From left: Sadiqa Horne, RN, BSN, Elizabeth Woodcock, DrPH, MBA, FACMPE, CPC, and Marcy Cohen
Two Mount Sinai initiatives to improve access to medical services performed on an outpatient basis were recognized with awards at a recent symposium.
Marcy Cohen, Senior Director, Ambulatory Capacity Management, Mount Sinai Doctors Faculty Practice, received a Best Practice Award for the Ambulatory Capacity Management team’s “New Patient Triad Strategy.” Sadiqa Horne, RN, BSN, Senior Director of Access Center Operations, Mount Sinai Doctors Faculty Practice, received an Honorable Mention for the Patient Access Center’s initiative titled “Enhancing Employee Engagement and Retention in Mount Sinai Health System’s Patient Access Center.”
The awards were presented to both teams at the Patient Access Collaborative annual symposium hosted by Emory Healthcare in Atlanta on Wednesday, May 15.
“The innovative approach to patient access by Mount Sinai serves as a model of excellence and inspiration for the health care industry as a whole,” said Elizabeth Woodcock, DrPH, MBA, FACMPE, CPC, Founder and Executive Director of the Patient Access Collaborative.
“These initiatives epitomize Mount Sinai’s dedication to innovation, collaboration, and excellence in health care delivery,” said Adrin Mammen, MBA, MS, Vice President and Chief of Ambulatory Patient Access, Mount Sinai Doctors Faculty Practice. “As we continue to lead the charge in patient access and engagement, we are honored to be recognized for our efforts and remain steadfast in our commitment to advancing the standard of care for our patients and employees alike.”
The “New Patient Triad Strategy” is a pioneering, integrated strategy that created more appointments and a quick and easy way to notify patients. As a result, patients are getting appointments much sooner and there have been significant improvements in patient satisfaction and operational efficiency.
The “Enhancing Employee Engagement and Retention” initiative underscores Mount Sinai’s commitment to fostering a supportive workplace culture at the Patient Access Center. By prioritizing employee satisfaction and professional development, Mount Sinai ensures a motivated workforce dedicated to delivering patient care. This initiative has boosted morale and staff retention rates while elevating the overall patient experience.
The Patient Access Collaborative serves as a platform for representatives from the nation’s leading health systems to discuss and advance initiatives to improve patients’ access to ambulatory care. The group represents organizations that provide 25 percent of all ambulatory visits in the United States.
From left: Brendan G. Carr, MD, MA, MS; Ann Kurth, PhD, RN; David Reich, MD; Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN; Sean Clarke, PhD, RN; Beth Oliver, DNP, RN, FAAN; David Feinberg; and Ernest J. Grant, PhD, RN
In celebration of National Nurses Month, Mount Sinai Nursing invited four nationally recognized nurse leaders to participate in a panel discussion titled “Making a Difference: The Power of Nursing in Health Care and Beyond.”
Moderated by Chief Nurse Executive Beth Oliver, DNP, RN, FAAN , the conversation was lively and inspiring, pointing to all of the intersections of care where nursing can lead, both in health care and beyond, touching on topics of diversity and equity in our communities, climate change, and advocacy. The event was held Monday, May 6 at The Mount Sinai Hospital. The panelists were:
Sean Clarke, PhD, RN, FAAN, Ursula Springer Professor in Nursing Leadership and Executive Vice Dean, NYURory Meyers College of Nursing, and Editor-in-Chief of Nursing Outlook
Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN, President, The John A. Hartford Foundation
Ernest J. Grant, PhD, RN, FAAN, Vice Dean for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging, Duke University School of Nursing, and Immediate Past President, American Nurses Association
Ann Kurth, PhD, RN, CNM, MPH, FAAN, FACNM, President of the New York Academy of Medicine
Brendan G. Carr, MD, MA, MS, Chief Executive Officer of Mount Sinai Health System, kicked off the presentation by thanking the nurses of Mount Sinai for their work in keeping the patient at the center of care and noted the special connections nurses make with both patients and their families.
