Mount Sinai Medical Volunteers Respond to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico

Oct 13, 2017 | Community, Featured

Mount Sinai’s medical volunteers awaiting their flight to Puerto Rico.

Three physicians and seven nurses from the Mount Sinai Health System flew to Puerto Rico on Thursday, October 12, to begin a two-week mission to the island, which is still in dire need more than three weeks after Hurricane Maria devastated hospitals and other infrastructure.

The group will provide clinical care to citizens, many of whom have no access to electricity, potable water, medications, or relief from the sweltering heat and humidity.

The Mount Sinai contingent is part of a group of 70 medical professionals from New York State, in a humanitarian initiative developed in collaboration with the Governor’s Office, the State Department of Health, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Greater New York Hospital Association, the Healthcare Association of New York State, the New York State Nurses Association, and 1199SEIU. Additional groups are expected to deploy to Puerto Rico in the weeks ahead.

Back row from left: Kevin Munjal, MD, Assistant Professor, Emergency Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Melanie Pratts, RN, Director of Medical Systems, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai; Helen Rosario, RN, Mount Sinai Brooklyn; and Erin Hogan, RN, The Mount Sinai Hospital. Middle row from left: Colleen Fischer, RN, Nurse Manager, Mount Sinai Beth Israel; Christine Mahoney, RN, MS, AGACNP-BC, CCRN, Senior Vice President, Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer, Mount Sinai Downtown; Juan Baez, RN, Mount Sinai St. Luke’s; and Karendip Kaur Braich, MD, Nephrology Fellow, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Front row from left: Stacey A. Conklin, MS, MSN, RN, NE-BC, Vice President for Patient Care Services, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai; and Emma Kaplan-Lewis, MD, Assistant Professor, Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

“My Mount Sinai” Marketing Campaign Debuts

Oct 9, 2017 | Featured

Commuters in the Union Square subway station were greeted by the many faces of Mount Sinai on Wednesday morning, October 4, as the Health System rolled out its new marketing campaign, “My Mount Sinai.” Patients who have received high-quality medical care from Mount Sinai specialists located below 34th Street were among those featured in oversized posters lining the walls of the Union Square station.

Breast cancer survivor and former Mount Sinai Beth Israel patient Donna Tookes, 62, who participated in a clinical trial for a scalp-cooling regimen that prevented hair loss during treatment, was photographed for Mount Sinai’s south of 34th Street campaign. She says, “I wanted others to know about the life-saving and life-changing work that is being done” at the Health System. “At a very scary time in my life, Mount Sinai Beth Israel gave me hope.” Four years after receiving treatment, Ms. Tookes shows no signs of cancer, and the scalp-cooling device she used has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The “My Mount Sinai” campaign lets New Yorkers know they can receive high-quality health care close to home by highlighting the compelling medical needs of everyday New Yorkers and the life-saving work that Mount Sinai offers south of 34th Street. Poignantly, the ads reinforce the emotional vulnerability that people feel when their health is on the line and the relief they experience when their treatment is handled with expert care.

One advertisement offers a slice of New York humor by featuring a woman posed as a grateful senior citizen who credits a groundbreaking procedure at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai for restoring her hearing. Pictured with her loving husband, she says with a wry smile that, “unfortunately,” she can now hear “every single word he says.” In another advertisement, a medical team is portrayed rushing a young patient into surgery with the headline, “An award-winning Emergency Dept. doesn’t mean much. Until you have an emergency.”

Iris Latorre, Administrative Manager, Mount Sinai Urgent Care, Union Square, and Erick Eiting, MD, Medical Director, Department of Emergency Medicine, Mount Sinai Downtown, with the new campaign.

“These ads reflect Mount Sinai’s expansiveness and the quality of our services south of 34th Street,” says Jeremy Boal, MD, President, Mount Sinai Downtown, Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer, Mount Sinai Health System. “Each day, our medical teams serve with dedication and skill, and they develop deep and meaningful relationships with their patients.”

The ads will appear in the Union Square subway station throughout the month of October, and print and online ads will appear in local publications and on websites throughout the fall.

In addition, visitors to Mount Sinai’s facilities south of 34th Street began seeing a mosaic of staff photos on digital screen displays starting October 4, as part of an internal “My Mount Sinai” marketing campaign. Employees in these locations are encouraged to share stories about how their care made a difference in the life of a patient, and what being part of the Mount Sinai community means to them.

