Emergency Medicine Team From Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West Volunteer to Care for Runners at the NYC Marathon

For more than a decade, Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West have put together their own teams for the New York City Marathon. But instead of running, these are teams of volunteers who care for the runners.

The interdisciplinary team, with emergency medicine providers, nurses, and trainees, work together to provide care. Robert Hoke, MD, Associate Director of the Division of Emergency Medicine Services and Disaster Preparedness for Mount Sinai Health System and Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, has participated for the last two years and helps lead the efforts.

Robert Hoke, MD

He explains what it’s like behind the scenes as they set up at the finish line in Central Park.

To be ready for the first runners to cross the finish line, they assemble around 8 am. The set up involves arranging seats and cots, coordinating with the pharmacy, and checking ice baths.  A few hours later, when the first runners cross the finish line, it’s starting time for them.

“As a practicing emergency physician, we see patients when they are at their most vulnerable. At the marathon we get to see patients on their best day,” he says. “Throughout the day we treat runners and hear their stories, all tremendously varied but somehow still leading them to the same wonderful goal.  The race day concludes much later in the day, with the overall excitement of each runner driving us through.  Overall, the day can be difficult, but for all of those reasons it is magical to take part in.”

World AIDS Day: An Opportunity to Remember for Those on the Front Lines of HIV/AIDS Treatment and Research

December 1 is World AIDS Day. Since it was first observed in 1988, the day has been an opportunity to spotlight the efforts to prevent, treat, and someday cure HIV, and to remember those lost to AIDS-related illnesses.

This year, Mount Sinai employees who have been on the front lines in HIV/AIDS treatment and research for decades—including those at the Institute for Advanced Medicine, which has been a leader since the 1980s—were asked to share what this day means to them. Here is what they wrote.

Judith A. Aberg, MD

Judith A. Aberg, MD, Dean of System Operations for Clinical Sciences, Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, Dr. George Baehr Professor of Clinical Medicine

My first engagement with HIV/AIDS was in 1981 as a microbiologist working in Richmond, Virginia, as reports of pneumocystis pneumonia and cryptosporidium were increasing among gay men. Given my background in microbiology, I entered medical school with the intent to become an infectious diseases physician. My rotations during medical school continued to drive my interest in HIV for several reasons. One, the patients were my peers by age, and the devastation of seeing them suffer in the absence of effective therapies was heartbreaking. Two, there was so much misinformation, fear, and stigma associated with HIV that compelled me to gain knowledge to combat social injustice and inequities in health care. Third, persons with AIDS had infections that I had a strong scientific interest in and would eventually lead me from initial plans of having a lab to conducting clinical trials in search of more effective therapies.

World AIDS Day to me is a way for us to say “we will never forget” and to continue our fight against AIDS. There remains too much morbidity, mortality, and stigma among persons with HIV. I keep a slide of Ryan White at the end of my talks related to HIV, and my closing line has been that I will remove it when there is no more stigma. I still show it today. Ryan was 13 when he was diagnosed with AIDS in December 1984 and faced unbelievable discrimination. Congress passed the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act in August 1990, four months after Ryan died. We cannot forget how far we have come and how much further we must go.

I joined Mount Sinai in January 2014 as the merger among several hospitals was occurring and we would be providing care to more than 10,000 persons with HIV. This was an opportunity for my research team to offer enrollment in clinical trials throughout the Mount Sinai Health System in order to reach more populations affected by HIV in search of less toxic and better-tolerated therapies for HIV, treatments for comorbidities, and strategies for a cure. We are proud of our accomplishments, having enrolled more than 1,000 patients of diverse backgrounds of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and socioeconomic status who have contributed to new strategies and licensing of new therapies.

I am blessed that I was friends with Robert Zackin, ScD, who was the first successful heart transplant in a person with AIDS who had a history of Kaposi sarcoma, cytomegalovirus, and disseminated MAC infection at the Cleveland Clinic. No one thought such a transplant could be done in these circumstances. While Robert unfortunately succumbed to a transplant-related infection 3½ years later, he paved the way for others to follow. I miss him every day.

