Dr. Nasry Michelen Way (Manhattan)
Present name:None
Location:At the intersection of 166th Street and Audubon Avenue
Honoree:  Dr. Michelen (1924-2018) was born into a distinguished family in the Dominican Republic, and earned his medical degree at the American University of Beirut. He established a surgical practice in Bethlehem, Palestine, but returned to his native country and practiced in the San Juan region’s public hospital system. After obtaining his Master’s in Public Health at Columbia University, he was appointed Superintendent of Hospitals during President Trujillo‘s dictatorship. He was a critic of the regime, during and after Trujillo’s reign, and a leader of the opposition to the new government formed after Trujillo’s death. Forced to leave the country along with his family. He returned to New York, where he was appointed Associate Director of Elmhurst Hospital in Queens and later, Executive Director of Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx. He was the first Hispanic and Dominican in New York State to be an executive director of a hospital. At Lincoln, he recruited Latino physicians to better serve the predominantly Latino population of the South Bronx. He successfully advocated for the building of a new Lincoln Hospital at 149th St. and the Grand Concourse. In 1968, he was one of the founders of Hostos Community College of CUNY and its first president. Hostos’ focus was to train healthcare professionals who would serve the South Bronx and other underserved areas. His dream was that it would become a medical school.He was also executive director of the Regional Medical Program in Delaware, and the director of the Division of Hospital Accreditation of the NYS Department of Health. As director, he was responsible for the department’s requirement that all hospitals post the Patient’s Bill of Rights in a visible location. He was a professor of the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and founded and/or led numerous Dominican organizations including the Dominican Medical Society in NY, where he served as president, Asociaciones Dominicanas, and Alianza Dominicana. He was also a founding member and first Grand Marshall of the Dominican Day Parade. (Rodriguez)
LL:2020/26