Community | Mount Sinai Today

Mount Sinai Seminar on Racism and Mental Health Draws an International Audience of Nearly 500 Participants

Mar 11, 2021 | Community, Diversity and Inclusion, Featured, Research

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to reveal the significant racial disparities that exist in health care access and treatment across the United States, Mount Sinai’s neuroscience community is additionally exploring the profound connections between racism and mental health through a new seminar series.

The first seminar, “The Impact of Racism on Mental Health,” held virtually on Monday, January 25, featured two guest speakers, and drew nearly 500 members of the general public, and researchers and students from 35 universities across eight nations. It was sponsored by The Friedman Brain Institute, as part of its Diversity in Neuroscience initiative known as #DiverseBrains, and the Mount Sinai Office for Diversity and Inclusion. The seminars aim to raise awareness and address the inequities—and amplify the work of researchers studying the various effects of racism on minds and bodies.

The seminar was organized and moderated by Aya Osman, PhD, a third-year postdoctoral fellow at the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment. Dr. Osman is studying the role of the gut microbiome in various neuropsychiatric disorders, including autism and addiction, in the lab of Drew Kiraly, MD, PhD. It was co-moderated by Joseph Simon, a fourth-year PhD neuroscience student studying social influences on decision-making in the laboratory of Erin Rich, MD, PhD, in the Nash Family Department of Neuroscience.

Participants included, clockwise from top left: co-moderator Joseph Simon; speaker Tanja Jovanovic, PhD; Aya Osman, PhD, event organizer and moderator; and speaker Monnica Williams, PhD, ABPP.

The aim of the seminars, said Dr. Osman, is to make research findings more accessible to the public and to increase scientific collaboration with researchers studying similar topics. “We hope this lecture series will open our eyes to the ways racism can be perpetuated and spark dialogue around dismantling structural racism in the mental health field and discuss ways to heal from its impact,” Dr. Osman said.

Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD, Nash Family Professor of Neuroscience, Director of The Friedman Brain Institute, and Dean for Academic and Scientific Affairs at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, welcomed the participants. “We launched #DiverseBrains about five and a half years ago to promote diversity and inclusion, and to create an optimal climate throughout The Friedman Brain Institute,” said Dr. Nestler. “And no conversation is more at the heart of our original goals than today’s topic.”

Invited speaker Monnica Williams, PhD, ABPP, Associate Professor, School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, and Canada Research Chair for Mental Health Disparities, gave a presentation on “Racial Trauma and New Directions in Healing,” which drew from existing research data. “We know there are profound connections between racism and mental health,” said Dr. Williams. “We have research over the past 20 years that shows definitive links to just about every major mental illness to experiences of racism and discrimination,” she said, citing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), stress, anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, substance and alcohol abuse, eating disorders, severe psychological distress, psychosis, disability, and suicide.

Dr. Williams also discussed the growing use of medical psychedelics and the research that shows it may hold promise in helping to decrease the negative impact of racial trauma in minority populations. However, she pointed out that her own research has uncovered that minorities are greatly underrepresented in psychedelic medicine studies, with 82.3 percent of the people involved in these studies, as both patients and researchers, being white. “We can now make a strong case that future clinical trials need to examine the efficacy of psychedelics as an adjunct to psychotherapy for individuals with race-based trauma,” Dr. Williams said.

Speaker Tanja Jovanovic, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, and the David and Patricia Barron Chair for PTSD Neurobiology at Wayne State University in Detroit, addressed the topic of “The Biological Impacts of Racism—Implications for Negative Health Outcomes.” Dr. Jovanovic’s research focuses on the interaction of traumatic experiences, neurophysiology, neuroendocrinology, and genetics in stress-related disorders in adults and children in high-risk populations. In her seminar presentation, she examined racial differences related to neurobiology and how the stressors of racism affect the brain.

“Racism impacts biology and should be treated as an illness,” she said. Dr. Jovanovic presented research showing the biological effects in those experiencing the chronic stress of racial discrimination. Altered physiological measures include higher levels of cell-free mitochondrial DNA, a biomarker associated with stress, aging, inflammatory processes, and cell death. Further, her research shows that racial discrimination may alter the automatic nervous system by increasing the activity of the sympathetic nervous system (increasing startle response, accelerating heart rate, constricting blood vessels, and raising blood pressure), and decreasing the peripheral nervous system, or vagal tone, which is associated with rest and regulation of stress responses.

