From left: Tiffany Oloke, Sourcing Lead II–Value Analysis; Patrice Gordon-Poyser, Supplier Diversity Manager; Carlos Maceda, Chief Supply Chain Officer; and Lynn Oxner, Director, Supply Chain, at the Million Dollar Circle Recognition event on February 9

Mount Sinai recently held its inaugural Million Dollar Circle Recognition event—celebrating 28 underrepresented vendors that each provided more than $1 million in products and services to the Health System in 2022 and 2023. More than $70 million was spent with the Million Dollar Circle vendors in each of those years.

“Supplier diversity is embedded in the culture, even the DNA of Mount Sinai,” Edward Robinson, Senior Vice President and Chief Resource Officer, Mount Sinai Health System, said at the event, which was held on February 9 at Mount Sinai’s Corporate Services Center. “This is our mission, to advance health equity and socioeconomics in the communities we serve.”

The event, attended by vendors and Mount Sinai staff and leadership, was moderated by Patrice Gordon-Poyser, Supplier Diversity Manager, Mount Sinai Health System. Leaders from three of the vendor honorees participated in the Million Dollar Journey panel. They discussed the services they provided to Mount Sinai, the effect of their long-standing business relationship on the growth of their companies, and ways in which they have been giving back to communities through charitable initiatives.

One of these vendors, a technology procurement fulfillment company that is Asian-American owned, was tasked with procuring iPads for patients, which allowed them to communicate with their loved ones while they were isolated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Getting there, not just from the technological perspective, but from one of procurement, putting it together, and delivering it, was one of the areas that I feel really stood out during our relationship with Mount Sinai,” said the vendor’s chief technology officer.

Another vendor on the panel, a veteran-owned staffing business, provided 50 crisis nurses for the Health System during the pandemic. “We all came together, Mount Sinai, our company, everybody here,” said the company’s chief executive officer. “It was an amazing New York moment, and something we are very proud of.”

The third vendor, a woman-owned office supply business, worked with Mount Sinai’s architectural design team to redesign Health System spaces that support employee well-being, including ergonomic chairs for nursing staff. As a health care provider, Mount Sinai posed unique challenges that helped the business evolve.

“Our client is not just Mount Sinai, our client is also the patient,” said the company’s director of marketing and workplaces strategy during the panel. “It really prompted us to develop a whole new health care department. Our staff all have more training and understanding in health care specifically.”

Carlos Maceda, Chief Supply Chain Officer, Mount Sinai Health System, commended the vendors for reaching the $1 million milestone. “I ask you to never forget where you came from, and to never forget your roots to be able to always help someone,” said Mr. Maceda.

Pamela Abner, Senior Vice President, Health Equity Officer, and Chief Diversity Operations Officer, Mount Sinai Health System, said that community vendors provide solutions through innovation and creativity in ways that would have been challenging for larger companies. She also noted how Mount Sinai’s relationship with local vendors helps New York City.

“By building community wealth, we build community health,” she explained.

To learn more about Mount Sinai’s commitment to supplier diversity, please visit Supplier Diversity or email supplierdiversity@mountsinai.org.

A new opera, Lili Elbe, tells the story of one of the earliest recipients of gender-affirming surgery in 1930. The opera is a collaboration of Grammy Award-winning composer Tobias Picker and Aryeh Lev Stollman, MD, a neuroradiologist at Mount Sinai, who wrote the story and lyrics. Photos: Edyta Dufaj

“It’s a love story,” says Aryeh Lev Stollman, MD, a neuroradiologist at Mount Sinai, and the librettist for a new opera, Lili Elbe, which tells the story of one of the earliest recipients of gender-affirming surgery, in 1930. The opera, commissioned by the Theater St. Gallen of Switzerland, was named “Best World Premiere of 2023” at the OPER! AWARDS ceremony on January 29 at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam.

Lili Elbe focuses on a successful Danish painter who was married to another painter, Gerda Wegener. Though their marriage was eventually annulled by the King of Denmark and Lili’s name and sex were legally changed, they remained in love with each other. Lili’s case drew international attention, and a semi-autographical account of her story was captured in a book, Man Into Woman: An Authentic Record of a Change of Sex. Another book, The Danish Girl, was loosely based on her story and has become an important text in LGBQT+ literature and the basis for a film.

“We based our story on historical sources,” emphasizes Dr. Stollman. “The Danish Girl was highly fictionalized. But Lili Elbe was quite famous in her day, so we relied on her own writings and news accounts from the time.”

The opera Lili Elbe, in addition to being acclaimed for its artistry, is a significant milestone. It stars Lucia Lucas, a baritone, in the first grand opera for and about a person with trans experience. The Grammy Award-winning composer Tobias Picker, who is married to Dr. Stollman, befriended Lucia when he cast her in Don Giovanni in a Tulsa Opera production—the first time a transgender singer had played the leading role in an American opera. Mr. Picker, Dr. Stollman, and Lucia wanted to collaborate on an original project, and the story of Lili Elbe was chosen.