David Reich, MD, President of The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai Queens, said that Mount Sinai Nurses are the “best in the universe” and pointed to the many honors and awards earned by Mount Sinai that would not be possible without the efforts of nurses. Dr. Oliver echoed the thanks of Drs. Carr and Reich, underscoring the National Nurses Week theme that nurses make a significant and immeasurable difference in health care.
The panelists responded to Dr. Oliver’s questions and discussed topics including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other challenges facing the nursing profession; the most creative innovations in nursing; how to address safety, quality and diversity in a new era of nursing; and career advice for nurses.
For a patient and their loves ones, preparing for an organ transplant is never easy, and the same holds true for someone considering donating an organ. Mount Sinai’s transplant psychiatry program is one of many resources there to help with the process and, in the end, help save lives.
Mount Sinai Transplant is a premier program for organ transplantation, offering comprehensive treatment for patients who desperately need organs such as hearts, lungs, kidneys, and livers. Among the program’s renowned specialists are transplant psychiatrists who are specially trained to help both organ recipients and living donors.
Ambika Yadav, MBBS
“Across the United States, about 100,000 people require an organ transplant. There’s a huge need,” says Ambika Yadav, MBBS, Assistant Professor, Psychiatry, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, who specializes in transplant psychiatry, focusing on liver and kidney donors and recipients.
“The goal of transplant psychiatry is to mitigate whatever psychosocial risks exist so we can help as many people as possible get the organs that will save their lives,” she says.
Transplant Psychiatry at Mount Sinai
Mount Sinai’s transplant psychiatrists are based at the Recanati/Miller Transplantation Institute, where they work closely with other members of the transplant team. They provide a range of services for organ recipients and for living donors who choose to donate a kidney or portion of a liver. Those services include:
Evaluating a patient’s suitability as a transplant donor or recipient
Establishing treatment plans for patients with preexisting psychiatric conditions
Helping patients develop coping skills and manage expectations around organ transplantation
Managing psychiatric symptoms that can arise as a result of surgery or medication side effects
Dealing with complicated emotions after transplant
Helping Organ Recipients Prepare for Transplant
All transplant recipients receive an extensive medical and psychosocial evaluation to determine their suitability for transplantation. Typically, a transplant social worker provides the initial psychosocial evaluation. But transplant psychiatrists often get involved to further assess patients and mitigate any risks.
The goal of that assessment isn’t to rule out whether a person is a suitable candidate for a new organ. Rather, the transplant psychiatrists focus on identifying factors that might cause setbacks and find ways to manage those factors.
“Our goal is always to optimize patients for organ transplant. By identifying risks, we can come up with a plan ahead of time so they can get the organ they need and continue to have a life,” Dr. Yadav says.
For example, when patients have diagnoses such as anxiety or depression, psychiatrists can work with them to develop a treatment plan to reduce the risk that symptoms will get in the way of their transplant recovery. Psychiatrists can also come up with plans to support patients with alcohol use disorder or other substance use disorders, a common history among patients with liver failure.
“In those cases, we’ll do a risk assessment of the severity of their substance use disorder and determine how we can best help prevent them from relapsing so they can be good stewards of their new organ,” Dr. Yadav says.
When possible, these meetings happen in an outpatient setting. But in many cases, patients are evaluated for transplant after they become critically ill and so are already in the hospital. “Because Mount Sinai is a major transplant center, many patients are transferred here because they are surgically complicated or otherwise high-risk,” Dr. Yadav says. She and her colleagues meet regularly with hospitalized patients to assess their needs and help them prepare for transplant.
Managing Life After Organ Transplant
Psychiatrists also help people manage issues that arise after an organ transplant. Agitation and delirium can be side effects of surgery, and immunosuppressant medications that prevent organ rejection can cause psychiatric side effects and may also interact with other psychiatric drugs in complicated ways, according to Dr. Yadav.
