A Significant Milestone in Women’s Care: Mount Sinai Cuts the Ribbon for New Rowan Center
Holding the ceremonial scissors are Mount Sinai CEO Brendan G. Carr, MD, MA, MS, and Mount Sinai Trustee Carolyn Rowan, whose philanthropic gift made the Center possible. They were joined by Center leaders, from left, Anna Barbieri, MD; Francesco Callipari, MD; Joanne Stone, MD, MS; and Denise Berdebes.
For too many women, health care has meant piecing it together alone: one specialist for hormones, another for heart health, a third for sleep, and no one connecting the dots. From pre-pregnancy planning and early reproductive health through postpartum recovery, midlife perimenopause and menopause, and the decades beyond, specialists in cardiovascular, bone, metabolic, mental, sexual, and pelvic health work together under one roof as a genuinely integrated team to provide coordinated care.
On Wednesday, May 27, Mount Sinai celebrated a different way forward, cutting the ribbon on the Carolyn Rowan Center for Women’s Health and Wellness, a new 11,000-square-foot multidisciplinary facility at 1427 Madison Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
The celebration brought together Mount Sinai leadership, staff, and community supporters to commemorate this meaningful achievement.
Joanne Stone, MD, MS, left, and Anna Barbieri, MD
Joanne Stone, MD, MS, Howard C. Katz Chair of the Raquel and Jaime Gilinski Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, welcomed attendees and shared why the day meant so much to her.
“For me, this mission is deeply personal because throughout my career as a physician and maternal-fetal medicine specialist, I’ve seen how disconnected women’s health care can be. Women are often expected to navigate complex health issues on their own—moving between specialists, retelling their stories, and struggling to find truly coordinated care. We wanted to create something different,” she said.
Speakers included Brendan Carr, MD, MA, MS, Chief Executive Officer, Mount Sinai Health System; Carolyn Rowan, Founding Donor; Anna Barbieri, MD, Clinical Strategy Leader for the Rowan Women’s Health Center; and Francesco Callipari, MD, the Center’s Medical Director. Each spoke to the same vision: care built around the woman, not the system. After the remarks and the ribbon cutting, guests toured the Center.
What This Means for You
At the Center, specialists practice as one coordinated team, guided by a single, complete picture of your health. This is care that sees the whole you.
The Center is now welcoming patients. To schedule an appointment, call 212-731-3609 or visit mountsinai.org/locations/rowan-womens-center.
HERstory: The Missing Chapter in Women’s Health
For generations, much of the foundational knowledge in modern medicine has been built on research conducted primarily on men. However, women’s bodies are profoundly different from men’s at the hormonal, cellular, and organ system levels. Because women have historically been underrepresented in clinical studies, major gaps remain in our understanding of how diseases develop, how symptoms appear, and how treatments affect female patients.
Heart disease is a powerful example of this disparity. Early research focused almost entirely on male patients, leading doctors to be trained to recognize the symptoms typically experienced by men during heart attacks. It took years for the medical community to fully understand that women often have very different warning signs.
In fact, women were largely excluded from early clinical trials in the United States until policy changes in the 1990s required their inclusion, according to Leslee J. Shaw, PhD, an internationally renowned researcher and Director of the Blavatnik Family Women’s Health Research Institute.
“These gaps in knowledge are still affecting care today. Even though women in the United States visit doctors more often than men and live longer, they experience higher rates of chronic illness and poorer overall health,” says Dr. Shaw, who is also Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science, and Medicine (Cardiology), and Vice Chair for Research in the Raquel and Jaime Gilinski Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
But a major shift is underway.
At the Carolyn Rowan Center for Women’s Health and Wellness, advancing women’s health is grounded in a deep commitment to evidence-based medicine and innovative scientific discovery by supporting groundbreaking research and helping close longstanding gaps in medical knowledge.
Writing a New Chapter
Researchers at the Blavatnik Family Women’s Health Research Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine, led by Dr. Shaw, are creating “HERstory”—an initiative to reframe history and build a deeper understanding of women’s health. They are studying the unique biological differences and life experiences that shape women’s bodies over time. This includes a dedicated focus on conditions that disproportionately affect women, such as autoimmune disorders, diabetes, heart disease, chronic pain, and depression. Importantly, it means ensuring women are included in all aspects of clinical research.
