May 13, 2019 | Community, Featured, Patient Stories
Emergency Department technician Suzi Steele, left, stopped to greet Moby and his handler, Jaclyn Damiano, in the lobby of the Icahn Medical Institute on East 98th Street.
The Mount Sinai Hospital recently welcomed Moby as its newest four-legged employee in the Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Department. The young, sweet-natured golden doodle now serves as the hospital’s third facility dog—along with Professor Bunsen Honeydew and Amos—offering attention and affection to faculty, staff, and patients.
“Animals create a therapeutic environment for patients, parents, and staff ,” says Diane Rode, MPS, Director of the Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Department. When one of the facility dogs is at a child’s bedside, she says, doctors and nurses often take a moment to sit down, too, and the atmosphere surrounding the patient becomes calmer and more harmonized.
Like Professor and Amos, Moby visits patients and their families. But his main emphasis is supporting faculty and staff, and helping clinical units de-stress during the course of a normally hectic week or during times of sadness. Ms. Rode says she has seen the dogs have a profound effect on grieving staff members.
To some degree, Moby’s schedule for the first year will be open-ended. But, accompanied by his handler, Jaclyn Damiano, MPS, a licensed Creative Arts Therapist, he does have structured time with certain units at The Mount Sinai Hospital and during visits to Mount Sinai Queens.
Ms. Rode credits the Mount Sinai Health System’s leadership for recognizing the value of facility dogs and says she is grateful for the support of David L. Reich, MD, President of The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai Queens, and Jonathan Kyriacou, MPH, Vice President, Hospital Operations, who helped bring Moby to Mount Sinai.
Updated on Nov 14, 2025 | Community, Engagement
Staff of the Central Billing Office at Mount Sinai’s Corporate Services Center.
The Central Billing Office staff at Mount Sinai’s Corporate Services Center wore blue in recognition of World Autism Awareness Day on Tuesday, April 2. “Autism affects so many people, and it’s important that we recognize those who have been diagnosed or know someone who has,” says an organizer, Shawn Lee. “We support autism awareness to recognize that for those with disabilities, equity is still a challenge in our society and needs to be addressed.”
Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Community, Featured
Mount Sinai Health System leaders, from left: Kumar Chatani, Executive Vice President, Chief Information Officer, and Dean for Information Technology; Stephen Harvey, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Jane Maksoud, RN, MPA, Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Labor Relations; Karen Badenhorst, Vice President, Enterprise Business Systems, Information Technology; Donald Scanlon, Chief Financial Officer and Chief of Corporate Services; and Phillip Mears, JD, MHA, Senior Vice President, Supply Chain Management.
The Mount Sinai Health System is undertaking a massive business-operations project that will affect 39,000 staff and consultants in the system. The Enterprise Business Process Transformation (eBPT) Program will integrate the computer systems now used for human resources, financial operations, payroll, budgeting, and purchasing into a single, cloud-based system using Oracle software. It will roll out gradually, with the first functions going live by January 2020.
“This is a transformative opportunity,” says Karen Badenhorst, Vice President, Enterprise Business Systems, Information Technology, Mount Sinai Health System. “Standardizing our disparate systems and processes will harmonize how we work, increase our productivity, and strengthen the foundation of our business operations.” Staff will be able to view and update their personal information and data about their skills and qualifications. It will be easy to review paystubs, benefits, available PTO days, and performance appraisals, as well as apply for new positions and add certifications and other educational information.
The effort will encompass the Health System’s hospitals and ambulatory offices, Corporate Services, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. This new approach will offer staff quicker access to data and easier ways to update it. There will be only one set of processes and procedures, which will eliminate the need for cross training on multiple software systems. Once it is implemented, all Mount Sinai staff members will be able to access information relevant to their positions anytime and anywhere, using desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones.
“Many of the modules are intuitive,” says Jane Maksoud, RN, MPA, Chief Human Resources Officer and Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Labor Relations. Mount Sinai will provide online tools and reference guides, and additional training resources for areas that are more complex. The program will be integrated in stages, which will be complete by the end of 2020. To start the process, payroll will go live by January 2020 for The Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Queens, the Icahn School of Medicine, and Corporate Services, followed in later months by payroll for Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai Brooklyn, Mount Sinai St. Luke’s, Mount Sinai West, and the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary ofMount Sinai. The timeline for integrating South Nassau Communities Hospital will be determined at a later time.