The Mount Sinai Health System has an ongoing commitment to accelerate efforts to dismantle racism and advance equity through priorities established by the Office for Diversity and Inclusion. The BioMedical Laureates Program, for example, is one of the first in the nation to recruit underrepresented candidates and enhance diversity among senior research faculty. It includes an initiative to recruit and mentor Junior Laureates, those just starting their postdoctoral fellowships. Forming the foundation for these and future efforts is the Mount Sinai Health System Task Force to Address Racism, which was established to make Mount Sinai an anti-racist health care and learning institution that intentionally addresses structural racism.

Participants agreed that much work—at many levels—needs to be done on racism and research. Dr. Osman cited a need for an increase in Black faculty, and diversity training among principal investigators. Said Mr. Simon: “We must continue this dialogue in many different forms, and it’s important that we make this information and this outreach understandable for all.”

Indeed, educating the public is a key component of this effort, said Dr. Osman, who cites a need for solid, clear, science-based information that is understandable by the general public, which is driving her extensive public outreach through social and mass media. As this seminar series continues to invite speakers and discuss this topic, an additional goal is to explore grants that would fund further research into the impact of racism on health, and ways to eradicate it. The second seminar is planned for early spring 2021.

One Year Later: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Says ‘Thank You’ To Residents Who Joined Front-Line Workers During Pandemic Peak

Mar 3, 2021 | Community, Featured

Andres Arredondo, MD

There are many reasons why the Mount Sinai community should be thankful for the residents and fellows who help provide care every day. But their contributions during the height of the pandemic a year ago may be one of the most dramatic, and that was on the minds of many recently as they marked “Thank a Resident Day.”

“As New York City entered its darkest days during the peak of the pandemic, our residents and fellows wanted to jump right in and join their colleagues on the front lines in an act of great professionalism and compassion. They were the backbone that kept us all going during a very difficult time,” says I. Michael Leitman, MD, FACS, Dean for Graduate Medical Education at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “It makes me proud and very, very happy to know them and work shoulder to shoulder with them,” says Dr. Leitman, a surgeon who specializes in minimally invasive surgical innovations to treat abdominal conditions.

Icahn Mount Sinai runs the nation’s largest and one of the oldest training programs for medical residents. Each year, these programs train approximately 2,500 residents and clinical fellows—doctors in training—in every specialty, including several specialty areas that are highly ranked by Doximity, which polls doctors on the best U.S. training programs. Specialties ranked in the top 20 include Dermatology (No. 4), Physical Medicine/Rehabilitation (No. 9), Nuclear Medicine (No. 12), Otolaryngology (No. 12), Psychiatry (No. 15), OB/GYN (No. 18), and Ophthalmology (No. 20).

Andres Arredondo, MD, is a resident in emergency medicine at The Mount Sinai Hospital who spent time at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens—considered an epicenter of the pandemic in New York City—when the pandemic struck last spring. Originally from Colombia, he was struck by the disproportionate effect of the pandemic on the Hispanic community.

Ciera Sears, MD

“The impact of the pandemic on the Hispanic community really highlighted the need for us to place an emphasis on addressing the social determinants of health, such as economic stability, crowded living conditions, quality education, and access to health care,” he says. “We worked long, hard hours but we banded together and supported each other. I was impressed by my fellow residents. Some voluntarily worked extra shifts, some started fundraisers for the Queen’s community, while others helped out in departments that were stretched. We all pushed ourselves to give as much as we could. I’m thankful for all of these things.”

Ciera Sears, MD, a fellow in Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, was one of many fellows and residents called upon during the pandemic to embed in the hospital’s emergency department, where she would provide counsel to patients at risk of dying, all the while giving much appreciated support to her busy colleagues in the ED.

“We were seeing patients in the worst days, close to death, and alone. Because it was too risky to allow family to enter the hospital, their only support was their doctors and nurses,” says Dr. Sears. Dr. Sears was infected with COVID-19 during the first week New York State was in lockdown. She lost her sense of smell for six months but is now feeling well.

At the same time, the Black Lives Matter movement was gaining momentum, and Dr. Sears was on the front lines. “Here I was risking my life to fight this pandemic which disproportionately affects Blacks and Hispanics, and simultaneously engaging in protests,” she says.

Click here to watch a special video thanking Mount Sinai residents and fellows from Scott Gottlieb, MD, the FDA commissioner from 2017 to 2019, who graduated from Mount Sinai School of Medicine and was a resident in Mount Sinai’s Internal Medicine Residency Program. Dr. Gottlieb is a member of the Mount Sinai Board of Trustees.

Caitlyn Kuwata, MD

Caitlyn Kuwata, MD, also a fellow in Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, was deployed to the ED where she used her training in palliative medicine to support patients and their families with difficult decisions and symptom management, sometimes with patients who had very little time left.

