By SÍLE MOLONEY
NEW YORK PRESBYTERIAN Hospital, located at 5141 Broadway, New York, NY 10034, just south of Marble Hill as seen March 24, 2025.
Photo by Síle Moloney
The NYPD said they have arrested 55-year-old Luis Rojas Cabrera of New Jersey and he has been charged with reckless endangerment and unauthorized practice of profession after a 27-year-old woman was found unconscious in the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx on Sunday, July 19, and died. According to one police source, the woman was a customer / patient of Bereshit Wellness Center in Kingsbridge, where she was found unconscious. The website for the center is www.drluisrojas.com.
Police said that on Sunday, July 19, at around 1.10 p.m., police responded to a 911 call regarding an aided woman inside NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital located at 5141 Broadway in the Inwood section of Northern Manhattan, just south of Marble Hill.
THE RED MARKER indicates the location of New York Presbyterian Hospital in Inwood, Manhattan.
Image courtesy of Google Maps
“Upon arrival, officers were informed by hospital staff that a 27-year-old woman had been transported unconscious and unresponsive to the hospital from Bereshit Lifestyle Center, located at 3190 Riverdale Avenue [in Kingsbridge], within the confines of the 50th Precinct,” a police spokesperson said.
Police said the woman was subsequently pronounced deceased, and the NYC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death. They said the investigation remains ongoing. Asked if the woman had taken any medication at the center, police declined to say.
AN EXTRACT FROM the website, www.drluisrojas.com, which on its homepage reads, “Welcome to Bereshit Lifestyle Center” lists services including Hydrotherapy and more.
Source: The website, drluisrojas.com, which on the home page reads, “Welcome to Bereshit Lifestyle Center” and in the Contact section lists the Center’s address as 3190 Riverdale Avenue, Bronx, NY 10463.
The Center is located in the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx and a search for its website was found at www.drluisrojas.com. On the homepage of this site, it reads, “Welcome to Bereshit Lifestyle Center.” The center offers the services listed in the attached website extracts, according to the same website URL.
Norwood News asked the NYPD if the Luis Rojas Cabrera who was arrested is a doctor. The press spokesperson said she did not have that information.
Norwood News contacted NYC Department of Health (DOH) for comment on the incident and asked which type of license the center holds. We will share any feedback we receive.
A WEBSITE EXTRACT from the website, www.drluisrojas.com, the homepage of which reads, “Welcome to Bereshit Lifestyle Center” lists specialty equipment on offer at the center.
Source: The website drluisrojas.com, which on the homepage reads, “Welcome to Bereshit Lifestyle Center” and in the Contact section lists the Center’s address as 3190 Riverdale Avenue, Bronx, NY 10463.
Another section of the website references Dr. Luis A. Rojas, described as an M.D., Surgeon, Naturopath, a full member of the Dominican Medical College, Dominican College of Surgeons, and the Superior Council of Natural Medicine in the Dominican Republic.
An extract reads, “I am a member of the Hispanic Health Professionals Association of New York, Inc. I am U.S. Board Certified by the A.A.D.P. in Holistic Health, U.S. Board Certified by the A.A.M.A in Alternative Medicine. I am currently based in New York City and I am the founder of Bereshit Lifestyle Center. I feel to a great degree fortunate that for as far back as 30 years I have been given the opportunity to do something I completely enjoy. It gives me great pleasure to help individuals gain improvement in their health condition and lifestyle through natural methods and simple therapies.”
THE HOME PAGE seemingly for Bereshit Lifestyle Center
Source: The website drluisrojas.com
Dr. Rojas’s Story is further outlined as follows: “I come from a family of medical professionals, I was exposed at an early age to the joy it brought my mother in helping others at her clinic based in the Dominican Republic. At the age of 11, I was allowed to assist my mother in various nursing and medical procedures, thus causing an immense desire to continue studying in the area of nursing and medicine.”
The story continues, “I eventually enrolled at the Universidad Tecnologica de Santiago en Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in 1990 and graduated in 1995 as a physician. A few years later in 2002 I graduated as a surgeon from Salvador B. Gautier Hospital located in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. I was also fortunate to train in several surgical specialties, such as head and neck, bariatric, laparoscopic, and other types of surgeries as well as in alternative, integrative and naturopathic medicines abroad in places like Israel, France, Puerto Rico, and Mexico.”
It continues, “I initially worked as a nurse and then as a doctor at the Medical Center Maranatha which was the medical center founded by my mother. I was founding physician of the medical clinic at a prison located at kilometro 15 in Azua, Dominican Republic. I was chief resident during my general surgery residency and then chief of emergency at the hospital Salvador B. Gautier.”
THE RED MARKER indicates the location of the Bereshit Lifestyle Center, located at 3190 Riverdale Avenue in the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx.
Image courtesy of Google Maps
The website story extract continues, “I was medical specialist and collaborated with the development of more than 100 surgeons during their medical residencies in hospitals such as: Salvador B. Gautier, Francisco Moscoso Puello, U.C.E university medical center in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. I was part of a surgical team that belonged to Public Health (SESPAS), which conducted operations every weekend in all public hospitals across the country in order to reduce the waiting list of patients who required surgical intervention.”
It concludes, “I worked in the medical center Vista del Jardin as a surgeon and naturopathic physician. I assist in the development of naturopathic physicians in the Universidad Nacional Evangelica (UNEV), in addition I taught courses in natural hygienist medicine, nutrition, ozone therapy, magnet therapy, alternative and integrative medicine in Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico and the United States. Currently I have performed over 6,000 Surgeries including thyroid, abdominal, bariatric, oncology, head and neck, among others. I am currently an active surgeon and Naturopath in the Dominican Republic and an alternative and holistic medicine practioner in the United States.”
The Kingsbridge-based center is described by the website, Yelp, as among the top 10 naturopathic/holistic entities.
A call to one number listed on the center’s website on Monday went to voicemail but the mailbox was full. Another call placed with a second listed number went to the a young person who said he was the son of Dr. Luis Rojas. His son agreed to take a message on behalf of his father. Norwood News will share any feedback we receive.
A third number listed on the website was for a Fairlawn, New Jersey-based number and went to a general voicemail with no indication of who owns the number. Norwood News left a message and requested comment.
AN EXTRACT FROM the website: www.drluisrojas.com, which on its homepage lists Bereshit Lifestyle Center and provides directions to 3190 Riverdale Avenue in The Bronx.
Source: www.drluisrojas.com
Norwood News also sent an email request for comment to the email listed on the same website and and an automated out of office reply referred us to the New York City Department of Health for “urgent inquiries.”
One section of the same website www.drluisrojas.com, which lists Bereshit Wellness Center on its homepage, advertises new antiviral kits. Another section talks about therapies for various illnesses.
A motto on the center’s website reads, “Running Towards Nature, may your food be your medicine and medicine be your food.”
MAJOR CRIME STATISTICS for the 50th Precinct for the 28-day period ending July 12, 2026, compared to last year (left), and year-to-date major crime statistics for the 50th Precinct as of July 12, 2026, compared to last year (right). This precinct covers some or all of Kingsbridge, Fieldston, Riverdale, Marble Hill, and Spuyten Duyvil.
Source: NYPD / CompStat
The NYPD is asking any other victims to please come forward by calling the NYPD’s Sex Crimes Hotline at 1-212-267-7273 or 1-646-610-7272, the Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on X @NYPDTips.
All calls are strictly confidential.