SinaInnovations 2019: A Close-up Look at Artificial Intelligence

Nov 25, 2019 | Artificial Intelligence, Featured, Research

Keynote speaker Michael Snyder, PhD

What is the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine, and how is it changing the practice of health care as we know it? That was the subject of the eighth annual SinaInnovations Conference, held Tuesday, October 15, and Wednesday, October 16, in Stern Auditorium. The event featured leading physicians and scientists from academia and industry who spoke about their work in deploying AI—the most powerful technology under development—to augment discovery and clinical use.

Experts shared their experiences in using AI in a variety of ways, from medical imaging, to predicting disease, to keeping people healthy, and highlighted the massive transformation taking place in health care and medicine, where software is driving innovation.

Michael Snyder, PhD, Chair of the Department of Genetics, and Director of the Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine at Stanford University, a keynote speaker, discussed the role of AI in advancing personalized medicine. “I see a world where, with genome sequencing and continuous monitoring using wearable devices, we can better manage people’s health and hopefully do this at an individual level, and have personal machine-learning algorithms that follow people and their health state,” Dr. Snyder said. “We’re very capable of measuring more things, and here’s an area where AI can make a big impact.”

Melissa A. Haendel, PhD, Director of Translational Data Science at Oregon State University, spoke about her work in leading the federally funded Monarch Initiative, which is building sophisticated algorithms that integrate a multitude of data about rare diseases in order to improve research and clinical care. “No one group is actually annotating a disease model that has all the same attributes,” Dr. Haendel said. “We can’t even count the number of rare diseases.” Her team’s goal, she said, is to pull all of the data together and use it to build models that help physicians make earlier diagnoses, identify biomarkers of disease, and find better treatments.

Conference participants Heather J. Lynch, PhD, Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, left, and Georgia D. Tourassi, PhD, Director, Health Data Sciences Institute, Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

David Sontag, PhD, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, discussed how AI can be used to redesign electronic medical records so they can yield more reliable information on the patient’s risk for various diseases. In one case, he said, his team developed a machine-learning algorithm to help an infectious disease clinician at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital reduce the number of unnecessary prescriptions for antibiotics.

AI is already playing a role in augmenting radiology. Keith J. Dreyer, DO, PhD, Vice Chairman, Radiology, at Massachusetts General Hospital and Chief Science Officer of the American College of Radiology, told the audience that “AI has huge value” and will be increasingly useful over time as the field matures.

In his keynote address, Pieter Abbeel, PhD, an entrepreneur and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley, showed how deep machine learning takes place through constant repetition. In one example, he illustrated how a robot learns to run. After 2,000 iterations, it will become proficient. By comparison, a healthy human child would learn to run proficiently after roughly two weeks of practice. In many cases, he said, machines have achieved human-level error rates.

Among the many algorithms Stanford University is working on is one that recognizes the photo of a radiological image taken with a mobile phone, according to Curtis Langlotz, MD, PhD, Director of Stanford’s Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and Imaging. This technology would allow general practitioners and other health care professionals in remote areas to use their mobile phones to access an algorithm that would assist them in making medical decisions when a radiologist is not available. For example, they would be able to determine whether a patient with, say, tuberculosis, should be discharged from the hospital.

Speakers and attendees at the conference agreed that AI is both promising and challenging. Suresh Venkatasubramanian, PhD, Professor of Computing at the University of Utah, cautioned that inherent bias in the data will create bias in the algorithms. “Models are fragile,” he said. “The Achilles heel is that the more sophisticated a system gets, especially with deep learning, the more sensitive it gets to small perturbations, and this could wreak havoc on the system.”

Greg Zaharchuk, MD, PhD, Professor of Radiology (Neuroimaging and Neurointervention) at Stanford University, concluded his talk with a nod to the future. “I think we’re only scratching the surface. This is a moment of extreme creativity, and it’s a very exciting time to be in the field.” Rather than replacing radiologists and other medical specialists, he added, AI “is really going to extend our abilities as physicians.”