“Community psychiatrists may not have much experience managing those psychiatric side effects and interactions,” she says. “Once a patient is stabilized after transplant, we can refer them to a community psychiatrist and provide our recommendations for managing their treatment.”
Psychiatrists also help patients deal with complicated emotions following a transplant. Patients might feel guilty or unworthy after receiving an organ from a deceased donor. They may expect life to be completely different after a transplant and feel let down by ongoing medical challenges and other life stressors. “We can help people manage their expectations and find ways to cope,” Dr. Yadav says.
Supporting Living Organ Donors
On the other end, transplant psychiatrists play a key role in assessing living donors and helping them prepare for the procedure. Living organ donors can donate a kidney or a portion of their liver to recipients—including friends and family members, and in some cases, anonymous recipients. Psychiatrists screen patients for preexisting psychological conditions that could affect their decision and well-being, and ensure they understand the risks they’re taking.
Increasingly, living donors contribute kidneys in “paired exchanges”—for example, a donor who is not a match for his wife may donate to a stranger on the waiting list, while someone related to that stranger donates to the first man’s wife. Such paired exchanges can involve multiple steps of exchanges. “Given the intricacies and the many points at which things might not go as planned, we hold these patients to a higher standard and make sure they know what to expect,” Dr. Yadav says.
Donating an organ is a big decision. “These are people who are completely healthy, undertaking a surgical procedure with zero benefit to themselves,” Dr. Yadav says. Mount Sinai’s transplant programs go above and beyond to keep living donors’ well-being at the forefront. “Our living donor team is really special. They put the donor first, and always prioritize their needs separate from the needs of the organ recipient,” she adds.
Moving Transplant Psychiatry Forward
Dr. Yadav and her colleagues are also engaged in research to improve their approach to assessing patients and mitigating psychosocial risks.
“As a major transplant center, Mount Sinai has many complicated cases and we have a lot of data regarding our risk assessments and patients’ psychosocial outcomes,” she says. “We’re always trying to use data to come up with better assessment tools and ultimately improve outcomes for patients.”
Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of Icahn Mount Sinai, addressing the school at the 55th Commencement ceremony.
Cloudy skies could not dampen the excitement of the class of 2024 of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, who had gathered at the David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center for their Commencement on Friday, May 10. It was, after all, a milestone of their medical school journey—one that began right as the COVID-19 pandemic took off in New York City.
“You arrived here nearly four years ago, when New York City was under siege,” said Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of Icahn Mount Sinai. It was a class that experienced major disruptions to coursework, but also one that witnessed how physicians can be challenged to care for patients and deal with viral outbreaks. “At Mount Sinai, you will forever be known as the ‘pandemic class,’” Dr. Charney said, to much laughter.
At the 55th Commencement of Icahn Mount Sinai, degrees were granted to 191 recipients: 115 MDs, 57 PhDs, and 19 dual degrees—eight MD/PhD, two MD/MPH, and nine MD/MSCR. (Master’s degrees will be conferred at a separate ceremony in June.)
The journey of the class of 2024 was a challenging one: starting medical school completely remotely, learning anatomy through what felt like a video game, and getting to know classmates through a computer screen, recalled Candida Damian, MD, who gave one of the student Commencement speeches. These challenges were made harder by isolation as lockdowns happened during COVID-19 outbreaks. However, she quipped, “Like Mount Sinai says, ‘We Find a Way.’”
Jumping into the future is daunting, but that’s because the graduating class stands at the frontiers of science and medicine, noted Sally Claridge, PhD, who gave the other student Commencement speech. “You cannot look in the back for the answer key; you’re writing the textbook,” she said. “Now that we have made it here, to this auditorium, to this moment, it is still inspiring and overwhelming because across all of us graduating today, we have now already written ‘the textbook’ many times over and then some.”
In this year’s recap, hear from various students about their time at Icahn Mount Sinai and the memories they’ll treasure as they embark on the next steps in their medical and research careers.
