Featured | Mount Sinai Today

In Donning New White Coats, Students Take on a New Chapter

Updated on Sep 20, 2022 | Featured, School

The excitement in the Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts was palpable as families and friends waited for their loved ones to receive their coats in the White Coat Ceremony on Tuesday, September 13, as part of their journey at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Meanwhile, outside the hall, medical student Mateo Restrepo was feeling nervous.

“It’s been challenging getting to this point,” he said, “but this is a moment me and all my classmates have been waiting for a long time.”

In his address, Dennis Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of Icahn Mount Sinai, posed challenges to the 120 students who make up the class of 2026.

“But, now, as first-year students embarking on a career in medicine, the white coat you are about to receive represents a new tabula rasa,” Dr. Charney said. “How will you paint that blank canvas? What will you contribute to the field of medicine? How will you relieve suffering?”

Medical trainees then stepped up to the stage to receive their short white coats—a symbol of their journey to becoming fully fledged physicians with long white coats. As a faculty member robed each student, their stories about why they chose to enter health care were shown on a screen, spanning personal encounters with the health profession, heartfelt struggles with disease by family or themselves, and inspiration to challenge boundaries of health and science.

Meet: Mateo Restrepo, Class of 2026

Born in Colombia, Mr. Restrepo moved to Canada when he was five years old and was a professional soccer player. He then left his soccer career to pursue a medical education after graduating from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

What drew you to Icahn Mount Sinai?
Mount Sinai is uniquely situated to help underserved communities. Its presence in East Harlem especially means there are communities there that speak to my Latin [American] roots, and I look forward to seeing where I can help and learn from them.

What medical fields do you envision entering?
My sports background naturally makes me inclined toward orthopedic surgery, but I’m keeping an open mind.

What challenges might you anticipate in your medical journey?
One challenge that comes to mind is something I’ve already encountered: the need to take time to reconnect with myself during stressful times. I’ve learned more about myself during my time here and how I am able to deal with future challenges.

Meet: Katrina Nietsch, Class of 2026

Ms. Nietsch is one of three students who joined the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai through the school’s Institutional Partnership with the U.S. military. She was a pilot in the U.S. Navy and was accepted into the school in 2019.

What drew you to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai?
I was drawn to the school’s commitment to underprivileged communities, which is second-to-none, and its commitment to veterans’ health. Just walking around campus and seeing the humility, expertise, and resourcefulness of the faculty and students is inspiring.

What medical fields do you envision entering?
I am thinking about a career in orthopedic surgery and sports medicine, but I am also looking at other possibilities, including women’s health.

What challenges might you anticipate in your medical journey?
I took the winding route since I served for 11 years in the military before finishing my commitment to the Navy and coming to medical school. It was time-consuming balancing a full-time career and preparing for medical school, so I am so grateful to be here now. As an older student, it has been a while since I was an undergraduate college-student, but I’m confident that with my intellectual curiosity and my military training, I will be able to tackle any challenges head on.

“Your white coats will never be cleaner or whiter than they are today,” remarked Victor Sta. Ana, MD, Director for Mount Sinai’s Primary Care Scholars Program, and Assistant Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health at Icahn Mount Sinai, in his keynote speech. He noted that the students’ journeys will only get more challenging. He described the isolation and grief he and his colleagues experienced during the height of the pandemic, and urged upon the incoming students a commitment to compassion and equity.

“I feel humbled and grateful for the opportunity to wear the white coat. I am also acutely aware of the responsibility which comes with wearing it,” said Katrina Nietsch. ”But I’m sure with the support of the faculty and my fellow peers, I’ll be up to the task to learn and find ways to get better as a provider.”

Here’s what some medical students had to say about what receiving their white coats meant to them:

Celebrating Summer Interns: Learning and Growing, Across the Health System

Sep 16, 2022 | Community, Featured

In summer 2022, dozens of college students took part in rewarding internships across the Mount Sinai Health System—in clinical sites, administrative offices, and laboratories—gaining valuable exposure to careers in health care and medicine with the support of valued mentors.

The interns’ experiences were varied. Among many projects, they studied genetics and genomics, wrote physician profiles, created social media strategies, analyzed patient insurance statistics, recruited and educated participants in a sexual health study, and gathered data in support of health equity.

Jiaying (Jocelyn) Zhu, a finance major at Baruch College, summed up her lessons learned. “I have taken initiative, and I am always eager to learn and ask questions,” she says. “Just ask, and you will learn.”

