Sparking an Interest in Science and Medicine in Youths

Apr 3, 2026 | Community, Community Outreach, Featured, School

Sparking an Interest in Science and Medicine in Youths

It can never be too early to get children interested in the fields of science, medicine, and health care, says Kenya Townsend, Director of the Center for Excellence in Youth Education (CEYE) at Mount Sinai. That has been the mission of the program since its founding in the 1960s: helping students in New York City prepare for careers in science, technology, engineering, and medicine (STEM).

And what better way for students to learn about what it’s like to work in research and health care than hands-on learning in an academic hospital? One recent initiative from CEYE had middle-school students from Riverdale Country School in the Bronx attend an immersive three-day program at Mount Sinai’s campus in East Harlem on Monday, March 16, where they learned what being a health care professional and researcher entails.

Eighth graders from the Riverdale Country School visiting at The Mount Sinai Hospital campus, March 16, 2026.

The event was jointly supported by the BioMedical Engineering and Imaging Institute (BMEII), part of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and by the Talent Development and Learning division of the Mount Sinai Health System.

“I was able to deepen my understanding of different aspects of medicine,” says Athena Pearson, an eighth-grade student. “It was really interesting to see actual people in the field come and teach us about their jobs and what they do.”

“I loved how many different things we were able to cover in such a short amount of time,” says Lily Lappas, also in eighth grade.

The eighth-graders donned lab coats and toured research labs, saw magnetic resonance imaging machines in action, learned to code, and more.

“Everything we’ve been learning is very relevant, about stuff that could happen in our lives, and I’ve always been interested in medicine, so I think it was really nice for me to get a little bit of background information before heading into high school,” says Lily.

Kenya Townsend, Director of the Center for Excellence in Youth Education (CEYE) at Mount Sinai (center), introducing the three-day curriculum to the students of Riverdale Country School.

Ms. Townsend and two instructors who participated in the Riverdale Country School visit share their thoughts on what motivates them to inspire young school children to have a passion for health and science.

What was teaching in this program like?

“It was a very meaningful experience,” says Yun Soung Kim, PhD, Assistant Professor of Diagnostic, Molecular and Interventional Radiology at BMEII. Dr. Kim, who participated in a CEYE program for the first time, conducted a MakerSpace session—a collaborative workspace for learning and discovery—in which students learned to measure materials, got hands-on with mixing silicone rubber, and learned to record electromyogram signals.

For Dr. Kim, meeting the students brought back memories of when he was younger and would sit in class full of questions, always asking why and what if: “Their curiosity was a powerful reminder that this mindset should not fade once you become a scientist, engineer, or educator.”

Meeting the students brought back memories of when he was younger and would sit in class full of questions, says Yun Soung Kim, PhD, Assistant Professor of Diagnostic, Molecular and Interventional Radiology at BMEII, who participated in a CEYE program for the first time.

In Dr. Kim’s session, students learned about smart patches that can record health vitals, mixed silicone rubber, and learned to record electromyogram signals.
CEYE programs provide hands on, real world training that allows youth to engage in spaces not typically accessible to high school students. The programs are credit bearing and recognized by the New York City public schools as part of the students’ science experience.

“The kids asked really great questions. Some of them answered some of my questions in a very impressive way,” says Tamiesha Frempong, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai, who has participated in CEYE programs for more than a decade. Dr. Frempong led a course on the eye, its anatomy, eye health, and diseases. “It’s always really fun.”

CEYE has evolved over its many decades. It serves more than 500 students annually and continues to grow, notes Ms. Townsend. Its programs are now credit-bearing at New York City public schools and are reflected on students’ transcripts as part of their science experience.

“Through our partners and students, we have learned that while students seek out these opportunities to shape their career trajectories, we also rely on them to share what they need—and to return and give back to the next generation of future scientists and medical professionals,” says Ms. Townsend.

What motivates you to be part of CEYE?

