Jun 5, 2017 | Community, Featured
Graduates in the Master of Public Health program, from left: Ceciley Bly, who was the student speaker, Alycia Gardner, and Heather Omdal.
The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai conferred 207 master’s degrees at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center on Friday, May 12, during a ceremony that marked significant growth in its master’s degree programs.
“This is a special ceremony,” noted 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, who presided over the commencement before a jubilant audience of graduates, their families and friends, and Mount Sinai faculty and staff. “It is only the second time that we have had a commencement just for Master’s graduates. This signals that the master’s programs at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai are very important—and much larger.” The Graduate School granted 54 more master’s degrees this year compared to last year’s 153 master’s degrees.
In total, the Graduate School conferred 121 degrees in Public Health, one of its oldest master’s degree programs, and 22 in Health Care Delivery Leadership, one of its newest master’s programs, as well as 35 in Biomedical Sciences, 17 in Clinical Research, 9 in Genetic Counseling, and 3 in Biostatistics.
Marta Filizola, PhD, Dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and Professor of Pharmacological Sciences, addressed the graduates. “Our Class of 2017 comes from all over the world and represents different cultures and backgrounds,” she said. “But your common strength—and what unites you—is your desire to learn, to embrace new challenges, to experiment, to discover, and to collaborate with others to envision and create a better world.”
Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD, Dean for Academic and Scientific Affairs, Nash Family Professor of Neuroscience, and Director of The Friedman Brain Institute, greeted the graduates and spoke about the need for continued diversity in the research community. “Empirical evidence has shown that a diverse group of people, with different backgrounds, perspectives, and viewpoints, can tackle highly complex problems with far greater innovation and creativity,” he said, “but despite progress, we still have a lot of work to do to create a society and culture that values what we have in common, as well as what makes us all different. Mount Sinai is at the vanguard of capturing this strength through diversity and demonstrating to others how we can do better.”
Helene D. Gayle, MD, MPH, Chief Executive Officer of the nonprofit organization McKinsey Social Initiative, who has addressed social inequity and health-related challenges on an international scale, was the commencement speaker. She told the graduates that in the midst of a deeply divided political landscape, economic inequality, and racial tensions across the United States, “You have taken an affirmative step toward action by choosing a career in health” and would be able to make a difference in the lives of people everywhere—an effort, however, that would take more than science, technology, and know-how to achieve. “If we want equality in health care, we are going to have to stand up for it, and we’re going to have to keep standing up for it,” she exhorted. “It is time that we affirm that access to health services is a right. It is as basic as education, clean water, and clean air.”
Dr. Gayle concluded: “If you can maintain the will to pursue that highest ambition, I believe we can all meet the greatest challenges of our time and leave a legacy of healthy populations and health equity for generations to come. So, let’s go do it!”
May 29, 2017 | Community, Featured
From left: Dennis S. Charney, MD; Mark Kostegan, Chief Development Officer; Peter W. May, Chairman, Boards of Trustees; and Kenneth L. Davis, MD.
The Mount Sinai Health System has launched a new capital campaign that is expected to raise $1.5 billion over the next seven years and serve as the organization’s roadmap for the future in medical research, patient care, and education.
As fundraising begins in earnest in 2018, Mount Sinai will steer a course that calls for significant investments in precision medicine, next generation health care, and emerging areas in cancer, immunology, neuroscience, heart disease, pediatrics, and other specialties.
This is the first capital campaign since the formation of the Mount Sinai Health System in 2013, when The Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Queens, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai combined with the former Continuum Health Partners and its five hospitals to become one of the largest health systems in the New York region.
“We anticipate that our new capital campaign will be transformational, a game changer that is as successful as the campaign we undertook 10 years ago for The Mount Sinai Hospital and the Icahn School of Medicine,” says Kenneth L. Davis, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Mount Sinai Health System. The earlier campaign raised $1.6 billion and led to the creation of 19 research institutes, the recruitment of 150 academic faculty, and the establishment of the 500,000 square-foot Leon and Norma Hess Center for Science and Medicine.
Backed by robust investment, Mount Sinai advanced its research portfolio and experienced significant growth in funding for genetics, microbiology, pharmacology, and neurosciences from the National Institutes of Health. In addition, The Tisch Cancer Institute expanded its programs and received the elite classification as a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center, one of 69 such centers in the country.
Mount Sinai also broadened its culture of innovation and entrepreneurship by entering into educational and industry partnerships and investing in high-performance computing, genomics, and multiscale biology.
The new strategic plan was the result of a yearlong study led by 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; and Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD, Dean for Academic and Scientific Affairs, Director of The Friedman Brain Institute, and Nash Family Professor of Neuroscience.
“We enlisted 200 faculty members and more than 150 external experts—some of the best minds in science and medicine—to participate in a dynamic exchange of knowledge and ideas that would help us chart our future in education, biomedical science, and clinical research with the ultimate goal to improve human health,” says Dr. Charney. “Our campaign is based on their bold recommendations.”
To fully capture the clinical and capital needs of Mount Sinai’s seven hospitals, each hospital president worked closely with Margaret Pastuszko, MBA, Chief Strategy and Integration Officer, and her team to establish priorities and develop a strategic plan to support the unique strengths of each hospital.
The new capital campaign will help fund strategic investment in infrastructure, equipment, training, and other services. Mount Sinai’s patients will receive advanced clinical care in every hospital throughout the Health System. This coordinated approach, in combination with world-renowned research, will enable Mount Sinai to achieve its objective—improving human health.
Plans call for Mount Sinai to expand the scope of its advanced research and clinical care in diabetes and obesity, and kidney, lung, and gastrointestinal disease. In addition, Mount Sinai will leverage its large and diverse patient population to excel in areas that include drug addiction, and environmental, adolescent, and women’s health. It will establish five institutes devoted to this research and to creating transformative clinical trials.