“Because the COVID numbers were so high, we did a lot of emergency consults on big issues like patient values and goals surrounding quality of life in the context of COVID. It was very eye opening and emotional. One of the hardest aspects of our work was assisting our patients in saying goodbye to family members who were not allowed to visit,” she says.

She became infected with COVID-19 in March. “The two week quarantine while sick was really hard. I wanted to work and I wanted to be useful,” she says.

“Like all of our wonderful staff, my fellows were rock stars during the pandemic and beyond,” says Helen Fernandez, MD, MPH, Professor and Program Director for Geriatrics and Palliative Care at Icahn Mount Sinai, the top rated Department of Geriatrics in the United States according to U.S. News & World Report. “They were true advocates for patients and caregivers, helping them navigate complex decision making. I consider myself extremely lucky to work with such gifted and talented staff. Our future is bright.”

Thank a Resident Day, created in 2018, was marked on February 26. It is one of a number of programs run by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation to champion humanism in health care. The foundation also established the White Coat Ceremony in 1993 as a way to welcome first year medical students.

Helping New Yorkers With Disabilities Through the Pandemic

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Community, Diversity and Inclusion

Jonathan Novick, Outreach Manager for the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities

Under normal circumstances, people with disabilities face discrimination, inaccessibility to services, and other challenges to independent living. The COVID-19 global pandemic has added more hurdles for people with disabilities and caregivers, said Jonathan Novick, Outreach Manager for the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD). Mr. Novick discussed the office’s efforts to address these issues in a virtual talk sponsored by Mount Sinai’s Office for Diversity and Inclusion. The talk, intended to provide information to the Mount Sinai community on the services and resources available through the MOPD, can be viewed here.

“As a result of COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of activities for institutions were forced to go online,” Mr. Novick noted. “And if I had to pick out one bright spot at least for the disability community, it enabled a level of social interaction that was not there before.”

The virtual talk, titled “Providing Resources for People with Disabilities during the Pandemic,” was held in observance of Disability Awareness Month, part of a series featuring speakers from around the Mount Sinai Health System as well as the community to raise awareness and promote an inclusive and equitable health care environment for people with disabilities.

MOPD is a liaison between New York City government and the disability community and works to ensure that the rights and concerns of people with disabilities are addressed in all of the city’s initiatives, programs, and policies. This includes equal access to everything the city has to offer, including housing, employment, transportation, benefits, arts, culture, and parks.

Resources Available in Toolkit, and on Mount Sinai ODI Site

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, people with disabilities are not inherently at higher risk for becoming infected with or having severe illness from COVID-19. However, some people with disabilities might be at a higher risk of infection or severe illness because of their underlying medical conditions. For example, adults with disabilities are three times more likely to have heart disease, stroke, diabetes, or cancer than adults without disabilities.

In one constructive response to the pandemic, Mr. Novick said, MOPD has created a Virtual Activities Toolkit, which offers accessible resources and information in one centralized location. The pandemic also highlighted the importance of communication, such as digital access to COVID-19-related briefings and Department of Health and Mental Hygiene public health guidance and materials.

Weekly calls were set up between MOPD and advocates and organizations to address the needs to people with disabilities during the pandemic. Among the many concerns addressed were access to medical care, personal protective equipment, food/supplies, fear of losing home health providers due to social distancing guidelines, mental health and domestic violence support, and anxiety over health care rationing due to disability.

To learn more about resources provided by MOPD for New Yorkers with disabilities, please visit NYC.gov/Disability. Additional disabilities-related resources are available on the Mount Sinai Office for Diversity and Inclusion site.

Sixth Annual Mount Sinai Innovation Awards

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Community, COVID-19, Featured, Research

The Inventor of the Year team conducted research that led to diagnostic tests for antibodies to COVID-19. (Standing) Florian Krammer, PhD, PhD, Professor of Microbiology, left, and Carlos Cordon-Cardo, MD, PhD, Irene Heinz Given and John LaPorte Given Professor and Chair of Pathology, Molecular and Cell-Based Medicine. (Seated, from left) Daniel Stadlbauer, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow; Fatima Amanat, Graduate Assistant; Adolfo Firpo-Betancourt, MD, Professor of Pathology, Molecular and Cell Based Medicine; Viviana Simon, MD, PhD, Professor of Microbiology; Ania Wajnberg, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine; and Damodara Rao Mendu, PhD, Director of Chemistry Laboratories, Department of Pathology, Molecular and Cell-Based Medicine.

