A message from your President

Welcome!                                                     

I greet you with open arms, love, joy, and a kiss on both cheeks to our Morgagni Medical Society.  I sincerely hope that during or after your reading of my message to you today, you will be motivated to either join for the first time or proudly renew your membership to our fine Society of Italophilic doctors!  We welcome all doctors of Italian heritage including those by direct descent, or either by virtue of marriage, education, or fellowship.  The most important prerequisite is your passion for Italian culture and your sincere interest in the scope and purpose of our Society!

So, what is our scope and purpose? 

We primarily luxuriate in gathering all together for six scheduled events throughout the academic year to share in our collegiality in a festive environment enjoying divine Italian food and wine. 

We kick off in the fall each September with our annual “New Member” dinner social event where current members bring prospective new members to help promote our continued growth.  This year we will meet at Il Bacco restaurant in Little Neck, Queens on Thursday, September 21 at 7pm where we will together enjoy good food and wine and play Tombola!

Every year we march together as our Society in the “Columbus Day Parade.”  Yes, we have a formal march spot assignment in the parade often surrounded by music and marching bands.  It is always a fun experience especially when receiving the warm smiles and applause from the 5th Avenue lined spectators.  At the end of the march, we continue the celebration with a buffet lunch at the Columbus Citizens Foundation with whom we have a close working relationship.  The parade this year is on Monday, October 9.  Come march with us even if you are not members of our Society.  All are welcome, your parents, grandparents, children, friends and even your pets! 

On every first Wednesday after Columbus Day, we hold our annual “Fall Cultural” event which is held each year at a fine Italian restaurant or club rotating through a different NYC borough.  This year we complete the 5-borough tour cycle at the Casa Belvedere in Staten Island on Wednesday, October 11 at 7pm.  Our guest speaker will be the “Meet the Man Behind the Opera” Louis M. Barrella!  Hope you can join us!

The highlight of our winter season is our annual festive “Gala” which is always held at the ornately holiday decorated Columbus Citizens Foundation in Lenox Hill, Manhattan.  We celebrate our friendship with fine food, drink and live music traditionally provided for us by the Frank Carozza band.  The “Gala” will be on Saturday, January 13, 2024.  Mark your calendars!

In March we hold our annual “Opera Night” at the Columbus Citizens Foundation with fine dinner, drink and music followed by an opera performance of traditional Italian Opera performed under the auspicious guidance and narration by the Director of the Aaron Copeland School of Music at Queens College City University of New York, Professor Dr. Edward Smaldone.  Always an outstanding and enjoyable performance!  Our “Opera Night” will take place on March 16, 2024.  Librettos provided!

We close our academic year with our annual “Spring Cultural & Business Meeting” event which is always held at the legendary former speakeasy, now private Italian dinner & gun club the Tiro a Segno in the Village where we mostly enjoy each other’s company, fine food and drink and do the required Society business of voting for new officers, emeriti, and committee chairs.  We always have a guest speaker to talk on pertinent topics of interest to our members.  At this past meeting we had Italian citizenship expert Carla Megale di Tommaso speak about the legal process by which our members may obtain Italian citizenship.  A very informative and topical presentation which was well received and appreciated by all.  After cocktails, dinner, and wine all are invited to shoot 22 caliber rifles in the basement shooting gallery.   The “Spring Cultural & Business Meeting” will be held on May 15, 2024. Personal firearms are not allowed!

That is the scope for the upcoming year and the following years will follow the same traditional schedule.  All members and their guests are welcome to our Society events.  Dues paying members get a significant discount on all events, considerably below our cost.  Guests pay at a fee commensurate with our expense for the event.

Beyond enjoying our Italian culture and heritage through our events we also have an important purpose! And that is to choose a highly qualified medical student of Italian descent each year and award her or him a $10,000 scholarship grant.  We are entering our 8th year of the “Morgagni Medical Student Scholarship Fund” and are fully funded to this point due to the generosity of our members and supporters, especially the Columbus Citizens Foundation which last year contributed $10,000.  We depend on your generosity to keep this Scholarship funded so if you are inclined to help, please visit our Scholarship donation page at this website, and give whatever you can.  Every donation helps!  We are happy to enjoy IRS 501-C3 charitable status so all your donations are tax deductible.  My goal if our Council approves and we can fundraise enough will be to increase this award by $1,000 each year to keep up with rising educational expenses.  Past winners have all become Morgagni Society members and are the seeds for our continued growth.  It is crucial to develop our younger membership to ensure the continued success of our Society.

I hope my message brings you clarity about our scope and purpose and encourages you to take part.  As I write now, I reflect on what Giovanni Battista Morgagni himself would feel about our Society and if he would join?  We are proud and honored to bear his prestigious name.  But would he be proud of us? 

Giovanni Battista Morgagni (February 25, 1682 – December 6, 1771) was an Italian anatomist, generally regarded as the father of modern anatomical pathology, who taught thousands of medical students from many countries during his 56 years as Professor of Anatomy at the University of Padua.  He enjoyed an unequaled popularity among all classes.  He was of tall and dignified figure, with blonde hair and lilac eyes, and with a frank and happy expression, and he was noted for the elegance of his Latin style.  He lived in harmony with his colleagues, who are said to not even to have envied him his unprecedently large stipend; his house and his lecture-theatre were frequented tanquam officina sapientiae (like a workshop of wisdom) by students of all ages, attracted from all parts of Europe; he enjoyed the friendship and favor of distinguished Venetian senators and of cardinals; and successive popes conferred honors upon him. (Morgagni GB, October 1903.  “Founders of Modern Medicine: Giovanni Battista Morgagni. (1682-1771)” Med Library Hist J.  PMC 1698114. PMID 18340813.  Creighton 1911, p. 832)

Clearly Morgagni was an accomplished anatomist known today for the many eponymous structures named after him such as the: “Aortic Sinuses of Morgagni,” “Columns of Morgagni,” “Foramina of Morgagni,” “Morgagni Cataract,” “Hydatid of Morgagni,” “Morgagni’s Hernia,” “Morgagni Stewart Morel Syndrome,” “Sinus of Morgagni” (pharynx).  But his love for the elegance of Latin style and his dedication to teaching and mentoring his many students embodies the scope and purpose of our Society that proudly bears his name.  So, we enjoy our collegiality through our events and we support the education of our students through our Scholarship Fund.

I close by thanking all our past Presidents for their leadership and their continued support through their participation in our Council, especially our immediate past President Dr. Christina DelPin who has been prodigious in her work and dedication to our Society.  You have my deepest gratitude!

Thank all of you for taking the time to read my message to you.  Please join us today and donate generously!

Ci vediamo a Settembre!

Ron

Ron D’Agostino, DO, FACC, FACP