Ava Adler, MD
Next step: General surgery residency at Mount Sinai
During one of our Objective Structured Clinical Examination sessions where we practice being a doctor, my first time going in I was very nervous. I tried to sit on the stool and it completely came out from under me and I fell on the floor. I was so embarrassed and so upset about it, and all my friends were there and said, ‘It’s OK.’ They told me to brush it off and said it will get better. It was a very funny but also very memorable moment for me. I’m definitely not the same person as I was when I first started. Being around patients and seeing how it’s a privilege to be there for them, knowing the difference you can make by giving them a smile, giving them an ounce of happiness during a hard time, it is so incredible that it makes every single day worth it.
Michael Fernando, PhD
Next step: Postdoctoral fellow at Rockefeller University, New York City
It is a rainy day, but we’re all here celebrating big splashes that we’ve done at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. I’ll always cherish all of the hard work that we’ve collectively done to advance science and medicine, and the hours that we’ve spent in the lab pursuing development of ourselves both personally and professionally. I’d like to thank my advisors, Kristen Brennand, PhD, and Paul Slesinger, PhD. I owe all of my success in the lab and outside the lab to them, and the cultures that they’ve fostered within their scientific environments.
Arman Azad, MD
Next step: Emergency medicine residency at University of California, Los Angeles
I can’t believe it: I’m going to be a doctor! It’s been four crazy years—crazy fun years. I’ve met the best people, and I think I’m ready. Mount Sinai just has the best medical students in the world. They’re all so smart, but they’re also just the kindest, warmest people. And our staff, our faculty, our professors, everyone has been just rooting for us for so long. I’m going to miss them so much. I’ve learned that it’s important to focus on your studies and your work, but also on yourself and the relationships with the people around you. That’s one thing we had the space to do and I’m really thankful for it.
Ning Ma, PhD
Next step: Postdoctoral fellow at Mount Sinai
Something I’ve learned is to never give up. If you never give up, you will achieve something. It’s what kept me successful in getting this degree. At the beginning, it was challenging to figure out the project—what’s the hypothesis of your research, literature review, and back-and-forth with your mentors. But the key is to always have a passion for what you want to pursue.
Candida Damian, MD
Next step: Triple board residency at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
I’m incredibly grateful and excited for the future. It’s been a long journey, and I can’t wait to get to work! In the beginning, I faced challenges and often doubted whether I was good enough to become a doctor. I overcame these feelings by being vulnerable and seeking out support. My family, my mentors at Mount Sinai, and most definitely my classmates all helped me along the way.
Amara Plaza-Jennings, MD/PhD
Next step: Neurology residency at Mass General Brigham, Boston
I’m feeling very grateful and excited for everything that I’ve accomplished over the past eight years at Mount Sinai. I learned that I’m capable of more than I’ve thought I was. If there’s something I don’t know, I have the ability to figure it out and to teach myself new skills.
Nicola Feldman, MD
Next step: Pediatrics residency at Boston Children’s Hospital
I’m in awe that this moment has actually come, and that these next steps are actually happening. It’s amazing to look in the audience and see so many family and loved ones of my classmates, and that they are all celebrating us. About a year ago, my uncle unexpectedly passed away. It would be really amazing for him to be here today—he’s a lot of fun—and we’d be having even more fun with him here. That’s something I’m missing today, even though overall it’s a really happy day.
Megan Schwarz, PhD
Next step: Postdoctoral fellow at Mount Sinai, then joining the biomedical research industry
During the pandemic, I was stuck at home, and I couldn’t be in the lab except to check on some mice. My PhD advisor, Ernesto Guccione, PhD, called me up. We’re a cancer lab, and he asked if I wanted to do this unrelated COVID-19 project. He said it will probably be done by summer of 2020. Fast forward to June 2022, we’re publishing a paper, involving many clinicians, patients, institutes—many continents involved—and that all started with this phone call because we were bored. It taught me that I’m capable of adapting and collaborating.
