Here is my proclamation for National Doctors’ Day… these words are from the heart and I will share them with you each year on this special day…

March 30 is National Doctors’ Day. This date was designated a national holiday in the United States in 1990. In that spirit, I would like to offer a few thoughts on our MSBI physician community.

Over two thousand doctors are part of our MSBI family. They represent employed and voluntary faculty, primary and specialty care, inpatient and ambulatory care, hospital and community-based care, and collectively they cover a vast geography. These physicians include our exceptional residents and fellows. And our physician community also includes many retired doctors who are still vital parts of our family.

Our doctors are innovators, collaborators, colleagues, and friends. They are champions for excellence. They are our teachers and team members.

Our doctors put in long hours and go the extra mile every single day to ensure that our patients receive the care and caring that they need and deserve.

Our doctors struggle with us through the thick and the thin of our downtown transformation and hold us accountable for never losing sight of our core missions.

I am profoundly humbled by the strength, depth, and breadth of our extraordinary physician community and consider myself blessed to be your colleague.

With admiration and respect, happy National Doctors’ Day.

And now for a special treat. You can click on the video below to learn why some of our colleagues became doctors and what they find most rewarding about their work.

March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, and I am delighted to report that we have a newly rebuilt and rapidly growing colon and rectal surgery program at MSBI.

Last July, we welcomed Sanghyun Alexander Kim, MD to the MSBI and downtown campus as our Division Chief.  He was previously at Mount Sinai Hospital where he completed his training and spent 15 years providing care as a part of the Faculty Practice while also training residents and fellows.

Both Mount Sinai and Beth Israel have had a long history of leadership and innovation in digestive health. The first people to describe Crohn’s disease were Dr. Burrill Crohn at Mount Sinai, and Dr. Leon Ginzburg who began at Mount Sinai and then served at Beth Israel as Chief of Surgery from 1947-1969.

Dr. Kim and his team are now seeing ambulatory patients at Union Square and operating on more complicated cases at Petrie. These patients have all sorts of conditions including Crohn’s disease, colon and anorectal cancer, diverticular diseases, and other digestive disorders.

Just last week, we welcomed a new colorectal surgery physician assistant, Hayden Hopkins. We are also in the process of recruiting another surgeon who will likely join us in July.

Members of our colon and rectal surgery team: Tina Vercueil, medical assistant; Claire Song, medical assistant; Hayden Hopkins, PA; Danielle Scribani, PA; Sanghyun Alexander Kim, MD; Junghee Benitez, medical assistant.

We are lucky to have Dr. Kim and this stellar team serving the MSBI community.

We have an entire team of compassionate and highly skilled social workers at MSBI dedicated to working with victims of violence and abuse. They partner closely with our emergency department and do a great job of helping victims find the courage to speak up and giving them the support to heal. They regularly receive profoundly moving notes of gratitude from these patients. One patient recently said this about Merritt Stewart, LCSW:

“You never tried to sugarcoat my pain, and I always felt like you were in the trenches right alongside with me…Most importantly, I always felt like you had my back and you never once made any judgments.”

Click below to see photos of this team and our volunteers. 

They’ve also done an incredible job of building and supporting an exceptional community of advocates who provide support, counseling, information, and advocacy to survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence in the ED after hours on weekdays and all day and night on weekends. Our victim services program recruits volunteers each fall and conducts a 40-hour Department of Health approved training that prepares each advocate for this vital work. These advocates are selfless members of our caring community and role models for us all.

Just this week, a brand new group of advocates completed their training and will begin counseling.

In 2018 alone, the volunteers worked with 97 survivors of sexual assault and 47 survivors of domestic violence at MSBI. Last year, the MSBI Victim Services social workers provided 1176 therapy sessions and helped with 128 instances of criminal justice advocacy. Their impact is unbelievable.

We are blessed to have these wonderful colleagues and advocates as members of our MSBI community.

In 2018 alone, the volunteers worked with 97 survivors of sexual assault and 47 survivors of domestic violence at MSBI. Last year, the MSBI Victim Services social workers provided 1176 therapy sessions and helped with 128 instances of criminal justice advocacy. Their impact is unbelievable.

We are blessed to have these wonderful colleagues and advocates as members of our MSBI community.