Toddler Receives the Gift of Sound

Nov 6, 2017 | Featured, Patient Stories

With her new cochlear implant in place, Ruth relaxed with her mother, Nancy Komujuni.

Ruth Tatuleka, a 2-year-old from Uganda, was recently given the gift of hearing, thanks to a team of physicians and staff at the Mount Sinai Health System.

Ruth is from Kyabirwa, a village of 1,000 people, and has been deaf since birth. Her family knew that if she were ever to hear, the only solution was a cochlear implant—a small electronic device that stimulates the cochlear nerve, which carries auditory information to the brain. While commonplace in the United States, cochlear implant surgery is rare in the developing world. The family tried to raise funds to take Ruth to India—the closest country that could possibly perform the procedure—but they were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, time was running out, since a child’s first three years are crucial in learning spoken language.

Fortunately for Ruth, a slender lifeline connected her village to New York City: Ruth’s uncle, Charles Kalumuna, MD, volunteers his services at The Allan Stone Community Health Clinic in the village, where a new surgical facility is under construction with donations being raised by Michael L. Marin, MD, the Dr. Julius H. Jacobson II Chair in Vascular Surgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Surgeon-in-Chief, Mount Sinai Health System.

Dr. Kalumuna reached out to Dr. Marin, who then contacted colleagues at Mount Sinai about Ruth’s case. By August, the little girl was at The Mount Sinai Hospital, undergoing surgery by Maura K. Cosetti, MD, Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Director of the Cochlear Implant Program at the Ear Institute of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary at Mount Sinai. “Because hearing is closely tied to language development, our goal is to give children access to sound as early as possible,” Dr. Cosetti says. “We are thrilled to help Ruth and her family in this meaningful way.”

On Monday, September 11, the implant was activated, allowing Ruth to hear the sound of her parents’ voices for the first time—a milestone she met with a quizzical expression. The device was checked and programmed by Jillian Levine-Madoff, AuD, Cochlear Implant Audiologist at the Ear Institute. She established what the family had been hoping for: Ruth now has access to sound. The little girl then began speech therapy sessions, led by Jessica Van Manen, MA, Hearing Habilitation and Speech/Language Pathologist at the Ear Institute, which were a critical part of her recovery since she had previously communicated mainly through gestures.

Maura K. Cosetti, MD, left, Director of the Cochlear Implant Program at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary at Mount Sinai, was assisted by resident Douglas Worrall, MD.

Ruth and her family are now back in their village, where they continue to work on her hearing and speech skills. “Ruth was granted a chance to reach her full potential, thanks to the amazing team at The Mount Sinai Hospital,” Dr. Kalumuna says. “She is a lot more active and happy now, and definitely enjoys hearing sounds!”

Dr. Marin says, “Seeing an outcome such as Ruth’s inspires me to push forward with changing the standard of how the Western world provides aid and surgical care to areas like Kyabirwa, where safe, accessible surgeries are so crucially needed.”

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Urology Department Hosts International Symposium

Nov 6, 2017 | Featured, Research

From left: Ash Tewari, MBBS, MCh, with three of the speakers, Ashok Hemal, MD, Wake Forest Baptist Health; Peter Carroll, MD, MPH, University of California, San Francisco; and Eric Klein, MD, Cleveland Clinic.

More than 500 doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals recently attended the 2nd International Prostate Cancer Symposium and Inaugural World Congress of Urologic Oncology at The Mount Sinai Hospital. The three-day event in September was hosted by the Milton and Carroll Petrie Department of Urology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and held in collaboration with the Society of Urologic Robotic Surgeons and the Endourological Society.

Participants included more than 80 of the world’s leading experts in prostate, kidney, and bladder cancers. There were more than 100 presentations on improving patient outcomes, the genomic complexity of prostate and kidney cancers, novel biomarkers, and updates on the latest treatment techniques, including focal therapy and fusion biopsy. The symposium also recognized the 75th Anniversary of the Department of Urology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

“We were gratified by the number of leaders in our field who chose to attend,” says Ash Tewari, MBBS, MCh, the Kyung Hyun Kim, MD, Chair in Urology, Mount Sinai Health System, and the Director of the symposium. “We believe this symposium underscored the value of collaborating with colleagues from different countries and specialties in order to improve care for patients. We have already started planning for next year’s symposium.”

Among this year’s highlights were live robotic prostate and kidney surgeries performed in 3-D and in real time by Dr. Tewari and symposium co-director Ketan Badani, MD, Vice Chair of Urology, Director of Robotic Surgery, and Director of the Comprehensive Kidney Cancer Program, Mount Sinai Health System. Mount Sinai’s Department of Urology runs one of the busiest robotic surgical programs in the United States for prostate, kidney, and bladder cancers.

