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Attention men! Now it's your turn to have a center specially designed to meet your health care needs.

The first of its kind in the region, the Iris Cantor Men's Health Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center is a bright, open and high-tech environment where internists and urologists provide men with full-service health care, from heart rate to the prostate. The center offers men the same kind of comprehensive care the Iris Cantor Women's Health Center has provided to women since it opened a decade ago.

Established with a $20 million gift from prominent philanthropist Iris Cantor, the center reflects the trend in men's health of gradually shifting from medication and treatment in response to illness to one that encourages preventive measures and healthy lifestyles. It occupies 9,500 square feet on the 12th floor of 425 E. 61st St. in Manhattan, the same building as the women's health center, established in 2002 by Mrs. Cantor. The proximity of the two centers to each other enables couples to schedule their health care appointments at the same time.

"We've found that nearly half of patients being treated at the women's health center are men," says Mrs. Cantor. "This signaled to me that there is a real need for a dedicated men's health center to complement the care provided to women. I am delighted to see that dream fulfilled in the opening of the Iris Cantor Men's Health Center."

"We salute Iris Cantor for her longstanding support, dedication and leadership over many years," says John Mack, chairman of the Board of Trustees of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. "We look forward to the success of this unique center which, like the women's health center, will become a valuable health resource, and will do so much to enhance medical care for men in the metropolitan area and beyond."

Services most associated with men's care

The men's health center, directed by Dr. Steven Kaplan, attending urologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell and the E. Darracott Vaughan, Jr. professor of urology at Weill Cornell Medical College, is anchored by a group of urologists and internists with additional specialties most associated with men's health care, including cardiology and endocrinology. Physicians pay special attention to hypertension, coronary artery disease, cholesterol management, heart failure, valvular heart disease and arrhythmias, erectile dysfunction and sexual disorders — some of the most common ailments affecting men. Procedure rooms are equipped to conduct prostate biopsies, cystoscopies and urodynamic studies, and a health care resource center provides access to the latest medical news and research. The building in which the center is located also houses synergistic clinical programs that augment the men's health program, including mental health, radiology, dermatology and a sleep center, and is within a few blocks of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

"We are deeply appreciative to Iris Cantor for her continued generosity and extraordinary vision," says Dr. Steven J. Corwin, CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. "Like the contiguous clinical programs housed under the same roof, the Iris Cantor Men's Health Center provides comprehensive, high quality, compassionate health care tailored to men in a way that, until now, has never been available to our patients. The center truly exemplifies the power of our partnership with Weill Cornell Medical College."

"Iris Cantor's philanthropy has provided our Weill Cornell physicians an extraordinary place to practice and continue providing exceptional clinical care to the patients we serve," says Dr. Laurie H. Glimcher, the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College.

"We must never lose sight of the fact that our primary focus is our patients, and the care our clinicians provide at the Iris Cantor Men's Health Center is but one example of how we fulfill that mission," she adds.

"The Iris Cantor Men's Health Center offers screenings, treatment, clinical trials, and education all in one environment where men and families are empowered to maintain optimal health," says Dr. Kaplan.

Sleek, High-Tech 21st-Century Design for Comfort and Healing

The men's health center was modeled in close collaboration with Mrs. Cantor, using modern and industrial aesthetics to evoke a calming yet high-tech, spa-like atmosphere to ensure patient comfort and healing. The reception area is sleekly designed with white and silver and geometrically patterned wall panels, white terrazzo flooring bespeckled with blue-green glass and black waiting-room chairs. Lighting behind the reception desk's frosted glass base engenders a brilliant glow, imbuing the windowless space with a warm luminescence in the vein of natural light. Providing the technology cornerstone to the men's health center's fresh 21st-century, interactive feel is a flat-panel, touch screen tablet, nestled within a wall of the reception area for patient education, and iPads, which are available for use by patients while they wait to be seen.

The neutral color palette on the walls and terrazzo floor is also entrenched in clinical areas, with the sleek contemporary architecture augmented by rigid, geometric abstract artwork. Exam rooms feature the work of Ohio artist Gianna Committo, who explores the themes of geometry, abstraction and architecture in her watercolor and casein drawings. The health center's corridors feature New York artist Sarah Crowner's work, comprising different types of fabric pieced together by hand and painted.

Doctors' offices, flooded with natural light from large windows, feature warm mahogany desks and yellow visitor chairs with geometric designs on the back rest. Each pair of urology exam rooms shares a bathroom and the two procedure rooms have their own adjoining bathrooms — designed with modern fixtures, porcelain tile and clean lines to evoke a bright minimalist feel.

Iris Cantor

Iris Cantor has long been recognized as a significant force in setting the agenda for women's health services in the United States. She has now turned her attention to men's health care, and she promises to be a powerful advocate. With the establishment of the Iris Cantor Men's Health Center, Mrs. Cantor has created a model for men's health care in a multidisciplinary center that provides essential collaborative healthcare services for men. Mrs. Cantor has been honored in the U.S. and abroad for her support of the arts and of medicine, and her commitment to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital has spanned over more than two decades. Mrs. Cantor has served on governance committees at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell; she spearheaded the formation of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology's Executive Committee of The Lying-In Hospital and served as an active member of the Women's Health Symposium Steering Committee. Thanks to her leadership and support, the Iris Cantor Women's Health Center opened in 2002. She currently serves on NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital's Board of Trustees, work for which she was honored in 2003 as Trustee of the Year. The Iris Cantor Men's Health Center reflects Mrs. Cantor's vision of comprehensive care – a vision that expands beyond tests and treatments to advancing health through the inclusion of health education and research.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, located in New York City, is one of the leading academic medical centers in the world, comprising the teaching hospital NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medical College, the medical school of Cornell University. NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell provides state-of-the-art inpatient, ambulatory and preventive care in all areas of medicine, and is committed to excellence in patient care, education, research and community service. Weill Cornell physician-scientists have been responsible for many medical advances — including the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer; the synthesis of penicillin; the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S.; the first clinical trial for gene therapy for Parkinson's disease; the first indication of bone marrow's critical role in tumor growth; and, most recently, the world's first successful use of deep brain stimulation to treat a minimally conscious brain-injured patient. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital also comprises NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division and NewYork-Presbyterian/The Allen Hospital. NewYork-Presbyterian is the #1 hospital in the New York metropolitan area and is consistently ranked among the best academic medical institutions in the nation, according to U.S.News & World Report. Weill Cornell Medical College is the first U.S. medical college to offer a medical degree overseas and maintains a strong global presence in Austria, Brazil, Haiti, Tanzania, Turkey and Qatar. For more information, visit www.med.cornell.edu.