Featured | Mount Sinai Today

Celebrating 50 Years of Adolescent Health

Nov 19, 2018 | Community, Featured

Angela Diaz, MD, PhD, MPH, center, with honorees Lenore Katz-Cohen, OD, optical care sponsor and provider, and Robert Cohen, OD, Chief Executive Officer of Cohen’s Fashion Optical, who together with the Cohen family established optical care at the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center.

The Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center marked its 50th anniversary by honoring five individuals and the Mount Sinai Auxiliary Board at its 15th Annual Breakfast of Legends benefit at the Ziegfeld Ballroom on Tuesday, October 30. The Center provides free, comprehensive, confidential health and wellness services to nearly 12,000 young people each year and has become a national leader in adolescent health research, training, and care.

Peter W. May, Chairman, Boards of Trustees, Mount Sinai Health System, welcomed the 500 guests, noting that he had attended every breakfast for the last 15 years. “The Center is one of the shining stars in the Mount Sinai galaxy,” he said. Mr. May also received the Dr. Joan E. Morgenthau Lifetime Advocate for Youth Award.

Honoree Peter W. May

Angela Diaz, MD, PhD, MPH, Jean C. and James W. Crystal Professor in Adolescent Health, and Director of the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center, acknowledge benefactors, leaders, and staff who have contributed to the Center’s success. “One tree doesn’t make a forest, and one string doesn’t make music,” she said. “All of you make the forest and make the orchestra.” Dr. Diaz also recognized Henry S. Berman, MD, who was one of the original physicians on staff at the Center and worked with Dr. Morgenthau, the Center’s founder; and Jay Roberts, the Center’s first administrator.

“When I stop to think how many young people have been served at the Center, I have to pause—the number is huge, in the hundreds of thousands—and if I then think of the ripple effect on the families and friends of those patients, the number swells exponentially,” said 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. “How many of us can say we have transformed the lives of so many?”

Read Two Success Stories

Anthony Otey Hernández — From the Bronx to Harvard: A New Start Thanks to Mount Sinai’s Adolescent Health Center

Mary Medina — Growing Up with the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center

The honorees also included Gary C. Butts, MD, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the Mount Sinai Health System, and Dean for Diversity Programs, Policy, and Community Affairs for the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Lenore Katz-Cohen, OD, optical care sponsor and provider, and Robert Cohen, OD, Chief Executive Officer of Cohen’s Fashion Optical, who together with the Cohen family established optical care at the Center; The Mount Sinai Auxiliary Board; and Bethany Novak, MS, RN, FNP-BC, who joined the Center as a family nurse practitioner in 1988.

Youth speaker Adam Neville

Former and current patients related how the Center had transformed their lives. Adam Neville, a young patient, said that his mother was a patient at the Center when she was a teenager, and that he is named after the counselor she saw. He spoke of his emotional struggles and the support he receives at the Center, saying, “I owe my life as I know it to the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center.”

A poignant personal history was given by Hector Vazquez, MD, MS, now a pediatric emergency medicine specialist at Maimonides Medical Center, who, as a 14-year-old growing up in East Harlem, walked three life-changing blocks to the Adolescent Health Center. “Living in East Harlem, I was earmarked for failure. But, the Center’s providers educated me on safer sex practices, the effects of drugs, and making good life decisions, and they challenged my mind on what my life goals were.”

At the time, the staff did not realize they were shaping a future physician. When Hector was a medical student—at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai—he did a one-month rotation at the Center.

“It was then I learned just how revolutionary this Center was. I saw how it touched the lives of many, and it inspired me to do the same.”

Honoree Gary C. Butts, MD, left, and speaker Hector Vazquez, MD, MS

A Pioneer in Robot-Assisted Bladder Surgery Joins Mount Sinai, Expanding Urology Care

Nov 19, 2018 | Featured

Peter Wiklund, MD, PhD

Peter Wiklund, MD, PhD, a world-renowned surgeon who pioneered robot-assisted cystectomy, has been appointed Director of the Bladder Cancer Program at the Mount Sinai Health System and Professor of Urology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

The appointment marks a significant expansion for the Milton and Carroll Petrie Department of Urology, which also has leading programs in two other major areas in which robot-assisted surgery is used—prostate and kidney cases.

