By: Beau Boughamer
Downtown Express of Lower Manhattan, N.Y. reported that an intersection has been named for Dr. Thomas M.S. Tam, co-founder of Charles B. Wang Community Health Center.
The Canal St. and Cortlandt Alley intersection is now known as Dr. Thomas M.S. Tam Way.
The co-naming ceremony took place on Friday, Oct. 30, at the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center at 268 Canal St., which Dr. Tam co-founded in 1971.
Dr. Tam grew up in Hong Kong and immigrated to the United States with his family at age 12. The first Asian American trustee for the City University of New York, Dr. Tam co-founded the Asian American Higher Education Council and the Asian American/Asian Research Institute at CUNY. He was the first executive director for the institute. He initiated the 1971 Chinatown Health Fair, the first health fair in Chinatown, which drew 1,000 people.
It’s great to see a pioneer in the community health center movement and a member of New York’s Chinatown community get recognized in such a fashion! Dr. Tam certainly gives new meaning to the definition of having “street cred!”