A Homecoming for a Mount Sinai Nurse and COVID-19 Patient

Updated on Apr 3, 2025 | COVID-19 Reflections, Featured, Nursing

A Homecoming for a Mount Sinai Nurse and COVID-19 Patient

For retired nurse Theresa Francisco, 69, the cardiac intensive care unit at The Mount Sinai Hospital means many things: it had been her workplace for nearly four decades, but also a place where she was cared for when she became critically ill with COVID-19 in 2020.

On Thursday, March 27, 2025, Ms. Francisco returned to the unit for the first time to reunite with the staff who saved her life. Accompanying her were her brother and sister-in-law—both of whom were also admitted to Mount Sinai for the treatment of COVID-19—and Cynthia Enrile, another Mount Sinai retired nurse who cared for Ms. Francisco during her hospitalization.

“I can still remember everything—being a nurse and being a patient,” said Ms. Francisco. When she was initially admitted to the unit, which had been converted to a COVID-19 response unit, she thought she would be discharged after a couple of days. Ms. Francisco ended up spending 42 days in the hospital, and was intubated for 10 of them.

Listen to Ms. Francisco recall her story, and read more about how she went from a Mount Sinai retired nurse to COVID-19 patient in a slideshow of her reunion at the intense care unit.

Theresa Francisco, retired Mount Sinai nurse, shares thoughts on visiting the same unit that treated her when she was hospitalized for COVID-19

Audio Player
Theresa Francisco, 69, who lives in Far Rockaway, Queens, had been a critical care nurse at The Mount Sinai Hospital for 38 years. She retired in January 2020.
On March 27, 2020, Ms. Francisco was hospitalized for COVID-19. She was admitted to the cardiac critical care unit—which was converted to a COVID-19 response unit during the pandemic—at The Mount Sinai Hospital, where she used to work.
Shortly after Ms. Francisco (center) was admitted, so were her brother (left) and sister-in-law (right), also for COVID-19.
Her sister-in-law was discharged after a week, and her brother was discharged after two weeks. Ms. Francisco spent 42 days in the hospital, and was intubated for 10 of them.
Francisco’s friend Cynthia Enrile (left) was a fellow nurse at the critical care unit and cared for Ms. Francisco (right) during her time there. Ms. Enrile retired in May 2020, after working at Mount Sinai since 1986.
On Easter Sunday, 2020, Ms. Francisco’s intubation tube was removed.
After her discharge, Ms. Francisco faced months of grueling recovery. She required high-flow oxygen for months and couldn’t walk.
Today, five years after being hospitalized for COVID-19, Ms. Francisco (left) is still feeling the aftereffects of the disease. She is living with cardiomyopathy and sees a Mount Sinai pulmonologist every six months for follow-up. Pulmonologist E Neil Schachter, MD (right), was part of her care team.
Reuniting with the Mount Sinai staff who saved her life was an emotional but grateful moment, said Ms. Francisco (right). Her tour was guided by Umesh Gidwani, MD (left), chief of the cardiac critical care unit and who cared for her during her hospitalization.
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Racing to Stop a Pandemic: The Critical Role of Clinical Trials

Updated on Apr 1, 2025 | COVID-19 Reflections, Featured, Research

A group photo of the COVID-19 Clinical Trial Unit, part of the Mount Sinai Infectious Diseases Clinical and Translational Research Center.

When the COVID-19 pandemic ramped up in New York City in March 2020, the disease was so novel there was no approved treatment for it.

“We saw people come to the hospital with COVID-19, and without specialized treatments, many died,” said Sean Liu, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “I remember feeling helpless, and helplessness is probably the worst feeling that a doctor could experience, because people come to you for help but there is only so much you can do or give.”

With a dire need to discover treatments for patients, the Mount Sinai Infectious Diseases Clinical and Translational Research Center (CTRC) formed the COVID-19 Clinical Trial Unit (COVID CTU) in June 2020 to find ways to stop the disease.