“One thing I often say is that once you are in CEYE, you become family,” notes Ms. Townsend. “Community has therefore been a consistent theme for us—and that matters, because strong support systems are one of the most critical factors in student success in STEM. Our students are mentored not only by Mount Sinai faculty, but also by CEYE alumni who return, eager to give back in meaningful ways.”

That mission resonates with Dr. Frempong, who adds that exposure gets students to think about health and science in ways they’ve never thought before.

The eye, for example, is something one might not learn very much about normally, says Dr. Frempong. “I actually thought it was dumb to go to medical school and become an eye doctor until I learned about ophthalmology in medical school,” she remarks. Early exposure to specialties is not only helpful for helping students think about their careers, but also helps with awareness about their health too.

“We know there are so many things about the eye that can impact diabetes, stroke, preventable blindness—they can use it to benefit themselves, their parents, their grandparents. It’s education, it’s exposure, it’s getting kids excited about medicine and the eye in particular,” says Dr. Frempong.

The mission of CEYE to inspire a future generation of doctors and scientists is what brings her back, says Tamiesha Frempong, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai, who has participated in CEYE programs for more than a decade.
Dr. Frempong taught a course on eye anatomy, eye health, and its diseases. CEYE programs are an opportunity for students to think about certain specialties they might not ordinarily be exposed to. “I actually thought it was dumb to go to medical school and become an eye doctor until I learned about ophthalmology in medical school,” she says.
Students were also introduced to other topics that would be helpful for entering STEM careers. Xueyan Mei, PhD, Assistant Professor of Diagnostic, Molecular and Interventional Radiology in the Windreich Department of Artificial Intelligence and Human Health, led an introductory coding lesson.
As the Riverdale Country School students toured the hospital campus, they got to see health care professionals in action, such as how magnetic resonance imaging works and is carried out.
Students also got to see research in action, as Abraham Teunissen, PhD, Assistant Professor of Diagnostic, Molecular and Interventional Radiology, and Instructor at the Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Institute (left), gave a tour of the labs.

For Dr. Kim, the CEYE program was an opportunity to communicate science to the broader public as a researcher. “I have always found it rewarding to share my work with people outside my field,” he says. “I was excited to see how students at that age and stage of learning would respond to the work we do in the lab. I also viewed it as a valuable opportunity to reflect on how to explain complex ideas in a way that is clear, engaging, and meaningful.”

What do you hope CEYE programs can achieve?

The Center prepares students to succeed in health, science, and other professional pathways and to contribute to a more equitable future. “Getting young people interested in STEM is an investment in our future workforce,” says Ms. Townsend. “It fosters innovation, expands opportunities for those who need them most, and helps shape students’ identities while building their confidence.”

CEYE also creates opportunities for students to network with professionals whom they can continue to connect with beyond their time in the Center’s programs.

Representation in medicine influences health outcomes, says Dr. Frempong. The more diverse groups of kids CEYE can reach, the better it bodes for the future of medicine.

Dr. Frempong (center) with the students from the Riverdale Country School.

“They’re going to be our doctors, so [in a way] I’m kind of looking out for myself,” she laughs. “I’m looking to make sure we have knowledgeable, compassionate, passionate people to take care of all of us.”

Dr. Kim hopes he can help the students see that science and engineering are not just classroom subjects but fields that can directly shape human health and patient care: “I found myself wondering whether, for some of them, this visit might become one of the moments that helps shape what they choose to study in the future,” he says.

Match Day 2026: The Next Step Toward Driving Change

Updated on Mar 31, 2026 | Featured, School

Each student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has their own personal story about what led them to want to become doctors and researchers, but they share a common vision: to improve health care as we currently know it.

For this year’s graduating students, the next step on that journey began with Match Day, when they learned where they will be placed to continue their residency training. On Friday, March 20, 138 students gathered at 583 Park Avenue to receive their placements to training programs in 20 different specialties across the country.

