The Class of 2021, including Benjamin Adegbite, left, and Daniel Afonin, center, read an oath expressing their ideals.

In a symbolic celebration that marked the beginning of their medical education, 140 first-year students at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai gathered on Monday, September 18, for the 20th Annual White Coat Ceremony. Family and friends cheered the Class of 2021 as the students walked to the stage of Stern Auditorium to be draped in white coats by faculty; they received their first stethoscopes just after the jubilant event.

“I know you have it in you to become the leaders of our profession and the world at large,” 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, told the class in his welcoming address. “You come to Mount Sinai from top undergraduate colleges and universities and have mean GPA and MCAT scores as high as any other students in the nation. But you are much more than that. It is not the academic accolades that convince me you have it in you to change the world. It is the fire in your eyes I see today that lets me know we are in capable hands.”

The incoming students—whose ages range from 21 to 36—represent diverse backgrounds and experiences. Nineteen percent identify as underrepresented minorities, and 50 percent are women. The class includes a Marine, a rabbi, a pastor, an ultramarathon runner, a sailor who has traveled one-third of the way around the world, and a student who grew up in Carver Houses, the public housing project across the street from The Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Charney said of that student, “It was a short walk across the street, but a long road to get here. She is an inspiration.”

Keynote speaker Paul R.G. Cunningham, MD

Valerie Parkas, MD, Senior Associate Dean for Recruitment and Admissions, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, administered an oath written by the students that expressed their ideals. The class pledged “to understand our patients’ diverse backgrounds and identities and treat them as partners in their care” and “to build upon the pillars of medicine through evidence-based practices and innovation.”

The keynote speaker was Paul R.G. Cunningham, MD, President of the North Carolina Medical Society, and Dean Emeritus of the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. Dr. Cunningham outlined his long career as a surgeon and educator, and he fondly recalled his residency at Mount Sinai, where he was mentored by Arthur H. Aufses Jr., MD, retired Chair of the Department of Surgery, whom he called his “professional father” and a “surgeon’s surgeon.” In their own professional journey, Dr. Cunningham advised the class to focus on outdoing themselves instead of merely competing with others, and to keep sight of their “why”—the vision that led them to study medicine.

Dr. Charney urged the Class of 2021 to “dream big.” And he posed challenges for the years ahead: translating the breakthroughs in DNA sequencing and precision medicine into clinical care; finding treatments for mental illness, substance abuse, and Alzheimer’s disease; and finding ways to treat, and even cure, the most common cancers.

“It is to your generation that we now turn, to guide us toward a new age of insight and discovery,” Dr. Charney said. “And it is our job, as your teachers, to guide you.”

Manjil Chatterji, MD, Assistant Professor of Radiology, and Medical Education, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, bestowed a white coat on Courtney Connolly.

From left: James F. Holland, MD; Hanna Irie, MD, PhD; Donna Berizzi, RN, MSN, presenter of the Team Recognition Award; Amy Tiersten, MD; Julie Fasano, MD; Aarti Sonia Bhardwaj, MD; and Frances Cartwright, PhD, RN-BC. Not pictured is Charles L. Shapiro, MD.

Before a celebratory audience of faculty and staff, and family and friends, nine physicians at The Mount Sinai Hospital were honored by nurse colleagues and Nursing leadership with the 30th Annual Physician of the Year Award. The ceremony, held Tuesday, September 26, at Hatch Auditorium, is a yearly salute to physicians who excel in patient care—and more—and take leadership roles in creating strong collaborative partnerships with nurses.

“There is nothing more validating for a clinical physician than to have the respect and admiration of your colleagues in nursing,” said David Reich, MD, President and Chief Operating Officer, The Mount Sinai Hospital.

Presentations included heartfelt and sometimes humorous recollections from nursing colleagues that spotlighted extraordinary examples of kindness, outstanding patient care, leadership, collegiality, and respect. For only the second time, a Team Recognition Award was presented—to the medical oncology attendings at the Dubin Breast Center of The Tisch Cancer Institute.

The team includes legendary oncologist James F. Holland, MD, the Distinguished Professor of Neoplastic Diseases, and Professor of Medicine (Hematology/Medical Oncology), and Oncological Sciences, who is considered one of the founding fathers of cancer chemotherapy.

Umesh K. Gidwani, MD

Laura K. Stein, MD

Throughout the ceremony, recipients emotionally detailed the familial bonds developed between physicians and nursing. “I have learned so much about what it means to take care of patients but also what it means to take care of your colleagues and friends,” said Laura K. Stein, MD, Department of Neurology, recipient of the Fellow Award.