Individuals and teams from the Mount Sinai Health System were honored for advances in biomedical research, technology, and medicine at the sixth annual Mount Sinai Innovation Awards ceremony, a virtual event held Tuesday, December 8, 2020.

Mount Sinai Innovation Partners (MSIP) presented the award for Inventor of the Year to an eight-member team led by renowned virologists and pathologists, whose efforts led to the development of multiple diagnostic tests for the detection of antibodies against the COVID-19 spike protein—the principal target of neutralizing antibodies.

The Innovation Award s also honored winners of the Faculty Idea Prize, the 4D Technology Development Award; the KiiLN Postdoctoral Entrepreneurship Award; and the Trainee Innovation Idea Award.

The event, which can be viewed here, was hosted by: SINAInnovations, MSIP, the Office of Faculty Development, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the Department of Medical Education, the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, the Graduate Medical Education Office, and the Keystone for Incubating Innovation for Life Sciences Network (KiiLN).

The Heart and Soul of Mount Sinai Queens

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Community, Featured

Nurses are the heart and soul of Mount Sinai Queens. To honor their commitment and passion, Mount Sinai Queens celebrated National Nurses Week last May 6-12. Though they were not able to celebrate in traditional ways, the nurses gathered for a group photo in front of the hospital. A news photographer happened to be walking by and snapped a photo. That photo would later appear in a number of print and broadcast features, and most recently editors at The Atlantic magazine selected the photo as one of its Hopeful Images from 2020. Mount Sinai photo credit: Andrew Romanov

Access-A-Ride Paratransit Services Adjusting to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Community, Diversity and Inclusion, Rehab Medicine

Donna Fredericksen, Deputy Director of the MTA’s Transit Access-A-Ride (AAR) Paratransit Outreach, with Kevin Funney, Operator, Maggies Paratransit Corp.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many parts of city life, including the safe access of New Yorkers with disabilities to services and care. During a talk hosted by the Mount Sinai Office for Diversity and Inclusion (ODI), Donna Fredericksen, Deputy Director of the MTA’s Access-A-Ride (AAR) Paratransit Outreach, described how the program has adjusted to the pandemic and continued to safely provide paratransit service to New Yorkers. The virtual talk can be viewed here.

The session, “Proactive Measures During COVID-19 and Beyond,” was the second in the new Raising Disability Awareness Virtual Talk Series, featuring speakers from around the Mount Sinai Health System as well as the community, in honor of Disability Awareness Month in October. During this time, ODI hosted events to educate, raise awareness and promote an inclusive and equitable health care environment for people with disabilities.

“Access-A-Ride trips are available—24-7 and 365 days a year—for people with disabilities who cannot use the subway or the bus,” Ms. Fredericksen said. “This could be a temporary setback, perhaps a new knee or a new hip, or it might be something more long term.”

Talk on Disability Awareness

During the COVID-19 pandemic, AAR has adjusted its procedures: Riders and drivers must wear masks. All dedicated vehicles are disinfected, and temperature checks are required for drivers. And to allow for social distancing, shared rides are discontinued—though people with disabilities can be accompanied by a personal care attendant (PCA). Applicants are still required to go to an assessment center as part of the eligibility determination process. The sites are open at 25 percent capacity, with COVID-19 safety protocols in place. For many months during the pandemic, fares were suspended, but they resumed on Tuesday, January 19.

The AAR fare for most eligible riders is $2.75, the same as subway or bus fare. If they have a PCA, that person travels free, and AAR customers who are enrolled in the Fair Fares program, which aids lower income New Yorkers, pay $1.35.

AAR is the largest paratransit service in the country, with 160,000 riders. Pre-COVID, it made 24,000 trips a day, Ms. Fredericksen said. Now the weekday trips remain steady at about 70 percent of that level.

Meeting Essential Travel Needs

Ms. Fredericksen and two team members outlined how to apply for eligibility—the required first step—and how to schedule a ride, access language and interpretation services, navigate through the AAR web page, and access the MYmta app, which is available at the Apple App Store and Google Play. Access-A-Ride answers to “a higher authority,” Ms. Fredericksen said, in this case, being in compliance with the FTA (Federal Transit Administration) and the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and prioritizing the needs of people with disabilities. “We want to focus on essential travel, such as taking you to dialysis or chemotherapy appointments, or if you are an essential worker, or you need service immediately,” she said.

“If you have any questions about AAR, please call. Someone is there Monday through Friday from 9 to 5 to help you out.” For the latest information, including a guide to AAR and the AAR newsletter, visit https://new.mta.info/accessibility/paratransit. Or call 1-877-337-2017.

« Older Entries

Next Entries »