“Even though women in the United States visit doctors more often than men and live longer, they experience higher rates of chronic illness and poorer overall health,” says Leslee J. Shaw, PhD.
A New Way to Evaluate Women’s Health Risks
Doctors are rethinking how to evaluate health risks for female patients. This new approach combines evaluating traditional biomarkers—such as blood pressure and glucose control—with hormonal health transitions unique to women, including pregnancy, postpartum, and menopause.
By examining patterns across a woman’s reproductive and overall health history—what researchers call “HERstory”—they hope to uncover early warning signs of chronic diseases before symptoms become serious.
What Researchers Want to Understand
Mount Sinai researchers are closely tracking a range of female-specific symptoms, including:
- Menstrual and pelvic pain
- Menopausal hot flashes and night sweats
- Headaches and migraines
- Atypical chest pain
- Brain fog and cognitive changes
They will also track lifestyle factors such as sleep, exercise, and stress management. By connecting these pieces, the researchers hope to identify early signals of potential health risks and intervene sooner.
The Ultimate Goal
The ultimate goal is to help women remain healthy throughout every stage of life, according to Dr. Shaw.
“By connecting the dots across a woman’s lifespan at the Rowan Women’s Health Center, this research will improve how chronic diseases are prevented, diagnosed, and treated for generations to come,” she says.
What Are the Benefits of the New Cholesterol Medicine and Could It Help Me?
Some people find that statins don’t lower their cholesterol level enough. Many of these people with unusually high cholesterol need regular shots of an additional drug to help get their cholesterol to a safe level. A new drug, Lipfendra® (enlicitide), approved in July 2026 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, now may offer an easier way.
In this Q&A, Robert Rosenson, MD, a cardiologist and Director of the Metabolism and Lipids Program for the Mount Sinai Health System, explains how the new medicine works, what are some of the benefits, and who this drug might be useful for. Dr. Rosenson is a national leader in researching and treating high cholesterol. He and colleagues at the Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital played a key role in developing this medicine.
What should people know about Lipfendra?
This medicine helps people whose cholesterol is too high, even when they take statins. It’s especially good for people who have a genetic condition that causes high cholesterol. This condition is called hypercholesterolemia. The new drug’s brand name is Lipfendra, and it is also known by its generic name, enlicitide.
Robert Rosenson, MD
What’s different about this medication?
Other medications can also lower cholesterol for those who find statins are not enough. But these other medications require injections every week, month, or every six months. Some drugs require you to give yourself the shots. Enlicitide is different because it is a pill. You take it every morning, along with your statin. This makes it a good choice if you don’t want to get shots or if you have trouble getting to your doctor’s office regularly. Those who want to learn more, especially those already watching their cholesterol, should talk with their doctor about whether this new medicine might help them.
How does it work?
Enlicitide lowers cholesterol by targeting PCSK9, a protein that regulates cholesterol. The drug helps your liver remove more bad cholesterol (called LDL) from your blood. Studies show the new medicine cuts LDL cholesterol by 57 to 59 percent. Lower LDL cholesterol reduces your risk of heart attack, stroke, and other heart problems.
How do you take the new medicine?
Enlicitide works best if you don’t have any food in your stomach. You take the pill first thing in the morning, after not eating for eight hours. Then, don’t eat for the next 30 minutes to give the drug time to work.
Are there any side effects?
Most people don’t have any side effects. Those who do might have diarrhea or dizziness.
Sam Horng, MD, PhD: Expanding the MS Center Purview
Sam Horng, MD, PhD
Sam Horng, MD, PhD, came to The Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for Multiple Sclerosis in 2015 on a three-year combined clinical and research fellowship after completing his neurology residency at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. His work exemplifies the Center’s expanding expertise and reach beyond the borders of multiple sclerosis into other related autoimmune disorders that similarly affect neurological function and quality of life.
“People with autoimmune diseases tend to have a higher risk of developing another autoimmune syndrome,” says Dr. Horng, whose training in MS management led him to also explore other autoimmune conditions affecting the brain and spinal cord. “With multiple sclerosis we see higher proportions of individuals with other autoimmune conditions. Even our treatments can sometimes induce autoimmune attack on the joints or the gastrointestinal tract.”
He adds, “Autoimmunity generally is not well understood. We still do not fully understand what the precipitating event for many autoimmune diseases is.”
