A Conversation with Joan F. Cangiarella, MD ’90
As NYU Grossman School of Medicine continues to redefine medical education and patient care, few leaders embody this evolution more fully than Joan F. Cangiarella, MD ’90. A four-decade member of the NYU community—as an alumna, physician, and academic leader—Dr. Cangiarella shares her perspective on how NYU Grossman School of Medicine is shaping the next generation of physicians and why now is an extraordinary moment for alumni to reconnect.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
What does being a part of the NYU Grossman School of Medicine community mean to you?
Being a part of the community here means everything to me—it feels like I have NYU in my blood. I went here for undergrad, attended medical school, did my pathology residency here, and have been here as a physician and administrator ever since. This is my 40th year at NYU!
Both of my kids work here as well, and I met my husband my first day of college at NYU, so we’re all in the NYU family.
It feels like it was yesterday that I was a medical student, and the relationships I have with my fellow alumni are some of the most important in my life.
There’s a group of us from our medical school that are still best friends. I always encourage students to embrace these lifelong friends and know that these are the people you’re going to lean on for life’s ups and downs.
You have held leadership roles in both pathology and education. What has your road to being a leader been like?
I’ve tried to take every opportunity that’s been in front of me because you never know where opportunities will take you. I’ve been tasked with several different roles and have loved learning how to make this institution better for everyone, whether it be our patients, our staff, or our students.
There is a certain culture in working here. Each day you need to get better and better striving for excellence. Our culture is hands-on and goal oriented.
To lead in multiple roles, you must have good time management to succeed. I attribute that to my upbringing and seeing my mom and dad stay organized with six kids (twins, triplets, and a single!). I learned organizational skills very early on!
What do you see as the future of medicine and medical education?
So much of medicine is driven by data. Using patient data to feed back into our work and make improvements is important, and we’re training students to lead in this area. We just opened a bioinformatics master’s program to train students in informatics and AI.
AI is a big piece going forward. We’re doing so much in medical school with machine learning and large language models, and we are developing many AI tools including an AI coach that tracks student shadowing and recommends other clinical experiences and an AI tutor that feeds publications and resources to students to help in areas that require improvement.
NYU Langone Health has made a huge push toward digital pathology. How was that transition?
It was an amazing year for pathology at NYU Langone Health as we fully implemented digital pathology.
You can look at millions of images now over a computer, and it’s transformed the way we do things. Not only can you do instantaneous consultation, but you can review images from any NYU Langone facility and share them with different experts across the system to improve diagnostic accuracy.
Multiple doctors can look at a single slide at once or a pathologist on Long Island can connect with a pathologist in Manhattan and remotely share their thoughts about an image.
Other institutions are impressed at how quickly we implemented digital pathology. The success was due to good change management. I always say that NYU Langone Health loves change. We are changing every day to make things better.
Dr. Joan F. Cangiarella and Dr. Syed T. Hoda
You’ve made some big changes in medical education as well. How have you been successful in making those changes?
Being able to innovate is very important to us. If you look back at the accelerated three-year MD program, when we first announced it in 2013, there was some pushback. Now 13 years later, there are close to 40 schools across the country that have an accelerated three-year MD program, and we’ve seen that our students are as successful as four-year students during the program and in their residency.
It’s the risks we are willing to take and the mistakes that we’re willing to make that define this school. A lot of other programs wouldn’t be willing to take those risks.
NYU Grossman School of Medicine has also redefined tuition. How important are scholarships for medical students?
When I was a student here, having a scholarship was an enormous help. My scholarship was funded by Etta Silverstein, Larry Silverstein’s mother, and covered about half of my medical education.
My dad was a police officer and my mom was a stay-at-home mom with six children and having that support changed my life.
Our current tuition-free initiative means so much to students. The scholarship may impact their career choice because they know that they don’t have to pay back their tuition but it just takes off the stress of having significant debt after graduation.
What are NYU Grossman School of Medicine students like today?
This generation of students are just phenomenal. They’re superstars. Incredibly bright and talented, but also caring and compassionate.
We are training them about the importance of empathy. It’s all about kindness and understanding what patients go through. The fact that we have the Center for Empathy in Medicine is so critical.
I think for medical students to succeed, knowledge is number one, but it’s those other factors that when you go to a doctor, you want your doctor to have. It’s important that we exhibit those empathetic, human-centered traits.
What messages do you have for alumni?
Please come back and see all the amazing things that are happening!
The physical place has changed so much, but the whole structure of medical education is also different than when we trained. It’s a place that is thriving on innovation.
I would love for you to come back and take part in the experience and see the innovations in our curriculum. You’d be so impressed with not only the students but also all the changes that we’ve made at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.
Joan F. Cangiarella, MD, is the executive vice president and vice dean of education, faculty, and academic affairs, and chief academic officer; Elaine Langone Professor of Pathology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine; chief of pathology services at Tisch Hospital; and vice chair of clinical operations.