“I hope to see meaningful progress in reducing disparities in access to care,” says Michelle Tran, who is graduating with an MD/PhD and will be continuing her training in internal medicine at the University of California San Diego. “Throughout my training in New York City, I’ve become more aware of the many different types of structural and social barriers that patients face.”

The outgoing class is going into prestigious programs across the nation, including those at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Massachusetts General Hospital, to name a few.

More than a third of the class—55 students—will advance their training at the Mount Sinai Health System.

Icahn School of Medicine Class of 2026 Top Residency Matches by Specialty

Specialty Number of Matches
Internal Medicine 34
Anesthesiology 16
Psychiatry 11
OB-GYN 9
Click to read more as three graduating students share what drove them to enter the medical profession, insights into their time at the Icahn School of Medicine, and how they envision being able to drive meaningful change in health care as doctors and researchers.

Juan Arroyave Villada

Matched to: Urology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School

What inspired you to enter the field of medicine?

My father is definitely my biggest inspiration in medicine in general. His work as a physician working with HIV patients was always something I admired. Specifically with regard to my interest in urology, my dad’s passing from kidney cancer opened my eyes to the field of urology.

Today I feel inspired to hopefully one day be able to help patients like my father through tough cancer diagnoses and be able to offer the curative solutions that can be offered at early stages.

What were your years like at the Icahn School of Medicine?

I learned that it takes a village to get through the journey, and I’m really grateful to have made it.

M3 (the third year) can be an isolating year, since you are constantly switching rotations and specialties. Dealing with that isolation can be challenging since all of your friends are also on different schedules and even in different places.

I think what helped me navigate this situation the best was being very intentional about keeping relationships going, even if it was just having a simple FaceTime with a friend or studying virtually with someone. I will miss the close relationships that I have with my friends and learning as a medical student.

What change do you hope to achieve as you progress in your medical career?

I hope to improve patient education for vulnerable communities, especially in urology, where there is still a lot of stigma for men to do their preventive screening.

“I am feeling really happy. I’m excited about this next chapter and hopeful that I can continue to grow as a physician. I’m excited to be more hands-on and hope to become a robotic surgeon one day.”

Katharine (Kat) Holmes

Matched to: Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Mount Sinai

What inspired you to enter the field of medicine?

My path toward medicine was shaped by my years as a competitive fencer. Even as an athlete, I knew I wanted to eventually serve athletes the way the physicians at Mount Sinai served me, helping future generations reach their potential just as those doctors helped me reach mine.

That aspiration came into sharp focus when I was 15 and suffered my first significant injury—a sprained ankle that sidelined me for a week. That experience was my first real encounter with sports medicine, and I remember thinking: I want to be one of them. From that moment on, the goal never wavered.

What were your years like at the Icahn School of Medicine?

I started at the Icahn School of Medicine three days after I got back from the Tokyo Olympics and did not miss a beat in regard to training or competing. I then qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games during my first two years of medical school. I traveled across the country and around the world during my first two years of medical school, training between two to six hours every day while balancing my studies.

It was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. But I watched every lecture and never missed a practice or tournament. At the end of the day it really came down to organization. I would wake up every morning and ask myself, “What do I need to do today to pass the next exam and what do I need to do today to get myself ready for my next competition?” I had endless checklists, calendars, and planners. I worked on planes and took exams in between matches at World Cups.

In all honesty, I did not sleep for those two years and, looking back, qualifying for the Olympics while being in medical school seems impossible. I cannot believe that I managed to balance all of it, but somehow, I did! It took every ounce of focus, persistence, and determination that I had. But I guess when you want something badly enough, you are willing to go to any lengths to achieve them.

What change do you hope to achieve as you progress in your medical career?

I see myself contributing to change in health care, particularly at the intersection of sports medicine and research.

The U.S. Olympic Team is composed of some of the most accomplished athletes in the world, supported by world-class Olympic Training Centers, physicians, and sports scientists. Despite these incredible resources, there is still a surprising lack of research leveraging this unique environment.