“With this important appointment, Mount Sinai will be able to build a strong bladder cancer program and offer more comprehensive services to patients while also enriching our training and research initiatives,” says Ash Tewari, MBBS, MCh, the Kyung Hyun Kim, MD Chair in Urology, Mount Sinai Health System. “Dr. Wiklund has trained urologists around the world and established an international reputation as a leading clinician, researcher, and educator. He will now bring that expertise to Mount Sinai and to New York.”

Mount Sinai’s Department of Urology has long been a leader in robotic procedures. These minimally invasive procedures, which doctors perform using special instruments inserted through tiny incisions, offer many advantages over conventional open surgery, including less pain after surgery, shorter hospital stays, and quicker return to normal activities for patients.

The benefits are typically more significant for more extensive procedures, such as removal of the bladder and reconstruction of the urinary tract, which Dr. Wiklund has pioneered for bladder cancer surgery. More extensive surgery is often required because bladder cancers tend to be more aggressive.

“We will be building the same kind of program at Mount Sinai that I have done before, which involves far more than focusing only on what happens in the operating room,” says Dr. Wiklund. “We will need to build teams to prepare patients before surgery, and then continue to follow them afterward with a goal to achieve even better patient outcomes, which has been one focus of my research.” The Mount Sinai Health System has more than 190 urologists on staff , more than any other health care system in New York City.

Previously, Dr. Wiklund was Chair of Urology, Molecular Medicine, and Surgery, and Professor of Urology, at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, where he built a leading cystectomy program, which involves the removal of the urinary bladder. Each year, faculty members at the Karolinska Institutet select those who receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Dr. Wiklund has performed more than 3,000 robotic operations and has extensive experience in advanced oncological surgery in patients whose tumor is growing on several pelvic organs (multiorgan tumor, bladder, prostate, colorectal, ovarian, and uterine), performing live educational surgeries throughout Europe, Asia, and South America. He is chair of the scientific working group of the European Urology Robotic Section of the European Association of Urology and is an international member of the American Urological Association. He has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed publications and 30 review articles and has been the editor and contributing author for three textbooks on robot-assisted surgery.

“Throughout my career, I have combined clinical practice with original research, and I expect that to continue,” says Dr. Wiklund. “Bladder cancer surgery can be an extensive operation, and we generally follow patients for their lifetimes. By closely following our patients after surgery, we can study how to improve their lives and quicken their recovery.”

Five Honored at “Wonderful World” Benefit Gala

Nov 19, 2018 | Community, Featured

Honorees at the gala, from left, Paul Zucker, Vanessa Williams, Charles Radcliffe, and Shantelena Mouzon, with Joanne V. Loewy, DA.

With live music, dance, and heartfelt tributes, the 13th annual “What a Wonderful World” gala was held on Monday, October 15, to benefit the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine at Mount Sinai Beth Israel. Nearly 200 guests attended the event, which was hosted by the nonprofit Wonderful World: Friends of Music Therapy Inc. at The Cutting Room night club in Manhattan.

This year’s honorees were five people who have “made the world more wonderful” with their support of music and healing: singer and actress Vanessa Williams; jazz pianist Eddie Palmieri; Charles Radcliffe, philanthropist and jazz enthusiast; and Paul Zucker, Vice President of Ambulatory Operations, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, who was thanked for his broad vision of integrative care and his support in creating an environment that promotes wellness through music and medicine.

Honoree Shantelena Mouzon received medical care and music therapy at Mount Sinai Beth Israel for neuropathy and laryngeal disorders. At the gala, Ms. Mouzon performed a piece she had written called “Metamorphosis” about her journey to wellness—starting out cocooned in a hospital gown and then untying it to reveal a sparkling white evening dress.

Honoree Eddie Palmieri at the piano

Guests also enjoyed jazz and cocktails, a performance by the dance troupe Urban Bush Women, and a silent auction to benefit the Center’s clinical services throughout the Mount Sinai Health System. Mercedes Ellington, dancer, choreographer, and granddaughter of Duke Ellington; and Bill Daughtry, host of WBGO jazz and sports radio programs, served as emcees. Ellen Devens was the Chair for the event.

