16 Notable alumni of SUNY Downstate Medical Center
Updated: June 13, 2026 EliteDegrees
SUNY Downstate Medical Center is ranked #1,068 in the world and #276 in United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 16 notable alumni from SUNY Downstate Medical Center sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. Many individuals affiliated with SUNY Downstate Medical Center won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
1. Orlando Williams Wight
1824-1888 (aged 64)
linguist
writer
translator
Orlando Williams Wight was an American physician and translator.
2. Henry Waldo Coe
1857-1927 (aged 70)
politician
physician
Henry Waldo Coe was a United States frontier physician and politician.
3. Samuel Waxman
1936-. (aged 90)
oncologist
researcher
Samuel Waxman is the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Professor of Medicine, Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine, Hematology, and Medical Oncology, and the Distinguished Service Professor of Oncological Sciences at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, where he has been a member of the faculty for over 30 years.
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4. A. L. Mestel
1926-2022 (aged 96)
surgeon
Ascher Lawrence Mestel was an American pediatric surgeon and artist who was based in Brooklyn, New York. He was one of the pioneers in the field of pediatric surgery and was widely published. Mestel was especially well known for the groundbreaking first successful separation of Ischiopagus Tripus conjoined twins.
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5. Helene Mambu
1948-. (aged 78)
diplomat
politician
Hélène Mambu-ma-Disu is a Congolese public health expert, physician, pediatrician and United Nations diplomat. She served as a Regional Adviser for the African regional office of the United Nations' World Health Organization, and later went on to serve for 18 years as a World Health Organization Resident Representative in several countries in the region, before retiring in 2008. She is...
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6. Ralph Snyderman
1940-. (aged 86)
author
educator
scientist
physician
Ralph Snyderman is a Chancellor Emeritus at Duke University, James B. Duke Professor of Medicine, and Executive Director of the Duke Center for Personalized Health Care. He served as chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine from 1989 to July 2004. Under his leadership, Duke University created the Duke University Health System to develop and operate...
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7. Calvin Sun
1986-. (aged 40)
professor of practice
entrepreneur
film screenwriter
physician
film director
Calvin Datze Sun is an American physician. Sun is notable for his first-person accounts of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City emergency rooms and creating the travel blog, The Monsoon Diaries.
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8. Robert Contiguglia
1941-. (aged 85)
S. Robert "Bob" Contiguglia served as President of the United States Soccer Federation from 1998 to 2006. Among his achievements as President of U.S. Soccer were: successfully hosting the 1999 Women's World Cup, convincing FIFA to relocate the 2003 Women's World Cup to the United States after the original plans to host it in China fell through, the U.S. women's...
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9. Barbara Starfield
1932-2011 (aged 79)
pediatrician
Barbara Starfield was an American pediatrician. She was an advocate for primary health care worldwide. Her academic and professional life was almost fully dedicated to the Johns Hopkins University.
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10. John Fremont Hill
1855-1912 (aged 57)
politician
John Fremont Hill was an American businessman and politician. He served in a number of positions in Maine government, including as the 45th governor of Maine from 1901 to 1905.
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11. Herb Pardes
1934-2024 (aged 90)
psychiatrist
Herbert Pardes was an American physician, psychiatrist, and the executive vice-chairman of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
12. Susan Love
1948-2023 (aged 75)
surgeon
writer
Susan Margaret Love was an American surgeon, a prominent advocate of preventive breast cancer research, and author. She was regarded as one of the most respected women's health specialists in the United States.
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13. Ali S. Khan
physician
Ali S. Khan is an American practicing physician and former Director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since July 2014, he has served as Dean of the College of Public Health and Retired Assistant Surgeon General at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
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14. Alexander Skene
1837-1900 (aged 63)
gynecologist
military physician
sculptor
inventor
physician
Alexander Johnston Chalmers Skene was a British-American gynaecologist from Scotland who described what became known as Skene's glands.
15. Stanley Plotkin
1932-. (aged 94)
physician
virologist
Stanley Alan Plotkin is an American physician and virologist who specialized in the development of vaccines. In the 1960s, he played a pivotal role in the discovery of a vaccine against rubella virus while at Wistar Institute in Philadelphia. Plotkin was a member of Wistar’s research faculty from 1960 to 1991. In addition to his emeritus position at Wistar, he...
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16. Gary Wright
1943-2023 (aged 80)
singer
songwriter
rock musician
recording artist
rock singer
Gary Malcolm Wright was an American musician and composer best known for his 1976 hit songs "Dream Weaver" and "Love Is Alive". Wright's breakthrough album, The Dream Weaver (1975), came after he had spent seven years in London as, alternately, a member of the British blues rock band Spooky Tooth and a solo artist on A&M Records. While in England,...
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