$3 Million Gift to Advance Study of Crohn’s Disease

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Featured, Research, Your Health

From left: Noam Harpaz, MD, Professor of Pathology, and Medicine (Gastroenterology); Sanford J. Grossman, PhD; Judy H. Cho, MD; and Asher A. Kornbluth, MD, Clinical Professor of Medicine (Gastroenterology).

The Sanford J. Grossman Charitable Trust has committed $3 million to a center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai that is focused on advancing the understanding of Crohn’s disease and creating personalized medicine for its treatment.

The trust donated $1 million to establish the Dr. Sanford J. Grossman Center for Integrative Studies in Inflammatory Bowel Disease in 2015. Now it will donate an additional $2 million—$400,000 a year for the next five years.

“Mount Sinai has a large and unique data set on patients: clinical symptoms, pathology reports, genomics, family history, and radiology,” says the founder of the trust, the economist Sanford J. Grossman. “My hope is that the integration and analysis of this data will enable a better understanding of Crohn’s disease, and with that knowledge, therapies will be developed to alter the natural course of the disease.”

Crohn’s is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that affects nearly 700,000 people in the United States. Over time it can damage the bowel and create complications such as strictures, a narrowing section of the intestine that can lead to loss of function and reduce the quality of a patient’s life.

“Our main goal is to develop treatments that specifically deal with stricture in Crohn’s disease, and that aren’t the usual anti-inflammatory treatments,” says Judy H. Cho, MD, Director of the Center, and the Ward-Coleman Chair in Translational Genetics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

One new effort is a small clinical trial led by Robert Hirten, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Gastroenterology) at the Icahn School of Medicine, that is exploring whether steroids are beneficial for Crohn’s patients hospitalized with a bowel obstruction caused by stricturing. Dr. Cho is conducting genetic and molecular projects involving pluripotent stem cells that might someday be engineered to repair the defects that cause Crohn’s disease. She says, “We are very grateful for Dr. Grossman’s donation, which will fund our unique, integrative team and catalyze new research.”

 

Mount Sinai Researchers Show That Early Intervention in Preschool Is a Unique Opportunity for Promoting a Healthy Lifestyle

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Community, Featured, Research

Natalia Leal and her son Gabriel are participants in FAMILIA, which instructs preschoolers and their families on cardiovascular health.

Children may have a better chance of avoiding unhealthy habits linked to obesity and cardiovascular disease later in life if they are taught properly about healthy behaviors in preschool, Mount Sinai researchers have shown in a first-of-its-kind study.

The researchers focused on children living in a socioeconomically disadvantaged community, a situation that is commonly linked to higher rates of obesity, heart disease, and other health issues. Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, Director of Mount Sinai Heart and Physician-in-Chief of The Mount Sinai Hospital, created and led the trial, called the FAMILIA Project at Mount Sinai Heart. The results were published in the April 22 online issue of Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Read the press release

Read more about the study in an article in Inside Mount Sinai

Advancing International Food Allergy Research

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Research

Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and President for Academic Affairs, Mount Sinai Health System, center; and from left, Scott H. Sicherer, MD, Director of the Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe Food Allergy Institute, Mount Sinai Health System; Prasert Auewarakul, MD, PhD, Deputy Dean of Research, Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University; Hugh A. Sampson, MD, Director Emeritus of the Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe Food Allergy Institute; and Pakit Vichyanond, MD, Director, Samitivej Allergy Institute.

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai recently agreed to collaborate on food allergy research with the Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, and the Samitivej Allergy Institute, prominent medical institutions in Bangkok, Thailand. Initial studies will center on wheat allergies—one of the most common—that appear to be increasing in Thailand. In 2018, researchers from the Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine published the results of a rigorous clinical trial showing that more than half of children in the study were successfully desensitized to wheat after a year of oral immunotherapy.  

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A Novel Approach to Making Organ Transplants Successful

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Featured, Research, Your Health

Study co-authors, from left: Zahi Fayad, PhD, Director of the Translational and Molecular Imaging Institute; and Willem J.M. Mulder, PhD, Professor of Radiology, and Oncological Sciences.

The nearly 35,000 individuals who receive organ transplants each year in the United States face a harsh reality: the immunosuppressive drugs they must take to maintain organ survival also weaken the immune system, breaking down the body’s critical defenses against cancer, infection, and more. Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai recently developed an innovative type of immunotherapy based on nanotechnology that they hope will address this conundrum. Their findings, published in the November 6, 2018, issue of Immunity, have demonstrated the technology’s feasibility of long-term organ acceptance in mice.

