Inducted in 2011
Physician; Surgeon
Pioneer in Hand & Upper Extremity Surgery

Induction Video

Renowned pioneer in the field of hand surgery, Thomas J. Palmieri began his education at Our Lady of Mercy, the grammar school of an old Bronx parish whose first home was actually Fordham’s very own University Church.

Thomas’ father, Louis Palmieri, was an immigrant from Italy who made a living as a dress cutter with the Verona Dress Company in Manhattan. Tom’s mother, Marie Rendine Palmieri, a homemaker, was a first generation American whose family had been in the ice business — an important part of daily life during the icebox years of the early 20th century before electric refrigeration in the home became commonplace.

Louis and Marie raised their son on Oliver Place in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx, just blocks from campus, and around the corner from what is today Frisch Field, named for Prep alum and fellow Hall of Honor member Frankie Frisch — a dedication certainly not lost on Palmieri, a lifelong baseball fan who would actually serve a stint as bat boy for the New York Yankees during his junior year at the Prep.

Palmieri graduated Our Lady of Mercy Grammar School in 1952, and entered the Prep that fall. Even then, walking the half-mile from his home to the front door of Hughes Hall, he often spoke with his friends about his goals and dreams. In the words of Paul Petrocelli, Jr., Prep Class of 1955: “I still recall Tom’s steadfast interest in the medical profession. He knew what he wanted in life even as a teenager.”

Besides his Rose Hill buddies, Thomas also had the extraordinary encouragement and support of his folks at home. Young Thomas’ father worked hard to provide him with a Jesuit education and all the rigor he knew it would provide. And as for his mother, the iceman’s daughter instilled in her son an appreciation for hard work and the desire to strive for the best in all aspects of his life — not only academically and professionally, but personally and spiritually as well.

After Palmieri’s graduation from the Prep, he would go on to study at Columbia University, from which he graduated in 1960. It was during Tom’s Columbia days that he met Jacqueline Jahn — no relation to the legendary ice cream parlor proprietor — at a social at the College of Mount Saint Vincent. In 1964, the same year Thomas received his medical degree from the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, he and Miss Jahn became Dr. and Mrs. Palmieri.

Spending the next few years at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital for his internship and residency, Palmieri came face to face with the underserved — the poor and disenfranchised who often lack access to medical care. His time at St. Luke’s, together with his experiences caring for patients during his surgical residency at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York, were lessons that would inform Palmieri’s commitment to serving those in need throughout his career.

From 1966 to 1971, Dr. Palmieri served as a captain in the US Army Reserve from and was Chief of Professional Services at the 343rd General Hospital in Japan, where his duties included the supervision of physicians in multiple specialties as they cared for American servicemen injured in the Vietnam War.

After his time in the Reserves, Tom would continue his training in hand and upper extremity surgery. The specialty of hand surgery had been slowly evolving since World War II, in which many military personnel experienced upper extremity injuries linked to grenades and land mines. In the early 1970s, when Tom was just beginning his training in hand surgery, the specialty was still considered a newly developing sub-specialty of orthopedic, general and plastic surgeries. In pursuit of additional training in this field, he completed one hand surgery fellowship at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and another at the Hospital for Joint Diseases and Mount Sinai Medical Center, both in New York City.

One of Palmieri’s first professional endeavors after his fellowships was to return to Long Island Jewish where he established the first hand surgery service and clinic at that institution, making treatment of hand and upper extremity disorders available to poor and uninsured patients throughout the region.

Sharing his expertise with other physicians has been a constant theme in the career of Thomas Palmieri. Besides his scores of published articles on diseases of the hand and upper extremities, as well as his textbook on the treatment of hand injuries — a classic in the field — he has graciously accepted numerous invitations to lecture at conferences around the globe including places such as Mexico City, Guatemala City, Haifa, and Milan. He has also long been a believer that the public should be informed of the latest advances in medicine, and to this end, has appeared several times on the nationally syndicated program of television personality Dr. Field’s on WNBC-TV, discussing common hand problems like arthritis and congenital deformities. On occasion, he has appeared with his own patients to discuss their hand surgeries.

In April 2004, Palmieri received the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center Alumni Association Master Teaching Award in Surgery, a recognition given to physicians who have made outstanding contributions in teaching over the span of their careers.

Today, Palmieri is an attending surgeon at Long Island Jewish Medical Center and associate professor of clinical surgery at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. His work has gained him international renown as a pioneer in hand surgery, he and has appeared numerous times on the Top Doctors List published each year by Castle Connolly Medical, Ltd. All accolades aside, to his patients, Dr. Palmieri’s most notable characteristics are his “compassion and professionalism.”

Beyond his extraordinary medical career, Tom has been has been a longtime supporter and active member of two Long Island parishes: St. Paul’s Church in Jericho and Notre Dame Church in New Hyde Park. At Notre Dame, he has been involved with the religious education program, sharing with the young people of the parish how he always striven to answer God’s call by living out his faith in his practice of medicine. Perhaps the words of Palmieri’s lifelong friend, Frank M. Gannon, Prep Class of 1960 sum it up best: “Tom has always adhered to the Jesuit tradition of ‘giving back’ through all the years I have known him.”

The boy from Oliver Place and the girl from Mount Saint Vincent have two daughters: Maureen, who married Francis Howley, Prep Class of 1983 and Tracy, who married a Canisius High School grad. 

Dr. and Mrs. Palmieri reside on Long Island.