“We already had experts beginning the effort, and with the support of Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine, and under the leadership of Judith Aberg, MD, Director of the CTRC, we were able to form the COVID CTU and go all in to stop COVID-19,” said Dr. Liu, who was tapped as Medical Director of the research unit.

The COVID CTU conducted interventional studies in all aspects of tackling COVID-19, including several drugs that were ultimately approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These include Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody therapies, Gilead Sciences’ remdesivir, and two COVID-19 vaccines.

Judith Aberg, MD, Director of the Mount Sinai Infectious Diseases Clinical and Translational Research Center (left) and Sean Liu, MD, PhD, Medical Director of the COVID-19 Clinical Trials Unit (right).

In this Q&A, Dr. Liu and Dr. Aberg share their experience of how the COVID CTU worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic, and where it is headed in the future.

How did the COVID CTU come to be formed?

Dr. Aberg: We were able to build upon the infrastructure that was created for HIV clinical trials, along with the support of many, to immediately start two different drug trials for COVID-19. One drug aimed at the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the other was a potent anti-inflammatory. And I must say, our prompt efforts paid off. We were able to give remdesivir, an antiviral drug, via a compassionate use application on March 9—within two days of the admission of our first patient at Mount Sinai West.

Dr. Liu: When the pandemic first hit, I was working as a hospitalist—someone who cares for admitted patients—at Mount Sinai Queens, and Dr. Aberg asked me to help with clinical trials at The Mount Sinai Hospital.

As pharmaceutical companies started developing more candidates for COVID-19 treatment, the team working on the initial studies started taking on more studies, supported by the CTRC, the Infectious Diseases Division, and the Medicine Clinical Trials Office at the Icahn School of Medicine. When we realized we sorely needed to expand and formalize a team for COVID-19-related trials, Dean Charney provided seed funding, and during the summer of 2020, we were able to hire more staff needed to run the trials.

How big was the COVID CTU then, and how has it grown since?

Dr. Liu: It started with 11 people, including six from the CTRC. By 2021, we had 25 staff.

What was it like fielding a clinical trials team during the pandemic?

Dr. Liu: Dr. Aberg already had a research unit working with HIV before the pandemic, and we pooled together a staff of clinical researchers, project managers, research nurses, coordinators, and regulatory staff. It was incredible seeing so many people come together quickly to tackle one of the biggest challenges we’ve faced in health care.

In addition to assessing the effectiveness of industry-developed treatments, the unit became a translational springboard where basic science researchers could come to us with their ideas, and we could help apply them in a phase 1 study, creating a bridge between preclinical and in-human studies.

What were some of the COVID-19 trials done at Mount Sinai?

Drs. Aberg and Liu recall some of the studies done by the COVID CTU:

  • Remdesivir: The antiviral drug is currently approved by the FDA to treat patients hospitalized for COVID-19. We initially opened trials for this drug via an emergency investigational new drug application at seven hospitals. In less than a month, we opened the Gilead-sponsored studies at four hospitals.
  • Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs): We were involved in Regeneron’s mAb studies in many different settings. These included an outpatient treatment study, an outpatient post-exposure prophylaxis study, and a pre-exposure prophylaxis study. One of Regeneron’s mAb that we did a study on was sarilumab, a potent IL-6 inhibitor. While this study did not demonstrate the robust findings of another IL-6 inhibitor we had worked on, Roche’s tocilizumab, it was the first study that paved the way for potent immune-modulating therapies to treat COVID-19 as we do currently.
  • mRNA vaccine: We were heavily engaged in the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine trial, enrolling hundreds of participants from diverse backgrounds. Mount Sinai was recognized for enrolling the 40,000th participant in the initial phase 3 trial.
  • NDV-HXP-S: Mount Sinai developed its own COVID-19 vaccine, which can be delivered via injection or the nose. The technology was developed by our Microbiology Department, and the COVID CTU helped run the phase 1 trial. With our data, the vaccine went on to be developed further in other countries and has gone on to be approved as booster shots in Mexico and Thailand.
  • Hyperimmune immunoglobulin: This was a blood product-derived treatment using extracted antibodies from a pool of convalescent plasma donors who had recovered from COVID-19. With hyperimmune immunoglobulin, the patient is receiving a known purified amount of antibody from the donor. Studies are ongoing to identify who would benefit the most as well as timing in relation to onset of symptoms.