“This is a whole new approach to programming the immune system, not just another small molecule drug that’s going to help with organ transplantation,” says Zahi Fayad, PhD, Director of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai’s Translational and Molecular Imaging Institute, which conducted the work. Dr. Fayad is also Professor of Diagnostic, Molecular, and Interventional Radiology, and Medicine (Cardiology). “Because of the many problems this approach addresses—the risk of rejection, the shortage of organs for transplant, the cost of these procedures—we believe it can be transformative for the organ transplant field.”

Jordi Ochando, PhD

The immunotherapy works by regulating innate immune memory, or trained immunity, which the investigators found to play a central role in organ rejection. In trained immunity, immune cells known as myeloid cells initiate the body’s immune system response by activating T cells, which then attack the transplanted organ.

“By inhibiting trained immunity, we prevent activation of the myeloid cells and their subsequent activation of T cells,” says Jordi Ochando, PhD, the study’s co-senior author, who is Assistant Professor of Medicine (Nephrology), Oncological Sciences, and Pathology at the Icahn School of Medicine. “This novel technology preserves the normal function of the T cells, which is to protect the body against cancer and infections.”

Identifying trained immunity as a target enabled the Mount Sinai scientists to focus on a signaling pathway known as mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), which regulates immune cell metabolism. The team developed an injectable nanoimmunotherapy based on high-density lipoprotein (HDL) nanomaterials and the existing mTOR inhibitor rapamycin.

“These nanomaterials essentially deliver the rapamycin to the myeloid cells, and that changes the metabolic state of the cells and prevents their activation,” says co-senior author Willem J.M. Mulder, PhD, Professor of Radiology, and Oncological Sciences at Icahn School of Medicine, and Director of the Nanomedicine Program. The absence of myeloid cell and T cell activation, Dr. Mulder points out, could drastically reduce the need for transplant patients to take lifelong immunosuppressive medicines to prevent graft rejection.

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Inaugural Symposium Explores Women’s Health

Updated on Nov 14, 2025 | BFWHRI, Engagement, Featured, Research, Women's Health

From left: Lynn Roberts, PhD, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Alumni Relations, City College of New York; Andrea Dunaif, MD; Veerle Bergink, MD, PhD; Laura E. Riley, MD; Elizabeth A. Howell, MD, MPP; Vivian Pinn, MD; Michael Brodman, MD, the Ellen and Howard C. Katz Chair of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Lynne Richardson, MD, Vice Chair for Academic, Research, and Community Programs, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Susan Domchek, MD, Executive Director, Basser Center for BRCA, Penn Medicine; and Stephanie V. Blank, MD, Director of Gynecologic Oncology, Mount Sinai Health System.

Why are more women than men hospitalized for schizophrenia after age 50? How should a bipolar pregnant woman be medicated? What should the study of women’s health encompass?

These were some of the questions posed recently by leading physician-scientists at the inaugural symposium of The Blavatnik Family Women’s Health Research Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai—“Cutting-Edge Topics in Women’s Health.”

The keynote speaker of the symposium, held in Davis Auditorium, was Vivian Pinn, MD, the first Director of the Office of Research on Women’s Health at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She delivered a lesson on the not-so-distant past, saying, “Until the 1990s, most women’s health research was related to the reproductive system or the breasts—what is known as ‘bikini medicine’—and most studies of conditions that affect both men and women were conducted only in men.”

The symposium focused on issues such as equity in research, and health conditions that end women’s lives prematurely or significantly reduce their quality of life.

“These topics are a reflection of the broad research portfolio of The Blavatnik Family Women’s Health Research Institute and our strong commitment to health equity,” said its founding Director, Elizabeth A. Howell, MD, MPP, Vice Chair of Research and Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science, and Professor of Population Health Science and Policy at the Icahn School of Medicine. The Blavatnik Family Foundation in 2018 provided a $10 million gift to establish the Institute and its clinical counterpart, The Blavatnik Family – Chelsea Medical Center at Mount Sinai. Dr. Howell said she is grateful to the family for their generous gift and support of the Institute.

Mental health is one area in which sex differences are clear, said Veerle Bergink, MD, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry, and Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science, Icahn School of Medicine. Dr. Bergink said women are particularly vulnerable during pregnancy, which she and other panelists called a “stress test” that can trigger underlying autoimmune or mental health disorders. Her evidence-based treatment strategy, published in the December 2016 American Journal of Psychiatry, concluded that women who have bipolar disease or previous postpartum psychosis could avoid a relapse if they are treated with lithium soon after delivery.