Matthew Baney, MS

Matthew Baney, MS, Director, Institute for Advanced Medicine

I began working in the HIV/AIDS field in 1985. My motivation for doing so was very personal: I had lost many friends and two partners to the infection. I am most proud of the response we brought back in the early stages of the epidemic, addressing a health emergency in the community with care, compassion, and love. The same approach continues today in our work.

World AIDS Day helps remind us that the fight is not over with respect to HIV. People are living with the infection, while others continue to be infected. There is still plenty of work to do. The world has changed since the early stages of the epidemic, and the provision of health care has changed as well. It was forced to change, and we have improved our efforts on behalf of all patients.

Mount Sinai was one of the first institutions to address HIV/AIDS, and the system treated every patient as any other, once again with quality care and compassion. We brought equality to medical care, treating everyone as individuals in need. We equalized. Once again, we continue that approach today.

I have dedicated my professional career to the field of HIV/AIDS with the hope that in my lifetime there would be a cure. I still have the hope for the future. For my friends and my loved ones, I never forget you.

Michael Mullen, MD

Michael Mullen, MD, Executive Director, Institute for Advanced Medicine, Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases)

I have been working in this field for nearly 40 years. It has been an incredible journey. Before the development of effective treatment, an AIDS diagnosis was considered a “death sentence.” Those years were devastating. I lost so many patients, family members, a majority of my friends, and many colleagues. The numbers continued to increase over time. I remember losing five patients in one day. There was very little time to deal with the grief and loss.

Fortunately, effective treatments came into play, and it was astonishing to witness a uniformly fatal disease largely reverse its course. That being said, I can never forget those terrible days and those brave individuals who succumbed to this disease. In fact, my tears are flowing as I’m writing this.

World AIDS Day is a time to remember those lost and to spread awareness of the need to continue efforts on HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. The number of new infections are overwhelmingly seen in communities that experience discrimination and exclusion. This is another example of disparities in health care. If we are going to see an end to this epidemic, there need to be continued efforts to advocate for funding and resources to address this need.

Many medical centers have closed their HIV/AIDS treatment centers, but Mount Sinai Health  System’s leadership has continued to support specialized clinics for HIV/AIDS education, treatment, and prevention. Cheers to Mount Sinai!

Lorna Gottesman, LMSW

Lorna Gottesman, LMSW, Social Worker

In 1990, I started volunteering in what we then called “the fight against AIDS.” I was part of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis Buddy Program, providing one-on-one support to a person living with AIDS. I was also a peer educator at the Columbia University Gay Health Advocacy Project and sat in the back of Act Up meetings.

It was a way for me to find queer community in New York, and I was drawn to the work because HIV is the intersection of the most important issues in our culture. To really fight AIDS, I need to be anti-racist, and I need to be fighting homophobia and sexism, and I try to keep that the focus of my practice. I feel lucky that I can work one-on-one with people and be working for a better world.

My first job in HIV was at a shelter for homeless people with HIV/AIDS. From there, I went on to work at several small AIDS service organizations including the PWA Health Group (a buyer club started by Michael Callen that provided access to medications before they were approved by the Food and Drug Administration); the Women’s Prison Association; and WORLD (Women Organized to Respond to Life-Threatening Disease) in Oakland, California, started by a personal hero, Rebecca Denison. I also helped start SMART University in East Harlem.

I’ve worked at Mount Sinai’s Samuels Clinic for more than 19 years. I enjoy the mix of patients we have. I like that I never quite know what my workday will hold, and I’m grateful that my patients and coworkers trust me enough to keep teaching me. And I remember my friends Judith, Cherie, Dale, Bunny, Petra, Tommy, and so many others.

Dale Mandelman, RN

Dale Mandelman, RN, Manager, Patient Care Services

I was working in the former Beth Israel Medical Center Emergency Department in 1984, and it seemed as though we were taking care of many people who were very ill and with what? After a while, HIV was named. At the same time, I had made the switch to the clinic and left the Emergency Department. It felt like the right fit for me. Sadly, people were so sick, and the intimacy created between staff and patients was so intense. There was tremendous loss.