Those who participate will have the opportunity to be featured on Mount Sinai’s social media sites and on the Inside Mount Sinai digital site. Employees should submit their stories with a photo of themselves to: socialmedia@mountsinai.org.

 

 

Read more about our health care transformation South of 34th Street

Push-Up Challenge for Prostate Health

Oct 9, 2017 | Community, Featured

Dennis S. Charney, MD, center, flanked by the female and male winners, Mena Singh and Paul L. Shay, MD, and surrounded by the top team, the Finance Department.

Goals were set, and exceeded, by the Mount Sinai community at the Third Annual Push-Up for Prostate Cancer Challenge. The event on Wednesday, September 6, in the Guggenheim Pavilion, drew attention to men’s health and Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, also offering cancer screenings and risk consultations.

Marley Akonnor, Year One Coordinator, Department of Medical Education, at the Push-Up Challenge with Jamie Barnett, a trainer from New York Sports Clubs.

“Every year about 26,000 men die of prostate cancer in the United States,” said Ash Tewari, MBBS, MCh, the Kyung Hyun Kim, MD Chair in Urology, Mount Sinai Health System, who led the event. To raise awareness of that number, he asked the crowd to do at least 26 pushups—at the event or any other venue—and post a video or photo on social media. He also challenged the 195 staffers in the competition to collectively do 5,000 push-ups—as a “gift” to 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. Dr. Charney won the contest in its first year, but did not compete last year because he was recovering from a grave injury.

“A year ago, I couldn’t do one push-up. I was just getting out of the ICU,” Dr. Charney said. “I could not have made the recovery that I did without the support of the Mount Sinai students, the Mount Sinai faculty and staff, literally everybody who works here.”

Dr. Charney did 86 push-ups at this year’s event, and the competitors delivered their gift and more—performing 10,284. The first-place team trophy went to employees in the Department of Finance at The Mount Sinai Hospital, who did 860 push-ups. Paul L. Shay, MD, PGY-3 in Plastic Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, came in first among men with 168 push-ups. Mena Singh, a Senior Accountant in Finance, was first among women, with 99 push-ups.

Watch the video

Celebrating Science and Medicine at Convocation

Sep 28, 2017 | Featured, Research

Dennis S. Charney, MD, delivers the State of the School address.

Convocation 2017 was an especially inspiring event for the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. It was a celebratory evening where 10 renowned faculty members were honored, the State of the School address was delivered, and a transformational strategic plan, “Boldly Expanding the Frontier of Science and Medicine,” was unveiled. This blueprint promises unprecedented investment across key areas with the fundamental goal of advancing science and medicine, and accelerating commercial development of products, drugs, and devices to predict, prevent, and cure human disease.

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, presided over the Convocation ceremony, held on Thursday, September 7, presenting a set of guiding principles that will drive the 2017 strategic plan for years to come.

“The state of the school is strong,” Dr. Charney told the guests in Goldwurm Auditorium, who included the Convocation honorees, along with their families and friends, faculty and staff, and benefactors who generously support Mount Sinai. He spotlighted research accomplishments, faculty growth and clinical expansion, an outstanding and diverse matriculating class of medical and graduate students, new academic affiliations, and significant investments that are already driving drug discovery and commercialization.

Among the high points for the School of Medicine:

  • It ranks No. 2 in research dollars per investigator among private U.S. medical schools, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
  • The number of full-time faculty has grown by 70 percent since the creation of the Mount Sinai Health System in 2013, and continued growth is expected as new strategic initiatives are implemented.
  • It has the largest Graduate Medical Education program in the nation—2,193 residents and fellows. “We have a great responsibility to train the next generation of leaders in medicine,” he said.
  • The matriculating class of medical students “has a median grade point average of 3.83 (out of 4.0) and the students come from the best schools in the country,” Dr. Charney noted.
  • The PhD program has the highest metrics in its history, and the number of Master’s programs continues to grow. New academic collaborations and affiliations enhance access to courses in mathematics and engineering.
  • Mount Sinai reached a diversity milestone: in 2017 it was ranked No. 1 by DiversityInc magazine among hospitals and health care systems in the nation for excellence in diversity management and best practices.