An important area for further study is schizophrenia in post-menopausal women, Dr. Bergink said. Until age 50, the disorder is more prevalent in men, but there is a sudden turning point after 50 when more women are hospitalized for schizophrenia than men. An “estrogen hypothesis” proposes that the hormone has a protective effect that declines after menopause. “But we know very little about this,” Dr. Bergink said. ”Most of the schizophrenia research over the last 30 years has investigated men, and very little has focused on women.”

Another area for further study is the influence of pregnancy complications on women’s health in later life, said Laura E. Riley, MD, Professor and Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Weill Cornell Medicine. Dr. Riley said that 7 to 10 percent of pregnant women in the United States are diagnosed with gestational diabetes and up to 9 percent contract preeclampsia, characterized by dangerously high blood pressure. Studies have shown that such complications are associated with cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes later in the lives of these women, Dr. Riley said, and there are many medical and behavioral interventions to be explored.

“For those of you looking for research projects, these might be good ones,” she said, “because I don’t think this story is over.”

Attendees received expert grant-writing advice from Andrea Dunaif, MD, Chief of the Hilda and J. Lester Gabrilove Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease, and the Lillian and Henry M. Stratton Professor of Molecular Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine, whose groundbreaking research into diabetes and polycystic ovary syndrome has been continuously funded by the NIH since 1985. Dr. Dunaif also addressed more complex challenges, such as adhering to the “sex as a biological variable” policy, which since 2016 has required researchers to factor sex into the design, analysis, and reporting of any study that involves humans or vertebrate animals. 

“A little-known fact is that only the males get diabetes in almost all animal models of diabetes. Studies have found that the protection of female sex—both hormonal and chromosomal sex—is powerful,” Dr. Dunaif said. “But that begs the question of why? This is very important scientific question. I’m sure there are many more disease models in which there are major sex differences, and those should be studied.” 

Inclusive research is a key legacy of Dr. Pinn, who retired in 2011. The office she led was established in 1990, after four congresswomen called for action on women’s health research. Since then, studies have documented sex differences in the prevalence, age of onset, and severity of autoimmune diseases, depressive disorders, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. “And there is still much to learn,” she said, “about the process of moving from discovery to treatment.”

Read more about The Blavatnik Family Women’s Health Research Institute

The Jacobi Medallion: A Celebration of Excellence

Updated on Aug 6, 2025 | Alumni, Community, Featured, Research

Seated, from left: Steven J. Burakoff, MD; Ming-Ming Zhou, PhD; Amy J. Goldberg, MD, FACS; Daniel Maklansky, MD; Nina A. Bickell, MD, MPH; and David C. Thomas, MD, MHPE; standing, from left: Kenneth L. Davis, MD; Annapoorna S. Kini, MD, MRCP, FACC; Zahi A. Fayad, PhD; Reginald W. Miller, DVM, DACLAM; Burton A. Cohen, MD; Sandra K. Masur, PhD; and Dennis S. Charney, MD.

Nine accomplished physicians and researchers were honored with the 2019 Jacobi Medallion—one of Mount Sinai’s highest awards—at a special event held at The Plaza on Thursday, March 14.

Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and President for Academic Affairs, Mount Sinai Health System, addressed nearly 400 alumni, donors, faculty, and staff gathered for the awards ceremony, including Kenneth L. Davis, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mount Sinai Health System. The Jacobi Medallion honors Mount Sinai alumni and faculty who have distinguished themselves in education, clinical and patient care, and biomedical science, or in extraordinary service to The Mount Sinai Hospital, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, or The Mount Sinai Alumni Association.

“Our honorees have excelled as educators, administrators, researchers, and clinicians—they truly show the range of excellence that Mount Sinai is known for,” Dr. Charney said.

Dr. Charney noted the many significant accomplishments at the Icahn School of Medicine during the last year. These include initiatives to improve faculty, trainee, and student wellness, and to reduce racism and bias in medicine and medical education. He also spotlighted major genetic discoveries in the areas of cancer, inflammatory diseases, autism, and Alzheimer’s disease, and important research that is leading to new treatments for cancers, heart disease, diabetes, and depression—all as Mount Sinai embarks on new plans to expand, rebuild, and modernize its research labs, hospitals, and ambulatory care centers.

“Thank you, alumni community, for your commitment to Mount Sinai as we continue to excel as a world-class medical school and health system,” Dr. Charney said.

Burton A. Cohen, MD, President of The Mount Sinai Alumni Association and Associate Clinical Professor of Radiology, delivered opening remarks, and Sandra K. Masur, PhD, Chair of the Jacobi Medallion Award Selection Committee and Professor of Ophthalmology, introduced the recipients.