Many people were estranged from their families, and we often became substitutes. But a wonderful thing started to happen. New medications were being developed, and people were living longer with a better quality of life. Today, most people can do well by taking one pill daily. Being a nurse at the Peter Krueger Clinic could not be surpassed, in that we made a difference, got a lot of love, gave it back, and helped people accept their illness and how to best deal with it. It’s been one of the highlights of my life, and certainly as a nurse.

Dina Franchi, LCSW

Dina Franchi, LCSW, Assistant Director, Social Work

I have been working at the Peter Krueger Clinic and with people who are HIV positive since 1991. Prior to coming to Mount Sinai Beth Israel, I was working in a therapeutic community for people with addictions, and this was when I first encountered HIV and people who were infected with this illness. I was working with people who could not overcome their addictions and were now sick and, unfortunately, many were dying.

I began working at the Clinic because I wanted to provide support and caring to those ill with HIV and work with their families to educate them about this illness, and to break down the stigma associated with HIV. Mount Sinai Beth Israel was a leader in HIV care, and we worked not only with people who were HIV positive but also with their families. The work we do made and continues to make a difference in the lives of our patients.

Over the years, treatments for HIV have been able to provide people infected with HIV the ability to live their lives, not focusing on illness but on living life. I continue to see patients I first worked with when I started working at the Clinic. So, when I was asked about what World AIDS Day means to me, it means several things: Remembrance of those who lost their lives battling this illness; not forgetting how this fight started; resilience for the strength people with HIV have; and life itself.

I continue to hope for a cure for HIV, and I do hope it happens in my lifetime.

Sally Parisi-Esposito, RN

Sally Parisi-Esposito, RN, Mount Sinai Beth Israel / Peter Krueger Clinic

I have been part of Beth Israel since 1986, when I attended nursing school. I began working at the Peter Krueger Clinic in 1991 because I wanted to make a difference. When I started working, people died from being HIV positive, but now they live. I am proud to be a part of Beth Israel, an institution that was not afraid to do what was right.

Scott Barnett

Scott Barnett, Program Coordinator

Since 2018 I have been a Program Coordinator at the Mount Sinai Comprehensive Health Program in Chelsea. My current role is working with the Mount Sinai emergency departments and facilitating linkage to HIV treatment and prevention services. My career in HIV spans 30 years, having been a clinical research study coordinator and then an outreach coordinator, recruiting all communities to participate in the research process.

As a gay man who lived in Key West from 1982 to 1990, I witnessed the loss of an entire generation of young men. I have a photograph of me and 13 friends taken at a pool party in 1984. By 1989, five years later, only one other person and I  were still alive. Also in 1984, I met the man with whom I would spend the next 16 years. Tim was diagnosed with advanced AIDS in 1991, and we moved to Baltimore to be near his family. He became a patient in the HIV clinic at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, and I started my career in HIV there as a volunteer. After his self-described “going away party,” Tim passed away at home with me in 2000, just before his 40th birthday.

Beginning with the approval of the first “cocktail” medications, through today’s powerful single-pill HIV treatments and now pre-and post-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP and PEP) to prevent infection, we have the ability to end the AIDS epidemic by making sure all people know their status. That all people living with HIV have equal access to care and treatment. That all individuals who feel at risk of infection have equal access to prevention services. And that all people have the same opportunity to be as healthy as possible.

I commemorate World AIDS Day 2022 by remembering all those whom we have lost, and by retaining joy for all those who remain HIV negative.

Janet Goldberg

Janet Goldberg, Development and Communications Director

I began working in the HIV/AIDS field in 1987. AIDS was insane at that point, with more than 50 patients in the hospital on one day, and people dying every day. We attended many advocacy meetings, and heard stories from around the world. One meeting was with a country’s leadership who were planning to isolate everyone with HIV in a camp to stop AIDS from spreading–alarming!

There were so many positive outcomes from those days: harm-reduction practices, needle exchanges, fast tracking of medication in trial in order to get it to people in need faster. I am always astounded by how much we have done, and how many of the struggles are still the same.

