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New York Academy of Medicine
The New York Academy of Medicine was established in 1847 by a group of physicians and civic leaders who wanted to raise the standards of medical practice.
New York Academy of Medicine
The New York Academy of Medicine was established in 1847 by a group of physicians and civic leaders who wanted to raise the standards of medical practice. President and CEO Ann Kurth now oversees an institution whose original Fifth Avenue headquarters, completed in 1926, was funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Rockefeller Foundation. The Academy has spent 178 years positioning itself as a health-policy and advocacy body rather than a conventional asset manager, yet its endowment remains the quiet engine that pays for the research, library, and fellowship programs. NYAM runs a common investment pool that allocates across buyout, distressed debt, fund-of-funds, and secondaries strategies. Geographic focus is anchored in New York City but the Academy frames its work as relevant globally. The portfolio is small by institutional standards — Altss estimates total endowment assets below $50 million — which forces a lean, opportunistic posture. The Academy does not publicly disclose specific portfolio companies or fund commitments. The investment function operates without a separately branded vehicle. Adjacent to the traditional portfolio, the Academy maintains a collection of real assets unusual for an endowment of its size: the 1216 Fifth Avenue headquarters, a rare-book library housing the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, and a collection of early medical instruments including a prototype of George Washington's dentures. Governance sits with a board chaired by Wayne J. Riley, president of SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University. Ram Jagannath, global head of healthcare for Blackstone Growth, joined the board as a trustee, bringing direct institutional-investing muscle to the stewardship conversation. NYAM's structural differentiator is the tight coupling between its physical-cultural assets and its liquid endowment. The Fifth Avenue building and the historical collections function as mission-adjacent equity — non-spendable capital that gives the Academy a permanent academic address at the edge of Central Park. This hybrid balance sheet, part endowment pool and part landmark real estate, shapes a risk appetite that prioritizes capital preservation over aggressive growth. Few health-policy organizations carry that architectural legacy alongside their investment portfolios.
General information
Firm type
Endowment / Foundation
Year founded
1847
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
New York
Corporate office
1216 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10029, United States
Principals
Ann Kurth
President and CEO
Wayne J. Riley
Chair of the Board of Trustees
James E. Flynn
Board Chair Emeritus
Ram Jagannath
Trustee
Gil Addo
Trustee
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at The New York Academy of Medicine?
The Academy does not publicly name a dedicated chief investment officer. Ultimate fiduciary responsibility lies with the Board of Trustees, chaired by Wayne J. Riley. Day-to-day oversight of the endowment is assumed to sit with the President and CEO, Ann Kurth, and the board's investment committee, which includes trustees with professional investing backgrounds such as Ram Jagannath of Blackstone Growth and James E. Flynn of Deerfield Management.
Is NYAM structured as an endowment or does it operate more like a foundation?
The New York Academy of Medicine is a public-health nonprofit that functions as a hybrid between a professional membership body and an endowed foundation. It receives no direct government appropriation, so its programs depend on a combination of grants, membership dues, and income from its relatively small endowment pool. The Academy's organizing charter, granted by the New York State Legislature in 1851, predates the modern private-foundation rules, giving it a distinct operating character.
Does NYAM participate in fund commitments or only direct investments?
The Academy runs a fund-of-funds program that includes commitments to buyout, distressed-debt, and secondaries managers. Altss research does not identify any direct co-investments or wholly owned operating companies within the endowment. The small asset base — Altss estimates under $50 million — practically limits the scope for direct-deal sourcing alongside larger institutional peers.
What is the value of the NYAM endowment?
The New York Academy of Medicine does not publicly disclose its endowment size. Altss estimates total investable assets at under $50 million based on the scale of the common investment pool described in the Academy's tax filings. This estimate excludes the value of the landmark headquarters at 1216 Fifth Avenue and the historical library collection.
How does NYAM fund its operations beyond the endowment?
The Academy funds its research, policy, and fellowship programs through a mix of government and foundation grants, membership dues from more than 3,000 Fellows, event space rentals at its Fifth Avenue landmark, and proceeds from the common investment pool. Historic supporters include the Carnegie Corporation and the Rockefeller Foundation, which paid for the construction of the current headquarters.
What is NYAM's posture on co-investments alongside external GPs?
Altss research has not identified any public record of NYAM participating in direct co-investments alongside general partners. Its allocation model uses commingled fund vehicles and fund-of-funds structures, a posture consistent with a small endowment managing a lean internal investment staff and prioritizing liquidity and diversification over direct-deal upside.
What is the relationship between the NYAM library collection and the endowment?
The historical library, home to artifacts such as the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus and a rare medical-instruments collection, is legally part of the Academy's nonprofit corporate structure but is managed as a distinct cultural asset. The collection is not held as an investment and is not marked to market; it generates programmatic revenue through exhibitions and scholarly access rather than being a spendable component of the endowment pool.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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