The new eBPT Program will tie together human resources, finance, and supply-chain computer systems. Its increased and more unified automation will make it faster and easier for managers and supervisors to process transactions, requests, and approvals, and to review employees’ attendance, continuing education, and professional accomplishments. With a few clicks, all staff can create and read real-time data and reports with greater efficiency and control. Within the School of Medicine, it will be easier to manage research grants and expedite workflow. In addition, basing the system in the cloud will make it easier to continually update and improve. All of this should lead to increased efficiency and cost savings, Ms. Badenhorst says.
Working committees, small group meetings and town halls across the Health System will be used to communicate the project’s progress and to gain valuable input from everyone who will be using the new systems, says Stephen Harvey, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “The large-scale transformation of our business operations will require some changes in the way we manage our work and control operations,” Mr. Harvey says. “Given the size and complexity of this project, we will need everyone’s help to ensure success.”
Updated on Nov 12, 2025 | Community
At the fourth annual Women of Color in Medicine and Science dinner, more than 100 students, physicians, researchers, and administrators from across the Mount Sinai Health System shared a meal and built connections. The event, sponsored by Students for Equal Opportunity in Medicine, Students for Equal Opportunity in Science, and Patricia S. Levinson Center for Multicultural and Community Affairs, was held in March at Red Rooster Harlem. “At this gathering, new collaborations have begun and new mentoring connections have been formed that have changed people’s lives,” said Ann-Gel Palermo, DrPH, MPH.
From left: Gylynthia Trotman, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science; Monica Dweck, MD, Mount Sinai Doctors Brooklyn Heights; Tracy Layne, PhD, Assistant Professor, Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science; and Kelly Ware, Data Manager, Finance Department.
Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Community
Ketan K. Badani, MD, left, urged on competitors during the free throw challenge.
More than 200 individuals participated in the Annual Kidney Cancer and Kidney Health Fair, a March Madness-themed event organized by Ash Tewari, MBBS, MCh, the Kyung Hyun Kim, MD Chair in Urology, and Ketan K. Badani, MD, Professor of Urology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Director of the Comprehensive Kidney Cancer Program at the Mount Sinai Health System.
The event, held Wednesday, March 27, in Guggenheim Pavilion, featured faculty and staff competing in a bracket-style free throw challenge to help raise awareness about kidney health and kidney cancer. Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and President for Academic Affairs, Mount Sinai Health System, kicked off the day’s activities. A team from the Department of Psychiatry won the free throw competition.
Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Community
Peter Pastuszko, MD, Chief of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery and the Director of Pediatric Cardiovascular Services, center, with, from left: Lucia Sembrano, RN; Biji Varrughese, RN; Emily Petrillo, RN; Juliana Guiney, RN, BSN; Felicia May-Parodneck, RN; Michael Mitchell, RN; George Ofori-Amanfo, MD, Division Chief, Pediatric Critical Care Medicine; David L. Reich, MD, President and Chief Operating Officer, The Mount Sinai Hospital; Scott Aydin, MD, Director, Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit; and Howard Seiden, MD, Director, Pediatric Cardiac Inpatient Services.
A ribbon-cutting for the newly renovated pediatric cardiac intensive care unit (PCICU) at Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital celebrated not only a bright and comforting environment for patients and their families, but a new approach in care. Unlike most hospitals that have separate cardiac care units depending upon the patient’s age or specific type of care (surgical, nonsurgical, recovery, for example), the PCICU will serve as the one place for all pediatric heart patients requiring critical care.
The goal of this effort is to create a continuum of care over time, whereby patients and families interact with a dedicated team of pediatric cardiac intensivists, surgeons, nurses, social workers, and other staff trained to treat or care for a wide range of cardiac conditions.
The PCICU is part of the Children’s Heart Center, an alliance between Mount Sinai and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
