Community | Mount Sinai Today

Mount Sinai Innovation Showcase Nurtures Health Care Solutions

Mar 13, 2019 | Community, Featured, Hackathon

A panel of experts in life sciences and business evaluated presentations and offered feedback. From left: Sean Ianchulev, MD, MPH, Nishta Rao, Brent Stackhouse, Sara Barrington, and John Hammitt.

Teams of young innovators recently presented ideas on how to benefit patients to a panel of experts at the Mount Sinai Innovation Showcase. The event, hosted by Mount Sinai Innovation Partners (MSIP) with support from the SinaInnovations Committee and the Institutes for Translational Sciences (ConduITS), was held on Thursday, February 14, in Davis Auditorium.

The innovators, who came from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, SUNY Stony Brook, Cooper Union, and other New York institutions, included the three finalist teams and one wild-card entry from Mount Sinai’s Health Hackathon in October 2018. After sketching out solutions to address rare diseases at the Hackathon, the teams received coaching from MSIP and the eLabNYC mentoring program and learned how to merge product development with business strategy and improve their product based on consumer needs.

A diet-tracking app called Demeter was pitched by young innovators. From left: Alyssa Mango, Ryan Neff, and Leah Osnos.

Their projects included: Eye Can Do, a smartphone-based eye tracking technology for immobile patients; Walk Thru, a portable accessory for patients using a walker to facilitate getting through doors; Demeter, a smartphone application that provides diet tracking, management, and symptom assessment for patients of metabolic disorders; and Dormi, a tracking device to assess and monitor sleep patterns.

A panel of experts in life sciences and business fields offered feedback, including: Jim Heitner, Associate Director of the Mount Sinai i3 Accelerator; Nishta Rao, Director of Princeton Innovation Center BioLabs; John Hammitt, Executive Director of HITLAB Healthcare Innovation Lab; Sara Barrington, Chief Executive Officer of Cynvenio Biosystems Inc.; Sean Ianchulev, MD, MPH, Director of the Ophthalmic Innovation and Technology Program at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai; and Brent Stackhouse, Vice President of Mount Sinai Ambulatory Ventures.

The teams are now pursuing next steps by improving prototypes, initiating clinical studies, and continuing to work with MSIP. The showcase event reinforced Mount Sinai’s mission to provide exceptional patient care and clinical leadership by cultivating innovation through research. Mount Sinai engages MSIP to translate discoveries into products or services that benefit patients.

Front row, from left: Sean Ianchulev, MD, MPH, Director of the Ophthalmic Innovation and Technology Program at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai; Sara Barrington, Chief Executive Officer of Cynvenio Biosystems Inc.; and John Hammitt, Executive Director of HITLAB Healthcare Innovation Lab. Back row, from left: Jim Heitner, Associate Director of the Mount Sinai i3 Accelerator; Nishta Rao, Director of Princeton Innovation Center BioLabs; Cynthia Cleto, Associate Director, Marketing and Outreach at MSIP; and Brent Stackhouse, Vice President of Mount Sinai Ambulatory Ventures.

Opening of the New Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Mount Sinai West

Mar 5, 2019 | Community

From left: Margaret Grogan, MPA, BSN, RN, Director, Maternal Child Health Nursing, Mount Sinai West; Evan Flatow, MD, President, Mount Sinai West; Lisa M. Satlin, MD, Chair, Jack and Lucy Clark Department of Pediatrics, Mount Sinai Health System; Lisa Eiland, MD; and Leonora Yaun, MA, RN, CLC, Nurse Manager, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

After a 14-month renovation project, Mount Sinai West celebrated the opening of its vastly expanded neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) with a ribbon-cutting on Wednesday, February 6. The NICU—which now occupies 14,000-square-feet of space, a 60 percent increase from its previous size—features 32 patient bays, offering families a bright, comforting environment to spend time with their newborns.

The NICU also has two isolation rooms and a “nesting room” with overnight accommodations for parents who wish to stay with their infants. “This expansion demonstrates our continued commitment to providing the best maternal child health patient experience for New Yorkers,”says Lisa Eiland, MD, Director of Newborn Medicine and Pediatrics at Mount Sinai West.

