Downstate Commemorates the 25th Anniversary of September 11
By Office of the President | Sep 22, 2026
Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks changed New York City and the nation, the Downstate community gathered around three enduring commitments: We remember. We honor. We serve.
Those words framed a ceremony that felt both deeply personal and distinctly Downstate. The gathering recalled the fear and loss of that September morning, honored those who died and those who answered the call to help, and recognized the responsibility to continue caring for people still living with the effects of 9/11.
Second-year College of Medicine student Phoebe Anne Marbid opened the program with the National Anthem. Her rendition prompted reflections from Downstate’s interfaith leaders, each drawing a connection between remembrance and how we treat one another today.
Rabbinical Chaplain Yosef Yitzchok Holzman, MRb, MTJ, recalled standing in Crown Heights and watching the Twin Towers burn. He remembered people crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, some barefoot, trying to escape the devastation unfolding behind them. His reflection acknowledged that some wounds never fully disappear. Healing, he suggested, can mean learning to carry our scars together and allowing them to deepen our capacity to care for others.
Catholic Chaplain Fr. Rafael Perez spoke about the responsibility people share, even when they follow different paths. He called on those gathered to become builders of peace, anchors of kindness, and keepers of one another’s humanity.
Pascal Imperato, M.D., MPH, TM, MACP, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Chief Academic Officer, delivered remarks on my behalf, referencing his own memories of September 11, 2001. Dr. Imperato recalled driving to Downstate that morning and seeing smoke rising from the Twin Towers. When he arrived at Downstate, physicians, nurses, and staff were preparing to receive injured patients. The patients they expected never came.
Those who escaped the towers survived. Many who remained inside did not. For the Downstate employees waiting to care for them, that realization brought the scale of the loss into painful focus. It also strengthened their resolve to serve New York City through crisis, grief, and recovery.
Terrance C. Holliday (ret.), former commissioner of the New York City Department of Veterans’ Services and a retired U.S. Army officer, remembered something else about the days that followed—he remembered the unity. People were not talking about red states or blue states, he said. They were simply people helping one another and showing compassion when it was needed most.
His message reached beyond the history of that day. When people need help, we have a responsibility to respond. He thanked Downstate’s faculty, staff, students, and healthcare professionals for continuing to fulfill that responsibility through their service to patients, neighbors, and the city.
That service did not end when the smoke cleared or the city began rebuilding. For more than a decade after, Downstate, through its participation in the World Trade Center Health Program with Stony Brook University, provided specialized care and monitoring at no cost to responders and volunteers living with the physical and emotional effects of 9/11.
Following the program in Alumni Auditorium, attendees walked together to The Grove for the memorial wreath-laying ceremony. Rabbi Holzman and Fr. Rafael led the procession. As “Taps” played, guests placed the wreath in a quiet tribute to those who died, those who served, and those who continue to carry the day’s effects.
The Student Center Governing Board and the University Council generously contributed the memorial wreath, which was later placed in the lobby at 450 Clarkson Avenue. The ceremony did more than revisit a painful chapter in the city’s history. It asked what remembrance requires of us now.
At Downstate, the answer remains rooted in service: caring for those who still bear the scars of September 11, standing ready when our neighbors need us, and carrying forward the compassion that brought New Yorkers together during one of the city’s darkest hours. We remember. We honor. We serve.
September 11th in the Words of Those Who Lived it