Benjamin Oseroff, MD
Next step: Neurology residency at Mount Sinai
A highlight of my time at Icahn Mount Sinai was having my daughter born 10 days before orientation. Carrying her across the stage at graduation feels like such an achievement; I feel so fortunate. I’d like to thank my wife—she’s done so much for me and our family.
Ethan Veit, PhD
Next step: Looking for job opportunities
I’m so thankful for my Principal Investigator, Matthew Evans, PhD; all of the graduate school administration; and Basil Hanss, PhD, Senior Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Career Development, who was one of the first people involved in recruiting me to Mount Sinai. One of my biggest achievements was being able to participate in the numerous Virus-Host Symposiums and also win the best presentation award at that symposium.
Rishab Revankar, MD
Next step: Intern year at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, dermatology residency at University of Virginia
One of my best memories at Mount Sinai was being able to have our White Coat Ceremony. Usually, it is held in the first week of medical school, but we had it between our second and third year because of COVID-19. That was one of the first times we were all together in person, and it was an amazing moment to relish our resilience and togetherness. I came to Mount Sinai to pursue an MD degree, looking to be a doctor, but I feel like I got so much more than that. I got an understanding of what it means to be a physician-leader. I want to make Mount Sinai proud by being a good doctor, but also be a good leader in my community and in society.
Navigate with the arrows to learn more about the Class of 2024 and their time in medical and graduate school.
Mount Sinai’s Post-Baccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) helps prepare scholars who are interested in biomedical careers to apply successfully for doctoral programs. PREP scholars take graduate level courses, participate in career development activities, and receive personalized research mentorship. They spend one or two years in the program, with most of the experience taking place in laboratories conducting biomedical research.
Today, the program is led by Kirk Campbell, MD, Irene and Dr. Arthur Fishberg Professor of Medicine and Professor of Pharmacological Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Inaugural Director of the Mount Sinai Center for Kidney Disease Innovation, and Jamilia Sly, PhD, Assistant Professor, Population Health Science and Policy, who recently renewed Mount Sinai’s grant. The PREP program focuses on growing a diverse research community and provides a launching pad for students pursuing their PhD or MD-PhD degrees.
More than a decade ago, Principal Investigators from Mount Sinai, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and the University of Pennsylvania began an annual research symposium in May, with the programs rotating hosting duties. This year the schools participating expanded to include Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Weill Cornell Medical College.
Organizers say programs like PREP, which focus on developing a diverse pool of well-trained postbaccalaureates ready to engage in rigorous biomedical research-focused doctoral degree programs, have never been more important in today’s research landscape.
Mount Sinai’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences hosted the PREP Northeast Regional Symposium for 2024 on Monday and Tuesday, May 6-7.
The event began with a welcome reception during which students and faculty from all five institutions shared their experiences with their PREP programs. At one point, the room filled with excitement when Kaya Adelzadeh, a PREP scholar at Mount Sinai, found out she had been accepted to the MD-PhD program at the University of California, Davis. Since August 2022, Ms. Adelzadeh, who earned a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering at Boston University College of Engineering, has been a post-baccalaureate research assistant in the orthopedic research laboratories of James Iatridis, PhD, and Woojin Jan, PhD. She was cheered on by her colleagues and by PREP leaders, a reminder of what the PREP scholars are working to accomplish.
Dr. Campbell and Dr. Sly, along with Marta Filizola, PhD, Dean for the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and Talia Swartz, MD, PhD, Senior Associate Dean for MD-PhD Education, delivered opening remarks. They discussed the history of the symposium, welcomed new participants, and encouraged the PREP scholars to apply for the participating institution’s PhD and MD-PhD programs.
Scholars from the five institutions shared their oral presentations. The two scholars from Mount Sinai were Taelor Matos, who shared research she is conducting with Jessica Ables, MD, PhD; in her presentation “Axonal Plasticity in Learning”, and Tony Valencia, who shared research he is conducting under the mentorship of Benjamin Chen, MD, PhDs, in a presentation “Investigating Asymmetry of HIV-1 Envelope Protein and its Impact on Packaging.”