The COVID Clinical Trials Unit team received a letter of recognition for enrolling 280 participants—as well as the 40,000th participant—in the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine trial.

What were some lessons learned on running clinical trials to address the pandemic?

Dr. Liu: There were so many studies to undertake, but we had to learn to focus. A part of it was trial and error, but as we gained experience, we became better at identifying what studies were likely to yield promising results. Some clinical trials might sound great on paper, but given limited resources, we had to weigh what factors went into them—such as enrollment opportunity or viral targets—and choose our trials accordingly or make adjustments.

Dr. Aberg: Decisive action can help change the trajectory of a pandemic. When Regeneron finalized its protocol for sarilumab trials, within seven days we opened a randomized, placebo-controlled trial of the drug. Its interim results, along with our remdesivir clinical trials and observational use of tocilizumab, helped advise us of the narrow window where these types of drugs may be effective to prevent patients from developing respiratory failure, requiring them to go on a ventilator, and even death.

What’s next for the COVID CTU?

Dr. Aberg: The COVID CTU no longer needed to be distinct from the CTRC. However, we are still involved in COVID-19 studies. One such trial is RECOVER-VITAL, a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded study to explore whether Pfizer’s Paxlovid™ treatment can be used to treat the chronic disease state commonly referred to as long COVID.

We are also in the NIH-funded Strategies and Treatments for Respiratory Infections and Viral Emergencies (STRIVE) consortium. A COVID-19 study we are involved in as part of the network is STRIVE-1, exploring whether the antiviral medication ensitrelvir can reduce symptoms and duration of hospitalization in persons with moderate to severe COVID-19. Another STRIVE COVID-19 study is exploring the additional use of immunomodulating agents for hospitalized patients.

Beyond COVID-19, we completed enrollment for a few other studies, including an mRNA shingles vaccine study by Pfizer and an exciting novel dual-affinity retargeting molecule for HIV. There are other studies we anticipate opening in 2025, including a C. difficile vaccine, as well as several HIV prevention and treatment studies.

Dr. Liu: We will never forget how the COVID-19 pandemic changed our lives. Thanks to tested vaccines and treatments, we are able to return to a normal life of packed movie theaters and lecture halls. Some of our team of skilled and knowledgeable research staff are being transferred to other areas where groundbreaking research is occurring throughout the Mount Sinai Health System. We are forever grateful for the contributions of the COVID CTU in reducing the morbidity and mortality from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Click here for more information about the CTRC or signing up for clinical trials

From Personal Tragedy to Life Purpose: How One Masters Student at Mount Sinai Was Inspired to Focus on a Career in Public Health

Mar 31, 2025 | COVID-19 Reflections, Featured, School

Brianna Sukhdeo, a second year Master of Public Health student

Brianna Sukhdeo is a second year Master of Public Health (MPH) student in the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention concentration. She is also the first student from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to be selected as an ambassador as part of a special program administered by the Association of Schools & Programs of Public Health.

This honor is just the next step for her as she embarks on a career in public health.

She had been inspired to study public health during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as she watched her mother having trouble getting proper medical care. As soon as she arrived at Mount Sinai, she began pursuing opportunities outside the classroom to purse this goal.

For example, she has been working with Lauren Zajac, MD, MPH and Sofia Curdumi Pendley, PhD, MPH, on TEAM Kids (Team-based Environmental Asthma Management), a pediatric asthma clinic at Mount Sinai.

She found that mentors were willing to invite students into professional spaces to give them networking experiences and to develop new skills. Her mentors have been responsive to outreach from students and are willing to share professional opportunities, even to mentees they don’t work with directly.

The team that manages the Graduate Program in Public Health recognized that she would be a good fit for the This is Public Heath (TIPH) Ambassador Program run by the Association of Schools & Programs of Public Health. So they met with her to explain the opportunity and then nominated her for it.