“These live surgery and video presentations are invaluable teaching opportunities,” says Dr. Badani. “Wearing the special glasses and with the cinematic projection, attendees can experience the same high-resolution, three-dimensional view that we have while performing robotic surgery.”

Says 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: “The depth and breadth of programs—from live 3-D surgeries to point-counterpoint debates conducted by leaders in the field of urology—reflect impressive planning and organization on the part of Dr. Tewari and his team. Events such as these help advance the reputation of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.”

Leaders from The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Lillian and Henry M. Stratton-Hans Popper Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Mount Sinai Health System served as associate directors of the symposium. They included: Nina Bhardwaj, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Medical Oncology); Carlos Cordon-Cardo, MD, PhD, the Irene Heinz Given and John LaPorte Given Professor and Chair of the Department of Pathology at the Mount Sinai Health System; and William Oh, MD, Chief of the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Professor of Medicine, and Urology, the Ezra M. Greenspan, MD Professor in Clinical Cancer Therapeutics, and Associate Director for Clinical Research, The Tisch Cancer Institute.

“This comprehensive event made me realize how much is already known and how much more needs to be done to advance patient care,” says Ramon E. Parsons, MD, PhD, Director of The Tisch Cancer Institute, and the Ward-Coleman Chair in Cancer Research and Professor of Oncological Sciences.

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Isabelle M. Germano, Professor of Neurosurgery, Neurology, and Oncological Sciences, Delivers Lecture at New York Society for Neurosurgery

Nov 3, 2017 | Featured, Research

Isabelle M. Germano, MD, MBA, FACS, Professor of Neurosurgery, Neurology, and Oncological Sciences at Mount Sinai Health System, was recently chosen by the New York Society for Neurosurgery to give the 2017 Charles A. Elsberg Lecture. She is the first woman to receive this honor since the lecture’s establishment 67 years ago. The event was held October 19.

The annual lecture was launched in 1950 to honor Charles A. Elsberg, MD (1872-1950). Dr. Elsberg, who was born and educated in New York City and practiced at The Mount Sinai Hospital, was the first surgeon focused solely on neurosurgery. Dr. Elsberg is considered the father of spinal cord neurosurgery and was one of the first to successfully remove an intramedullary spinal cord tumor.

Mark Bilsky, MD, president of the society, introduced Dr. Germano’s lecture, titled “The Changing Landscape of Neurosurgery.” Her lecture encapsulated the changing landscape of neurosurgery through the lens of her multiple interests and her significant contributions to neurosurgery, including neuronavigation, brain tumor surgery, translational research, and education.

The Elsberg Lecture has honored many distinguished neurosurgeons, including Ernest Sachs, MD; Leonard I. Malis, MD; Robert Spetzler, MD; Charles B. Wilson, MD; Gazi Yasargil, MD; and Kalmon D. Post, MD.

Watch a video to learn more about Dr. Germano

Dr. Germano at the podium with James T. Goodrich, MD, PhD, professor of neurosurgery at Albert Einstein College of Medicine

 

 

Isabelle Germano, MD, MBA, FACS, center, shown with Mount Sinai Neurosurgery residents, left to right, Alejandro Carrasquilla, MD; Jeffrey Zimering, MD; Jonathan Rasouli, MD; Christopher Sarkiss, MD; Jeremy Steinberger, MD; Kurt Yaeger, MD; Frank Yuk, MD; Travis Ladner, MD; and Margaret Pain, MD.

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First Group of Mount Sinai Medical Volunteers Return Home from Puerto Rico

Oct 27, 2017 | Community, Featured

Mount Sinai volunteers who returned from Puerto Rico saying goodbye to volunteers who joined them from other area health care providers

The first group of Mount Sinai Health System medical volunteers returned home from Puerto Rico on Thursday night, October 26, after completing their two-week deployment.

The 10-person team of doctors and nurses supported a hospital in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, where they were assigned a mission to help the Emergency Department. For many this was their first experience on a disaster recovery mission.

“The team worked long hours, without any days off, and saw more than 1,600 patients,” said Kevin Chason, DO, Clinical Director, Emergency Management, Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, and Medical Director for The Mount Sinai Hospital Emergency Medicine Services. “Much of what they were treating was exacerbation of chronic conditions and illness due to the poor living conditions resulting from the destruction of basic infrastructure caused by Hurricane Maria.”

He added: “There were times when the local hospital lost power and the team would rush to the ICU to help maintain ventilator patients until the power returned. The conditions were slowly improving and the hospital was moving off generators and back on to the electrical grid. But the island still has a very long way to go to restore routine medical care.”