The honorees are:

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Nina A. Bickell, MD, MPH
Associate Director, Community Engaged and Equity Research, The Tisch Cancer Institute
Co-Director, Center for Health Equity and Community Engaged Research
Co-Director, Cancer Prevention and Control, The Tisch Cancer Institute
Professor, Department of Population Health Science and Policy
Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Nina Andrea Bickell, MD, MPH, is a Professor of Population Health Science and Policy, a Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine), Co-Director of the Center for Health Equity and Community Engaged Research, Associate Director for Community Engaged and Equity Research at The Tisch Cancer Institute and Co-Lead of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program. At Mount Sinai since 1995, Dr. Bickell has been working with the Harlem community and safety net hospitals throughout the NYC metropolitan area to reduce disparities in cancer care. Her work assessing the role of race, obesity, insulin resistance and aggressive breast cancer have expanded collaborations nationally. Dr. Bickell has extensive experience in large-scale, multi-center trials with regional, national, and international collaborations designed to understand causes of racial disparities, promote health equity and improve the quality of cancer care. Clinically, Dr. Bickell sees patients at Mount Sinai’s Internal Medicine Associates as a primary care physician serving East and Central Harlem.

 

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Steven J. Burakoff, MD
Dean for Cancer Innovation
Chief, Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology
Lillian and Henry M. Stratton Professor of Cancer Medicine
Professor, Department of Medicine
Professor, Department of Oncological Sciences
Professor, Jack and Lucy Clark Department of Pediatrics, Jack Martin Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Steven J. Burakoff, MD is currently the Dean for Cancer Innovation and Chief, Pediatric Oncology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Burakoff was previously the Director of The Tisch Cancer Institute from 2007-2017 at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Prior to coming to New York, Dr. Burakoff was the Margaret M. Dyson Professor at Harvard Medical School, the first recipient of the Harvard Medical School Excellence in Mentoring Award and was a member of the Board of Trustees at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Burakoff’s contributions to the field of Immunology are demonstrated by his authorship of more than 300 publications in peer-reviewed journals and his receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association of Immunologists. Dr. Burakoff is a member of the Board of Directors of the Damon Runyon Cancer Foundation and the Joint Scientific Advisory Board for Stand Up to Cancer. He also serves as a member of the External Advisory Committee of several Cancer Centers.

 

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Zahi A. Fayad, PhD
Director, Translational and Molecular Imaging Institute
Lucy G. Moses Professorship in Medical Imaging and Bioengineering
Vice Chair for Research and Professor, Department of Radiology
Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Zahi A. Fayad, PhD currently serves as a Professor of Radiology and Medicine (Cardiology) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai where he is the founding Director of the Translational and Molecular Imaging Institute and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Radiology. Dr. Fayad’s interdisciplinary research is dedicated to the detection and prevention of cardiovascular disease with seminal contributions in the field of multimodality biomedical imaging and nanomedicine. A faculty member of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai since 1997, his work has recently expanded to understanding the effect of stress on the immune system and cardiovascular disease. The author of more than 500 peer-reviewed publications, 50 book chapters, and 500 meeting presentations, Dr. Fayad is currently the principal investigator of numerous NIH grants, sub-contracts, and pharmaceutically-funded clinical trials. He is the recipient of multiple prestigious awards and has trained over 100 postdoctoral fellows, clinical fellows, and students.

 

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Amy J. Goldberg, MD, FACS, MSSM ‘87
The George S. Peters, MD and Louise C. Peters Chair in Surgery
Professor and Chair, Department of Surgery, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University
Surgeon-in-Chief, Temple University Health System

Amy J. Goldberg, MD, FACS is a 1987 graduate of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She currently serves as Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Surgeon-in-Chief of Temple University Health System, Medical Director of Perioperative Services at Temple University Hospital, and is a newly elected Director of the American Board of Surgery. Dr. Goldberg is well recognized as a superb educator – winning several teaching awards including Temple University’s highest teaching honor, The Great Teacher Award in 2018, the Lindback Award, and multiple Golden Apple Awards. Her contributions to academic medicine have earned numerous accolades throughout her career. Dr. Goldberg is widely recognized as an expert in violence prevention and improved outcomes for victims of trauma. She is also a nationally celebrated clinician scholar with a robust portfolio of highly regarded publications and presentations.