Pageantry for Charity At Drag Race Event

Updated on Nov 19, 2025 | Community, Engagement

More than 200 people enjoyed an evening of pageantry at The Mount Sinai Charity Drag Race, an event inspired by the reality television competition RuPaul’s Drag Race, in Goldwrum Auditorium on Thursday, January 31. Organized by two Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai groups that are dedicated to supporting LGBTQ+ participation in the sciences, oSTEM (Out in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) at Mount Sinai and the Stonewall Alliance, the event raised more than $2,700 for the Ali Forney Center—a Harlem-based nonprofit dedicated to protecting homeless LGBTQ youth.

Hosted by New York City-based celebrity drag star Lagoona Bloo, the event featured four Icahn School of Medicine students who entertained the crowd with rousing lip synchs, as well as a talent portion that included a martial arts demonstration using nunchuks, and a stand-up comedy routine. Contestants were judged by Mount Sinai’s Ann-Gel Palermo, DrPH, MPH, Associate Dean for Diversity in Biomedicine, and Jerry Chipuk PhD, Associate Professor, Oncological Sciences and Dermatology, along with Tyler Neasloney, Special Events and Communications Manager at the Ali Forney Center.

“The idea started as a joke, an over the top event idea that we definitely did not have the means to pull off,” says organizer Christopher Panebianco, PhD candidate in Biomedical Sciences, at the Icahn School of Medicine. “Over the course of several months, this pipe dream snowballed into something fantastic, drawing diverse members of the broader Mount Sinai community together for a worthy cause.”

Lagoona Bloo, back row center, surrounded by contestants and organizers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in alphabetical order: Eziwoma Alibo, Benjamin Ben-Zvi, Phil Cohen, Tristan Fehr, Akio Kozato, Tyler Martinson, Don Nguyen, Christopher Panebianco, M.Q. Perkins, and Zebulon Vance.

Celebrating Lunar New Year

Mar 5, 2019 | Community

Staff at Mount Sinai Downtown-Union Square, Mount Sinai St. Luke’s, and the Corporate Services Center rang in the Lunar New Year at events held in February. Based on the Chinese lunar calendar, the holiday began on Tuesday, February 5, and ended on Tuesday, February 19. Participants took pictures with red lanterns, received candy and fortune cookies, and enjoyed music. Additionally, at the Corporate Services Center, members of the Amazing Grace Dance Group performed traditional Chinese dances. The festivities were organized by Mount Sinai’s Asian Employee Resource Group and The Louis Armstrong Department of Music Therapy.

Going Red For Women’s Health

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Cardiology, Community

Heart health fairs were held throughout the Mount Sinai Health System in honor of Go Red for Women Day® on Friday, February 1.

The fairs, which attracted more than 1,000 participants, provided free screenings for blood pressure, total cholesterol, triglyceride levels, and body mass index.

The events recognized the American Heart Association’s Go Red campaign, which aims to raise awareness of heart disease, the No. 1 killer of women worldwide.

“A shared commitment to the cardiovascular health and well-being of our community makes this a success every year,” says Beth Oliver, DNP, RN, Senior Vice President, Cardiac Services, Mount Sinai Health System.

Mary Ann McLaughlin, MD, MPH, Medical Director, Cardiac Health Program, Mount Sinai Health System, left; and Beth Oliver, DNP, RN.

Mount Sinai Downtown-Union Square

The Mount Sinai Hospital

Mount Sinai Queens

Hackathon Encourages Innovation

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Community, Rehab Medicine

Carrie Fuller, PT, left, of Mount Sinai West, won second place with teammates from other institutions, from left, Hanhao Zhang; Andrew Abdou, DO; Jacob Nye; and Bina Bansinath.

More than 200 people recently attended the inaugural NYC Grand Hack at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.The participants came from many institutions, in fields ranging from medicine to programming.

At the event, they tackled medical issues in three tracks: rehabilitation and human performance, public and mental health, and lung cancer.

The hackathon was organized by a team from the Icahn School of Medicine’s Department of Rehabilitation and Human Performance, along with MIT Hacking Medicine, a group of students and community members from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that aims to energize and accelerate medical innovation.

“It was incredible to watch this extremely diverse group of talented people create innovations,” says an organizer of the event, Salman Hirani, MD, PGY-4, Rehabilitation and Human Performance, Icahn School of Medicine.