What keeps me going is the people—patients and staff—their passion, dedication, perseverance, and skill and ability to think outside the box to ensure that services are being developed and delivered in a way that meets clients’ needs. Truly inspiring.

World AIDS Day always brings me back to the beginning, reading all the names, the quilt when it first started, developing our service networks, developing services. How much we have accomplished, and how much there is to do. We have lowered infection rates and improved treatments—but we need a cure. That’s my hope; that this will happen soon.

Oscar Klein, MD

Oscar Klein, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases)

I have been involved with HIV/AIDS care since the beginning of the epidemic while in medical school in the early 1980s.

I was a resident and an attending physician at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York during the worst of the epidemic, and I have continued to provide HIV care, which I proudly do at Mount Sinai. It is now, mostly, an outpatient chronic condition.

World AIDS Day allows us to focus on all the progress we have made, the ongoing improvements in the lives of people living with HIV, and to remember the work we have to do to expand the ability of all people with HIV to get the care they need.

I have always believed that it is a privilege to be able to work in the medical field. It has given me great satisfaction to be able to be involved in important moments and decisions in a patient’s life, and to feel that I have had a great impact on their sense of well-being.

I believe that our combined efforts in the labs, in clinical care, in protesting and organizing, and enlarging the circle of care will one day eradicate this epidemic.

Michael DeVidas, DSW, LCSW

Michael DeVidas, DSW, LCSW, Director of Social Work Services for Comprehensive Health Program and Jack Martin Clinic-Outpatient and Inpatient Practices

I’ve been at Mount Sinai for 20 years and a social worker for 38 years.

As a gay man in his early 20s, I have experienced the AIDS crisis since the early 1980s when clients with whom I worked, as well as friends, often died with little to no treatment available. The protesting and fighting to get medications approved for HIV and trying to keep people alive remains a struggle even now, based on one’s life circumstances and where you live. I became a social worker to make a difference in people’s lives. I have great admiration for long-term survivors of HIV/AIDS because I saw what they went through from the early days of the epidemic.

Mount Sinai became a leader in the battle to care for people with HIV. Since 1992, the Jack Martin Clinic and the inpatient service were models of HIV care in managing and advocating for the patients who came though Mount Sinai. When Mount Sinai added the St. Vincent’s Hospital HIV practice in 2010, our practice grew into the Institute for Advanced Medicine, serving more than 10,000 patients. I have great admiration for the providers, nurses, social workers, and other staff who show their dedication each day to keep our patients alive and thriving.

At this late stage of my social work career, I hope and pray a cure for HIV comes to fruition. I often think of all those patients and friends who lost their lives to AIDS.  They are always missed.

Expert Advice on RSV and Other Respiratory Illnesses in Children

As often happens at this time of the year, physicians are busy caring for children with respiratory illnesses that can range from a common cold to something more serious, including COVID-19. What’s different this season is an increase in the number of cases of respiratory syncytial virus, better known as RSV.

In this Q&A, C. Anthoney Lim, MD, the Director of Pediatric Emergency Medicine for the Mount Sinai Health System and the Medical Director of the Pediatric Emergency Department and Pediatric Short Stay Unit at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, explains what symptoms to look out for, how to help your child if they are sick, and when to seek medical care.

As always, Mount Sinai’s Emergency Departments and Urgent Care centers are available to help any time, and they work closely with your pediatrician and primary care provider. And one important reminder: Be sure your child is up to date with their vaccinations, which is one of the best ways to prevent serious illness.

What pediatric respiratory illnesses are circulating now and who is most at risk of getting them?

All of the respiratory viruses are circulating among most school age children and those in preschool. They all look essentially the same to physicians and parents at the onset. These are the most common ones we’re seeing:

  • Respiratory syncytial (sin-SISH-uhl) virus, or RSV, is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms. Most people recover in a week or two, but RSV can be serious, especially for infants and older adults. It typically affects younger infants, premature infants, and children with underlying medical conditions.
  • Influenza is the seasonal virus that causes the flu. The flu season stated early this year. Like RSV, it especially affects young children and those with chronic illnesses or medical conditions such as asthma.
  • Enterovirus D68 causes a mild cold in most cases. But it produces a more severe illness in some children, possibly requiring hospitalization, especially for those with asthma.
  • COVID-19 has been circulating throughout the year. Children who require hospitalization are those who have not been vaccinated or have not received all of their vaccinations.