“I was excited to learn that I would be the first representative from Mount Sinai to participate,” she says of the program, which aims to raise awareness of the field of public health to students across the United States.

Embarking on a career in public health wasn’t always her primary goal.

“I want students to understand how foundational public health is to health care careers, along with how to make connections between this field and industries such as business, law, politics, and environmental science,” she says. “Public Health should be the lens through which we view health in our society.”

While completing her undergraduate degree in psychology, she thought about becoming a school psychologist or child psychologist. Her plans changed when her mom got sick and was hospitalized during the COVID-19 pandemic. She saw how her mother wasn’t getting the care she needed and how resources were diverted during the pandemic.

Her mother had been living with liver problems and had been treated at other hospitals without a specific diagnosis. She finally came to The Mount Sinai Hospital, and her daughter credits this with saving her mother’s life. Her mother was diagnosed and treated for autoimmune hepatitis, a chronic liver disease. She has since recovered.

During the pandemic, Brianna Sukhdeo was inspired to help patients who were alone in hospitals due to COVID-19 restrictions, which led her to an internship at the Stony Brook University Emergency Department helping patients and families in the Emergency Department. Her supervisor, Samita Heslin, MD, MPH, MBA, was an Emergency Department doctor. “She explained how useful and versatile public health is in addressing the foundational issues of health and how these concepts can be applied to patient care,” she says.

While researching the next step in her educational journey, Brianna discovered many pediatric mentors were available at Mount Sinai.

“I was drawn to the fact that the Icahn School of Medicine was within the Mount Sinai Health System, which provides many opportunities for professional development, such as volunteering in clinical settings, research, and quality improvement,” she says.

“I often work with medical students, health administration students, and students from several other programs,” she says of her time at the Icahn School of Medicine. “The collaborative environment encouraged me to be an active participant as a student instead of just passive learning.”

After graduating from the MPH program in June, she hopes to attend medical school and become a public health pediatrician.

The goal of the This is Public Health Ambassador Program is to raise awareness of the field of public health. She believes this is crucial because she didn’t know much about the field until she was far into her academic journey.

“I want students to understand how foundational public health is to health care careers, along with how to make connections between this field and industries such as business, law, politics, and environmental science,” she says. “Public Health should be the lens through which we view health in our society.”

The TIPH Cohort runs from August through June, and the most important part of the experience is the networking. Participating schools have the chance to nominate one student a year. They meet once a month to discuss the similarities and differences of their programs, places of need, and to share resources. Brianna has enjoyed learning about the policy differences from ambassadors at schools in other states.

The TIPH Cohort provides advice to prospective public health students, such as why to study in this field, how to pick a school, how to successfully apply to programs, and more. Brianna has attended virtual and in-person recruitment fairs to answer these student questions. Each TIPH Cohort participant completes a presentation or project, which can include interviewing professionals in the field, educating students about public health topics, and more.

Learn more about the This is Public Health Ambassador Cohort
Learn more about the Department of Public Health at Mount Sinai

The Virtual Doctor in the Room: How Tele-Trach Evolved as a Catalyst for Safety and Quality

Updated on Mar 28, 2025 | COVID-19 Reflections, Featured

A tele-tracheostomy performed at the bedside in the Intensive Care Unit at Mount Sinai Queens Hospital on a patient who had been ventilated for respiratory failure.

It’s been five years since the COVID-19 pandemic’s first cases, and much has changed in the world of medicine. Virtual care, also known as telehealth, became routine, among other virtual adaptations such as iPad hook-ups to IV poles to connect families to say goodbye, and even Zoom classrooms.

A lesser-known adaptation, the tele-consult, allowing a doctor at one hospital to oversee and guide care at another hospital, came about as hospitals swelled with patients and doctors were spread thin.

Dhruv Patel, MD

Dhruv Patel, MD, Director of Quality and Associate Director of the Transplant Intensive Care Unit at The Mount Sinai Hospital within Mount Sinai’s Institute for Critical Care Medicine, was part of a team that helped to make this innovation possible.