New Gift Supports Young Entrepreneurs at Mount Sinai

This year, for the first time, a nonprofit biotech accelerator company founded by five former postdocs at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai presented the school with a five-year, $50,000 gift to support young entrepreneurs in the New York City area whose science is being used to create therapies, devices, and diagnostics that support human health. The gift from The Keystone for Incubating Innovation in Life Sciences (KiiLN) went to Raymond A. Alvarez, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, who is working on a platform that identifies and studies the antibodies of individuals who are immune to hantaviruses, which are spread by rodents and have a 38 percent mortality rate. Currently, there are no vaccines or treatments for hantaviruses.

 

Rachel Yehuda, PhD, Pioneering Researcher, Is Elected to the National Academy of Medicine

Nov 25, 2019 | Featured, Research

Rachel Yehuda, PhD

Rachel Yehuda, PhD, a world-renowned researcher whose pioneering discoveries have revolutionized the study and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Yehuda is Professor and Vice Chair for Veterans Affairs for the Department of Psychiatry, Professor of Neuroscience, and Director of the Traumatic Stress Studies Division at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. This Division also includes the PTSD Clinical Research Program and the Neurochemistry, Neuroendocrinology, and Molecular Biology Lab at the James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center in the Bronx.

The National Academy of Medicine is a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization that provides independent, objective analysis and advice on health issues. Its members are elected through a selective process, and election is considered one of the highest honors in health and medicine. With this election, Mount Sinai has 23 faculty members in the Academy.

Traumatic stress first interested Dr. Yehuda when she was a postdoctoral fellow in biological psychology at Yale Medical School in 1987. She and colleagues observed that Vietnam War combat veterans with PTSD had significantly lower levels of cortisol, a steroid hormone that helps regulate physiological responses to stress, compared to those without PTSD. It was a provocative discovery because elevated cortisol levels are typically associated with stress. The work led to a new understanding: In response to acute stress, ample cortisol levels are critical to mobilizing—and then containing—numerous stress-related mediators, such that those who have lower cortisol levels at the time of trauma exposure are at elevated risk for PTSD.

As Dr. Yehuda was concluding her fellowship and about to join the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in 1991, she wondered if lower cortisol levels would also be present in other groups of trauma survivors, and initiated biological studies in Holocaust survivors. A pilot study of 100 survivors revealed that half had PTSD, and that they, too, had lower cortisol levels. To continue her work, she established a specialized treatment program for Holocaust survivors and their families at The Mount Sinai Hospital.

After years of study, Dr. Yehuda and her team of researchers had new revelations: that many Holocaust survivors and their adult offspring had epigenetic changes on the same region of a gene known as FKBP5 that is related to stress, demonstrating—for the first time in people—an epigenetic link between parental trauma and offspring effects.

Her current research interests include studying PTSD biomarkers, and other innovative PTSD prevention strategies and treatment, including the use of psychedelic medications. Today, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has one of the largest programs in the nation for the study of PTSD biomarkers.

In April, Dr. Yehuda was named principal investigator of a nearly $6 million grant from the United States Department of Defense through its U.S. Army Medical Research program to test whether a onetime dose of a drug—oral hydrocortisone—can prevent PTSD and related mental health disturbances in both civilians and military personnel.

Oral hydrocortisone is a synthetic glucocorticoid similar to the body’s own cortisol. The double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial will be conducted on 220 recently traumatized patients presenting to the Emergency Department of The Mount Sinai Hospital and Chaim Sheba Medical Center in Israel, an academic research center.

“It has been a privilege to learn from trauma survivors and lead a first-rate research team that is devoted to developing strategies for treating PTSD,” says Dr. Yehuda. “The Icahn School of Medicine has provided the very best possible environment for fostering innovation in psychiatry research.”

2019 Mount Sinai Health Hackathon Winners

Nov 25, 2019 | Artificial Intelligence, Featured, Research

The three team finalists were: George:  Katie Depue, David Koellhofer, and Brendan Reilly.  Deliberate: Marc Aafjes, Michael Balangue, Do Hyung Kwon, Hansaim Lim, and Paulo Serodio. Deep Brain Precision: John Di Capua, Taylor Miller, Ashley So, and Danielle Soldin.

One hundred eighty medical and graduate students, and others, formed 19 teams to participate in the fourth annual Mount Sinai Health Hackathon in October. The 48-hour competition, held over the weekend leading up to the SinaInnovations Conference, challenged the participants to create novel health care solutions that would expand the limits of human performance.