“Each year the scope of practice and the range of our community service and commitment grow. We are proud of our growing research projects with doctors and nurses—from neonatal care to cancer and dementia,” says Joanne V. Loewy, DA, LCAT, MT-BC, the founder and Director of the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine. The Music Therapy Department at Mount Sinai Beth Israel provides a range of clinical services to adults and children, both in-house and in the community. The department’s music therapists are licensed to provide care that complements medical treatment, assisting with sedation, pain management, and neurologic and respiratory function.

Learn more about the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine

Panel on Palliative Care Shines a Light on Caregivers

Nov 19, 2018 | Community, Featured, Patient Stories

From left: R. Sean Morrison, MD, moderator of the “Partners in Care” event, with panelists Elizabeth Gilbert; Jennifer Homans, PhD; Cardinale Smith, MD; and Michael Ausiello—who each cared for a seriously ill loved one.

They spend an average of 20 hours a week in an unpaid, emotionally draining job. One in three is in poor health, and 97 percent say they need more help. Who are they? They are the 65 million Americans who provide care to an adult relative at home, and a panel discussion called “Partners in Care” was held on Monday, November 5, to shine a light on their experience.

“When we think about health policy, when we think about medical coverage, we always think about the patient who is living with serious illness, and we forget their caregivers. They need help, as well,” said the moderator of the panel, R. Sean Morrison, MD, the Ellen and Howard C. Katz Chair of the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

The panel was held at the Lotos Club in Manhattan, one of the nation’s oldest literary clubs, and it consisted of three noted authors who had each cared for a seriously ill spouse or partner: Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love); Michael Ausiello (author of Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies); and Jennifer Homans, PhD (author of Apollo’s Angels: A History of Ballet); along with Cardinale Smith, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Medical Oncology), and Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, who cared for her father when he was dying of cancer. The event was sponsored by longtime Mount Sinai donors Margery and Stephen Riker.

Ms. Gilbert told the story of caring for her partner, Rayya Elias: “This was an incredibly powerful person, even though she was 87 pounds,” who decided to move out of hospice to live near friends in Detroit just months before she died in January 2018 of pancreatic cancer. Ms. Gilbert called her years as a caregiver “the most brutal, beautiful experience of my life.”

Dr. Homans spoke of trying to write a book, raise her children, and care for her husband, who was living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). “Palliative care meant introducing someone else who could stand with us among all those whirling parts—this third person who was calm and knowledgeable and could steady the ship for a moment.”

Palliative care focuses on treating the symptoms, pain, and stress of a serious illness for patients and their families. It is appropriate at any age and at any stage in a serious illness, and unlike hospice, it can be provided alongside curative and all other appropriate medical treatments. “It truly is whole-patient care, and we offer the same support for loved ones,” Dr. Smith said.

The nation is headed for a shortage of caregivers, Dr. Morrison said, adding that “2030 is an important number in health care.” That is the year when, for the first time in history, there will be more people in the world who are 65 and older than people who are under 21. Increased public awareness and health policy reform will help alleviate the caregiver shortage and burden, he said. The Brookdale Department, which hosted the “Partners in Care” event, strives to advance this conversation, and to support seriously ill people and their caregivers through multifaceted work, from clinical care, to training doctors, to pursuing research.

“There is no coverage for caregivers in our nation’s health system, and that is fixable,” Dr. Morrison told the audience. “That means asking your local representative to make it an important policy issue. Become involved in one of your palliative care organizations, become a voice, and become active.”

Seventh Episode of Mount Sinai Future You Features One Artist’s Battle with Cancer

Nov 5, 2018 | Featured, Future You

Episode 7 of Mount Sinai Future You highlights innovation in science and features one artist’s battle with late stage, drug resistant, multiple myeloma. With the research of Samir Parekh, MD, Director of Multiple Myeloma Translational Research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the patient participated in a clinical trial that helped him achieve his dream of finishing a painting that had been in the works for 40 years.