In his role at the Institute, he oversees percutaneous tele-tracheostomies from his office at The Mount Sinai Hospital. A percutaneous tracheostomy is a minimally invasive procedure done with a needle that punctures the skin, which is performed at the bedside to create an opening in the windpipe to facilitate breathing.

“The capacity to beam into another hospital to oversee and guide a tracheostomy made a world of difference during the pandemic when we had large volumes of very sick patients on ventilators for prolonged periods,” says Dr. Patel.

“During the pandemic, we performed three times as many tracheostomies, as respiratory failure among infected patients became extremely common. This allowed for faster and less invasive bedside procedures, while avoiding the necessity to transfer critically ill and vulnerable patients to the operating room,” says Dr. Patel. The Institute has continued to train all critical care specialists to become proficient at performing bedside percutaneous tracheostomy.

Leveraging the tele-consult has presented an important training opportunity, says I. Michael Leitman, MD, FACS, Dean for Graduate Medical Education at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Leitman, Professor of Surgery and Medical Education, oversees Mount Sinai’s resident training program, which is the largest in the county.

“The introduction of telemedicine and the ability now to do tele-consults at the bedside provides an important advantage for an attending to supervise residents and attending doctors as they round on critical, complex cases,” says Dr. Leitman.

Nazia Mashriqi, MD, MBA, ICCM Site Director at Mount Sinai Queens, performs approximately 30 tracheostomies annually.

“Even though we aren’t seeing many critical COVID-19 patients, we are still performing bedside percutaneous tracheostomies quite often for patients who require prolonged assistance of a mechanical ventilator for other respiratory illnesses, such as the flu or pneumonia. With Dr. Patel tele-consulting and present in the room as we perform these procedures, we can ensure a critical layer of oversight and safety,” says Dr. Mashriqi, who is also part of the Institute’s team. “The procedure is somewhat straightforward, but at the same time, proficiency is key to avoid complications of bleeding due to trauma to nearby tissues. We use multiple layers of visualization including ultrasound and bronchoscopy to enhance the safety of the bedside procedure,” says Dr. Patel, noting that the procedure is now rarely performed in the operating room.

Mount Sinai’s Institute for Critical Care Medicine oversees critical care at seven of Mount Sinai’s eight hospitals in New York, providing highly specialized, life-saving care for patients experiencing the most serious diseases and injuries, and those recovering from complex surgeries.

The Institute’s System Director, Roopa Kohli-Seth, MD, says the team provides care for more than 10,000 patients annually.

“Our critical care teams care for the sickest of patients at Mount Sinai’s hospitals, and the capacity to tele-consult and advise from afar has given us an important advantage in saving lives and ensuring both quality and safety. We see this as a great win for our patients and patient safety overall,” says Dr. Kohli-Seth.

 

A Look Back at the Pandemic, and Views on the Future

Mar 6, 2025 | COVID-19 Reflections, Featured

In early 2020, Mount Sinai treated the first COVID-19 patient. Shortly after that, New York State declared a state of emergency, and COVID-19 cases started to rise. Mount Sinai staff are coming together to share their experiences of overcoming the pandemic in a look back video, “COVID-19 Five Years Later: Reflecting. Learning. Advancing.”

“We stood at the edge of the worst health care crisis in modern memory,” said David L. Reich, MD, President and Chief Operating Officer of The Mount Sinai Hospital, who narrates the video. “And no one knew. Over the next eight weeks, over 18,000 New Yorkers would die of COVID-19—one every five minutes, over 350 every day.”

A timeline takes us through those challenging times, featuring the resilience of front-line staff in the face of what seemed like a never-ending flow of patients, while ICU beds filled up. The video, too, takes us through how scientists and researchers were working nonstop to understand the virus, and coming up with various ways to treat and test for COVID-19.

Five years since the pandemic was officially declared, the Mount Sinai Health System is able to reflect on what it achieved and learned since.