Three teams each received checks totaling $2,500 and will have the opportunity to pitch their ideas again in 2020 at Mount Sinai’s Innovation Showcase before a group of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. They will be joined by a fourth wild-card team chosen from the non-finalists.

Scott L. Friedman, MD, Dean for Therapeutic Discovery, and Chief of the Division of Liver Diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, told the participants, “We started this event four years ago as part of a larger effort to spur innovation. This is really the embodiment of our values about teamwork and doing great things.”

The three team finalists were:

Deliberate: Improving the quality of care in psychotherapy through confidential recording and analysis. Team members: Marc Aafjes, Michael Balangue, Do Hyung Kwon, Hansaim Lim, and Paulo Serodio.

George: An artificial intelligence application that allows dialysis providers to optimize scheduling and improve a clinic’s efficiency. Team members: Katie Depue, David Koellhofer, and Brendan Reilly.

 Deep Brain Precision: An app that would allow physicians to monitor a patient’s progress after receiving deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease and other motor disorders. Team members: John Di Capua, Taylor Miller, Ashley So, and Danielle Soldin.

Sponsors and partners: Accenture; Altice Business; Cisco; Farmer’s Fridge; Kitware; PepsiCo; Persistent Systems; the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health; and the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.

Annual Gala Champions Prostate Cancer Research

Nov 25, 2019 | Featured, Research

Ash Tewari, MBBS, MCh, left, and Arthur Blank

The Milton and Carroll Petrie Department of Urology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai raised more than $1 million at its Fourth Annual Prostate Cancer Research Gala on Wednesday, November 6, to support patient care, research, prevention, and education. Roger Goodell, Commissioner of the National Football League (NFL), and Don Garber, Commissioner of Major League Soccer (MLS), were Co-Chairs of the event, held at Cipriani 42nd Street. Television host Seth Meyers was the emcee.

The gala honored Arthur Blank, owner of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and MLS’s Atlanta United; and Nina Bhardwaj, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Medical Oncology) and Director of Immunotherapy at The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

“We’re grateful to Mr. Blank and Dr. Bhardwaj for their support in advancing our understanding of prostate cancer,” said Ash Tewari, MBBS, MCh, Chair of the Department of Urology at the Mount Sinai Health System and the Kyung Hyun Kim, MD Professor of Urology at the Icahn School of Medicine, who spearheaded the gala.

Nina Bhardwaj, MD, PhD

Mr. Blank, owner and Chairman of the Blank Family Businesses and a member of The Milton and Carroll Petrie Department of Urology Chairman’s Board, said, “The work being done by Mount Sinai has forever changed the course of research and medicine. I feel beyond fortunate to have been one of the lives saved because of their work and will continue to be a champion for their efforts.”

The gala kicked off the three-day 2019 International Prostate Cancer and Urology Symposium at The Mount Sinai Hospital, which featured in-depth training and lectures from more than 100 urologists, surgeons, oncologists, and other providers. Guest speaker Deepak Chopra, MD, FACP, a renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation, discussed the mind/body cancer connection.

Fifth Annual Mount Sinai Innovation Awards

Nov 25, 2019 | Featured, Research

Erik Lium, PhD, Executive Vice President, Mount Sinai Innovation Partners, center, presents the Mount Sinai Inventor of the Year Award  to Edward Schuchman, PhD, and Calogera Simonaro, PhD

Individuals and teams from the Mount Sinai Health System were honored for significant advances in biomedical research, technology, and medicine at the fifth annual Mount Sinai Innovation Awards ceremony, which was held Monday, October 14, in conjunction with the SinaInnovations conference.

Two faculty members from the Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Edward Schuchman, PhD, Professor, and Calogera Simonaro, PhD, Research Professor, received the Mount Sinai Inventor of the Year Award for their discovery of the drug pentosane polysulfate sodium for the treatment of mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS), a rare and potentially fatal disease that affects the skeletal system, skin, heart, brain, and other organs. Their work has led to exclusive licenses with Paradigm Biopharmaceuticals, Ltd, and ReqMed Company, Ltd.

