Samuel Bard was an American physician who founded the first medical school in New York City and the second medical school in the United States at King's College, now known as Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He was a personal physician to George Washington. His description of the disease diphtheria was instrumental in formulating treatment for that condition.

The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, a nonprofit academic medical center in New York City, is the primary teaching hospital for two Ivy League medical schools, Weill Cornell Medicine at Cornell University and Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. The hospital includes seven campuses located throughout the New York metropolitan area. The hospital's two flagship medical centers, Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Weill Cornell Medical Center, are located on opposite sides of Upper Manhattan.