In her keynote address, Yasmin Hurd, PhD, Director of the Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai, discussed the neuroscience of addiction. She highlighted the role of the endocannabinoid system in neuronal development, differential psychological effects of cannabinoid components and provided insights into therapeutic utility of cannabidiol in opiate use disorder.
Dr. Hurd discussed her own career journey, noting data regarding the lack of diversity in the scientific workforce. She encouraged students not to let data about who is or isn’t a scientist determine the path for their academic training and career goals. She reminded students during the question and answer session that being a good scientist doesn’t mean knowing all the answers to scientific questions, rather that a good scientist asks a lot of questions about the things they do not know.
A PREP alumni panel featured former scholars from Mount Sinai and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. The panel was moderated by Tia Robinson, a current Mount Sinai PREP scholar, and included alumni Yoselin Paucar, Stephen Ruiz, Bryan Ticoche, and Jeury Veloz. Scholars from each institution had the chance to ask questions and inquire about the experiences of PREP alumni both during and after their programs.
Two rounds of poster presentations gave PREP scholars opportunities to share their research with peers from other schools and to practice their presentation skills. Mount Sinai had eight scholars participate in the poster sessions. This was followed by an awards ceremony recognizing the PREP scholars with the top oral and poster presentations. Alexandra Ramirez, University of Pennsylvania PREP, received an award for the Best Oral Presentation. She has been accepted to Icahn Mount Sinai’s PhD in Neuroscience program as a student starting this fall. Kendall Moore, Icahn School of Medicine PREP, won for Best Poster Presentation.
In closing remarks, Dr. Campbell and Dr. Sly reiterated why collaboration is so important between PREP programs, and they encouraged scholars to continue their great work and to look forward to next year’s symposium.
Learn more about our PREP program to see how it can guide your journey to joining a doctoral program in biomedical sciences.
Top, from left: Rheoneil Lascano, MSN, FNP, Vishal Kapur, MD, David Song, MD, Prakash Krishnan, MD, FACC, FSCAI, Raman Sharma, MD, and Moinuddin Syed, MBBS. Bottom, from left: Dr. Song, Samin K. Sharma, MD, Annapoorna S. Kini, MD, Dr. Kapur, Dr. Krishnan, and Raman Sharma, MD.
A team at the Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital has successfully performed the first procedure in the United States using an innovative drug-eluting, below-the-knee resorbable scaffold.
The team was led by Prakash Krishnan, MD, FACC, FSCAI, Assistant Professor, Medicine (Cardiology and Radiology), and Director of Endovascular Interventions at The Mount Sinai Hospital’s Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory. The Food and Drug Administration approved the device in April.
“FDA approval of this long-awaited new technology of a dissolving bioabsorbable scaffold is a remarkable addition in the treatment of lower limb arterial blockages where balloon and regular stents results are suboptimal, and these scaffolds are poised to restore blood flow for a long time,” says Samin K. Sharma, MD, Director of Interventional Cardiology for the Mount Sinai Health System. “We are proud of Dr. Krishnan, who played a major role in getting this innovative device approved.”
More than 20 million people in the United States are living with peripheral artery disease (PAD) yet there have been limited treatment options. The new procedure is the first to treat people with chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI) below-the-knee, a severe stage of PAD. The goal is to prevent amputation, heart attack, and stroke among these patients.
For individuals battling chronic limb-threatening ischemia, blocked vessels restrict blood flow to the lower extremities. While balloon angioplasty serves as the current standard of care, recurrent blockages often necessitate further intervention.
Unlike traditional metal stents, the drug-eluting below-the-knee resorbable scaffold is a temporary implant. Crafted from naturally dissolving material, this scaffold gradually disappears after opening a clogged artery, presenting a significant advancement in sustaining open arteries below the knee.
“A resounding applause to the team at Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital for their relentless pursuit of excellence in advancing patient care,” said Dr. Krishnan. “Many times doctors tell patients amputation is the only option, so this new technology is a game changer.”
