Community | Mount Sinai Today

Two Mount Sinai Diversity Groups Honored by National Association

Updated on Nov 14, 2025 | Community, Engagement

For projects that informed, engaged, and uplifted the community, the Mount Sinai Beth Israel (MSBI) Diversity Council and the Corporate Services Center Heritage of Latino Alliance (HOLA) Employee Resource Group were recently honored by The Association of ERGs and Councils during its annual conference. The association—which provides resources to increase the impact, effectiveness, and recognition of employee resource groups (ERGs) and diversity councils nationally—ranked the MSBI Diversity Council No. 1 in the “Top 10 Diversity Action” awards. The Corporate Services Center HOLA Employee Resource Group ranked No. 7 in the “Top 25 ERG” awards at the virtual conference, which was held October 19-24.

HOLA members at the prom dress drive, from left, Karen Rivera, Sherrine Gonzalez, and Katari Lebron.

The MSBI Diversity Council was recognized for its annual “Go Red” event in February, during which it partners with Mount Sinai Heart to offer blood pressure screenings for patients and staff. In recognition of Black History Month, the council members focused on providing health and wellness information to the Black patient population due to the prevalence of heart disease in this community. The HOLA Employee Resource Group was recognized for its Prom Dress Drive for female students at the Esperanza Preparatory School in East Harlem. HOLA members collected and delivered more than 150 dresses to the school and assisted 50 young women in finding a dress for their prom. “We congratulate the MSBI Diversity Council and the Corporate Services Center HOLA Employee Resource Group, especially the leads of these groups—Donnette Truss and Lena Chang at MSBI and Frank Pabon and Shawn Lee of HOLA—who led the efforts to achieve these recognitions,” says Pamela Y. Abner, MPA, CPXP, Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, Office for Diversity and Inclusion.

The Go Red event at Mount Sinai Beth Israel in February 2019.

To receive the awards, diversity councils and ERGs across the country were required to submit a video to the association describing an event or initiative they organized during 2019. The association selected and evaluated honorees using the “Impact Model,” a data-driven model that shows how the initiative improved talent management, culture, and organizational vitality for the individuals, organization, and external stakeholders involved. The MSBI and HOLA groups were among 45 councils and ERGs nationally honored by the association for demonstrating the standards of excellence for organizations working to enhance their diversity, equity, and inclusion work. In addition, ERGs across the Health System are doing impactful work year round, says Shana L. Dacon, MPH, MBA, Director, Corporate Health System Affairs, Office for Diversity and Inclusion. “We want to thank all diversity council and employee resource group members for their ongoing commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and promoting a culture of belonging for all faculty, staff, students, trainees, patients, and the Mount Sinai Health System community,” she says. To learn more about diversity council and employee resource groups, contact the Office for Diversity and Inclusion at diversity@mountsinai.org. Visit the United in Solidarity website to learn about how the Mount Sinai community is promoting efforts to instill an anti-racist culture and promote anti-racist behaviors.

Rock Garden of Hope at Mount Sinai Queens Grew From Nurse’s Inspiration

Oct 29, 2020 | Community, Featured

The Rock Garden of Hope is a homegrown memorial at Mount Sinai Queens for those lost to COVID-19. At the ribbon-cutting, from left, Chaplain Rachelle Zazzu; Fionnuala Quigley, RN, who originated the project; and another organizer, Diane Lydon.

Mount Sinai Queens (MSQ) recently dedicated the Rock Garden of Hope near its Emergency Department to remember those lost to COVID-19. It is a small tribute—a bed of painted rocks surrounded by a low iron fence—but it is heartfelt.

Staff members for months have been painting river rocks with flowers, hearts, smiles, and messages such as “Here Comes the Sun” and “You Are Loved.” But it all started in June with one nurse, Fionnuala Quigley, RN. She grew up in the neighborhood and worked in the Emergency Department at MSQ throughout the pandemic, and she has vivid memories of those days and of the trailers that held many who had passed away. Every day, she walked past the spot where the trailers had stood, and finally, she says, “I just wanted to change the perspective of what was once there into something happy.”