At the end of their experience, interns reflected on their most interesting projects at Mount Sinai and looked ahead to their career goals. Their insights are below.

Bailey Moore

Deborah Dede-E Effon

Isabel Koral

Jiaying (Jocelyn) Zhu

Kathryn Lynn

Myles Eldridge

Nusrat Khan

Reem Ibrahim

Samihah Tahsin

Zoe Long

Calvin Tan

Ridhi Gera

Eman Rashid

Celebrating Summer Interns: Rich Experience in Labs of Genetics and Genomic Sciences

Sep 15, 2022 | Community, Engagement, Featured

From left, Michael Katz, MD, PhD, with interns Samantha Whipple and Sofia Kim in the laboratory of Efrat Eliyahu, PhD.

About a dozen undergraduate college students conducted research this summer with faculty members of the Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The interns received interdisciplinary research experience in experiment-based and computation-based research, in addition to mentoring and professional development opportunities.

They each worked full-time on a research project under the mentorship of a Mount Sinai researcher and attended weekly events, such as scientific seminars and workshops.

Research topics include functional genomics and multiomics, gene editing and cellular engineering, computational and data sciences, neuropsychiatric genomics, cancer genomics, gene and cell therapy, statistical genetics, genetics of human disease, and drug discovery. The Scholars Program is directed by Efrat Eliyahu, PhD, Assistant Professor of Genetic and Genomic Sciences and member of the department’s Diversity Committee.

“This summer I learned that you don’t need to be perfect, or know how to do everything correctly the first time,” says Samantha Whipple, a New York University student who was an intern in Dr. Eliyahu’s laboratory. “Learning is a part of the scientific process, and learning from your mistakes makes you better.”

Berk Turhan

Jennifer Granda

John Soto

Oghenetefike Okotete

Sarah Zipkowitz

Sofia Kim

Aryan Jain

Alissa Ward

Samantha Whipple

Celebrating Summer Interns: Student Nurses Launched on Their Medical Journey

Sep 15, 2022 | Community, Engagement, Featured, Nursing

From left: Maria Vezina, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, Vice President and Chief of Nursing Practice and Education, nurse intern Daeja Clarke, and Kathleen Parisien Dory, MA, RN, Director of Nursing Education and Professional Development at Mount Sinai Morningside. Each intern received a certificate and heartfelt congratulations.

Nursing Education and Professional Development at Mount Sinai recently honored 63 young people who completed the first system-wide summer program for student nurse interns. The students gained hands-on experience in a hospital setting alongside mentors in a program following the Magnet model of nursing excellence.

“We are so proud of all that our students have accomplished, wish them the best in their professional journey, and look forward to their return here as clinical nurses,” said Maria Vezina, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, Vice President and Chief of Nursing Practice and Education, Mount Sinai Health System, who hosted the ceremony at Davis Auditorium on Wednesday, August 10.

The 11-week summer program included nurses who had completed their third year at 23 universities from New York to Nebraska and Oklahoma. Clinical nurse mentors in Mount Sinai Heart, Women and Children’s, Rehabilitation and Human Performance, Critical Care, Surgery, and Medicine guided and supported the students’ learning experiences in units on six campuses. The students have since returned for their last year of college, and the intention is to welcome many back to Mount Sinai after graduation.

Annette Jasko, who was a student nurse intern on 7 West in the cardiothoracic post-surgical unit at The Mount Sinai Hospital, summed up her experience: “Mount Sinai has provided me with an invaluable experience as a student nurse intern that has allowed me to build my skill set, improve my critical thinking abilities, and establish my personal values as a nurse,” she said. “Most important, Mount Sinai has modeled the importance of teamwork and honest values in a way that no other hospital has shown me.”

The ceremony included an inspirational poem on student nurses written by Charlotte Isler, an alumna of the former Mount Sinai Hospital School of Nursing, and heartfelt reflections by mentors, who welcomed students to the profession and encouraged them to remain lifelong learners.

“I hope through your experience with us this summer that you have gained clinical confidence and competence to give you a head start in your nursing career,” Beth Oliver, DNP, RN, Chief Nurse Executive, and Senior Vice President, Cardiac Services, Mount Sinai Health System, said in a message of congratulations. “And I hope you will continue your journey with us at the Mount Sinai Health System.”

A ceremony on Wednesday, August 10, honored the summer interns in nursing.

