Featured | Mount Sinai Today

Leaders and Staff Salute Mount Sinai’s Volunteers

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Community, Featured, Volunteering

Leaders and staff at Mount Sinai Brooklyn honored their long-serving volunteers. From left: Rose Huczko, 1,957 volunteer hours; Roman Khait, Patient Representative; Ruth Mermelstein, 1,339 volunteer hours; Frank Rotelli, 3,263 volunteer hours; Philip Fagin, 2,607 volunteer hours; Scott Lorin, MD; Linda Valentino, RN, Chief Nursing O cer and Vice President of Patient Care Services; Jean Chin, 3,972 volunteer hours; Deborah Dean, MD, Chief of Emergency Medicine; Morris Jacobs, 1,397 volunteer hours; Rabbi Jacob Hoenig; and Maia Makharadze.

During National Volunteer Recognition Week, the more than 1,000 volunteers at The Mount Sinai Hospital and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai who provide support, assistance, kindness, and compassion to countless individuals every day were honored at a breakfast held Wednesday, April 25, in Annenberg West Lobby.

At The Mount Sinai Hospital and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Volunteer Recognition Breakfast, from left: Dennis S. Charney, MD; Shari Kaplan, LCSW; Kenneth L. Davis, MD; and David L. Reich, MD.

“Our volunteers are such an integral part of the Mount Sinai community, and they have a unique and valuable perspective on caring and compassion,” Kenneth L. Davis, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mount Sinai Health System, told the guests. “Your humanity shines through. We are at our best, thanks to you.”

According to the Department of Volunteer Services, which hosted the breakfast, volunteers serve in every area of patient care, research, and administration throughout the hospital and School of Medicine, representing a broad expanse of backgrounds—doctors, teachers, lawyers, retirees, and high school, medical, and graduate students, among them.

“When visitors walk into one of our buildings and are greeted by a volunteer, they get a sense of what Mount Sinai is all about—they feel that they are part of our family,” 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.

“You are incredibly special—just taking a moment to be kind to someone sets a tone that brings a better experience for everyone,” David L. Reich, MD, President and Chief Operating Officer of The Mount Sinai Hospital, reminded the volunteers.

The recently named Director of the Department of Volunteer Services, Shari Kaplan, LCSW, opened the festivities, telling the guests: “Today is about you—our kind, generous, priceless, and committed volunteers who share your time and passion with us every day.”

Ramona Gross, center, with Mount Sinai West volunteers Fahmida Uddin, left, and Missi Gibbs.

Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai St. Luke’s recognized their volunteers at an awards ceremony and reception held at the Symphony Space Performing Arts Center on the Upper West Side on Wednesday, April 18. Arthur A. Gianelli, MPH, President of Mount Sinai St. Luke’s; Tim Day, Chief Operating Officer, Mount Sinai West; and Meredith Lisagor, MDiv, Director of Spiritual Care, joined the Volunteer Services team, led by Director Amy Bush and Assistant Director Ramona Gross, in honoring the more than 80 volunteers in attendance. One outstanding volunteer, Naomi Goldberg, was recognized for 10 years of service at Mount Sinai West in the Emergency Department and the Division of Hematology/Oncology.

Jeremy Boal, MD, Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer, Mount Sinai Health System, and President, Mount Sinai Downtown, led staff in saluting 53 volunteers who attended a reception in the Bernstein Building on Tuesday, April 17. When Dinah Jacobson, who oversees Volunteer Services at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, asked staff and volunteers to share stories about their experiences, retired nurse Jackie Slawsky, a volunteer for Surgical Admitting, spoke up. “I’ve been volunteering at Mount Sinai Beth Israel for several years,” she said, “and there isn’t another place that welcomes you like family. I really feel like I matter to the staff and patients.”

At Mount Sinai Brooklyn, an afternoon of activities on Thursday, April 19, included a recognition ceremony, as well as a Musician Volunteer Concert and Spring Volunteer Workshop.

Scott Lorin, MD, newly named President of Mount Sinai Brooklyn; Maia Makharadze, who manages the Department of Volunteer Services; and Rabbi Jacob Hoenig, Director of Pastoral Care and Education, presented a “Best in Brooklyn Volunteer Award” to eight volunteers who have devoted more than 1,000 hours in service to patients—with one volunteer reaching nearly 4,000 hours. Said Ms. Makharadze: “We have very dedicated and multi-talented volunteers who give so much of their time to Mount Sinai Brooklyn.”