C. Anthoney Lim, MD

What advice do you have for parents whose children may be sick?

In general, it’s less important to try to tell the differences between these respiratory illnesses. It’s more important that you support your child and their illness by keeping your child hydrated, making sure they are breathing comfortably, and taking care of their symptoms, such as fever. It is helpful to prepare by having some Motrin or Tylenol at home. If your child has an underlying medical condition, you should be prepared to treat other symptoms, such as having an inhaler for those with asthma or carefully managing your child’s sugar levels if they have diabetes.

How do I know if my child is becoming dehydrated?

There are some simple things that you can do to make sure your child is properly hydrated. The most important thing is making sure your child is peeing. A well hydrated infant will urinate about four to six times a day. For young children, that means that you should have a wet diaper about every six or eight hours. If it starts getting longer than that, it’s important to start encouraging your child to drink fluids. If your child continues to go without peeing, it’s time to talk to your doctor. Other signs of possible dehydration are that you may see your child will just be less active. They might cry, but not make any tears. Their mouth might start looking dry as well. All of these can be signs that it’s time to see the doctor.

How can I monitor my child’s breathing?

When your child is breathing comfortably, you should almost barely recognize they are taking breaths. As they start having more trouble breathing, you’ll see them start using all of their body muscles that you don’t typically use to breathe, such as their belly moving. You might see their neck moving or their shoulders. You’ll see their nose flaring. All of those can be signs that your child is now using these muscles to breathe that they don’t normally use. If it goes on for a prolonged period of time, it can be dangerous. So once that starts, it is time to see a doctor.

How do I know if I need to call the doctor?

If you begin treating symptoms and don’t see any improvement, it’s often time to reach out to a doctor. For example, if you’ve been giving your child Motrin or Tylenol and your child is still very tired, and they’re not getting up to drink, then it’s probably time for a conversation with your doctor. If you’ve been giving albuterol every four for hours and it looks like the child’s breathing is not improving, definitely call the doctor. You can expect a variety of symptoms, including cough, runny nose, vomiting, diarrhea, fevers, rashes, just more crying. These typically can last three to five days. If after that time, your treatments are not leading to an improvement in your child’s condition, then it is time to have a chat with your pediatrician.

Any tips for managing symptoms?

When your child has a fever, and they’re fussy and don’t want to eat or drink, and they don’t want to sleep because they’re uncomfortable, giving them Motrin or Tylenol can help them feel comfortable enough so that they’ll drink or get some rest. I often tell parents that if your child is sleeping in the middle of the night and you check on them and they feel a little warm but they’re sleeping and breathing comfortably, there’s no need for wake them up to give Motrin or Tylenol. You are only defeating the whole purpose of the medication, which is to allow them to rest and have the body help with their illness. If your child has asthma and you notice coughing or wheezing, it’s a good time to give your controller medications because they can still have some benefits. For children with other underlying illnesses, make sure you’re keeping up with what your action plans are. Talking with your doctor in advance can be helpful in coming up with a plan to help your child.

For a Teenager From Ukraine, a Pandemic, a War, and Then a Life-Saving Heart Procedure at Mount Sinai

Sofiia Baturina and her doctor, Barry Love, MD

When Russian forces invaded her hometown in Ukraine, 16-year-old Sofiia Baturina had never heard of Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital thousands of miles away.

The young girl, born with a rare heart condition that required life-long care, knew that she had a long, perilous journey ahead. She was often frightened, and winded because of her heart condition. But further care would have to wait until she reached safety with her mom and dad.

After a harrowing journey out of Ukraine, they arrived in Germany. At this point, Sofiia’s older sister, Anna, who lived in New York, made contact with the Staten Island-based Global Medical Relief Fund seeking help. The nonprofit foundation arranged for flights out of Germany, and with one email quickly connected the family to doctors at Mount Sinai, who immediately offered to help.

