Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Community
Dozens of pe
diatric heart patients were treated to an early Valentine’s Day party at The Mount Sinai Hospital on Wednesday, February 8. The children played games, crafted heart-shaped picture frames, and took photos at a selfie station. The event also reunited patients with the staff who cared for them both as inpatients and as outpatients, including Khanh H. Nguyen, MD, left, Associate Professor and Chief of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, shown with a young patient and her mother.
Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Community
Award winners, from left, Fernando Rivera, MSN, RN; Denise Knox; and Mark Collazo
Three Mount Sinai Health System employees recently received 2016 Wholeness of Life Awards from the HealthCare Chaplaincy Network™ for their commitment to providing compassionate and respectful care to patients in crisis. The employees, all nominated by their colleagues, received their awards in November at the HealthCare Chaplaincy Network’s annual gala at the Mandarin Oriental, New York. Fernando Rivera, MSN, RN, Clinical Nurse Manager, Medical Intensive Care Unit, The Mount Sinai Hospital, was honored for recognizing that patients may require not only critical medical care but also emotional and spiritual support. Mark Collazo, Technical Director, Respiratory Therapy, Mount Sinai St. Luke’s and Mount Sinai West, was recognized for his competence in managing his team and for his compassionate ear in responding to patients. Denise Knox, Food and Nutrition Services, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, was honored for delivering meals with kindness and empathy. The HealthCare Chaplaincy Network is a global, nonprofit organization that offers spiritual care-related information and resources to hospitals and health care institutions.
Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Community
Scott L. Friedman, MD
Scott L. Friedman, MD, Dean for Therapeutic Discovery and Chief of the Division of Liver Diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in November became the first individual to receive three honors at the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) Annual Meeting. Dr. Friedman received the Distinguished Achievement Award of AASLD and the Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award of the American Liver Foundation. He also delivered the Hans Popper Basic Science State-of-the-Art Lecture in Research. “It was a tremendous honor and an unforgettable day,” he says. Under Dr. Friedman’s leadership, Mount Sinai’s Division of Liver Diseases has grown into the largest liver medicine program in the United States, hosting the nation’s largest liver clinical fellowship training program and supporting groundbreaking basic and clinical studies in hepatic fibrosis and chronic liver disease. The Division, in partnership with The Tisch Cancer Institute and other key departments, also leads the only National Cancer Institute-designated liver cancer program in the country.
Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Community
Discussion participants, from left: Dan Diamond; the Honorable Louis W. Sullivan, MD; and Prabhjot Singh, MD, PhD
“Strong science crosses all borders, and our leaders need to understand that further investment in health offers great returns.” That message from the Honorable Louis W. Sullivan, MD, former Secretary of Health and Human Services under President George H. W. Bush and Founding Dean and President of the Morehouse School of Medicine, was enthusiastically received recently by a standing-room audience of more than 200 students, faculty, and visitors at Goldwurm Auditorium when Dr. Sullivan was invited to speak at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Sullivan was hosted by The Arnhold Institute for Global Health at the Icahn School of Medicine and participated in a discussion about the nation’s health policies with the Institute’s Director Prabhjot Singh, MD, PhD, that was moderated by Dan Diamond of the online news site POLITICO Pulse. The event took place shortly after the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Philip J. Landrigan, MD, MSc, Dean for Global Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, gave the introductory remarks.
Feb 6, 2017 | Community, Featured, Seaver Autism Center
As part of an outreach program created by the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment, children with autism have an opportunity to visit the American Museum of Natural History.
One Saturday morning each month, the American Museum of Natural History in New York City opens its doors an hour early to welcome a special group of visitors: children with autism and their families. What they experience is more than a simple stroll through the museum’s labyrinthine exhibition halls. Specialists at the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have taught museum tour guides and volunteers how to engage and interact with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The Seaver Autism Center has also developed social stories, visual cues, and prompt cards for these visits and has chosen to tour specific halls (Dinosaurs, North American Mammals, Planet Earth, and Ocean Life) based on their ability to meet the children’s sensory needs.