Dr. Charney especially noted significant commercialization achievements. “Our science is headed toward commercialization, and our technology transfer office, Mount Sinai Innovation Partners, is providing the infrastructure for that to happen,” he told the audience. “To facilitate this, the School of Medicine is funding an accelerator program, beginning with a $10 million investment, to identify Mount Sinai science that needs further financial investment so the science is ready for commercialization with an industry partner.” He then spotlighted “the most dramatic example” of success in this arena: the June launch of Sema4, a first-of-its-kind School of Medicine-owned company “whose mission is to revolutionize clinical diagnostics and to create a big data information system that will enable us to identify ways to better treat human disease.”

Dr. Charney promised that the bold new strategic plan would build upon the achievements of the past decade, which included establishing the Mount Sinai Health System, creating 19 research institutes, opening the Hess Center for Science and Medicine, establishing The Tisch Cancer Institute and becoming a National Cancer Institute-designated center, and, significantly, instituting a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. This includes a multimillion-dollar collaboration between Mount Sinai and three other NCI-designated cancer centers and Celgene Corp. to advance novel therapies for cancer.

At the core of the new strategic plan, he said, is a set of guiding principles that will:

  • take advantage of the size and excellence of the Mount Sinai Health System
  • establish unrivaled excellence in medical and graduate education
  • anticipate and fund new areas of research that will result in discovery of novel approaches to disease diagnosis and treatment
  • invest further in current areas of excellence
  • power an “engine of discovery” to create more intellectual property, more collaborations with industry, and more Mount Sinai companies.

Dr. Charney cited five new research institutes in the areas of addiction, adolescent health, exposomics, transformative clinical trials, and women’s health, and an expansion of the scope of diabetes/obesity, gastroenterology, nephrology, pulmonary, and pediatrics research, among other areas.

In a broad overview of the strategic plan, he presented a road map:

  • Graduate Education would spearhead a pedagogical shift to transform biomedical research and its translation into precision medicine—“a major initiative of the National Institutes of Health, and Mount Sinai will lead the way.”
  • Four new centers of excellence in the areas of greatest potential—in neurotherapeutics, focused on developing novel therapeutics for brain disorders; in discovery medicine, to leverage novel insights in human genetics and genomics; in immunotherapeutics, to develop human therapeutic antibodies and vaccines that target cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and other areas; and in genome editing.
  • Further investment in current areas of excellence in the clinical sciences— brain, cancer, diabetes, geriatrics, heart, infectious diseases—as well as the sciences that underpin these disciplines: cell and developmental biology, genetics and genomic sciences, microbiology, neuroscience, and pharmacological sciences. He also envisioned transformational exploration of the brain.

According to Dr. Charney, “A great strategic plan anticipates what’s not so obvious, but where science and medical care are going.” Ultimately, he said, “The most important measure of our success will be discoveries that make the Mount Sinai Health System the nation’s best and improve the lives of our patients locally and around the world.”

Following the address, Dr. Charney bestowed endowed titles on 10 “spectacular” leaders in their field who have advanced biomedical science, dermatology research, environmental medicine and public health, geriatrics and palliative medicine, molecular medicine, neurology, neurotherapeutics, nursing, and vascular surgery (see below).

Said Kenneth L. Davis, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mount Sinai Health System: “I want to thank our dedicated philanthropists who have made these chairs possible, many of whom are here celebrating with us tonight. We thank you for the support you provide and your belief in our commitment to excellence in research, education, and clinical care.”

To view the State of the School presentation, please go to: http://icahn.mssm.edu/state.

From left: Joel Dudley, PhD; Andrea Dunaif, MD; R. Sean Morrison, MD; Emma Guttman-Yassky, MD, PhD; James F. McKinsey, MD; Dennis S. Charney, MD; Helen Mayberg, MD; Anne Bowcock, PhD; Frances Cartwright, PhD; and Manish Arora, PhD, MPH. (Not pictured is honoree Joanna Jen, MD, PhD.)