After joining the faculty in 2018, Dr. Horng explored these questions while leading a basic science lab for six years. His laboratory studied how structures of the blood-brain barrier control inflammation.
Expanding the purview of the Center to encompass not only multiple sclerosis but also other autoimmune brain conditions and overlap syndromes with rheumatology has been a rewarding aspect of his work and has enabled the Center’s scope to grow.
Dr. Horng also continues to serve as a co-investigator in clinical trials at the Center, which says has been involved in essentially all clinical trials of newly approved MS medications over the past 15 years.
“The Center is an engine for testing new therapies. It’s a place where people are moving the field forward,” he says.
“We discovered that interactions between resident blood brain barrier cells called astrocytes and immune cells infiltrating the brain could change the pattern of autoimmune disease,” he says.
What mechanisms trigger relapsing MS, and what drives disease progression, are questions that continue to challenge the field.
“Different cell systems are contributing to the immune system to fight infection, but in autoimmune diseases there are various ways in which these defensive cells are not functioning as well as they normally would,” he says.
In multiple sclerosis, certain cells mistakenly cross the blood-brain barrier and launch an inflammatory attack on the central nervous system.
“I explain to patients that it’s like the military. You have different regiments, divisions of the immune system that do varied things to fight off infection,” he says. But instead of an army, navy, and air force, T-cells, B-cells, and macrophages are collaborating to battle the disease.
In recent years, our understanding of how these different cell types contribute to MS has been refined, according to Dr. Horng. For many years MS was thought to be driven by T-cells. Over the last two decades, the focus has shifted to B-cells as a central player because B-cell depletion therapy was discovered to have powerful suppressive benefits against the frequency of MS attacks and the slope of MS progression.
“We don’t really understand why, but one clue is that the Epstein-Barr virus is highly associated with MS, and B-cells are the reservoirs in which Epstein-Barr stays latent in our bodies,” he says. Lupus is another autoimmune disease that has a strong connection with the Epstein-Barr virus.
Other advancements in understanding MS progression include single cell sequencing and genetics screening that have identified a correlation between MS progression and dysfunction of microglia, a specialized immune surveillance cell type in the brain that may also be more broadly implicated in other central nervous system disorders, including neurodegenerative disease.
Another area that interests Dr. Horng is the interplay between rheumatologic diseases, which are systemic autoimmune conditions involving other body organs, and the overlap of these syndromes with those that affect the brain and spinal cord.
“This is the frontier of our field,” he says. “Autoimmune neurologists have a lot to learn from rheumatologists because there are likely to be common mechanisms driving diseases across our specialties.”
In 2024, Dr. Horng shifted his focus from research at the bench to full-time clinical care at the bedside and now sees a wide range of autoimmune brain conditions in addition to MS.
“I’m taking a lot of the ‘mystery cases’ and seeing MS Center patients with complex syndromes,” he says. “It’s exciting to see these mysteries unfold as we’re learning more about MS and other related diseases.”
A lot of these patients have ailments that may mimic MS, including neuromyelitis optica, myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein-associated demyelinating disease, neurosarcoidosis, and other autoantibody-driven inflammatory diseases of the brain and spinal cord.
“Everyone who goes into neurology is fascinated by the black box that is the brain. It is the material substrate for where our identity, our perceptions, our experiences lie,” Dr. Horng says.
By Kenneth Bandler, a multiple sclerosis patient, advocate, and member of The Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for Multiple Sclerosis Advisory Board.
From the Classroom to the Real World: Mount Sinai Welcomes New Residents
As part of their onboarding experience, Mount Sinai residents review, via simulation training, how to call a code, how to respond, different roles on the code team, how to manage the hospital patient during a code, and how to communicate efficiently during emergencies.
At 14 sites across the five boroughs of New York City, the Mount Sinai Health System welcomed 950 new residents in late June to its hospital campuses, in addition to Valley Hospital, Elmhurst Hospital, Queens Hospital Center, and the Bronx VA.
“Our incoming class of residents is an extraordinary and talented group of young doctors,” says Michael Leitman, MD, Dean for Graduate Medical Education (GME) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and a practicing surgeon.