Stefan Balan, MD, Director of Cancer Network Development, Brooklyn; and Chief of Hematology and Oncology, Mount Sinai Brooklyn, expressed the gratitude of all when he addressed the volunteers. “We are a hospital, a place where nobody chooses to be—except you who come here and want to make a difference in someone’s life, to make them feel better, to embrace them, and listen to them. For all this, we thank you.”

Second Episode of Mount Sinai Future You

Jun 5, 2018 | Featured, Future You, Research

The second episode of Mount Sinai Future You features a patient who suffered an intracerebral hemorrhage, one of the most devastating forms of stroke, and who shares his miraculous recovery after neurosurgeons saved his life using a new surgical technique called “SCUBA.” J Mocco, MD, MS, Director of the Cerebrovascular Center, and Christopher Kellner, MD, Director of the Intracerebral Hemorrhage Program, discuss the procedure.

Mount Sinai Future You, which highlights innovation at Mount Sinai, is being broadcast on CUNY TV, the non-commercial educational-access cable channel run by The City University of New York.

Mount Sinai Future You takes viewers behind the scenes as doctors at Mount Sinai Health System leverage innovative science to change patients’ lives every day. The series highlights preventative care and treatment models that will lead to better health and longer lives.

Mount Sinai Future You, Episode II, also features:

An interview with Roger Hajjar, MD, Arthur and Janet C. Ross Professor of Medicine, and Director of the Cardiovascular Research Center, about how gene therapy could one day treat heart disease.
Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, Director of Mount Sinai Heart, and Samin Sharma, MD, Director of Clinical and Interventional Cardiology, give an elderly patient a second chance at life with a minimally invasive heart procedure.
Researchers from the Departments of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation Medicine discuss the most updated science and the importance of raising awareness of and knowledge about traumatic brain injuries and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in women.
Rachel Yehuda, PhD, Director of the Traumatic Stress Studies Division, shares the latest research and clinical trials to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Janine Flory, PhD, Director of the PTSD Clinic at the Bronx VA Medical Center, provides insight on the link between traumatic brain injury and PTSD.
Hyunsuk Suh, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery, is offering patients a scarless robotic surgery for thyroidectomies.
The parents of a toddler share their emotional journey after their son’s challenging start in life due to a heart defect.

New episodes of Mount Sinai Future You will run monthly, in the first week of each month, on Wednesdays at 9:30 pm, Thursdays at 6:30 am and 5 pm, and Saturdays at 11 am. They will cover newsworthy topics in medicine, as well as highlight new treatments, innovations, and preventive care for patients. The series is produced by Mount Sinai.

Here is where you can find this series:

Cable System	CUNY TV Channel
Spectrum	75
Cablevision	75
Optimum Brooklyn	75
RCN Cable	77
Verizon FiOS	30

*Some RCN digital cable and MMDS systems carry CUNY TV and/or NYC TV on different channel numbers. For example, some RCN systems in Manhattan and Queens carry CUNY TV on channel 24, 106 or 108. Please consult your cable provider directly to be sure.

Watch Episode 1 of Mount Sinai Future You

Cardiac Surgeon-in-Chief at Mount Sinai to Lead the American Association for Thoracic Surgery

May 22, 2018 | Featured, Research

David H. Adams, MD, after being named AATS President and receiving the Association’s Presidential chain.

David H. Adams, MD, the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Professor and Chair of the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Cardiac Surgeon-in-Chief of the Mount Sinai Health System, was named President of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) at its 98th annual meeting on Monday, April 30, in San Diego.

The AATS is an international organization of more than 1,300 of the world’s foremost cardiothoracic surgeons representing 41 countries, and publishes four official journals that advance its commitment to science, education, and research.

“Dr. Adams is an internationally recognized leader in the field of heart valve surgery and mitral valve reconstruction,” says Kenneth L. Davis, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Mount Sinai Health System. “That his achievements have been acknowledged by the most prominent organization in the field is a reflection on Dr. Adams and Mount Sinai’s commitment to advancing the treatment and study of heart disease.”

Additionally, Dr. Adams is President of the Mitral Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that promotes best practice standards in mitral valve disease, has co-authored the internationally acclaimed valve textbook, Carpentier’s Reconstructive Valve Surgery, and co-invented or invented several repair rings for mitral and tricuspid valve reconstruction that are used throughout the world. As the Program Director of The Mount Sinai Hospital’s Mitral Valve Repair Center—now one of the largest programs in the world caring for patients with mitral valve disease—Dr. Adams leads a team that has established national benchmarks for repair rates and excellent clinical outcomes.