The Mount Sinai Deal of the Year Award for RenalytixAI was given to Barbara Murphy, MD, Murray M. Rosenberg Professor of Medicine and Dean for Clinical Integration and Population Health; Steven Coca, DO, Associate Professor of Medicine (Nephrology); and Girish Nadkarni, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Nephrology). RenalytixAI is the first AI-enabled diagnostic for kidney disease to be publicly announced as a Breakthrough Device designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Dirk Hubmacher, PhD, Assistant Professor of Orthopedics, and Tim Ahfeldt, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, and Neurology, received the Faculty Idea Prize for their work with disorders that involve dysregulation of the extracellular matrix (ECM).

Seventeen innovators received the 4D Technology Development Program Award for four projects:

  • Novel inhibitors via an unexplored epigenetic strategy in cancer treatment: Emily Bernstein, PhD; Robert DeVita, PhD; Chiara Vardabasso, PhD; and Roberto Sanchez, PhD.
  • Detachable balloon-sheath microcatheter for improved flow control in transvenous and transarterial liquid embolization: Anthony Costa, PhD; Kurt Yaeger, MD; Thomas Oxley, MD, PhD; Alejandro Berenstein, MD; and Peter Backeris, ME.
  • Novel phase-shifting retinal tamponade: Avnish Deobhakta, MD; Richard Rosen, MD; Sean Ianchulev, MD, MPH; and Christopher Frenz, PhD.
  • Multitasking deep neural nets for improving breast cancer diagnosis from digital screening mammography: Li Shen, PhD; Weiva Sieh, MD, PhD; Laurie R. Margolies, MD; and Joseph H. Rothstein, MS.

The Annual Dean’s Healthcare System Award went to Laurie Keefer, PhD; Ksenia Gorbenko, PhD; Marla C. Dubinsky, MD; Stacy Tse, PharmD; Laura Manning, MPH, RD; and Jordyn Feingold, MAPP, on behalf of the GRITT-IBD Team (Gaining Resilience Through Transitions for patients with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases) and its interdisciplinary collaboration in service of optimal patient care.

Five individuals received Trainee Innovation Idea Awards:

MD student Daniel Ranti: Automated generation of discharge summaries using deep learning.

PhD student Arpit Dave: PatchAid, a possible treatment for vitiligo, a skin disease.

Postdoctoral fellows Eugenie Martineau, PhD, and Enrica Piras, PhD: Vaginal Lactobacillus spray for infants delivered by C-section.

House staff physician Kurt Yaeger, MD: Arteriovenous malformation microcatheter.

 Jones Day was the premier sponsor.

Ten Renowned Mount Sinai Faculty Members Honored at Convocation

Nov 5, 2019 | Community, Featured, Research

Front row, from left: Florian Krammer, PhD; Sundar Jagannath, MBBS; Fred R. Hirsch, MD, PhD; Lakshmi A. Devi, PhD; Joshua B. Bederson, MD; and Dennis S. Charney, MD. Back row, from left: James S. Tisch; Sarah E. Millar, PhD; Roxana Mehran, MD; Avi Ma’ayan, PhD; Daniel M. Labow, MD; and Nathalie Jette, MD, MSc.

 

The 2019 Convocation Ceremony honored 10 renowned faculty members at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai who have advanced the fields of neurosurgery, molecular pharmacology, oncology, bioinformatics, vaccinology, population health, cardiovascular clinical research, and gene and cell medicine:

JOSHUA B. BEDERSON, MD
Leonard I. Malis, MD/Corinne and Joseph Graber Professor of Neurosurgery

Joshua B. Bederson, MD, Professor and System Chair of the Mount Sinai Health System’s Department of Neurosurgery, is widely recognized as one of his generation’s leading skull base and cerebrovascular surgeons. He is a world leader in developing advanced intraoperative applications of digital visualization technologies, augmented reality, and microscope integration. As System Chair, he has led the department through a period of extraordinary growth to become one of the largest and most respected neurosurgery programs in the nation. Dr. Bederson serves as Co-Director of the Skull Base Surgery Center and Pituitary Care and Research Center, and has performed more than 4,000 neurosurgical operations at Mount Sinai.