“The connectivity between our education, research, and clinical care reflects a collaborative and unified Health System,” says Mark Kostegan, Chief Development Officer and Senior Vice President for Development, Mount Sinai Health System, who is leading the current campaign and led the earlier one. “Our new effort will strengthen Mount Sinai in its entirety, advancing all of our hospitals and our school.”
May 15, 2017 | Community
Holding the banner, from left: Josefa M. Sullivan, PhD candidate, Neuroscience; Tamjeed Sikder, Senior Associate Researcher, Neuroscience; and Victor H. Leyva-Grado, PhD, Instructor, Microbiology.
“Scientists have to speak out and protect our earth, our patients, and our work,” Scott L. Friedman, MD, Dean for Therapeutic Discovery and Chief of the Division of Liver Diseases, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, said while participating in the recent March for Science in New York City. “We all have a stake in this.” The nonpartisan celebration of science and scientific research, held on Earth Day, had its central event in Washington, D.C., which was attended by nearly 30 Mount Sinai participants.
Above, from left: Marta Filizola, PhD, Dean, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences; Miriam Merad, MD, PhD, Director, Immunology Institute; Margaret H. Baron, MD, PhD, Senior Associate Dean for Education, and Director, MD-PhD Program; Barbara Murphy, MD, Chair, Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai Health System, and Dean for Clinical Integration and Population Health; and Benjamin K. Chen, MD, PhD, the Irene and Dr. Arthur M. Fishberg Professor of Medicine.
A total of 400 Mount Sinai faculty and staff joined the more than 50,000 people who marched in New York City. Among them was Jill Dvornik, Senior Associate Researcher, Pharmacological Sciences, and co-chair of the March for Science NYC, who said the event also aimed to create an educational scientific dialogue with the community. “Most of our speakers were ordinary citizens who have done extraordinary things in science. You do not have to wear a lab coat to be involved and engaged. That is the best way to protect publicly funded science.”
May 15, 2017 | Community
For the fourth year, Mount Sinai Heart staff and their families joined in a festive 5k run around the reservoir in Central Park. The event, on Saturday, April 22, was organized by Annapoorna S. Kini, MD, Zena and Michael A. Wiener Professor of Medicine (Cardiology), Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Director, Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at The Mount Sinai Hospital. “We are all busy, but even 20 minutes of cardio a day is helpful,” says Dr. Kini. “Incorporate movement by taking the stairs or walking more.” Dr. Kini also encourages staff throughout the Health System to participate in International Yoga Day on Wednesday, June 21.
May 15, 2017 | Community
Belita Jones created this painting depicting the emotional toll of brain injuries with a fellow patient Rendy Kowal.
In honor of Brain Injury Awareness Month in March, the Recreation Therapy Service team with the Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Center held its second annual “Shedding Light on a Hidden Injury” art exhibition. At the event, the Guggenheim Pavilion displayed art created by stroke and traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients.
Among the works were masks depicting the emotional toll of TBI and collaborative paintings like the one that Belita Jones, at right, made with a fellow patient, Rendy Kowal, and a professional artist. The Center also collaborated with a virtual reality company, Jump Into the Light, on an activity that allowed participants to use the Google Tilt Brush to draw colorful 3-D shapes in a virtual landscape.
May 15, 2017 | Community, Featured
Mount Sinai leaders saluted volunteers at The Mount Sinai Hospital and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai during a breakfast held Wednesday, April 26, during National Volunteer Recognition Week. More than 160 volunteers attended the celebration. Also making an appearance was a special breed of Mount Sinai volunteers—the gentle dogs, big and small, who bring comfort and smiles to patients and staff through the Pet-Assisted Therapy program.
“The Mount Sinai Hospital was founded by a group of volunteers, and today more than 1,200 volunteers continue this rich legacy of service,” Peter W. May, Chairman, Boards of Trustees, Mount Sinai Health System, told the guests. “Our patients are so grateful, and it’s always a pleasure to honor all that you do.”
Volunteers are visible in more than 200 areas, where their efforts benefit patients, research, administrative offices, and community outreach.
Linda Frank and Tazzy have volunteered in the Pet-Assisted Therapy program for eight years.
Kenneth L. Davis, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mount Sinai Health System, thanked all volunteers, but also singled out their efforts with PACT, the Preventable Admissions Care Team, which was created to reduce 30-day hospital readmissions and Emergency Department visits—a program now considered a national model. “Volunteers became the backbone of this program to keep people well and out of the hospital, and their contributions make a difference between Mount Sinai being a good Health System, and a great Health System,” said Dr. Davis.
One table of guests—including first-year medical students—were among the volunteers applauded by 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. “At the beginning of 2017, more than 200 volunteers, including high school, college, and post-baccalaureate students interested in health care careers were assisting in basic science laboratories, and 150 volunteers were helping with clinical research projects,” he said. “The volunteers become part of our family.” Dr. Charney also noted that Mount Sinai students have a supportive role in Chemo Companions, a program that pairs them with patients undergoing chemotherapy at The Tisch Cancer Institute.
“Our unique programs provide insight into a wide range of areas and lead many of our volunteers into social work, nursing, and other patient-centered health careers,” said Claudia Colgan, Vice President, Hospital Operations, The Mount Sinai Hospital. David L. Reich, MD, President and Chief Operating Officer, The Mount Sinai Hospital, talked about the innovative ideas that volunteers introduce to Mount Sinai and also noted the compassion that they bring. “The human kindness that our volunteers show to patients is invaluable,” said Dr. Reich, “and every day, this contributes to patient healing.”
