Langone family’s $200M gift makes NYU med school tuition-free forever

Long Island natives Kenneth and Elaine Langone have made a $200 million donation to the now-renamed NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine.

Their gift means medical students will receive a tuition-free education focused on primary care, including internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics and general surgery.

“It’s a huge benefit for the community around this area,” entering student Lewan Ghirmay, 25, told The Post.

Of the 24 students entering the program this year, “most, or a good amount, are from the tri-state area,” Ghirmay added, and the tuition-free aspect of the three-year program “attracts a lot of talent.”

The school opened in 2019 offering tuition-free medical training, but the gift from the Langone family — perhaps best known for NYU Langone Health — ensures that the school’s tuition-free education status can continue in perpetuity.

“By providing our future doctors with an affordable education, we are investing in a brighter and healthier future for all, particularly here on Long Island, where Elaine and I grew up,” Kenneth Langone, chair of the NYU Langone Board of Trustees, said in a statement.

Mina Musthafa, 23, who was born and raised in Jersey City, N.J., and grew up as a child with a health condition, experienced first-hand what it means to live in an area with a shortage of primary-care physicians.

Instead of seeing a doctor, “I often had to see a nurse instead. It took six months to see a specialist” in her medically underserved community, Musthafa told The Post.

She now plans to specialize in internal medicine at NYU and return to New Jersey to practice there.

“I’d like to go back to North Jersey and use the skills I gain here to give back to my community,” Musthafa said. And the NYU program allows her to choose a specialty that’s not based on her future income, but on her interests, “without having to pay back medical student loans.”

“I’m really grateful for that,” she added.

The Langones announced the gift and the school’s new name today at the annual White Coat Ceremony, in which incoming students receive their white coats for the first time, symbolizing the beginning of their medical education.

Ghirmay, who was born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, also experienced personal health challenges as an undergraduate student at New York University, which influenced her decision to move from a career in economics (her undergraduate major) to one in medicine.

She, too, plans to continue her medical career in the area. “One of the great things about the school is that we have a direct link into the NYU Long Island residency program,” Ghirmay said.

Currently, 85% of NYU’s medical students remain in New York after graduation. “Providing a world-class, tuition-free medical education here on Long Island ensures many of these future doctors will remain and practice on Long Island,” Langone said.