He joined Mount Sinai and founded the Cerebrovascular Disorders Clinical Program in 1992, where he established the first basic science laboratory in the Department of Neurosurgery. Dr. Bederson developed models of stroke and subarachnoid hemorrhage and became the first Mount Sinai neurosurgeon to receive an NIH-RO1 as principal investigator. His academic activities have led to more than 130 peer-reviewed publications. He was appointed Vice Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery and Neurosurgery Residency Director in 2001. An advocate for cross-department cooperation, he fostered collaborative efforts with Mount Sinai’s Neurology Stroke Program, Otolaryngology Skull Base and Otology programs, The Tisch Cancer Institute, and Translational Neuroscience Center. He was appointed Chair of Neurosurgery in 2008.

Dr. Bederson is a leader in neurosurgical technology development. In 2015, in partnership with Anthony B. Costa, PhD, he co-founded the Neurosurgery Simulation Core, a digital technology research group dedicated to developing augmented and virtual reality for clinical neurosurgery application. His successful innovation leadership has led to the creation of Sinai BioDesign, a neuroscience-driven medical device incubator, and AISINAI, a group of scientists, physicians, and researchers dedicated to developing artificial intelligence platforms that enhance patient care. Dr. Bederson’s fostering of neurosurgical innovation contributed to the development of a new biomedical engineering and imaging institute, launching in 2021.

LAKSHMI A. DEVI, PhD
Mount Sinai Professor in Molecular Pharmacology

Lakshmi A. Devi, PhD, is Dean of the Office of Academic Development and Enrichment, and a Professor in the Departments of Pharmacological Sciences, Neuroscience, and Psychiatry. She is an internationally recognized leader in molecular neurobiology and pharmacology. Among her ground-breaking scientific discoveries are the demonstration that membrane proteins such as G protein-coupled receptors form interacting complexes and these serve as novel therapeutic targets. Dr. Devi’s group has identified compounds targeting these complexes; efforts are currently underway to develop these as drugs for the treatment of chronic pain, substance abuse and addiction. Dr. Devi’s recent projects include identifying and characterizing novel brain receptor systems involved in the regulation of feeding and reward-related behaviors.

Dr. Devi is the author of more than 200 papers and review articles in the areas of molecular neurobiology and drug discovery, as well as the editor of seven books. Among her honors and awards are the Senior Scientist Research and Mentorship Award, the Gaisman Frontiers in Biomedical Research Award, NIH MERIT Award, International Narcotics Research Conference Founder Award and Winter Conference of Brain Research Pioneer Award. Dr. Devi is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the Advisory Council of National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Dr. Devi became Dean of the Office of Academic Development and Enrichment in 2014. In this role, she established a school-wide mentoring program which helps each faculty member clarify their aspirations for research, education, and leadership and connects them with the resources to strengthen and accomplish their goals. This is achieved through workshops, seminars, and panel discussions that connect faculty across the Mount Sinai Health System, thereby promoting mentorship, collaboration and leadership development.

A native of India, Dr. Devi received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Mysore, India, and her PhD degree from the University of Windsor, Canada. She obtained post-doctorate training in Neurochemistry at the Addiction Research Foundation in Palo Alto, California and in Molecular Neurobiology at the Vollum Institute, Oregon. Dr. Devi joined the faculty of Pharmacology at New York University School of Medicine and in 2002 moved to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai as a Professor of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics.

FRED R. HIRSCH, MD, PhD
Joe Lowe and Louis Price Professor of Medicine

Fred R. Hirsch, MD, PhD, is Executive Director of the newly created Center for Thoracic Oncology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, which is a multidisciplinary center focusing on development of translational and clinical science within lung cancer and mesotheliomas, including development of innovative clinical trials. A focus for the Center is screening, early detection, and management of early stage lung cancer. Dr. Hirsch is also Associate Director of Biomarker Discovery at The Tisch Cancer Institute; and Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine of Mount Sinai.

Dr. Hirsch has worked in clinical and translational research in lung cancer for more than 25 years. His current research has helped to identify and validate prognostic markers for lung cancer outcomes and biomarkers for personalized lung cancer therapies that illustrate how these therapies work and who will likely benefit from such treatment.