Mount Sinai Future You, Episode 7, also features:

Clinicians from the Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai discussing advances in cancer treatments
William Oh, MD, Chief of the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology and Deputy Director of the Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai, shows how rapidly cycling prostate cancer medications may prevent drug resistance
Ash Tewari, MD, System Chair of the Department of Urology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Dennis Charney, MD, Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, raise awareness for prostate health with a push-up challenge
Barry A. Salky, MD, Chief Emeritus of the Division of Laparoscopic Surgery at Mount Sinai, and an alumni of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, discusses minimally invasive surgical techniques
Alfred Iloreta, MD, Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology and member of the Division of Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, performs minimally invasive surgery on a patient who had been misdiagnosed for years
Nina Bhardwaj, MD, PhD, Director of Immunotherapy at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, uses precision medicine to develop a personalized vaccine to attack cancer mutations
James Ferrara, MD, Professor of Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, leads a study that uses the lining of the gastrointestinal tract to create a new class of drugs
Edward Wolin, MD, Director of Carcinoid and Neuroendocrine Tumor Center at the Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai and William Oh, MD, Chief of the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology and Deputy Director of the Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai, discuss the development of advanced imaging procedures for treating tumors in the gastrointestinal system

Watch other episodes of Mount Sinai Future You

$43 Million Grant for Study of Environmental Effects on Children’s Health

Nov 5, 2018 | Featured, Research

Robert O. Wright, MD, MPH, and Rosalind J. Wright, MD, MPH

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have been awarded a $43 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue their work in a sweeping five-year research program called Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO). The national ECHO study aims to evaluate how a range of environmental factors, also known as the exposome, affect health during childhood, adolescence, and the transition into adulthood. At Mount Sinai, this work builds on the expertise and resources of the Institute for Exposomic Research, which is co-directed by two international leaders in the field, Rosalind J. Wright, MD, MPH, Horace W. Goldsmith Professor of Pediatrics, and Dean for Translational Biomedical Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine; and Robert O. Wright, MD, MPH, Professor and Ethel H. Wise Chair of the Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health.

“Exposomic research is changing the way medicine is practiced by finally addressing the largely unstudied role that our environment plays in our health—and doing so on the grandest possible scale,” says Dr. Robert Wright. In the ECHO program, institutions across the nation will study up to 50,000 families, investigating the influence of environmental exposures on four key areas: perinatal outcomes such as preterm birth; child growth and obesity; respiratory disorders; and neurobehavioral and cognitive difficulties that may affect social and academic functioning in the longer term. The Wrights are principal investigators of a regional ECHO consortium, including sites in New York City, Boston, and Virginia, that will study 5,000 women and children, measuring the exposome across their diverse ethnic backgrounds.

“Synergistic programs”

Mount Sinai has also received two related NIH grants, for a total of $19.4 million, that fund its participation in the Children’s Health Exposure Analysis Resource (CHEAR) program, which is designed to support ECHO. One CHEAR grant funds a Laboratory Hub, led by Dr. Robert Wright, which analyzes environmental chemicals, metabolites, hormones, and other factors. The other supports the Data Repository, Analysis, and Science Center, led by Susan Teitelbaum, PhD, Professor, Environmental Medicine and Public Health, which conducts big data analysis. Across the nation, there are six CHEAR laboratory hubs, and one data center, at Mount Sinai. “ECHO and CHEAR are naturally synergistic programs,” says Dr. Robert Wright. “CHEAR will run exposomic assays on samples collected by ECHO that can identify thousands of chemicals to which children are exposed, and can systematically study which are toxic, which are harmless, and which are beneficial.”

In 2016, Mount Sinai won a large NIH grant during the development phase of ECHO, and since then Dr. Robert Wright and Dr. Rosalind Wright have been part of a select national committee that has shaped the program. Now they are helping set protocols for the researchers who will follow up with mothers and children at multiple stages of life—collecting samples of blood, urine, hair, saliva, and placental tissue, and gathering data on birth weight, preterm birth, growth, cognitive development, and lung development.

Informing better health

One overarching goal of the ECHO study is “solution-oriented research,” Dr. Rosalind Wright says. “We are not just looking for risk factors, we are also measuring factors that might be protective and build resilience. For example, there is evidence that higher intake of antioxidants such as vitamin C and anti-inflammatory fatty acids, like omega-3 fish oils, can buffer the effects of stress and other toxins. We are now looking at the effect of diet on exposure to air pollution and chemical toxicities,” she says. “People in the ECHO program are really excited—we are all in this because we want our research to inform better health.”

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