The mitral valve controls blood flow between the collection chamber from the lungs (left atrium) and the pumping chamber (left ventricle), which is responsible for delivering the now-oxygenated blood to the body. Diseased mitral valve leaflets lead to either regurgitation or stenosis, altering normal blood flow patterns, and requiring repair or replacement. Dr. Adams and his team have pioneered reconstructive techniques that allow patients to keep their own living valve rather than undergo a valve replacement with a mechanical or animal valve.

According to the most recent New York State Department of Health Adult Cardiac Surgery 2013 – 2015 report, Dr. Adams is one of only four surgeons out of more than 230 to be recognized with a two-star safety rating, indicating superior clinical results in all index open heart cases. During this three-year period, Dr. Adams achieved a significantly higher safety level (0.52 percent) than the statewide average (2.25 percent).

“Becoming President of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery and receiving a two-star rating from New York State are really not my individual honors, but rather recognition of the extraordinary team of dedicated health care professionals whom I have the honor of working with every day in taking care of cardiovascular surgical patients at Mount Sinai,” says Dr. Adams.

The Department of Cardiovascular Surgery is currently participating in more than 20 clinical trials, several with a focus on exploring novel strategies that can treat mitral valve disease without opening the chest and placing the patient on a heart-lung machine. Dr. Adams was appointed the national co-Principal Investigator of the Medtronic Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pivotal APOLLO Trial, the first study in the United States to explore closed-chest, beating heart mitral valve replacement in patients who are at increased risk for conventional biological valve replacement.

The trial began in 2017 and will involve more than 40 clinical sites, including The Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Adams is also the co-Principal Investigator of the FDA Pivotal ReChord Trial that is exploring beating heart echo-guided valve repair for patients with mitral valve prolapse.

“This is the beginning of an important journey to establish truly less invasive approaches to treat patients with various types of mitral valve disease,” says Dr. Adams. “Investigators at The Mount Sinai Hospital are at the forefront of this research that we believe will revolutionize the treatment of patients in years to come.”

Dr. Adams is the co-inventor of the Edwards Lifesciences’ Carpentier-McCarthy-Adams IMR ETlogix Annuloplasty Ring, the Carpentier-Edwards Physio II ring, and the Medtronic Tri-Ad Adams Tricuspid Annuloplasty Ring. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai receives royalties from Edwards Lifesciences and Medtronic in connection with the sale of these products. Dr. Adams and Mount Sinai do not receive any royalties when the devices are implanted in patients at Mount Sinai.

New Chief Wellness Officer Named

May 22, 2018 | Featured, Patient Stories

Jonathan Ripp, MD, MPH

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has named Jonathan Ripp, MD, MPH, as Senior Associate Dean for Well-Being and Resilience, and Chief Wellness Officer. Dr. Ripp assumes the new post amid mounting challenges for medical professionals that include exhaustive clerical demands, increasingly burdensome documentation procedures, and numerous metric-driven requirements. Stressors such as these distract providers from the meaningful aspects of their jobs and make it harder for physicians to provide patients with the best possible care.

According to a December 2016 article in the Annals of Internal Medicine, physicians spent 27 percent of their total time on direct clinical face time with patients and 49.2 percent of their time filling out electronic health records and doing other administrative work. The study found they spent another 1 to 2 hours each night—after office hours—doing additional computer or clerical work.

“Our physicians and clinicians care for patients and families in need in an evolving health care system,” says Dr. Ripp. “They are driven in this pursuit to put the patient first, but often their own well-being suffers. We need to support their mission by improving the system-level factors that facilitate their purpose and provide them with the resources to promote well-being.”

Dr. Ripp has assumed a national leadership role in this endeavor. In April, he and colleagues from the Mayo Clinic and University of California San Francisco School of Medicine published a widely circulated “Charter on Physician Wellbeing” that appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

David O. Barbe, MD, MHA, President of the American Medical Association (AMA), wrote, “Achieving national health goals depends on an energized, engaged, and resilient physician workforce. The AMA strongly supports the Charter and its declaration that the nation is best served by a health system that promotes professional fulfillment by allowing physicians to meet their patients’ needs for high-quality care.”

In his new role at Mount Sinai, Dr. Ripp will identify areas of excessive administrative and clinical burden that can be targets for intervention and workplace redesign efforts. He will also lead new initiatives that optimize physical and mental health.

“My role is to understand the local drivers of job burnout and to solve difficult problems,” he says. Initial initiatives will engage focus groups of faculty, students, and trainees and include gathering survey data on the drivers that erode well-being. He plans to identify a cohort of department-level faculty wellness champions who are eager to partner in implementing change.