Ms. Quigley picked out a bare plot and cleared it of debris. Then she started decorating rocks with acrylic markers and placing them on the ground in a makeshift memorial. At that point, she asked the hospital chaplain, the Rev. Dr. Rachelle Zazzu, MA, DDS, to seek official permission for the project and help reach out to volunteers. The idea quickly took hold. Ms. Quigley says Donna Smith Jordan, Assistant Director of Emergency Medicine, and Jeofrey Gacad, unit clerk in the ED, were instrumental in spreading the word. Most of the rocks are supplied by Diane Lydon, unit clerk in the ED, who brings them back from the Neversink River in the Catskills.

“Donna, Fionnuala, and Jeofrey also hosted a few painting sessions in the ED during break hours,” says Jonathan Nover, RN, MBA, Senior Director of Nursing for the Emergency Department. “This has been very therapeutic for all.” Fully embracing the project, the hospital installed a fence, lights, and a small plaque at the garden plot, and held a ribbon-cutting on Friday, Oct. 2.

“All are welcome to bring a rock to the garden to remember someone who has passed or leave a message of optimism for the future,” Caryn A. Schwab, Executive Director of Mount Sinai Queens, and Jill Goldstein, MA, MS, RN, Deputy Chief Nursing Officer, said in a message announcing the event.

The Rock Garden of Hope is growing bit by bit as staff and neighbors continue to paint and place rocks. (View some of them on an Instagram page, Emergency Rocks.) Ms. Quigley says that at first some were worried that people might take rocks from the garden, but none have disappeared since the commemorative sign went up. And she is philosophical on this point: “I think if someone takes a rock, they needed it.

Infection Prevention Is Singled Out for a Thank-You

Oct 22, 2020 | Community, Stories of Excellence

Across the Health System, Infection Protection works closely with Environmental Services and front-line staff to keep staff members and patients safe.

A team that is usually behind the scenes received a special thank-you from Mount Sinai leadership in honor of International Infection Prevention Week—Monday, October 19, through Friday, October 23. “This year, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, we want to express our heartfelt gratitude to the Mount Sinai Health System’s Infection Prevention team members,” says Vicki LoPachin, MD, MBA, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Mount Sinai Health System. “We are proud to recognize our infection preventionists and hospital epidemiologists, who work tirelessly to minimize the risk of infection to our staff, our patients, our families, and the communities we serve every day.”

The team includes nurses, physicians, and public health professionals across Mount Sinai, says Bernard Camins, MD, Director of Infection Prevention for the Health System, united by the goal of preventing health care-associated infections. In normal times they keep busy creating and monitoring safety protocols and policies, and working directly with front-line staff. And then came the COVID-19 pandemic. “The surge brought unique challenges we had never faced before, and working behind the scenes, our teams put protocols and procedures in place to reduce the risk of transmission,” Dr. Camins says. At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, the disease was not on the EPIC system. So the team used the designation “special droplet,” and created isolation protocols for a virus that had never been described before.

Leaders of Infection Prevention at a workgroup meeting in April 2019.

The team helped oversee Environmental Services staff who were keeping rooms and equipment safe, and went to COVID units to help ensure that staff members put on PPE correctly. They created zones within hospitals to indicate levels of contamination—the rooms of COVID-19 patients were taped off in red, hallways in yellow, and break rooms in green. And they, in conjunction with Employee Health Services, conducted contact tracing to keep track of patients and staff members who had been exposed to COVID-19.

“In spite of unprecedented circumstances, the Infection Prevention team maintained their professionalism and were always available to educate or collaborate with front-line colleagues,” Dr. LoPachin says. “We thank members of the team for their leadership, perseverance, patience, and dedication to their work.”

Major League Baseball Recognizes Mount Sinai Front Line Workers

Oct 8, 2020 | Community, Featured, MSBI

As part of an effort to honor front-line workers and others throughout the nation, Major League Baseball is featuring images of Mount Sinai employees during the baseball postseason games.

The images of employees are attached to “cutouts” placed in the stands during the Division Series games held in stadiums where fans are not allowed to attend due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The images are displayed in specific “Community” sections. Click on the two slideshows to view the Mount Sinai employees.

“We thought this would bring joy to all of the staff who have been working so hard,” said Arycelis Segura, a Trainer at Mount Sinai-Union Square who helped to organize employees to get their photos taken, along with Paul Zucker, Vice President, Ambulatory Operations, and Ellie Park, Senior Director of Operations, Mount Sinai-Union Square. “They deserve to be on national television.”

