[1] Lincoln is known for innovative programs addressing the specific needs of the community it serves, aggressively tackling such issues as asthma, obesity, cancer, diabetes and tuberculosis.

"[2] In 1895, after more than half a century of occupying various sites in Manhattan, the board of trustees purchased a large lot in the South Bronx (then a semi-rural area of the city) at the corner of 141st Street and Southern Boulevard.

[2] Because of the increasing demand for services required by a more densely populated South Bronx, and a decreasing supply of philanthropic funds, in 1925 the board of trustees decided to sell Lincoln Hospital to the Department of Public Welfare of the City of New York.

The great outflow of physicians to the armed forces during World War II and the drastic socioeconomic decline in the area that followed took their toll on Lincoln Hospital.

In 1969, a 15-day takeover of the Department of Psychiatry by predominantly Black and Puerto Rican non-professional staff, marked Lincoln Hospital as a key figure in the birth of the community mental health movement.

The occupiers criticized the paternalism of the white psychiatrists and challenged community mental health to be more than urban-serving institutions being dominated by well meaning elites who were neither sufficiently responsive to - nor aware of - the needs of poor urban patients.

[2] It occupies five full city blocks, providing health care to the entire South Bronx community, as well as parts of Upper Manhattan.

[2] Similarly, Lincoln is known for its enormous success with piloting the NYC HHC's CATCH program for early identification and treatment of substance use disorders in a compassionate and understanding manner.

The New York State Department of Health selected Lincoln as the first hospital in the South Bronx to receive designation as an official Stroke Center.

Other studies have improved the diagnosis and management of gunshot wounds,[14][15] rectal and genitourinary injuries,[16] as well as "scoop and run" utility in prompt and emergency care in unstable patients.

[17] More recent research has examined oxygen delivery in trauma patients, looking at biomarkers and physiological parameters such as organ-specific pHi monitoring.,[18] "damage-control surgery in life-threatening injuries, the importance of measuring intra-abdominal pressure, the concept of intraabdominal hypertension as a prelude to the morbid abdominal compartment syndrome, and pioneering "open-abdomen" management.

[20] Lincoln has also tackled many public health issues, such as helping recognize healthcare disparities among inner-city minority New Yorkers,[21] as well as eliminating systemic barriers for preventative care measures in one of the nation's poorest census tracts.