The Convocation Honorees

Manish Arora, PhD, MPH, Edith J. Baerwald Professor of Environmental Medicine and Public Health

Anne Bowcock, PhD, Norman Orentreich, MD Professor of Dermatology Research

Frances Cartwright, PhD, Edgar M. Cullman, Sr. Chair of the Department of Nursing

Joel Dudley, PhD, Mount Sinai Professor in Biomedical Data Science

Andrea Dunaif, MD, Lillian and Henry M. Stratton Professor of Molecular Medicine

Emma Guttman-Yassky, MD, PhD, Sol and Clara Kest Professor of Dermatology

Joanna Jen, MD, PhD, Dr. Morris B. Bender Professor of Neurology

Helen Mayberg, MD, Mount Sinai Professor in Neurotherapeutics

James F. McKinsey, MD, Mount Sinai Professor in Vascular Surgery

R. Sean Morrison, MD, Ellen and Howard C. Katz Chair in Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine

 

A Salute to a Legendary Neurologist

Bernard Cohen, MD, who was named the inaugural Dr. Morris B. Bender Professor of Neurology in 1976, received a special tribute at Convocation. Over his 54 years of “nonstop funding” by the National Institutes of Health and NASA, Dr. Cohen has been a “tenacious, pioneering, vigorous, and enthusiastic” scientist, said Dennis S. Charney, MD. Among Dr. Cohen’s achievements was the first successful cure for mal de débarquement syndrome, a condition marked by continuous rocking, swaying, and bobbing after sea voyages.

Nature Publication Names Mount Sinai Among Most Innovative in Research

Sep 28, 2017 | Featured, Research

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is among the top 10 research institutions in the world based on its contributions to published research that is later cited by other organizations in patent development. The rankings, created by the Nature Index 2017 Innovation supplement and published in August, used a unique set of metrics to shed light on the impact academic research is having on innovation and determine key academic players whose ideas may shape tomorrow’s inventions.

According to the Nature Index, the top rankings reflect institutions with global reputations for high-quality research and others whose published work is having a disproportionately high impact relative to their size.

The Scripps Research Institute in San Diego (No. 1), Rockefeller University in New York City (No. 2), and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (No. 3) led the list, which also included, among others, “U.S. research heavyweights—the National Institutes of Health (No. 7), University of California, San Francisco (No. 8), and Stanford University (No. 9),” a press release issued by the publication said, adding, “Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is notably placed tenth.”

“Our ranking among the top 10 most influential research institutions in the world reflects our longstanding culture of innovation; our commitment to recruiting accomplished scientists, students, and executives who can advance biomedical innovation and discovery; as well as our transformative approach to discovery to produce radically better outcomes for patients,” says Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and President for Academic Affairs of the Mount Sinai Health System. “We are proud to be recognized for the profound influence our science is having on medical discovery around the world.”

Said David Swinbanks, founder of the Nature Index, in a press release: “This analysis comes at a time when following the transfer of scientific knowledge into industry and the economy is a growing priority for governments and research funding agencies. For them, the need to demonstrate that publicly funded science is being used for society’s benefit is paramount.”

The index was compiled by Nature Research, a unit of the company that publishes the journal Nature.

Read more stories about Mount Sinai Research

Mount Sinai Physician-Scientist Wins Award for Young Investigators In Cancer Research

Sep 28, 2017 | Featured, Research

Eirini Papapetrou, MD, PhD, in her laboratory at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Eirini Papapetrou, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Oncological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, has won the Pershing Square Sohn Prize for Young Investigators in Cancer Research for her work using stem cells and genome editing to study blood disorders and uncover new therapeutic options.

Dr. Papapetrou was among six researchers to receive the award earlier this year from the nonprofit Pershing Square Sohn Alliance for Cancer Research. All are based in New York and have spent at least two years running their own laboratories. Her laboratory will receive $200,000 yearly for the next three years.

“I am very pleased that Dr. Papapetrou has been recognized by Pershing Square Sohn for her important work,” says Ramon E. Parsons, MD, PhD, Ward-Coleman Chair in Cancer Research, Professor of Oncological Sciences, and Director of The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Watch a video of Dr. Papapetrou

Dr. Papapetrou is among pioneers turning human cells into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which are reprogrammed to behave like embryonic stem cells so that they can form any kind of adult cell. Combining that breakthrough technology with CRISPR gene editing, her laboratory performs a range of experiments, including creating models of cancer mutations.

Cell cultures from patients with blood cancer, which the Papapetrou Laboratory converts into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells that can be used to test the effects of drugs.

She says: “We take cells from patients who have cancers of the blood, and we convert them in the lab into iPS cells, which we then use to study their disease and to test the effects of drugs on specific mutations.”

“I envision a new era of cancer research,” Dr. Papapetrou says, “in which human iPS cells will be a valuable tool in the armamentarium of the modern cancer researcher.”

Read more stories about Mount Sinai Research

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