Mar 8, 2017 | Community, Patient Stories
The Actors Fund and Mount Sinai Doctors opened a new health center for the performing arts and entertainment community in New York City. Located at The Actors Fund’s headquarters, The Samuel J. Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts will serve as the medical care provider that is solely focused on the particular health care needs of the entertainment and performing arts community.
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Mar 6, 2017 | Community
Mary Patricia Fretz, RN, has shared her love for art—and for the stately giraffe—by donating ceramic-tile collages that now hang at Mount Sinai West and the Pediatric Emergency Department at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s.
Ms. Fretz, a postpartum nurse at Mount Sinai West, has long been fascinated by giraffes: “When I was 3, I wanted one; I remember planning where the hole would be in the ceiling for its head.” She has been creating pottery for more than 30 years, producing tiles, vases, and sculptures that led fellow potters to nickname her “the Giraffe Lady.” Usually she bases her work on photos taken at the Bronx Zoo, but in February, she traveled to Tanzania to see giraffes in their natural habitat for the first time. “It was beyond belief,” says Ms. Fretz, who is already planning new projects based on her new memories.
Updated on Nov 14, 2025 | Community
America Needs You fellows with Mount Sinai panelists, back row, from right: Jose Sepulveda, JD; Berthe Erisnor, MBA; and Lisa Eiland, MD.
A group of first-generation college students—with questions about health care careers and academic life—recently received advice from Mount Sinai officials who were also among the first in their families to attend college. The young people were fellows of America Needs You, a mentoring program.
In the Black History Month event, on Friday, February 10, at Mount Sinai West, the fellows met Lisa Eiland, MD, Assistant Professor, Pediatrics, and Director of Newborn Medicine at Mount Sinai West; Berthe Erisnor, MBA, Vice President, Ambulatory Care, Mount Sinai St. Luke’s; and Jose Sepulveda, JD, Manager, Compliance, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai. Dr. Eiland advised the students to build inner strength for the days “when people try to say, ‘you can’t,’ and categorize you.” She said it was equally important to cultivate a support system of friends and mentors: “Find people who will put themselves out there to help you succeed.”
Mar 6, 2017 | Community
From left: Barbara G. Vickrey, MD, MPH, with Pasik family members: granddaughter and first-year Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai student Sara Diana Pasik; daughters Deborah Pasik, MD, and Lilia Pasik Gendler, PhD; and daughter-in-law Agata Stancato Pasik, MD.
Suzanne N. Haber, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology, and Physiology, University of Rochester Medical Center, presented the inaugural Tauba Pasik, MD and Pedro Pasik, MD Lecture in Neurology at the Hess Center for Science and Medicine on Friday, February 17. The lecture, established by Dr. Pedro Pasik after the passing of his wife, Tauba, in 2015—and now named for both—recognizes notable women in neurology and neuroscience.
Dr. Pedro Pasik, who passed away in 2016, and Dr. Tauba Pasik were Mount Sinai luminaries in the fields of neurology, neuroscience, and academic medicine for more than six decades. Together, they helped create the Laboratory of Experimental Neurology at Mount Sinai, and translated and edited the three-volume annotated version of Texture of the Nervous System of Man and the Vertebrates by renowned neuroscientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal. Following the lecture, Department of Neurology faculty gathered with members of the Pasik family, where Barbara G. Vickrey, MD, MPH, the Henry P. and Georgette Goldschmidt Professor of Neurology and Chair of Neurology for the Mount Sinai Health System, presented the Pasik family with a plaque commemorating the annual event.
Mar 6, 2017 | Community, Featured
Angela Diaz, MD, PhD, MPH
Angela Diaz, MD, PhD, MPH, a leader in adolescent medicine, has been elected to the governing Council of the National Academy of Medicine. Membership in the Academy reflects major contributions to the medical sciences, health care, and public health. The group’s Council members, who serve three-year terms, are elected by their peers.
A member since 2008 of the Academy and its predecessor, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, Dr. Diaz is the Jean C. and James W. Crystal Professor in Adolescent Health; Professor of Pediatrics, and Environmental Medicine and Public Health, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; and Director of the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center. Under the leadership of Dr. Diaz, the Center has become one of the nation’s largest adolescent health centers, known for outstanding research and training, and for serving more than 10,000 vulnerable youths each year with care that is free of judgment, free of charge, and completely confidential.
Dr. Diaz is a national and international leader in her field, says a longtime mentor, Kurt Hirschhorn, MD, Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics, Genetics, and Medicine, and Chairman Emeritus of Pediatrics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “She was so impressive that I recruited her to our high school program for teenagers interested in careers in medicine and health science. When she finished medical school, I recruited her as a resident in Pediatrics and later as a fellow in adolescent medicine. The rest is history. She is a member of the highest organization in medicine, and is now becoming one of its leaders.”
Dr. Diaz, who will join about 20 Council members governing the National Academy of Medicine, says, “I’m honored to have been elected to serve on the Council of such an esteemed organization that is a trusted resource for the nation.”
Mar 6, 2017 | Community, Featured
Arthur Klein, President of the Mount Sinai Health Network
The Mount Sinai Health System and CityMD have launched a joint collaboration to enhance and expand urgent care services throughout New York City, a partnership that will combine Mount Sinai’s vast network of providers and CityMD’s urgent and clinical care management expertise to create a unique model of timely access to health care.
Significantly, the relationship allows CityMD patients access to Mount Sinai providers, when needed, for prompt follow-up care with a primary care physician or a specialist for further treatment or management of chronic conditions. Provider access includes all Health System hospitals, faculty at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and other Mount Sinai-associated physicians.
Says Arthur Klein, President of the Mount Sinai Health Network: “This collaboration will establish a more comprehensive model that meets the full spectrum of health care needs of patients throughout the city. We look forward to achieving significant milestones with CityMD.”
The partnership also provides an added benefit to Health System staff enrolled in a Mount Sinai health plan. As a member of the Health System network, CityMD is now a “top tier” provider in the employee health plan. Enrolled employees will have zero or lower copays, depending on their plan, as well as no deductibles, when receiving care from a CityMD practice. Founded in 2010, CityMD now has more than 50 practice locations in the tri-state area.
Under the collaboration, both parties will also share electronic medical records and establish quality metrics to further improve patient outcomes and reduce health care costs.
