Northwell Health and CCNY’s Continuing and Professional Studies support medical assistant students through externships.
Northwell Health and the Office of Continuing and Professional Studies, at The City College of New York, continues their partnership to provide Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) students with valuable clinical externship opportunities upon successful completion of the program.
The partnership, which started May 1, 2023, has placed more than 60 medical assistant students in externships at Northwell Health facilities throughout New York. Through the externships, students have completed hands-on clinical training and gained the knowledge, confidence, and practical skills needed to begin their healthcare careers.
"This agreement reinforces our commitment to workforce development by ensuring that our medical assistant students receive valuable clinical experiences that prepare them for successful and impactful careers in healthcare,” said Juan Carlos Mercado, dean of CCNY’s Division of Interdisciplinary Studies at the Center for Worker Education and Continuing and Professional Studies. "We are proud to continue our collaboration with Northwell Health, and once workforce Pell grant rules are in place, this course would qualify.”
The ongoing partnership addresses the growing demand for qualified healthcare professionals by bridging classroom instruction with real-world clinical experience. Students work alongside experienced healthcare teams from different areas—such as urology, general pediatrics, and fertility clinics—allowing them to apply their training in a professional medical setting.
"We are proud to continue our partnership with The City College of New York in supporting the next generation of healthcare professionals,” said Blenda Abazoska, medical assistant program manager at FlexStaff, Northwell Health. “Through our externship program, students gain valuable real-world clinical experience while helping us build a strong and skilled future workforce."
Some medical assistant students have been hired by FlexStaff and Northwell Health after their externship ends. FlexStaff was launched in 2014 to fill the temporary staffing needs for Northwell Health; it has expanded to external companies in the New York metropolitan area and nationally offering candidates and employers temporary, temporary-to-hire, and direct hire services.
The Office of Continuing and Professional Studies is dedicated to providing students with opportunities that improve their professional development and position them to succeed in any industry. They offer affordable, high-quality programs—in healthcare, IT, security, construction, and more—to help students start fresh, change careers, or advance professionally.
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 2.2% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Lightcast puts at $3.2 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 16,500 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity, and scholarship. In 2023, 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's mission. By May 2026, $500 million had been raised. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic, and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.