Prior to joining Mount Sinai in 2019, Dr. Hirsch spent 18 years as Professor of Medicine and Pathology at the University of Colorado and five years as CEO of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer. He has been the recipient of awards and honors, including the Wuan Ki Hong Lectureship Award, the Addario Foundation Lecture Award, the Japanese Lung Cancer Society Merit Award, and the IASLC Mary Matthews Award for Translational Research in Lung Cancer. Dr. Hirsch has contributed to more than 400 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Hirsch earned his medical and doctorate degrees from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

SUNDAR JAGANNATH, MD
Mount Sinai Professor in Multiple Myeloma

A renowned expert in the research and treatment of multiple myeloma and bone marrow transplantation, Sundar Jagannath, MD, is Director of the Multiple Myeloma Program at The Tisch Cancer Institute and Professor of Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

The Multiple Myeloma Program is a leader in patient care and translational research for this relatively rare cancer of the bone marrow and is the largest of its kind in New York City and one of the largest in the country. Dr. Jagannath and his team treat a high volume of patients, including more than 400 new patients each year, providing novel, precision medicine therapies that offer the best chance for good outcomes with a high quality of life.

Dr. Jagannath has published more than 180 peer-reviewed articles in top publications, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Blood, the Journal of Clinical Oncology and Cancer. He has presented more than 150 abstracts and authored nearly 30 book chapters. He is editor-in-chief of Clinical Lymphoma, Myeloma & Leukemia and a board member for the Society of Hematologic Oncology. He is the recipient of the distinguished 2018 Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Award (FASCO) for his extraordinary volunteer service, dedication, and commitment to the American Society of Oncology, the practice of clinical oncology, and people with cancer. In 2003, he received the Humanitarian Award from the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.

A board-certified specialist in internal medicine and medical oncology, Dr. Jagannath received his medical degree at Maharaja Sayajirao University Medical Center in Baroda, India, and continued his medical training with a fellowship in immunovirology at McMaster University Medical Center in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

NATHALIE JETTE, MD, MSc, FRCPC
Bluhdorn Professor of International Medicine

Nathalie Jette, MD, MSc, FRCPC, is a Professor of Neurology and Population Health Science and Policy at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She is a health services researcher, epileptologist, Vice Chair for Clinical Research Neurology, and Chief of the Division of Health Outcomes and Knowledge Translation Research across the Mount Sinai Health System.

As part of her research program, Dr. Jette studies appropriateness and quality-of-care, disparities in care, health outcomes (especially surgical) and psychiatric comorbidities, and determines how best to optimize these outcomes in persons living with epilepsy and other neurological conditions. She is seeking to improve quality of life in those living with neurological conditions regionally, nationally and internationally, through her strong international collaborations with academic researchers, patient advocacy groups and organizations such as the International League Against Epilepsy, the International Bureau for Epilepsy, and the World Health Organization. Her team uses a variety of data sources (e.g. electronic health records, administrative data, registry data) and statistical approaches to study neurological outcomes and to develop prediction tools and decision models to help clinicians provide the best possible care to persons living with neurological conditions. She is also involved in knowledge translation research, including development of e-tools and apps, to enhance the dissemination of evidence-based practice to improve epilepsy and other neurological outcomes.

Dr. Jette earned her medical degree from the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine, where she also completed her residency in Neurology. She followed with a fellowship at Columbia University. She has been the recipient of more than 50 research, teaching and clinical awards, including the International League Against Epilepsy Ambassador for Epilepsy Award in 2017. She also maintains an active epilepsy practice within the Mount Sinai Health System.

FLORIAN KRAMMER, PhD
Mount Sinai Professor in Vaccinology

Florian Krammer, PhD, is a Professor of Microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai whose work focuses on understanding the mechanisms of interactions between antibodies and viral surface glycoproteins and on translating this work into novel, broadly protective vaccines and therapeutics. The Krammer Laboratory, which is part of the NIH-funded Centers for Excellence in Influenza Research and Surveillance (CEIRS), is focused mainly on the influenza virus, but is also working on the Zika virus, hantaviruses, filoviruses, and arenaviruses.