This is something I’ve been especially motivated to address within fencing. As a smaller and historically under-studied sport, fencing presents a significant opportunity to better understand athlete performance, injury prevention, and training optimization. Through my own work, I’ve aimed to utilize the resources of USA Fencing and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee to contribute to this growing body of knowledge.

Looking ahead, I hope to expand this model to other similarly under-studied sports. By helping these programs more effectively use the resources available to them, we can improve athlete care, advance performance science, and ultimately support the long-term health and success of athletes across a wider range of disciplines.

“Mount Sinai has always been my dream. It’s USA Fencing’s partner hospital, so from the beginning my goal was to attend Mount Sinai for medical school, match there for residency, and hopefully continue to a Sports Medicine fellowship. I hope to one day serve as a physician for Team USA at the Olympic Games and ultimately stay on as an attending physician at Mount Sinai.”

 

Michelle Tran

Matched to: Internal Medicine on the Physician-Scientist Track Program, followed by a guaranteed Hematology/Oncology fellowship, at University of California San Diego

What inspired you to enter the field of medicine?

I was drawn to medicine through both personal experience and a deep sense of curiosity shaped by my early exposure to science. Growing up in a family where my parents and maternal grandparents were scientists and engineers, I developed a strong interest in understanding how the natural world works.

That curiosity took on a more personal meaning when my grandfather was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Watching him navigate his illness, and witnessing its impact on our family, was a formative experience that drew me toward hematology/oncology.

At the same time, my paternal family’s experience as refugees from the Vietnam War, navigating language barriers and socioeconomic challenges, deepened my awareness of the obstacles many patients face and continues to shape my commitment to caring for diverse and underserved communities.

What were your years like at the Icahn School of Medicine?

One of the most challenging aspects of my time at the Icahn School of Medicine was navigating the uncertainty inherent to research during my PhD years. There were periods when experiments didn’t work as expected or when the data were difficult to interpret, which can be discouraging when progress feels slow.

This was especially true during the early stages of the project that ultimately became my published paper in Cancer Discovery—of which I was first author—where initial findings raised more questions than answers. I overcame these challenges by leaning on mentorship and by shifting my mindset: learning to view unexpected results not as setbacks, but as opportunities to refine the question and think more deeply about biology.

Over time, this experience taught me how to sit with uncertainty, remain persistent, and trust the process. It ultimately made me a more resilient and thoughtful scientist, and it’s a perspective I will carry forward as I continue training as a physician-scientist.

Something I learned, which surprised me, was how important it became for me to stay connected to the communities I care about, even during the most demanding periods of my training. During the spike in xenophobia and anti-Asian hate during the COVID-19 pandemic, I cofounded Soar Over Hate, which evolved into a 501(c)3 nonprofit focused on combating anti-Asian hate and expanding access to safety resources for vulnerable communities.

Balancing this work alongside clinical rotations and PhD research, there were many moments where things felt uncertain or overwhelming. Staying engaged in this work grounded me and gave my training a deeper sense of purpose. That perspective continues to shape how I approach both patient care and scientific discovery.

What change do you hope to achieve as you progress in your medical career?

As I continue my training, I hope to contribute to change in health care through both clinical care and research. As a future physician-scientist in hematology/oncology, I’m particularly interested in improving how we understand and treat cancer by bridging mechanistic insights with patient care. I hope to help advance more precise and effective therapies, by addressing why patients respond differently to treatment.

I’m motivated by the opportunity to better understand why some patients respond to therapy while others do not, and to translate those insights into more effective and personalized treatments that can meaningfully improve patients’ lives.

More broadly, I hope to see meaningful progress in reducing disparities in access to care. Throughout my training in New York City, I’ve become more aware of the many different types of structural and social barriers that patients face. I hope to be part of efforts that make care more equitable, accessible, and responsive to the needs of diverse communities.