On Tuesday, October 24, a second Mount Sinai team, consisting of three doctors, two nurse practitioners, and five nurses, departed for San Juan. Both Mount Sinai teams were part of larger groups of providers from New York State coordinated by Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office, the New York State Department of Health, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA), the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS), the New York State Nurses Association, and 1199SEIU.

The two Mount Sinai teams met Wednesday, October 25, in Fajardo, where the first team briefed the team relieving them and then headed to San Juan to prepare for the flight home.

“We truly appreciate the departments and the staff at home who generously reorganized schedules and covered shifts to allow these volunteers to do this important work,” said Dr. Chason. “We are also extremely grateful for the sacrifices the team has made to help those in need in Puerto Rico on behalf of Mount Sinai and New York State.”

 

The second team from Mount Sinai preparing to leave for Puerto Rico. Front row, left to right: Tamairi Vildoso, RN; Madeline Hernandez, RN; Gail Haynes, RN; Stephanie Ortiz, MD. Back row: Samantha Rose, NP; Diego Giraldo, RN; Sarah Schaefer, MD; Trina Cosme, RN; Sam Kim, MD, and Annette King, NP.

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Three Mount Sinai Researchers Elected to National Academy of Medicine

Oct 24, 2017 | Featured, Research

Three faculty members from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM).  Election to the NAM is considered one of the highest honors in health and medicine, recognizing individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.  The Icahn School of Medicine faculty members who were elected this year are:

“These newly elected members represent the most exceptional researchers and leaders in science, health, and medicine,” says Dennis S. Charney, MD, the Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.  “The election of Drs. Calman, Hurd, and Parsons is a distinguished achievement and well-deserved recognition of each of their leadership efforts and significant contributions to their particular fields of study.”

Neil S. Calman, MD, MMS

Dr. Calman is a nationally recognized leader in the field of family medicine and co-founder of the Institute for Family Health, a network of 31 federally qualified community health centers providing access to high-quality, fully integrated primary health care, behavioral health services, and oral health care targeted to the needs of medically underserved communities.  In 2012, through an affiliation between the Institute and Mount Sinai, Dr. Calman became Professor and Chair of the new Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where family physicians now practice and teach with full clinical privileges in the Mount Sinai Health System and its seven affiliated hospitals.  Since 1983, Dr. Calman has led the Institute in developing family health centers in the Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Hudson Valley as well as three community-based family medicine residency training programs now part of Mount Sinai’s graduate medical education consortium.  Dr. Calman is a leader in the national effort to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health outcomes, leading to the Institute’s designation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a National Center of Excellence in the Elimination of Disparities. This work has been supported by funding from the CDC, the National Institutes of Health, and the Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, as well as the New York State and New York City health departments.

Yasmin L. Hurd, PhD

Dr. Hurd is a recognized expert in translational neuroscience and addictive disorders.  Her multidisciplinary research investigates the neurobiology underlying addiction disorders and related psychiatric illnesses.  Dr. Hurd has been a leader in the field through her translational approaches to examine molecular and neurochemical events in the human brain and animal models to ascertain neurobiological correlates of behavior. She conducted pioneering studies of gene expression and epigenetic modifications in the postmortem human brain, research that has provided significant molecular insights about neuropsychiatric disorders. Already at early stages of her career, she helped to develop the in vivo microdialysis technique that enabled extracellular concentrations of neurotransmitters to be measured in live, active animals and is now used in many fields. Dr. Hurd has been a leading researcher regarding the developmental effects of cannabis and her innovative studies revealing cross-generational effects of cannabis have had broad implications. Her basic science research is complemented by human clinical studies with significant focus on the development of novel therapies.  She is frequently published, serves on many national scientific boards, and has been a prominent scientific voice to the public regarding addiction and its health impact.

Ramon E. Parsons, MD, PhD

Dr. Parsons is a highly acclaimed researcher in cancer genetics who brings an interdisciplinary, holistic approach to The Tisch Cancer Institute. His research goals include identifying the genetic and biochemical changes that lead normal cells to develop into aggressive cancer cells. He discovered a tumor suppressor gene often mutated in cancer called PTEN, which provided a critical therapeutic target in a variety of cancers including breast, brain, prostate, and endometrial cancers. He favors organ-based studies that rely on human tissues, which he feels are essential to understanding the biochemistry of disease.  The author of more than 90 original peer-reviewed articles, Dr. Parsons also has served as an editor on several journals, including Cancer Research.