Dr. Krammer received his training in biotechnology and applied virology at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in his native Austria, where he established various expression systems for antigens using insect cells/baculovirus, mammalian cells, bacteria, yeast, and plants. His post-doctoral work with Peter Palese, PhD, Chair of the Department of Microbiology, focused on the development of broadly neutralizing anti-hemagglutinin stalk antibodies and the design of a universal influenza virus vaccine. The results of these studies have been very promising: after successful testing in animal models, clinical testing with this universal influenza virus vaccine is currently ongoing.

Dr. Krammer has published more than 160 papers, is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Virology, Plos One, Vaccine, MDPI Vaccines and Heliyon, and is a prolific peer reviewer for more than 50 journals. He is also a former member of the Edward Jenner Society Young Investigator Program, and is scientific advisor for PathSensors and a Distinguished Scientific Advisor for the Trudeau Institute. Finally, Dr. Krammer is on the organizing committee of the Vaccine Technology and ESWI conference series.

DANIEL M. LABOW, MD
Eugene W. Friedman, MD Professor of Surgical Oncology

Daniel M. Labow, MD, Chair of Surgery at Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai St. Luke’s, is a board-certified surgeon with a specialty in surgical oncology. He established himself at The Mount Sinai Hospital in 2004 after studying medicine at a unique combined medical school, the Dartmouth-Brown Medical Program. He completed his general surgery residency at the University of Chicago, and conducted two years of research during that time at Memorial Sloan Kettering Thoracic Oncology Lab. He returned to Sloan Kettering for his fellowship training in surgical oncology.

Dr. Labow continuously designs processes to facilitate unprecedented patient care and instills this practice on the new generation of physicians while working tirelessly to advance the educational program at Mount Sinai. He established the Surgical Oncology Fellowship in 2007, which is now one of the only two ACGME-approved fellowships in Surgical Oncology in New York City, and has served as Program Director throughout this time.

Dr. Labow’s clinical and research interests include the diagnosis and treatment of a broad range of both primary and metastatic malignancies, including gastric and esophageal cancer, pancreatic neoplasms, primary and metastatic liver malignancies, biliary tract disease, colon and rectal cancer, sarcoma, and melanoma. Dr. Labow’s devotion to research and training allows him to understand the entire spectrum of treatments for these cancers, including investigational approaches to help guide each individual patient along the appropriate treatment’s unique pathway. Moreover, he concentrates on the application of minimally invasive techniques and their role in cancer care.

Initially at The Mount Sinai Hospital and now throughout the Mount Sinai Health System, Dr. Labow established and continues to direct one of the busiest Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemoperfusion (HIPEC) programs in the country. This technique, which combines surgery with intraoperative chemotherapy, has revolutionized the treatment of cancers in the abdominal (peritoneal) lining that stem from colon, gastric, ovarian, and appendiceal cancers, as well as mesothelioma and pseudomyxoma peritonei. Dr. Labow, who has performed more than 500 HIPEC procedures since 2007, recognized the effect the combination procedure has in significantly extending patient survival rates whilst minimizing the known side effects of chemotherapy that are normally administered intravenously.

Dr. Labow’s rapport with his patients, his medical knowledge, and his dedication as a physician contribute to his reputation with patients as well as other physicians.

AVI MA’AYAN, PhD
Mount Sinai Professor in Bioinformatics

Avi Ma’ayan, PhD, is the Director of the Mount Sinai Center for Bioinformatics and a Professor in the Department of Pharmacological Sciences. His laboratory applies computational and mathematical methods to study the complexity of regulatory networks in mammalian cells, and develops algorithms and software to analyze and visualize how intracellular regulatory systems function as networks to control cellular processes such as differentiation, de-differentiation, apoptosis and proliferation. The laboratory’s main focus is in developing methods that link changes in genome-wide gene expression to transcriptional regulators and cell signaling pathways.

The Ma’ayan Lab has developed several popular web-based bioinformatics software tools and databases that enable biologists to perform enrichment analyses, network analysis, and machine learning to find new knowledge about single genes and gene sets. Using these tools and databases, the Ma’ayan Lab works closely with experimentalists on projects that utilize high-throughput experiments to understand cell regulation at the global scale. Thus far, more than 850,000 unique users have accessed the databases and tools developed by the Ma’ayan Lab.