Other photos on display at the baseball games include health care workers, military service members, cancer survivors and cancer research scientists, COVID-19 essential workers, and youths with Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

The images of Mount Sinai employees were displayed during the following games:

Monday, October 5: Astros/Athletics (Dodger Stadium Los Angeles) and Yankees/Rays (Petco Park San Diego)

Tuesday, October 6: Marlins/Braves (Minute Maid Park Houston); Astros/Athletics (Dodger Stadium Los Angeles); Yankees/Rays (Petco Park San Diego) and Padres/Dodgers (Globe Life Field Arlington, Texas)

Wednesday, October 7: Marlins/Braves (Minute Maid Park Houston); Athletics/Astros (Dodger Stadium Los Angeles); Rays/Yankees (Petco Park San Diego) amd Padres/Dodgers (Globe Life Field Arlington, Texas)

Thursday, October 8: Braves/Marlins (Minute Maid Park Houston) and Dodgers/Padres (Globe Life Field Arlington, Texas)

Mount Sinai Helps Ensure the US Open Is a Memorable Event

Sep 17, 2020 | Community, Featured

At the US Open are, left to right, Aruna Seneviratne, MD; Melissa Leber, MD; Alexis Colvin, MD; James Gladstone, MD; and Shawn Anthony, MD, MBA

The 2020 US Open Tennis Championships was a memorable event thanks to prevention strategies to decrease the risk for transmission of COVID-19 from a team of infectious disease experts, orthopedic surgeons, sports medicine physicians and musculosketal radiologists at Mount Sinai Health System who collaborated with the USTA to create a comprehensive health plan to guide athletes in safely playing at this year’s tournament. Mount Sinai served as the official medical services provider for the eighth consecutive year at the tournament.

In this post, Melissa Leber, MD, Director of Emergency Department Sports Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Associate Professor of Sports Medicine and Emergency Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and US Open Player Physician, reflected on the experience.

As a longtime player physician at the US Open, as well as at the Western and Southern Open this year which took place in New York due to the pandemic, I am not surprised by how well things went. The amount of careful thought and organization that went into the safe operation of these two tennis tournaments is not only inspiring but also comforting. I have a front row seat to the intricacies of creating these safe environments and the effort it takes from all involved to make sure it remains that way. My colleague Alexis Colvin, MD, Chief Medical Officer of the US Open, has worked tirelessly for weeks to bring the first major tennis tournament of 2020 to New York.

This is my eighth year taking care of the elite athletes at the US Open. This job has always been, and will continue to be, high pressure, having to take care of the world’s best tennis players, making highly scrutinized quick decisions while on a court in front of thousands of eyes. But this year is different. From a medical standpoint, we know that many Covid-19 symptoms mimic other medical problems that we encounter frequently in tennis, such as heat illness, dehydration, allergies, and the common cold. This makes diagnosis and care of the athletes that much more complicated.

Watch the closing ceremonies, which featured Mount Sinai’s doctors

The grounds of the National Training Center were eerily quiet and none of us can wait for fans to return. Balancing not only the athletes’ physical needs and their emotional well-being takes special considerations. Bringing a little bit of New York to the athletes who have traveled from around the world is a special focus this year. We had local food trucks and entertainment so that the athletes can have an outlet after practicing and playing all day.

In addition to Dr. Colvin and Dr. Leber, Mount Sinai physicians supporting the 2020 US Open include:

Lisa Anthony, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor in Dermatology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Shawn Anthony, MD, MBA, Assistant Professor of Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Surgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; medical director for Broadway shows

Carlos Benitez, MD, Director of Musculoskeletal Imaging, Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai St. Luke’s; and Associate Professor of Radiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Bernard Camins, MD, Medical Director of Infection Prevention, Mount Sinai Health System

Jeffrey Ciccone, MD, Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology, Perioperative & Pain Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Houman Danesh, MD, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, Perioperative & Pain Medicine, Rehabilitation & Human Performance, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Etan Dayan, MD, Assistant Professor of Diagnostic, Molecular and Interventional Radiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