In Milestone Finding, ‘Polypill’ Reduces Cardiovascular Mortality by 33 Percent in Patients Treated After a Heart Attack

Updated on Aug 26, 2022 | Featured, Research

Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Barcelona, Spain

In a milestone in cardiovascular medicine, a three-drug medication known as a “polypill” was found effective in preventing adverse events such as heart attacks or stroke in people who have previously had a heart attack, reducing cardiovascular mortality by 33 percent in this patient population. These are findings from the SECURE trial led by Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, Director of Mount Sinai Heart and Physician-in-Chief of The Mount Sinai Hospital.

The study results were announced on Friday, August 26, at the European Society of Cardiology Congress (ESC 2022) in Barcelona, Spain, and published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

“The results of the SECURE study show that for the first time that the polypill, which contains aspirin, ramipril, and atorvastatin, achieves clinically relevant reductions in the recurrent cardiovascular events among people who have recovered from a previous heart attack because of better adherence to this simplified approach with a simple polypill, rather than taking them separately as conventional,” says Dr. Fuster, General Director of the Spanish National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC), which developed the polypill.

Patients recovering from a heart attack—also known as myocardial infarction—are prescribed specific treatments to prevent subsequent cardiovascular events. Standard therapy includes three different drugs: an antiplatelet agent (like aspirin); ramipril or a similar drug to control blood pressure; and a lipid-reducing drug, such as a statin. However, fewer than 50 percent of patients consistently adhere to their medication regimen.

“Although most patients initially adhere to treatment after an acute event such as an infarction, adherence drops off after the first few months. Our goal was to have an impact right from the start, and most of the patients in the study began taking a simple polypill in the first week after having a heart attack,” Dr. Fuster explains.

“Adherence to treatment after an acute myocardial infarction is essential for effective secondary prevention,” says José María Castellano, MD, study first author and Scientific Director of Fundación de Investigación HM Hospitales.

The concept of a polypill for cardiovascular disease prevention was proposed in 2003 and widely debated among experts, with some arguing that it could reduce heart disease at a population level and others arguing that patients could wrongly consider it as a substitute for healthy lifestyles. In 2007, the potential value of applying the polypill strategy in high-risk patients was recognized by the WHO and the World Heart Federation, and Dr. Fuster authored a call to action in Nature Clinical Practice Cardiovascular Medicine, “A polypill for secondary prevention: time to move from intellectual debate to action.”

Scientists at the CNIC, in partnership with FERRER laboratories, developed a polypill and have conducted a range of studies over the intervening years. CNIC scientists first demonstrated that prescription of the CNIC polypill significantly improved treatment adherence among patients recovering after a myocardial infarction, in the FOCUS study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC).

The CNIC team launched the SECURE study, an international randomized clinical trial, to determine whether the improved treatment adherence with the polypill translated into a reduction in cardiovascular events. The polypill analyzed in the study, commercialized under the name Trinomia, contains aspirin (100 mg), the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor ramipril (2.5, 5, or 10 mg), and atorvastatin (20 or 40 mg).

SECURE included 2,499 patients from seven European countries (Spain, Italy, Germany, the Czech Republic, France, Poland, and Hungary) recovering after a heart attack. Study participants were randomly assigned to receive standard therapy or the CNIC polypill. The average age of the participants was 76 years, and 31 percent were women. The study population included 77.9 percent with hypertension, 57.4 percent with diabetes, and 51.3 percent with a history of smoking tobacco.

Researchers analyzed the incidence of four major cardiovascular events: death from cardiovascular causes, non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, and need for emergency coronary revascularization (the restoration of blood flow through a blocked coronary artery). The study followed patients for an average of three years and produced conclusive results: patients taking the CNIC polypills had a 24 percent lower risk of these four events than patients taking the three separate drugs.

The standout finding of the study is the effect of the polypill on the key outcome of cardiovascular-related death, which showed a relative reduction of 33 percent, from 71 patients in the group receiving standard treatment to just 48 in the polypill group. Importantly, the study found that patients in the polypill group had a higher level of treatment adherence than those in the control group, thus confirming the findings of the earlier FOCUS study, and in part such good adherence appears to explain the benefits of the simple polypill.

“The SECURE study findings suggest that the polypill could become an integral element of strategies to prevent recurrent cardiovascular events in patients who have had a heart attack,” Dr. Fuster says. “By simplifying treatment and improving adherence, this approach has the potential to reduce the risk of recurrent cardiovascular disease and death on a global scale.”