Tobias Picker, left, and Aryeh Lev Stollman, MD, taking a bow after a performance of the new opera at the Theater Saint Gallen in Switzerland. “This resonates with our work as physicians, health care workers, and support staff, because behind our work is love for humanity,” says Dr. Stollman. “We serve people, no matter their physical appearance, their background, or gender identity. And we do it through all types of difficult times and situations.”

“Tobias asked me to write the libretto—or the story and lyrics,” Dr. Stollman says. “But I worked very closely with Lucia as the dramaturg, to gain the insight of her experience and authenticity.” This is the second time Mr. Picker and Dr. Stollman have collaborated. The first was the inspiring opera Awakenings, based on the story of Oliver Sacks, MD, and his efforts to treat patients with sleeping sickness. That opera opened in June 2022 at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

“Like Awakenings, we wanted Lili Elbe to have a mythic undercurrent,” Dr. Stollman says. “In Awakenings, we used the story of Sleeping Beauty. In Lili Elbe, the myth of Orpheus leading his lover, Eurydice, out of the underworld is a motif that reoccurs. I believe that myths have a strong emotional truth. In the myth, Orpheus is saying, ‘Don’t look back, you cannot return to your old life, but you are coming into a new life.’ And our characters are always moving to the future, to a new life, a new realization. And that’s the mythological underpinning.”

Lili Elbe discovers her true nature as a woman when her wife, Gerda, asks her to stand in for a female model who was delayed for a painting session. Gerda is entranced with the beauty of her husband, then called Einar Wegener, and it is she who bestows the name Lili. And as Lili embraces her identity, she says, “When you paint me now, I feel I have always been her.” Lili becomes a muse to Gerda, whose paintings of Lili win acclaim. But Gerda wrestles with how much space to allow Lili in their marriage. At first, she insists that Lili transition back to Einar in the evening. But as Lili makes her true identity known among their circle of friends, Lili wants to experience all the feelings of womanhood, including marriage and motherhood. And even though their marriage is annulled and they become involved with other lovers, their love for each other endures.

Lili becomes engaged to Claude LeJeune, a young man whose passion is creating perfumes from flowers through a delicate process called enfleurage. The symbolism of the flowers living on becomes a motif as Lili dies as a result of complications of one of her surgeries. And the life and story of Lili Elbe still resonate today.

“The opera is more than about love with a transgender person,” Dr. Stollman says. “It’s about love and transcending difficulties. It’s about a tragic heroine’s journey that starts with self-knowledge. And it’s about loss, because Gerda loses Lili. But also because Lili dies in the end, as many tragic heroines do.”

The staging and choreography of the opera are innovative, witty, and symbolic. As Gerda exhibits her paintings of Lili, they are symbolized by actors suspended above the stage, swirling in evocative poses. The prominent German newspaper Die Welt gave it an enthusiastic review, calling it “emotionally gripping, a delicate work of musical theater that unfolds as an Art Nouveau arc, amidst a bright, symbolist stage.” A leading Austrian paper, the Voralberger Zeitung, called it “an emotionally charged masterpiece.”

Dr. Stollman related the theme of love transcending all to the mission of Mount Sinai, which was founded to care for underserved people and is home to the Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery, a world leader in gender-affirming care. “This resonates with our work as physicians, health care workers, and support staff, because behind our work is love for humanity. We serve people, no matter their physical appearance, their background, or gender identity. And we do it through all types of difficult times and situations.”

Rowaida Farraj, PharmD, left, and Rabbi Jo Hirschmann, BCC, FACHE

The Mount Sinai Interfaith and the Islamic Community at Mount Sinai employee resource groups gathered to hold space for collective grief and to express their shared humanity, love, respect, and understanding on Wednesday, January 10.

About 90 Mount Sinai employees, students, and trainees joined the virtual vigil held via a Zoom call.

The event, titled “Our Shared Humanity: A Silent Vigil for Mourning,” was led by Rabbi Jo Hirschmann, BCC, FACHE, Senior Director of Education, Center for Spirituality and Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Rowaida Farraj, PharmD, Executive Director of Pharmacy, Mount Sinai Downtown.

“We spend so much of our lives talking. We wanted to create a quiet space where we could connect with ourselves and each other,” said Rabbi Hirschmann. “Together, we made space for our grief and for the hope and comfort that can come from simply being together. It was very meaningful to do this as Mount Sinai colleagues.”

Dr. Rowaida shared similar sentiments.

“It is clear many people are hurting during this difficult time,” she said. “We all needed a safe space to be together to feel that pain but also feel the presence of our community at Mount Sinai Health System which acknowledges that pain, respects all people, and hopes for a better future. We are so grateful we were able to create this space for everyone.”