New members are elected by current, active members through a selective process that recognizes people who have made major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care, and public health. Established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences, NAM is a national resource that provides independent, objective analysis and advice on health issues.

The new NAM members bring Mount Sinai’s total membership in the prestigious group to 24 present and past faculty members.  The distinguished Mount Sinai faculty members whom Drs. Calman, Hurd and Parsons join in earning this honor are: • Joseph D. Buxbaum, PhD • Dennis S. Charney, MD • Kenneth L. Davis, MD • Robert J. Desnick, MD, PhD • Kurt W. Deuschle, MD •Angela Diaz, MD, MPH • Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD • Bruce Gelb, MD • Alison M. Goate, DPhil • E. Cuyler Hammond, DSc • Kurt Hirschhorn, MD • Philip J. Landrigan, MD, MSc • Diane E. Meier, MD • Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD • Maria Iandolo New, MD • Peter Palese, PhD • Lynn D. Richardson, MD • Hugh A. Sampson, MD • Irving J. Selikoff, MD • Pamela Sklar, MD, PhD • Barbara G. Vickrey, MD, MPH.

Read the press release

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Women’s Cancer Program Is an Oasis of Expert Care

Oct 23, 2017 | Community, Featured

Stephanie V. Blank, MD, at Mount Sinai Chelsea

Patients with gynecologic and breast cancers are finding advanced care and a peaceful oasis at the Women’s Cancer Program at Mount Sinai Chelsea, a clinical practice—located in the iconic Google building on 15th Street between 8th and 9th avenues—that was years in the making.

“The Women’s Cancer Program is unique in many ways,” says Luis M. Isola, MD, Gerald J. Friedman Chair in Oncology, and Director, Cancer Clinical Programs, Mount Sinai Health System. “In its location in New York, there are essentially no other cancer centers,” he says, referring to the west side of Manhattan south of 34th Street. “And certainly none affiliated with a major academic institution like the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.”

The Program is based at Mount Sinai Chelsea, an 80,000-square-foot site with pastel walls, comfortable seating, and artfully placed flowers and paintings. “It has a very zen, serene atmosphere,” Dr. Isola says. “On any given day, hundreds of patients go in and out of the center, but there is no noise, there are no lines or bottlenecks. It’s efficient, and for patients, it’s a very welcoming environment.”

The Program provides “one-stop” care for patients diagnosed with breast or gynecologic cancer, says Stephanie V. Blank, MD, Director of Women’s Health, Mount Sinai Chelsea, and Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

The practice emphasizes a team approach, she says, with the team composed of a gynecologic oncologist, a nurse practitioner, an infusion nurse, a genetic counselor, a nutritionist, a social worker, a psychiatrist, and a financial counselor, among others.

Breast surgeon Sarah P. Cate, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, with patient Abigail George at Mount Sinai Chelsea.

The Program also strives to see any patient newly diagnosed with cancer within 24 hours. “We’ll get them right in,” Dr. Blank says. “Our goal is to provide the most excellent patient-centered care and make the whole experience as easy and pleasant as possible for women and their families going through a trying time.”

Dr. Blank, a renowned physician-scientist, says the Program delivers advanced treatments by taking part in several clinical trials, including combination immunotherapy for “frontline” patients—those just diagnosed with cancer. Another trial, for recurrent ovarian cancer, delivers drugs with conjugated antibodies, which are designed to target and kill cancer cells and spare healthy cells. The Program is also inaugurating a sexual health clinic focused on cancer survivors and an onco-fertility clinic dealing with the reproductive challenges faced by women with cancer.

The gynecologic oncology practice works closely with the breast cancer practice, which provides similarly comprehensive care. “We have breast imaging and ambulatory surgery. Except for radical mastectomy with major surgery, all diagnostic and surgical treatment can be done here,” Dr. Isola says. “We have three excellent oncologists who exclusively treat breast cancer, and we have access to supportive oncology, including palliative care, nutritional counseling, and a psychiatrist who is very helpful with emotional support.”

In addition to the Women’s Cancer Program, Mount Sinai Chelsea offers a range of other services for both men and women, including a skin cancer program, hematology-oncology, ambulatory surgery, radiology, and an infusion center that treats patients with cancer and nonmalignant conditions. New spaces for phlebotomy and dermatology, and a lounge for patients, are expected to be completed in coming months.

The Mount Sinai Health System has long been planning for a “future of medicine” that includes improving access and increasing the quality of care for people south of 34th Street, close to where they live and work. “We made a very explicit decision to grow with this practice in Chelsea,” Dr. Isola says. “Here we are, a few years later, and it’s becoming a reality.”

Read more about Mount Sinai's offerings south of 34th Street