Read the study in The New England Journal of Medicine

Jennifer Chan, PhD, Receives Robin Chemers Neustein Postdoctoral Fellowship Award for Innovative Research

Updated on Aug 31, 2022 | Featured, Research, School

Jenneifer Chan, PhD, and Ian Maze, PhD

Jennifer Chan, PhD, whose work is vastly expanding knowledge about pregnancy, brain health, and stress, is the recipient of the 2022 Robin Chemers Neustein Postdoctoral Fellowship Award, established in 2010 to encourage and support female research scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Recipients are senior postdoctoral scientists who intend to complete their training within two years, have demonstrated high-impact accomplishments in biomedical sciences, and exhibit the potential for an independent scientific career. Dr. Chan is the 23rd recipient of the award, created through a generous gift from Robin Chemers Neustein, JD, MBA, a former member of Mount Sinai’s Boards of Trustees.

Dr. Chan works in the laboratory of neurobiologist Ian S. Maze, PhD, in the Nash Family Department of Neuroscience. Dr. Maze, who was appointed as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator in 2021, is a Professor of Neuroscience, and Pharmacological Sciences, and the founding director of the Center for Neural Epigenome Engineering at Icahn Mount Sinai, the nation’s first center devoted exclusively to neuroepigenomic engineering.

Dr. Maze’s lab is focused on delineating the molecular and biochemical mechanisms of neuroepigenetic plasticity—changes in the underlying biochemical mechanisms that control whether genes are turned on or off within a given cell-type in the brain. This plasticity is important for allowing brain cells to appropriately respond to changing environments, which is critical for proper neurodevelopment—and which can cause disease when there is inappropriate tuning of gene expression.

Jennifer Chan, PhD

For example, aberrations in these processes can produce devastating neurological and psychiatric disorders, such as epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, substance use disorders, and major depressive disorders. These aberrations can occur during brain development or throughout life due to such factors as environmental toxins, physical trauma, chronic stress, and exposure to drugs of abuse.

The Maze lab—through the integration of technologically innovative and sophisticated new methodologies in chemical biology, proteomics, protein biochemistry/engineering, and structural biology—is advancing the understanding of these processes and working toward the development of targeted neurotherapeutics to treat these conditions.

“Using the most advanced epigenomic, metabolomic, and gene editing approaches in my lab, Dr. Chan is revolutionizing our understanding as to how environmental stimuli, both adaptive and maladaptive, impact epigenetic regulation of gene expression in the maternal brain to alter neural circuitry and behavior,” says Dr. Maze. “Delineating the mechanisms through which the experience of pregnancy imparts long-lasting changes in molecular and physiological properties of the brain promises to greatly aid in our understanding of how such a profound lifetime experience—shared by so many—contributes to brain health. Dr. Chan is an exceptionally talented and innovative young scientist, and I am absolutely thrilled by such prestigious recognition of her paradigm-shifting work.”

Dr. Chan joined the lab in 2018. Her research interests focus on understanding how biological systems outside the nervous system interact with stress to impact the brain during windows of neuroplasticity—times of active brain organization that are particularly susceptible to environmental and physiological challenges. Specifically, her work examines periods of early brain development and female reproductive experiences in rodents, including the long-term impact of pregnancy and postpartum experiences on the brain, and how stress disrupts normal organizational processes during these important windows.

“The experience of being pregnant dramatically changes both the body and brain,” says Dr. Chan. “While studies in patient populations and animal models have shown that these changes can persist long after giving birth, we still don’t understand the molecular mechanisms that control these processes.”

In particular, Dr. Chan investigates the contribution of epigenetic mechanisms underlying these experiences by combining molecular, biochemical, genome editing, and behavioral approaches in her postdoctoral research.

“The fundamental understanding of what reproductive experience does to the brain long-term has not been well studied,” says Dr. Chan. “My work shows that stress during these periods has a significant effect on the maternal rodent brain. I hope that through my research we can learn more about how pregnancy and postpartum experiences contribute to brain health and also emphasize that overall we need to do a better job of reducing stress during these critical windows—such as encouraging parental leave and making sure people have the financial, social, and health-related resources needed to support themselves.”

Says Dr. Chan: “I am incredibly honored to be the recipient of this year’s Robin Chemers Neustein Postdoctoral Fellowship Award. The direction for this research project was sparked by personal interest, and I am extremely encouraged by Dr. Maze’s support and that the selection committee also believes in these important questions.”

Learn more about the Maze Lab