“I’m immensely grateful and excited to have matched at UC San Diego. It’s a program that strongly aligns with both my clinical and research interests, and I’m especially looking forward to returning to Southern California to be closer to my family. At the same time, it’s bittersweet to leave the Mount Sinai community, which has been such an important part of my growth over the past eight years of my MD/PhD training.”

Advancing Toward Medicine: How Mount Sinai’s MSBS Program Is Shaping a Path to a Physician-Scientist Career

Updated on Mar 31, 2026 | Featured, School

“Mount Sinai offered the opportunity to grow as both a scientist and a future physician while being part of a community deeply committed to patient care,” says Alexander Forrest, a first-year student in the Master of Science in Biomedical Science program. “And as a New Yorker at heart, it felt like the right place for me both professionally and personally.”

Alexander Forrest is a first-year student in Track 1 of the Master of Science in Biomedical Science program at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai with a concentration in Immunology.

In this Q&A, he discusses how the mentorship, community engagement, and translational research at Mount Sinai are building the foundation for his future career as a physician-scientist.

“Mount Sinai offered the opportunity to grow as both a scientist and a future physician while being part of a community deeply committed to patient care,” he says. “And as a New Yorker at heart, it felt like the right place for me both professionally and personally.”

What is your academic and career background?

I graduated from Hunter College in 2023, where I majored in biochemistry. During my time there, my professors emphasized the importance of research in deepening our understanding of biological systems. This led me to participate in several summer research programs, where I developed both technical skills and a strong foundation in asking and answering scientific questions. I also served as a neuroscience instructor for high school seniors. I later returned to one of my summer programs as a research mentor, which deepened my interest in both science and education. After graduating, I worked as a research technician at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, studying metabolic pathways in thyroid cancer.

What first attracted you to this field?

I grew up primarily in the Caribbean, on the island of Antigua, where research and laboratory science were not always widely visible career paths. I’ve always been driven by curiosity and a desire to understand how things work. Additionally, seeing family members navigate illness motivated my interest in contributing to the development of new treatments and cures. Over time, through my experiences in research, I realized that this was something I could see myself pursuing long-term.

Why did you choose to study at Mount Sinai?

During my gap years, I was looking for an environment where I could take greater ownership of my work while also gaining more exposure to clinical care and community engagement. At the same time, I wanted to be in a place pushing forward impactful, translational research. Mount Sinai stood out as a place where all these elements intersect. It offered the opportunity to grow as both a scientist and a future physician while being part of a community deeply committed to patient care. And as a New Yorker at heart, it felt like the right place for me both professionally and personally.

Who are your mentors, and what is the focus of your research?

At Mount Sinai, I work under the mentorship of Brian Brown, PhD, alongside Alessia Baccarini, PhD, and Xiao Han, PhD. The lab environment is highly collaborative and driven by a shared commitment to tackling complex biological questions. Our research focuses on understanding how the immune system influences the proliferation and persistence of ovarian cancer, with the goal of developing therapeutic strategies to overcome immune evasion.

What has been your greatest accomplishment in the program so far?

One of my biggest accomplishments has been successfully transitioning back into an academic environment after time away from school. Beyond that, I serve as co-chair of Access to Care Team Resources within the East Harlem Health Outreach Partnership, where I help address barriers to care for patients, including transportation and food access. This work has been especially meaningful, as it allows me to directly support patients navigating the health care system. I also had the opportunity to speak with high school students about careers in science earlier this year, which was a full-circle moment given my own path.

How have the resources at Mount Sinai contributed to your success in the program?

Mount Sinai provides an incredibly supportive environment, both academically and personally. The administration has been helpful in navigating the program, and my lab has been a major source of mentorship and growth. Equally important is the sense of community among students and trainees. There’s a shared drive to succeed, but also a genuine willingness to support one another. That balance has made a big difference in my experience here.

What are your plans after you complete your MSBS?