James Gladstone, MD, Chief of the Sports Medicine Service, Mount Sinai Health System; and Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Kevin Munjal, MD, MPH, MSCR, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Population Health Science and Policy, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Trevor Pour, MD, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Christopher Reverte, MD, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Aruna Seneviratne, MD, Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Eric Small, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Orthopedics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Watch a series of videos featuring Mount Sinai experts at the US Open

New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai, America’s First Specialty Hospital, Celebrates 200th Anniversary

Sep 10, 2020 | Community, Featured, MSBI

From left: James Tsai, MD, MBA, President of New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai (NYEE); Daniel Laroche, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology; and Tamiesha Frempong, MD, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, Pediatrics, and Medical Education, were among those who gathered for the dedication of a portrait of David Kearny McDonogh, America’s first Black ophthalmologist and a former slave, who was trained at NYEE.

The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai (NYEE), in August, celebrated its 200th anniversary and its unique place as America’s first specialty hospital, which continues to provide patients with the highest level of care.

“As we enter our third century, we continue to innovate and lead in clinical care, education, research, and community service,” says James Tsai, MD, MBA, President of NYEE. “NYEE has really been ahead of its time and I think this is something we can be proud of in our bicentennial year.”

Indeed, the hospital’s remarkable history includes a significant chapter in American history and demonstrates the open-mindedness of its two young founders, Edward Delafield, MD, and John Kearny Rodgers, MD, who educated the nation’s first Black ophthalmologist, a former slave named David Kearny McDonogh. Dr. McDonogh’s professional path was laden with obstacles. After being allowed to unofficially attend and complete his medical studies at what is now Columbia University, he was denied his medical degree. But at NYEE, Dr. Rodgers provided him with the opportunity to become an eye doctor and practice his craft as a full staff member of the hospital, then located in a small suite in lower Manhattan. In a tribute to his mentor, Dr. McDonogh adopted “Kearny” as his middle name.

In August, as part of NYEE’s bicentennial celebration, a painting of Dr. McDonogh was hung in NYEE’s new surgical waiting room with a limited group of faculty and staff in attendance due to COVID-19 restrictions. No photos of Dr. McDonogh are known to exist. The painting by Leroy Campbell was commissioned by Daniel Laroche, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at NYEE. At the gathering, Dr. Laroche called Dr. McDonogh “an American hero.” As far as we know, Dr. McDonogh is the only American enslaved person to have gained a professional medical education, says Dr. Laroche. “His story shows you cannot suppress the soul of man.”

Today, NYEE runs the nation’s largest ophthalmology residency program, with 10 residents a year, and continues to “look for the best trainees regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, disability, sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation,” says Dr. Tsai. “We are open to new ideas and focused on training the most qualified individuals, and committed to recognizing the talent and skills of these applicants. We have an incredibly diverse residency class. Drs. Delafield and Rodgers believed in providing expert care to patients from all walks of life so they could enjoy good health and lead productive lives. That is so much in line with the philosophy of the Mount Sinai Health System—that same willingness to take care of everyone.”

In keeping with its tradition of innovation, NYEE in July became the first U.S. hospital, and third in the world, to acquire a microsurgical robot for ophthalmology and study its future use in patients. The device is expected to provide surgeons with a significantly higher level of precision when performing procedures. NYEE has applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for permission to use the robot for research and educational purposes and for clinical trials before expanding its use into retinal or other ophthalmic surgeries. Only two other microsurgical robotic eye systems exist in the world—in England and the Netherlands.

NYEE is also pioneering the use of telemedicine in ophthalmology by exploring new technologies and methods to permit eye doctors to make diagnoses using computers and artificial intelligence. The hospital is working with emergency room doctors and nurses within the Mount Sinai Health System to handle patients with eye emergencies more efficiently when an ophthalmologist is not physically present but is available remotely. The Emergency Department staff would conduct an eye exam and assist the ophthalmologist in making a diagnosis via remote diagnostics, rather than having patients wait a lengthy period of time before a specialist is able to get to the hospital.

Dr. Tsai says, “NYEE may look very different in our third century of service to the community. We will incorporate more telemedicine into our offering. We will also train doctors more effectively using the latest technology. But we will still possess the same ethos, culture, vision, and mission that have guided us since our founding 200 years ago.”