Dr. Ma’ayan was born and raised on a kibbutz in northern Israel. In 1993, he won the Israeli national championship in the 3000 steeplechase, an Olympic track and field event. This achievement earned him a full athletic scholarship at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey, where he majored in Computer Science and competed in NCAA Division I athletics. After graduation, he worked as a software engineer for five years in two mid-size companies, earned his PhD at Mount Sinai, and joined the faculty. Since then, Dr. Ma’ayan and members of his laboratory published over 160 peer reviewed articles and Dr. Ma’ayan has served as the lead principal investigator on NIH grants that have totaled more than $30 million in the past 10 years.

ROXANA MEHRAN, MD
Mount Sinai Professor in Cardiovascular Clinical Research and Outcomes

Roxana Mehran, MD, is an internationally renowned interventional cardiologist and clinical research expert in the field of cardiovascular disease. As Director of the Center for Interventional Cardiovascular Research and Clinical Trials at Mount Sinai, she has built a globally respected academic research center focused on developing randomized clinical trials, outcomes research projects and high impact academic publications.

A prolific researcher, Dr. Mehran has served as principal investigator for numerous global studies, developed risk scores for bleeding and acute kidney injury, participates regularly in developing clinical guidelines, and has authored more than 900 peer-reviewed articles. She has been honored by Clarivate Analytics as one of the most influential scientific minds and highly cited researchers for several consecutive years.

She is a founder and Chief Scientific Officer of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) and recently founded Women as One, an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing opportunities for women in medicine. Very active within professional organizations, Dr. Mehran has been the Chair of the Interventional Council for the American College of Cardiology (ACC); Program Chair of the 2016 Annual Scientific Sessions of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI), where she is also a co-founder of the Women in Innovations (WIN) Committee; and is a member of the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Go Red for Women Scientific Advisory Group.

Dr. Mehran earned her medical degree from St. George’s University School of Medicine and completed fellowships in cardiovascular disease and interventional cardiology at Mount Sinai. Prior to joining Mount Sinai in 2010, Dr. Mehran held appointments at Columbia University Medical Center, Lenox Hill Hospital, and Washington Hospital Center. She is a recipient of several awards, including the 2016 American College of Cardiology Bernadine Healy Leadership in Cardiovascular Disease award, the 2018 Nanette Wenger Award from Women’s Heart for excellence in research and education, and the 2019 Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

SARAH E. MILLAR, PhD
Lillian and Henry M. Stratton Professor of Gene and Cell Medicine

Sarah E. Millar, PhD, is Director of the Black Family Stem Cell Institute and a Professor in the Department of Cell, Developmental and Regenerative Biology and The Kimberly and Eric J. Waldman Department of Dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Her research focuses on cell-cell signaling and epigenetic mechanisms controlling development, stem cell function and regeneration of epithelial organs including the skin epidermis and ectodermal appendages such as hair follicles, mammary glands, taste papillae, and teeth.

Dr. Millar and her co-workers identified Wnt/beta-catenin signaling as a key pathway required for initiating the formation of ectodermal appendages from multipotent cells in mammalian embryos. By analyzing genetic mouse models and tissues from human patients carrying mutations in the WNT10A gene, they showed that Wnt signaling plays key roles in regulating the functions of a wide variety of adult epithelial stem cells, as well as controlling specialized differentiation programs in palmoplantar skin. They are currently using patient-derived and gene edited iPS cells to model human genetic skin disease in vitro and test novel therapeutic approaches.

Dr. Millar is an Editorial Board member for Developmental Cell and Experimental Dermatology, and Deputy Editor for the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. She has received several awards in recognition of her research, including an NIH MERIT Award for her work on Wnt signaling in the skin, and the 2017 William Montagna Lectureship Award of the Society for Investigative Dermatology.

After graduating from Cambridge University, Dr. Millar received her PhD from the University of London and then trained as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health and at Stanford University. Before joining Mount Sinai in 2019, Dr. Millar was The Albert M. Kligman Professor of Dermatology, Vice Chair for Basic Research in the Department of Dermatology, and Director of the Skin Biology and Diseases Resource-based Center at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine.

 

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