The university has more than 12,000 alumni active in medical practice, healthcare administration, public health, teaching and research.

This group of civic leaders was led by the noted poet William Cullen Bryant who was an editor of the New York Evening Post.

His main concern was with some of the medical practices being used to treat disease, which at the time included bleedings, purges, and the administration of strong drugs in too large doses.

Interest in the medical field rapidly grew over the next few years due to the United States Civil War, which generated a major need for health related occupations.

The sister institution known as the New York Medical College and Hospital for Women was founded a few years later in 1863 by Clemence Lozier.

One of its later graduates, Adelaide Wallerstein in the class of 1905, also held a law degree, and founded the East Side Clinic for Children in 1906.

In 1875, Metropolitan Hospital Center opened as a municipal facility on Ward's Island, staffed largely by the faculty of New York Medical College.

When Flower and Fifth Avenue Hospital closed in 1979, the remaining operations of New York Medical College were transferred to the Valhalla campus.

In 2011, St. Joseph's Medical Center in Paterson, New Jersey and Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, New York were designated as affiliates.

Saint Michael's Medical Center in Newark, New Jersey; Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York; and the Beckley Department of Veterans Affairs in Beckley, West Virginia, also joined NYMC in 2014 as academic affiliates adding to the breadth and diversity of clinical experiences for students and residents.

On June 8, 2017, New York Medical College opened the Center of Excellence in Precision Responses to Bioterrorism and Disasters.

The goal of the center is to maximize efficiency and effectiveness immediately after high-casualty events like terrorist attacks or natural disasters by improving resources provided to first responders.

Explaining New York's goal for the center, Dr. Robert W. Amler, dean of the School of Health Sciences and Practice, said, "The state wants to bring innovation technology into each region in a way that will stimulate more outside investment from the federal government and private resources.

"[6] In the future, New York Medical College, through the center, aims to achieve full development of an "austere medicine" training facility for first responders, including scenarios they will likely encounter in reality, like active shooter threats, fires, and car accidents.

In this aspect of training, trainees must encounter smoke, fog, loud noises, explosion simulations, and a variety of other disorienting effects.

[6] The college's involvement in graduate education dates back to 1910 when its records show the existence of advanced courses and research programs.

The GSBMS prepares future researchers, teachers, senior-level scientists and technicians to work in academia and industry.

The SHSP offers accredited programs in public health (MPH, DrPH), speech language pathology (MS), and doctor of physical therapy (DPT).

[14] A significant portion of the medical school class relocates to New York City for clinical rotations, for which the primary site is Metropolitan Hospital Center in Manhattan.