“We make a big deal out of welcoming them because it is one of the toughest transitions for a medical doctor in training, moving out of the classroom and into the real world. I remember it well because there are so many firsts, including the moment your first patient calls you ‘doctor.’ You realize how much responsibility is on your shoulders,” says Dr. Leitman. First year residents, previously called “interns,” will practice medicine under the guidance of an attending physician for three to seven years, depending on their chosen specialty.
“We make a big deal out of welcoming them because it is one of the toughest transitions for a medical doctor in training, moving out of the classroom and into the real world.” — Michael Leitman, MD, Dean for Graduate Medical Education
The class of 2026 residents are a highly qualified cohort who became residents at Mount Sinai after one of the most competitive years for residency matches, according to Dr. Leitman. The National Resident Matching Program, which oversees the matching of young doctors into residency posts, reported that 53,373 applicants registered for the match this year—competing for 41,126 positions and reflecting a trend of strong growth.
Mount Sinai’s GME program is the largest in the United States, according to Dr. Leitman. Each year, thousands of residents and fellows rotate through its programs, many considered among the best in the country. With more than 250 programs, Mount Sinai provides top-tier educational opportunities in almost every specialty—yet that’s just one of many aspects that makes the Icahn School of Medicine exceptional.
Residents are drawn to Mount Sinai for the wide spectrum of accredited, high-profile GME programs, the opportunity to study in one of more than 350 labs, and to do research in an institution ranked No. 11 for National Institutes of Health funding. The 2026 Doximity Residency Navigator, considered the definitive reference for top residency programs, based on peer nominations, ranks Mount Sinai’s many residency programs at the top.
“I think we’ve created an atmosphere of growth and trust. The residents have each other’s backs, and their faculty mentors really encourage an atmosphere of teamwork, where we all work for each other,” says Michael Leitman, MD.
For Dr. Leitman, much has changed since he began his journey as a medical doctor, including the specialties that future doctors choose.
“When I chose surgery, it was considered an outlier. My colleagues asked, ‘Why surgery, you won’t have enough patients to operate on; medical discoveries are eliminating the need for surgery.’ That couldn’t be farther from the truth,” says Dr. Leitman, who has held several leadership roles in Mount Sinai’s Department of Surgery.
“Radiology was not a draw back then. We all thought of radiology as being isolating, sitting in a dark room and writing reports. It’s now very popular, in large part due to advances in technology, including the introduction of AI,” says Dr. Leitman.
In fact, in addition to Dermatology and Plastic Surgery, Radiology has become one of the most competitive specialties. Mount Sinai offers several top-ranked Radiology specialties, including Interventional Radiology–Integrated, Radiology Nuclear Medicine, and Radiology Diagnostic, all of them top ranked programs.
The culture at Mount Sinai has also changed, and there is now more of an emphasis on physician well-being.
“Since I was a young resident in the 1980s, the opportunities have grown in leaps and bounds. And at Mount Sinai, where we have a robust residency program, the sheer volume of talented residents and fellows means we don’t need to force them to do grueling 24-hour shifts. That was something I grew up with, and I’m glad we were able to move away from that model,” says Dr. Leitman.
“I think we’ve created an atmosphere of growth and trust. The residents have each other’s backs, and their faculty mentors really encourage an atmosphere of teamwork, where we all work for each other,” says Dr. Leitman.
Residents are drawn to Mount Sinai for the wide spectrum of accredited, high-profile GME programs, the opportunity to study in one of more than 350 labs, and to do research in an institution ranked No. 11 for National Institutes of Health funding.
The institution keeps a watchful eye on its residents and faculty and monitors physician wellness through regular surveys, taking corrective steps when the surveys suggest problems, says Dr. Leitman. In fact, Mount Sinai was among the first in the county to publish on post-traumatic stress disorder among graduate medical education trainees. As a result, the program has earned a national reputation for its innovative resources geared toward well-being.
“Physician burnout is a real thing, and we are laser focused on knowing how everyone is doing—from our newest residents to our senior faculty—so we can make changes that will optimize their work life,” says Dr. Leitman. He has found a critical partner in the institution’s Well-Being and Work Experience Core, which runs a robust program geared toward enhancing workplace culture through leadership trainings, coaching efforts, communications tools, and role modeling.
“We will never eliminate all of the challenges of health care, but we can take steps to minimize daily stressors and enhance the lives of our residents so they can focus on their true calling of doctoring,” said Dr. Leitman.