at Aaron Davis at The City College of New York. Guests who are unable to attend in-person can join via Livestream on The CUNY School of Medicine YouTube channel or via Zoom.  

About The City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. Education research organization Degree Choices ranks CCNY #1 nationally among universities for economic return on investment. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.8% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Emsi puts at $1.9 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers and society. At City College, more than 15,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. This year, CCNY launched its most expansive fundraising campaign, ever. The campaign, titled “Doing Remarkable Things Together” seeks to bring the College’s Foundation to more than $1 billion in total assets in support of the College mission. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.