RSOM’s New MDs Prepare to Start Their Careers in Medicine

May 21, 2025
3 min read
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A group of new MDs from the Renaissance School of Medicine celebrate during the school’s 51st Convocation. Photos by Kristy Leibowitz.

The Renaissance School of Medicine (RSOM) at Stony Brook University celebrated its 51st Convocation on May 19 when 133 graduates received their Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree. The newly minted physicians will start their residency training in early July.

The talented and diverse group is set to practice medicine in more than 20 specialties, in residencies related to primary care, anesthesiology, emergency medicine, neurology, radiology, surgery and psychiatry. The graduates, collectively, will practice at leading hospitals and academic medical centers in New York and 17 other states. A majority (55 percent) will remain in New York, with nearly 15 percent staying at Stony Brook Medicine.

The need for more physicians in the United States and globally remains high, particularly because of aging populations and the need for physician specialists. With ever-increasing new technologies to diagnose and treat diseases, and the emergence of AI and telemedicine, opportunities to further advance medicine in the 21st century will expand. New MDs entering the workforce will be a major part of that advancement.

Peter Igarashi, MD, Knapp Dean of the RSOM, congratulated the graduates and cited their dedication, perseverance and achievements during this celebration of their journeys that brought them all to this moment as new physicians.

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Long Island native and RSOM graduate Kevin Langbart, center, is among the new MDs who will stay at Stony Brook Medicine for their residencies.

“Over the last four plus years at the Renaissance School of Medicine, you have received the best medical education that New York State has to offer,” said Igarashi. “The combination of training in the science and art of medicine and the social determinants of health has prepared you to be doctors, well-equipped for whoever walks in the door.”

Susan M. Wolf, JD, a nationally recognized leader in medicine, law, and ethics and professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota, delivered the convocation address.

Wolf has devoted her academic career to solving ethical and legal challenges in patient care and biomedical research. She encouraged the students to practice medicine with the highest ethics and to be patient advocates during the caregiving process, helping to empower patients and their decisions in an age when medicine is advancing at a rapid pace even as quality of life and death issues remain paramount.

The RSOM Class of 2025 join a long history of the school’s graduates. Since the first graduating class of 1974, the RSOM has issued more than 5,000 MD degrees, more than 600 PhD degrees, and nearly 750 master’s degrees to more than 6,200 graduates.