Added Frances Cartwright, PhD, RNBC, Edgar M. Cullman, Sr. Chair of the Department of Nursing, and Chief Nursing Officer and Senior Vice President for Patient  Care Services, The Mount Sinai Hospital: “A growing body of evidence shows that when physicians and nurses have a trusting, open, and collaborative relationship, we have improved patient safety and quality of patient experience.”

The 2017 honorees were:

Team Recognition Award: Medical Oncology team, the Dubin Breast Center of The Tisch Cancer Institute

Aarti Sonia Bhardwaj, MD

Julie Fasano, MD

James F. Holland, MD

Hanna Irie, MD, PhD

Charles L. Shapiro, MD

Amy Tiersten, MD

Attending Award: Umesh K. Gidwani, MD, Associate Professor, Medicine (Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine)

Fellow Award: Laura K. Stein, MD, Department of Neurology

House Officer Award: Jeffrey D. Nusbaum, MD,PGY-4S, Department of Emergency Medicine.

Mount Sinai leaders, including Jeremy Boal, MD, President, Mount Sinai Downtown, front row, second from left, and Kelly Cassano, DO, Chief of Ambulatory Care, Mount Sinai Downtown, with scissors, celebrated the opening of the new Urgent Care facility at Union Square with local politicians and community organizers. They included Claude L. Winfield, Vice Chair, Manhattan Community Board 6; New York State Assembly Member Richard N. Gottfried, District 75; Wally Rubin, District Manager, Manhattan Community Board 5; and Scott Hobbs, Deputy Director, and William D. Abramson, Co-Chair, of the Union Square Partnership.

Several doors down from the Union Square subway station sits one of the Mount Sinai Health System’s hidden gems—a 350,000-square foot, full-service ambulatory center that includes physician offices for more than 30 clinical care specialties—and a new Urgent Care facility for adults and children. The recently renovated ambulatory center and the new Urgent Care center are part of Mount Sinai’s plan to transform health care services for New Yorkers south of 34th Street.

Deceptively simple from the outside, the ambulatory center’s sleek glass and stone entry gives way to five busy floors where more than 350 physicians and 550 staff take care of patients who live and work in downtown Manhattan, Brooklyn, and surrounding areas. The Mount Sinai Union Square ambulatory center includes an outpatient facility with six operating rooms, a 17-chair chemotherapy infusion suite, doctor’s offices, exam rooms, radiological suites with the latest technology, space for in-office procedures, and a pharmacy.

An indoor parking garage on the lower level conveniently leads directly into the building. At the beginning of 2018, Mount Sinai Union Square will open new Cardiology and Respiratory institutes, followed by new OB-GYN, general Pediatric, and specialty Pediatric suites later in the year.

At the new Urgent Care facility, adults and children receive the highest quality care from board-certified emergency medicine physicians who treat patients seven days a week and during evening hours. The facility also includes a full X-ray room and point-of-care testing that can provide patients with the answers they need immediately. For medical emergencies, patients south of 34th Street will continue to be seen at Mount Sinai Beth Israel’s (MSBI) Emergency Department, which will be in operation until the new Mount Sinai Beth Israel hospital opens.

“Mount Sinai is leading the way in improving the health care experience for people who live and work in this community,” says Jeremy Boal, MD, President, Mount Sinai Downtown, Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer, Mount Sinai Health System. “Health care delivery is changing and we are committed to embracing this change with excellent and convenient care that keeps people healthy. Our significant investment in modernization attests to our commitment to the community south of 34th Street, where we intend to stay and grow.”

Within the next couple of years construction will begin on the new MSBI, resulting in a technologically sophisticated hospital that conforms to the demands of modern, twenty-first century medicine. This hospital of the future at MSBI will incorporate the rapidly changing improvements taking place in the field of medicine in a new infrastructure that requires a smaller physical footprint. It will be located next door to an enhanced New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai.

“Our ambulatory services were designed to address the community’s needs for high-quality specialized care under one roof,” says Kelly Cassano, DO, Chief of Ambulatory Care, Mount Sinai Downtown. “Patients who visit the Mount Sinai Union Square building will receive full-service urgent care services or the comprehensive specialized services they require.”

Indeed, as Paul Zucker, Vice President of Ambulatory Operations, points out, the Union Square facility houses two MRI machines—including one that is brand new—along with mammography and radiation oncology equipment, and an infrastructure that handles wide-ranging specialties that include maternal fetal medicine and vascular surgery. “What differentiates us,” he says, “is that patients can access virtually every medical specialty without ever leaving the building.”