The three-year-old program has been “hugely successful,” says Michelle Gorenstein-Holtzman, PsyD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai Health System and Director of Community Outreach for the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment. Specialized tours of the museum are continually booked, and exhibits are being added to keep up with the program’s popularity.
“I think you’re going to see more and more museums adopt specialized programs such as this, due to the growing demand,” says Dr. Gorenstein-Holtzman. She is helping the Long Island Children’s Museum—where she is an advisory board member—develop such a program.
The museum connection is a natural fit for the Seaver Center, which uses community outreach to share its knowledge and resources with patients and families across the tri-state area. Supported by a grant from the UJA Federation of New York, Dr. Gorenstein-Holtzman develops evidence-based social skills programming for children, adolescents, and young adults with ASD. The children’s lessons focus on play and conversational skills, while the newly developed young adult curriculum focuses on employment-based social skills.
Citywide outreach also takes the form of a Community Lecture Series held at schools and local meeting halls and a Distinguished Lecturer Series that shares the latest autism research in areas such as epidemiology, genetics, and early detection that are relevant to caregivers and professionals. “What’s unique about the Seaver Center is that we don’t confine our research to the lab,” says Dr. Gorenstein-Holtzman. “We’re continually disseminating our findings to the community so that they have greater meaning.”
In addition, the Seaver Center is translating its materials into Spanish and offering its services to Spanish-speaking families. Pilar Trelles, MD, a child psychiatrist and Seaver Clinical Fellow, is the principal investigator on a research project that partners Latino families of children who are newly diagnosed with autism with “peer advocates” in their community. The peer advocates are actively engaged parents with special-needs children themselves, who have received training from the state. They help newcomers navigate the system, which can often seem complex and overwhelming.
“One of the things that’s important to us is reaching out to minority families who have little idea what we do or how to access the programs we provide,” says Dr. Trelles. “Peer advocates understand what these families are going through and can relate to them in ways that others can’t. They’re able to give them hope that things are going to get better and that their children are going to get the help they need.”
Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Community
From left: Eva Andersson-Dubin, MD; Shoshana and Kenny Dichter; Laurie Margolies, MD; and Elisa Port, MD
The Dubin Breast Center of The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Mount Sinai Health System recently celebrated its “five-year milestone” with a benefit at the Mandarin Oriental, New York. About 500 guests attended the event on Monday, December 5, raising more than $2.3 million to support the Center. The evening honored Shoshana and Kenny Dichter, whose private aviation company, WheelsUp, sponsors the #WheelsUpGoesPink campaign, seeking pledges and donating a portion of its membership initiation fees during October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In addition, the company flies the Pink Plane, a Beechcraft King Air 350i, as a year-round symbol of support and awareness for the cause. “We are so grateful to Kenny and Shoshana Dichter for their innovative thinking when it comes to fundraising and their advocacy for the Dubin Center,” says Mount Sinai Health System Trustee Eva Andersson-Dubin, MD, who presented the awards with Elisa Port, MD, FACS, the Center’s Director. “It’s been a match that fits perfectly with the innovation we do at the Dubin Breast Center.”
The event also honored Laurie Margolies, MD, Associate Professor of Radiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Director of Breast Imaging at the Dubin Breast Center. “Dr. Margolies has played a critical role in the development and success of the Dubin Breast Center,” Dr. Port says, “and it was so fitting that we honor her on the Center’s fifth anniversary.” Dr. Dubin, who founded the Center in 2011 with her husband, Mount Sinai Trustee and philanthropist Glenn Dubin, says, “I don’t think the Center would be even close to what it is if it were not for Laurie Margolies.” The Dubin Breast Center offers the latest, most innovative approaches available for breast health and the treatment of cancer under one roof.
The 15,000-square-foot facility is located on the campus of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and houses a range of services from cancer prevention to survivor support. The Center represents Mount Sinai’s vision for patient-centered breast cancer treatment and research—one that focuses on the emotional as well as the physical health and wellness of people who have, or may be at risk for, cancer.