After completing the program, I plan to apply to medical school, with a particular interest in MD/PhD programs. I hope to build on the skills I’ve developed at Mount Sinai to become a physician-scientist who can bridge patient care and research, contributing to both improved treatments and a deeper

Learn more about the Master of Science in Biomedical Science (MSBS) program

Getting a Head Start With AI at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Mar 2, 2026 | Artificial Intelligence, Featured, Research, School

Alvira Tyagi is a first-year medical student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She was part of a research team examining the limitations of ChatGPT Health in a study, which had findings published in Nature Medicine.

Most first-year medical students spend their time mastering anatomy, memorizing biochemical pathways, and adjusting to the pace of clinical training. For Alvira Tyagi, that first year coincided with an opportunity to understand the rapid transformation in how patients seek health information with AI tools.

“In January, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Health, and I was immediately curious as to how people were using it,” she says. ChatGPT Health is a service dedicated to answering health and wellness questions, with options to connect to medical records and wellness apps.

Within weeks of launch, OpenAI reported that more than 40 million people were using ChatGPT Health daily. “In a single day, this tool was engaging far more people than many major hospital systems see annually,” Ms. Tyagi notes. And barely into her first full year of medical training, Ms. Tyagi became involved in a study to examine the reliability of such AI tools for health recommendations, under the mentorship of Ashwin Ramaswamy, MD, an instructor in the Department of Urology.

“We set out to test how well ChatGPT Health handles clinical urgency—specifically, whether it steers users with serious symptoms toward emergency care,” she says. The research team, comprising several physicians and members from Mount Sinai’s Windreich Department of AI and Human Health (AIHH), conducted a study in which they posed clinical scenarios to ChatGPT Health and gauged how it triaged them, compared to gold-standard decisions from physicians following medical society recommendations.

ChatGPT Health, launched in January 2026, is a service on ChatGPT that lets users ask questions about health and wellness. In addition to asking the chatbot questions, users can also sync wearables to it or even upload lab results and ask it to explain the results.

The team found that textbook emergencies were correctly triaged. However, more than half of true emergencies were under-triaged, and the service’s suicide crisis safety alerts were inconsistent and lacking. The full findings, in an article with Ms. Tyagi as the second author, were published as “ChatGPT Health performance in a structured test of triage recommendations” in Nature Medicine in February.

“I did not expect to be involved in AI-driven health care research so early as a student,” says Ms. Tyagi. “Being part of work that could directly impact patient outcomes has been incredibly meaningful.” Read on to learn how she began working at the intersection of AI and health care, and the importance for students to be familiar with this rapidly evolving field.

How did this research project get started?

It started with me shadowing Dr. Ramaswamy in the Urology Department. In-between surgeries, we talked about our interests in AI in health care, and I learned we had a robust department at Mount Sinai that focused on AI and research. We continued having conversations about AI in health care, and when OpenAI released ChatGPT Health, the discussions intensified. Immediately, we were texting about the implications of this tool, which coalesced into the idea of a study to examine it. The project started out with the two of us, but with the help of leadership from AIHH, and other physicians, we managed to find collaborators and were able to begin the study quickly.

What was it like being on the research project as a student?

At first, I was intimidated. I was a first-year student working alongside physicians with far more experience in AI and clinical medicine than I had. It took some time to realize that I didn’t need to match their background to contribute meaningfully. I brought a different perspective. I could think through how someone my age would realistically use a tool like ChatGPT Health—how we’d phrase questions, what we might take at face value, and where misunderstandings could happen.

That lens helped us step outside a purely clinical viewpoint. We knew we needed to move quickly. From its release, ChatGPT Health was already being widely used, and we felt a responsibility to evaluate it while people were actively using it. We completed the data collection within two weeks because we wanted to better understand its safety profile and identify any potential limitations as early as possible. Our goal was not to diminish the value of AI in health care, but to approach it thoughtfully by examining where it performs well and where caution may be warranted.