Check out other stories on COVID-19 reflections and stories

Measles Is Back—Here’s What to Know

Updated on Mar 7, 2025 | Featured, Infectious Diseases, Your Health

Once thought eradicated from the United States, measles is beginning to spread in communities with low vaccination rates. Texas is experiencing a measles outbreak affecting a growing number of people, a majority of them children, with one dead. In New York City, two people are reported to have contracted measles, as well as three in New Jersey. A number of other states have also reported cases, though the outbreaks are small.

Measles is a highly contagious virus with symptoms that start with fever, red eyes, cough, and progress to a rash and red spots on the skin. Without vaccination, measles can be dangerous and deadly, especially among children under five.

Jennifer Duchon, MD, MPH, DrPH

In this Q&A, Jennifer Duchon, MD, MPH, DrPH, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, discusses measles and the importance of vaccines.

What do we know about the current measles outbreak?

The current outbreak in Texas likely began with an unvaccinated individual contracting measles after travelling to a region where the disease is active, bringing it back with them, and spreading it in a community with low vaccination rates. One child died. Based on the statistics, we know that if this epidemic spreads, we expect many more children with severe complications and additional deaths.

If measles was eliminated, why has it come back?

Measles was considered eliminated from the United States in 2000. That doesn’t mean we don’t have outbreaks or cases; it means there has been no sustained transmission of measles in a particular region (such as the United States) for 12 months or more.

How contagious is measles?

Measles is a highly infectious viral infection spread through coughing and sneezing. One person with measles will spread it to 12 to 18 other susceptible people after a very short period of contact. To prevent an epidemic, about 95 percent of a specific community needs to be vaccinated. In the region of Texas where the virus is currently spreading, vaccination rates are much lower than the national average, making it extremely difficult to contain.

Could the New York region experience a measles outbreak?

Yes, absolutely. New York State, as a whole, has a robust vaccine coverage. But in some areas, such as parts of Brooklyn and Rockland County, vaccine coverage hovers anywhere from 60 to 80 percent. In 2019, New York had a similar measles epidemic that encompassed parts of New York City and Upstate NY.

Why is it important to be vaccinated?

There is no cure or treatment for measles; however, it is extremely preventable with vaccination. Vaccines vary in what they do in terms of efficacy. Some vaccines will prevent you from getting a very severe form of the disease, some prevent you from getting the disease altogether.

The measles vaccine is one of the most effective vaccines in terms of preventing people from contracting the disease. If you received one vaccine, there is about a 93 percent certainty that you won’t contract the disease. If you got two doses—as recommended—that goes up to 97 percent.

In most cases, immunity from the measles vaccine is lifelong. Unlike vaccines for COVID-19 or the flu, you don’t need booster shots or updated annual vaccinations for measles. If you are a health care worker or work with vulnerable people, such as the elderly or immunocompromised individuals, you may be required to have proof of two vaccines.

Is it true that vitamin A can provide protection from measles?

No, that data comes from outbreaks primarily in under-resourced countries where vitamin A deficiency is rampant because of malnutrition. In children who are malnourished, measles can affect the immune system in such a way that they become much more vulnerable to other diseases, and vitamin A can help prevent complications like blindness and death in those children. Vitamin A cannot prevent or treat measles.

What can I do to keep my children safe?

Vaccinate them. Any child one year or older should get the first dose of the vaccine, and a second dose at age four to six, preferably before they start school. The vaccine is not as effective on children under one year old. If you have an infant, it is important that all members of the family who are one year or older are vaccinated to protect them. In very special circumstances, where an infant could be at high risk, such as international travel, we can give the vaccine as early as six months of age. If you have questions, talk to you pediatrician.

What else would you like people to know?

The famous children’s book author, Roald Dahl, who wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, lost his young daughter to measles in 1962, before an effective measles vaccine was available. In 1986, after the current vaccine was well established and part of the recommended vaccine schedule for kids, there was a measles outbreak in England due to low vaccination rates. Roald Dahl couldn’t understand why. He wrote a letter to the public describing that situation and urging people to get vaccinated. This happened back in 1986, and history is repeating itself now. This is a completely preventable disease in terms of outbreaks and morbidity and mortality. People don’t have to get this disease.

Learn more about measles at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Read the Mount Sinai Health System Measles Information Sheet

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