 

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Annapoorna S. Kini, MD, MRCP, FACC
Director, Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory
Director, Structural Heart Disease Program
The Mount Sinai Hospital
Director, Interventional Cardiology Fellowship Program
Zena and Michael A. Wiener Professor of Medicine
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Annapoorna S. Kini, MD, MRCP, FACC, is the endowed Zena and Michael A. Wiener Professor of Medicine at the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. An internationally acclaimed leader in the field of percutaneous coronary intervention and heart valve therapy, she is the Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory and Director of the Structural Heart Intervention at The Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Kini is known for her expertise in performing complex coronary interventions and has contributed substantially in making The Mount Sinai Hospital’s Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory one of the busiest and best in the world. She is highly regarded in giving quality services to adults with coronary artery disease and various forms of structural heart disease which includes Transcatheter aortic valve replacement and Transcatheter mitral valve therapies. Dr. Kini is also an excellent teacher dedicated to the teaching of both cardiology and interventional fellows.

 

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Daniel Maklansky, MD
Radiologist, New York Medical Imaging Associates
Attending Radiologist, The Mount Sinai Hospital
Associate Clinical Professor, Department of Radiology
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Daniel Maklansky, MD is a partner at New York Medical Imaging Associates, an Attending Radiologist at The Mount Sinai Hospital and an Associate Clinical Professor of Radiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Maklansky, a graduate of the State University of New York Downstate Medical School, has been associated with Mount Sinai, its patients, residents and fellows, and attending physicians since beginning his radiology residency here in 1959. Dr. Maklansky has authored or co-authored at least 24 peer-reviewed publications as well as multiple chapters in the gastrointestinal radiology literature. He has also trained countless medical students, radiology residents and gastroenterology fellows, both in weekly conferences that he co-chaired over many years, as well as in rotations through his office. Dr. Maklansky has been very involved with the Association of the Attending Staff of Mount Sinai, and served as the Scientific Course Director of its annual symposium over many years.

 

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Reginald W. Miller, DVM, DACLAM
Dean for Research Operations and Infrastructure
Associate Professor, Center for Comparative Medicine and Surgery
Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Reginald W. Miller, DVM, DACLAM serves as the Dean for Research Operations and Infrastructure and is responsible for the oversight of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Biosafety, Environmental Health and Safety, Laboratory Safety including the Select Agents and Toxins Program (Operations), Core Facilities and Shared Resources as well as Basic Science Laboratory Infrastructure (Infrastructure). Dr. Miller is also the Senior Research Integrity Officer (RIO) for the Mount Sinai Health System. In this role, he is responsible for conducting reviews of allegations of research misconduct and ensuring that a program on the Responsible Conduct of Research is in place.

 

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David C. Thomas, MD, MHPE
System Vice Chair for Education, Department of Medicine
Associate Dean for Continuing Medical Education
Professor, Department of Medicine
Professor, Department of Medical Education
Professor, Department of Rehabilitation and Human Performance
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

David C. Thomas, MD, MHPE serves as the System Vice Chair for Education in the Department of Medicine and is the Associate Dean for Continuing Medical Education (CME) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Thomas is a Professor of Medicine, Medical Education and Rehabilitation and Human Performance. As a valued and dedicated Clinician-Educator at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Dr. Thomas has developed programs and taught at all levels of the continuum of education – from Undergraduate Medical Education to Graduate Medical Education and Continuing Medical Education. Dr. Thomas has been affiliated with Mount Sinai for over 20 years and has dedicated his entire career to the care of underserved and vulnerable patients. In 2004, he Co-Founded the East Harlem Health Outreach Partnership (EHHOP), a student run, attending-directed clinic for uninsured members of the East Harlem community with the goal of providing equitable access to high quality, comprehensive healthcare to all.

 

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Ming-Ming Zhou, PhD
Co-Director, Drug Discovery Institute
Dr. Harold and Golden Lamport Professorship in Physiology and Biophysics
Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmacological Sciences
Professor, Department of Oncological Sciences
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Ming-Ming Zhou, PhD is the Dr. Harold and Golden Lamport Professorship in Physiology and Biophysics and Chairman of the Department of Pharmacological Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He is also Co-Director of the Drug Discovery Institute, and Professor of Oncological Sciences. His research interest is directed at better understanding of the basic principles that governs epigenetic regulation of gene transcription in human biology of health and diseases. The Zhou Lab was the first to discover the bromodomain as the lysine-acetylated histone binding domain (‘chromatin reader’) in gene transcription (Nature 1999), and demonstrate druggability and therapeutic potential of modulating bromodomain/acetyl-lysine binding in gene expression to treat a wide array of human diseases including cancer and inflammation. This concept has had a transformative impact in epigenetic drug discovery in the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Zhou was elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2012.

Read more about the Jacobi Medallion and Mount Sinai Alumni

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