Dr. Ripp—a faculty member in the Department of Medicine since 2004—has overseen the development of numerous wellness initiatives in Graduate Medical Education (GME) for the past two years. These include the expansion of mindfulness and reflection programs, codification of a policy that meets accreditation for well-being requirements, and the establishment of a GME-funded well-being grant program to decrease trainee work intensity and administrative burden. In addition to this work, he provides primary care to homebound New Yorkers through the Mount Sinai Visiting Doctors Program.

As Dr. Ripp pursues new programs within the Icahn School of Medicine and the Mount Sinai Health System, he also will continue his work on a national level. Over the course of their careers, physicians can expect to encounter patients who are dealing with extreme pain and suffering. Incorporating resilience-building strategies into medical training and education can provide physicians with the emotional awareness and support they need during these stressful encounters.

The development of clinician well-being initiatives will take a large effort, says Dr. Ripp, but the rewards for the nation’s doctors and patients are potentially huge.

Mount Sinai Researchers Present New Data at Cardiothoracic Association Meeting

May 21, 2018 | Featured, Research

Joanna Chikwe, MD

At the first plenary session of the 98th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery in San Diego, Mount Sinai’s Joanna Chikwe, MD, Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and David H. Adams, MD, presented a research study examining outcomes of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery in the state of New Jersey, comparing results in patients treated on an arrested heart while on a heart-lung machine (on-pump) versus those approached on the beating heart (off-pump).

Dr. Chikwe, who is also the Cheng Endowed Professor and Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Director of the Cardiovascular Institute at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, provided data aimed at resolving a four-decade-old debate regarding the optimal approach to perform CABG surgery.

The researchers compared outcomes 10 years after on-pump and off-pump surgery performed by high-volume surgeons in more than 20,000 patients.

“Our preliminary results found that outcomes with on-pump surgery were superior, with lower mortality, lower under-revascularization, and lower need for repeat revascularization after on-pump bypass surgery,” says Dr. Chikwe. Their paper has been provisionally accepted for publication in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

In March, Dr. Adams and Dr. Chikwe wrote an editorial in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology about the same topic, saying, “It is time for the debate to move on.”

Keeping Patients Safe with Remote Monitoring System

May 21, 2018 | Community, Featured

Nursing assistants, trained as observers, monitor patients from a secure location.

A new Remote Patient Monitoring Program system, introduced in five units at The Mount Sinai Hospital as a pilot project in 2015, has expanded throughout the hospital and to Mount Sinai Queens, a unique technological effort to help nursing staff reduce falls among high-risk patients and keep them safe.

From left, Francine Fakih, MA, BSN, RN, with Michele Isaacs and Mario Geritano by the Remote Patient Monitoring device.

“Our entire nursing staff is trained in helping patients and caregivers learn safety measures to prevent falls, but some hospital patients who may try to get out of bed unsupervised remain prone to falling when they are weak, confused, or medicated,” says Francine Fakih, MA, BSN, RN, Deputy Chief Nursing Officer, The Mount Sinai Hospital, who oversees the program. “This new tool complements our existing patient-safety programs.” The Remote Patient Monitoring Program is being used in 19 units at The Mount Sinai Hospital and 6 units at Mount Sinai Queens.

The visual monitoring and two-way audio system consists of a camera and speaker that are mounted on a portable cart that is placed in the hospital room. The camera beams real-time video to computer screens that are monitored by trained nursing assistants observing from a secure hospital office. “This technology enhances the ability of our nursing unit teams to use all of their personnel more effectively, while safeguarding our most vulnerable patients,” says David L. Reich, MD, President of The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai Queens.

“When a patient is trying to get out of bed, the observer will use the speaker to redirect the individual,” explains Michele Isaacs, Program Coordinator, Surgical/Medical Specialties. Once the audio is activated, the patient and observer can continue talking. The observer can better determine the patient’s need and alert the nursing station to respond. In a real emergency, the observer can set off an alarm that summons immediate help. Staff can also redirect patients they observe trying to pull out their IVs.

The system—which meets all privacy policies and does not require the consent of the patient—does not record video and audio, and allows the observer to listen in only when the monitor is activated. It also has privacy settings, giving staff in the hospital room the ability to turn off the video and audio monitor during a physician visit and other private moments.

Says Mario Geritano, Project Manager, Program Management Office, Information Technology, Mount Sinai Health System, “We are using technology to provide additional support for our clinical team while allowing for a continuous, safe monitoring experience for our patients and families.”

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