When Sofiia arrived in New York City with her parents on June 27, she was exhausted. Her hometown of Severodonetsk, a city of about 100,000 residents in northeast Ukraine, was still on her mind. Located about 90 miles from the Russian border, it had been a focal point of the war and the scene of fierce fighting. The city was now in ruins, and she could only guess whether she would ever return.

“My city remains intact only in my memory’s most distant, secluded corners, where it is still young, beautiful, clean, and tidy,” she says.  The loss of her home, her hometown, and her homeland, she says, represents “the greatest loss of my life.”

But it was not her first test.

Sofiia Baturina wearing a traditional Ukrainian wreath.

When the war with Russia broke out, she had already endured a lifetime of surgeries to fix her heart. Born with the heart condition tetralogy of Fallot,  she had three prior heart operations performed in Kyiv—the first when she was 10 months old. While in the hospital preparing for a fourth surgery, she was informed that the operation would be postponed because she had COVID-19. After she recovered, with the war underway, there was no chance of finding a surgeon in Ukraine.

Once at Mount Sinai, Sofiia and her family  finally received some good news: After reviewing the records the family brought and performing additional testing, the team at Mount Sinai felt that Sofiia could be treated with a minimally invasive catheterization procedure rather than surgery. Her doctors in Ukraine had recommended open-heart surgery, which comes with a much longer and harder recovery.

On August 2, Barry Love, MD, Director of the Congenital Cardiac Catheterization Program at the performed a two-hour procedure from a small incision in the groin.

Instead of replacing an old conduit, the narrowed tube between the right heart and the lungs, which had been implanted during a previous surgery, Dr. Love enlarged this critical tube with a series of balloons, and then he placed a metal cage, called a stent, to hold it open. Finally, he telescoped a new valve within the stent and expanded in-place to complete the procedure and allow the blood to again flow freely to the lungs and not leak back to the heart.

“Before we intervened, Sofiia’s right heart pressure was dangerously high,” Dr. Love says.  “After the stent and valve, her right heart pressure is nearly normal. This is an incredibly satisfying result.”

Sofiia was discharged from the hospital the next day. A week later, she was walking without symptoms.  She was excited to tell Dr. Love, “I walked 19,000 steps yesterday and didn’t get tired or have to stop.”

Sofiia and her family are grateful for the warm welcome and expert care they received at Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital.

“I’m feeling great!” she says. “My life became more accessible and comfortable after the surgery. I do my best to walk more when I have free time from school. I especially enjoy walking in Central Park.”

Looking back on the toll of the war and the pandemic, she says, “I don’t know how I managed to stay strong. That was my only choice. Letting the fear swallow and paralyze you is the worst thing you can do.”

Sofiia and her father, Andril, hiding out in a basement during their long and arduous escape from Ukraine.

A Generous Gift Advances Breast Cancer Screening at Mount Sinai

Joyce Glasgold and her daughter, Ellen Glasgold Lange, know firsthand how important early detection can be in breast cancer, which is why a generous gift from the Glasgold Family Foundation made possible the purchase of an ultrasound reading platform powered by artificial intelligence. From left: Alexandra Lange, Ellen Glasgold Lange, Joyce Glasgold, Olivia Lange, and Trevor Lange.

When it comes to breast cancer, Joyce Glasgold and her daughter, Ellen Glasgold Lange, know firsthand how important early detection can be.

Joyce Glasgold’s mother died of breast cancer, and many of her family members had the disease. Mrs. Glasgold herself was diagnosed in 1991 at age 50. Fifteen years later, her daughter Ellen was diagnosed with lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS), a condition that indicates an increased risk of developing breast cancer and that, along with her family history, led her to have a bilateral mastectomy.

So when they learned about Koios DS Breast—an AI-powered, ultrasound-reading software platform that can spot cancer in two seconds—they were eager to make it available to women throughout New York City. A generous gift from the Glasgold Family Foundation to the Department of Radiology supported the purchase and installation of the software at The Mount Sinai Hospital, ensuring that physicians have advanced technology to aid them in making rapid, accurate diagnoses and reducing unnecessary biopsies.

