NEW YORK — On April 19, 2017, Dr. Ani Nalbandian was named recipient of the John N. Loeb Intern of the Year Award at New York Presbyterian Hospital – Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC). This prestigious award is granted to the member of the intern class who consistently demonstrated dedication, kindness and a desire to be of service to her patients. Nalbandian was voted deserving recipient of this award by peer residents, and presented the award by program leadership and key faculty in a ceremony at the conclusion of Medicine Grand Rounds.
Presenting the award were then Assistant Program Director and Medical Director of Critical Care Services, Dr. David Chong; then Program Director and Professor of Medicine, Dr. Joseph Tenenbaum; and Chair of the Department of Medicine and Physician-in-Chief of New York Presbyterian Hospital-CUMC, Dr. Donald L. Landry. Also present were members of Nalbandian’s family, including parents, Fr. Untzag and Yn. Setta Nalbandian of Trumbull, Conn.
Nalbandian grew up in the Holy Ascension Armenian Church community in Trumbull. She completed her undergraduate studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., and received her medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons in 2016. Prior to entering medical school, she completed translational science research at a tissue engineering lab at Yale School of Medicine, taught as a volunteer teacher at Sts. Tarkmanchatz Armenian School in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem, and completed a two-year Intramural Research Training Award at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She was also named a Fulbright recipient, an honor which she declined in order to accept the NIH award. She is now a second-year resident in Columbia New York Presbyterian’s three-year Internal Medicine residency program.