Thursday, October 1, 2026
Dr. Mason Pimsler, a specialist in internal medicine from Jericho who treats patients in the Bronx through New York City’s public hospital system, was honored by the city with a proclamation declaring Nov. 7, 2025, a day in his name.
The recognition acknowledged Pimsler’s work caring for underserved people across New York City, including the homeless and others who struggle to access medical treatment.
Pimsler works at Lincoln Medical Center in the Bronx, which is part of the city’s Health + Hospitals Corporation. His focuses on internal medicine and geriatrics put him on the front lines of diagnosing and managing a wide range of conditions affecting adult patients.
“Internal medicine — it covers everything in adults 18 and over,” he explained. “That’s especially cardiovascular diabetes, prevention, treatment, hypertension.”
Pimsler grew up in Little Neck, Queens, before moving with his family to Jericho. He studied at Long Island University, and completed a fellowship in geriatrics from 2013 to 2014 at the SUNY Downstate, in Brooklyn.
Pimsler treats common conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, often in patients who face significant health care barriers. For the past several years he has treated people living in shelters through the hospital’s safety net services, which offer care to those who would otherwise go untreated.
“I treat the shelter community,” he said.
That effort grew out of earlier work helping migrants who were arriving in the city. Providing medical care to people who can’t afford treatment, Pimsler said, has become one of the most meaningful aspects of his work.
“I like treating the patient,” he said. “There are people in this life that need help, and that’s what the government’s for, you know.”
Health + Hospitals programs have allowed physicians like Pimsler to provide medications to those who otherwise might not be able to obtain them.
“So I’m able to do the type of work I want to do that I have the resources from Lincoln Hospital and Dr. Katz, Mitch Katz, where I can supply medications to the people,” he said, referring to Health + Hospital’s president and CEO. “Especially the patients in the shelters that would not be able to get these medications.
The ability to provide treatment regardless of a patient’s financial circumstances can have life-changing consequences, Pimsler said. In one case, he recalled, “I diagnosed a man that they said, ‘Stop.’ You know, if I went by the United States Preventive Task Force … they stop at, like, 65 or for prostate cancer. So I didn’t stop, and this man had no insurance, and we covered it at the hospital, and I found prostate cancer, and they had to take his prostate out and do chemo and radiation. He’s still living. He’s doing well.”
Pimsler said that prevention and early detection remain central to his work. “I am a huge believer in colonoscopies, mammograms, prostate, like clockwork,” he said. “I don’t care [about] their age. I don’t care if they’re in their 80s.”
The city’s proclamation honoring him came as a surprise last year. Pimsler said it was waiting for him at home when he returned from a trip. He had the document framed — at Long Island Picture Frame & Art Gallery in Oyster Bay.
Although there was an event at City Hall, Pimsler said his work schedule prevented him from attending.
The recognition had particular meaning for him because his father died on Nov. 21. “He had rectal cancer, and I was fighting for him non stop,” Pimsler recounted. “And I wish he was around for that (ceremony); he would get great joy out of it.”
“I’ve been recognized before,” he said of honors during his residency, and from colleagues. “But this means a lot to me, because it’s a wider scope and it affects more people’s lives.”
Looking ahead, Pimsler said he hopes to continue expanding his service to more patients who need it most, including potentially volunteering internationally. For now, he said, he remains focused on the work that led to the city’s recognition. “I didn’t become a doctor to be called ‘doctor,’” he emphasized. “I like to heal and make people feel good.”