This is particularly important for women with dense breasts, which can make it much more difficult to spot cancers. Nearly 50 percent of women over age 40 have dense breast tissue, and mammograms miss more than half of cancers present in those individuals. These women often require an ultrasound in addition to mammography to capture images of areas of the breast that may be harder to see.

“This new software potentially allows us to increase the ability of breast ultrasound to find cancer that might have gone undetected,” says Laurie R. Margolies, MD, FACR, FSBI, System Chief of Breast Imaging for the Mount Sinai Health System. “The radiologists at Mount Sinai are excited to be able to use cutting-edge technologies for the betterment of our robust ultrasound screening program and the benefit of all our patients.”

Using artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms, Koios DS Breast compares ultrasounds to an archive of hundreds of thousands of images from patients from around the world with confirmed benign or malignant diagnoses, providing radiologists with an instant “second opinion” in classifying suspicious lesions. The technology not only helps clinicians identify cancer sooner so patients can begin treatment as quickly as possible, but it also reduces the need for biopsies in benign tissues.

Because the Mount Sinai Health System serves a large and diverse patient population, the Glasgolds are also pleased that women from medically underserved communities will now have access to state-of-the-art diagnostics.

“We all know that catching breast cancer early saves lives, so our family was compelled to accelerate the adoption of this exciting new innovation,” says Joyce Glasgold. “We are honored and thrilled to help bring this game-changing technology to Mount Sinai.”

‘What a Wonderful World’ Gala Benefits Music Therapy

From left, Honoree David Sanborn, Shantelena Mouzon, administrative coordinator at the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine,  and musician Paul Shaffer

The 17th annual “What a Wonderful World” gala benefiting the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine, was a festive evening of jazz and expressions of gratitude to three honorees for making the world more wonderful through their contributions to music and music therapy.

The event, held Monday, October 24, at the Angel Orensanz Foundation and hosted by the Wonderful World Friends of Music Therapy Inc., honors the legacy of the Louis Armstrong Department of Music Therapy and their commitment to music therapy at Mount Sinai hospitals.

The event recognizes a dynamic group of individuals chosen from a variety of fields including music, medicine, and patients who have benefitted from receiving music therapy at Mount Sinai hospitals.

This year’s honorees were Grant Mitchell, MD, Chair, Department of Psychiatry, Mount Sinai Beth Israel; David Sanborn, the multi-Grammy Award-winning saxophonist, who was presented the Phoebe Jacobs Award by Paul Shaffer (pianist of the former Late Night with David Letterman); and patient Rosemarie Greene.

From left, Honoree Grant Mitchell, MD, Joanne V. Loewy, DA, LCAT, MT-BC, Prameet Singh, MD, and Daniel S Safin, MD

The gala was hosted by Mercedes Ellington, dancer, choreographer, and granddaughter of Duke Ellington, and Bill Daughtry, the retired radio and TV host. The co-chairs were Karen and Doug Seidman from the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine’s Steering Committee. The event featured performances by Rema Webb from the Broadway production of The Music Man; Antoine Smith from the Broadway production of MJ: The Musical; saxophonist Erik Lawrence, Lou Marini, a saxophonist and an original member of The Blues Brother, and jazz pianist Garry Dial. Mr. Shaffer and Mr. Sanborn, along with Will Lee (bass), performed jazz and Louis Armstrong’s ‘Wonderful World’.

“We are proud to bring together members of the music, medicine, and patient community who through the gala learn of the breadth and scope of patients we serve and our research projects with doctors and nurses, from neonatal care to oncology, Alzheimer’s disease and psychiatry,” said Joanne V. Loewy, DA, LCAT, MT-BC, Founder and Director of the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine, which provides music therapy services throughout the Mount Sinai Health System.

The Department of Music Therapy, with support from the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation and other grants, provides a range of clinical services for infants, children, and adults, and day treatment at the Mount Sinai-Union Square clinic and within the community. Its music therapists are licensed and board certified to provide care that complements medical treatment, assisting with sedation, pain management, and neurologic and respiratory function.

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