Two physicians at The Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for Multiple Sclerosis, Fred Lublin, MD, Director of the MS Center and Saunders Family Professor of Neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Stephen Krieger, MD, Professor of Neurology, are among the physicians whom the Mount Sinai Office of Patient Experience recognized with the 2024 Cullman Family Award for Excellence in Physician Communication.
“The Cullman Family Award has special meaning to me as a recognition of the dedication and efforts that all of us at the Center strive to provide for the patients we care for,” said Dr. Lublin. “Receiving this award is a tribute to our co-founder and guiding spirit, the late Clifford Goldsmith, who when we started the Center directed that we were to provide outstanding, state-of-the-art, comprehensive care for patients with MS, giving them as much time and attention as needed to meet their needs.”
For Dr. Krieger, the award is a clear affirmation of the patient experience.
“What moves me the most about the Cullman Family Award is that it comes directly from how my patients have felt about their care. This award is not decided by a committee or any one person, but rather by our patients themselves. I think that effective communication, education, and compassion are the most important aspects of the role that I hope I play in the lives of the people I take care of. So, to know that I have been able to be a small force of good for them as they navigate their neurological condition means a great deal to me.”
Since 2016, this prestigious award has honored Mount Sinai providers who demonstrate exceptional communication in clinical practice. Recipients of the award were ranked in the top five percent, out of more than 117,000 providers nationwide, as measured by two communication metric questions on the Press Ganey ambulatory patient experience survey during the previous calendar year.
A total of 89 outstanding Mount Sinai providers were honored, more than ever before. Erica Rubinstein, MS, LCSW, CPXP, Vice President of Service Excellence and Patient Experience, hosted a ceremony featuring remarks by Brendan Carr, MD, MA, MS, CEO, Mount Sinai Health System, alongside other hospital leaders. Carolyn Sicher, MD, and Georgina Cullman, PhD, board members of Mount Sinai Health System and members of the Cullman family, which founded the award, also spoke at the special ceremony on Wednesday, October 30, in the Mount Sinai Hospital Stern Auditorium.
Fifty of this year’s honorees were prior-year recipients; nine providers have received the award five or more times, including Dr. Krieger. Dr. Lublin, Ilana Katz Sand, MD, and Michelle Fabian, MD, are also multiple-time awardees. Sam Horng, MD, and former Center provider Aliza Ben-Zacharia, DNP, have been honored as well.