I have always enjoyed writing, whether for leisure or through my work with my undergraduate newspapers—so it naturally became a larger part of my role in the project. In addition to contributing to data collection, I took on significant responsibility for drafting and editing the manuscript. This involved many late nights and multiple rounds of revisions, but I valued that process. Given that the tool was already being widely used, it was essential that we communicate our findings clearly, accurately, and with appropriate nuance.

I was genuinely excited to be part of the project, especially as a student stepping into the world of AI research for the first time. At the same time, I felt a deep sense of responsibility. I wanted to contribute meaningfully alongside experienced researchers, and I was acutely aware that our findings could influence how people understand and use this technology. That awareness pushed us to be especially rigorous. We carefully crafted our prompts and clinical scenarios to be as comprehensive and realistic as possible.

Was it hard balancing school work and being on this project?

My school work always came first, and I was careful to keep that as my priority. Because of that, much of the research work happened in the evenings. It could be demanding at times, but I truly enjoyed it. Being part of a project that was unfolding in real time, and working alongside people who made the process engaging and collaborative, felt energizing rather than exhausting.

What also made this project so meaningful was that it never felt disconnected from my education. It was a different kind of learning: hands-on, fast-paced, and collaborative. There was constant progress and discussion, and that experience offered something you simply cannot replicate in a classroom. The structure of the medical education program at the Icahn School of Medicine also helped tremendously. The flexibility and autonomy built into our curriculum made it possible to take on a project like this while staying on track academically. In the end, it was demanding, but it resulted in work I am genuinely proud of.

Should students be thinking about AI more?

As medical students, we’re trained to understand clinical systems and patient care. It can be easy to view AI as something reserved for computer science experts and engineers, and that it’s separate from us and the work we do as clinicians. But that is becoming less and less true by the day. Patients now have direct access to AI technology, and many will go to doctor appointments having already used them to research symptoms or interpret medical information. At the same time, in our current health care system, patients may wait months to see a physician. In that gap, AI tools can function as a kind of interim resource—offering information, reassurance, or sometimes misinformation—before a patient ever steps into a clinic.

Because of this, it falls on us as future doctors to understand these AI health care technologies before patients come to see us. Understanding and discussing the AI-generated information a patient has already seen may soon become a routine part of taking a patient history. We cannot effectively counsel patients about tools they are using if we do not understand how those tools work, what their limitations are, and where they may fall short. As part of a generation of physicians training alongside these technologies, we have a responsibility not only to react to AI’s presence in medicine, but to engage with it thoughtfully and proactively.

What advice do you have for students who are interested in AI research?

For students who are not sure whether they can even get started, you absolutely can. You don’t need to be an engineer or have years of technical experience to contribute meaningfully. AI research, especially in health care, needs people who can think critically, ask good questions, and communicate clearly. Then, for those who aren’t sure how to get started, start having conversations—with classmates, professors, and doctors. A simple conversation in between patient cases is what transformed my shadowing experience at the Urology Department into this research project. There are so many talented scientists and faculty at Mount Sinai, and simply engaging with them by asking questions, sharing your interests, and expressing curiosity, can open doors.

Sometimes all it takes is one thoughtful conversation to set something much larger in motion. Being open to opportunities and willing to learn really makes a difference. I had never done AI research before this project, so stepping into it required me to get comfortable with not knowing everything. But I came to understand that AI is developing so quickly that no one has it completely figured out. Even people with years of experience are still asking questions and adjusting as the field evolves. That realization made it feel less about being an expert and more about being engaged. You don’t have to start with deep technical knowledge; you just have to be willing to listen, learn, and contribute where you can. In a space that’s changing this fast, humility and curiosity go a long way.

How An Interest in Cardiothoracic Surgery Is Shaping Caroline Tavolacci’s Path as a Surgeon-Scientist at Mount Sinai

Updated on Feb 17, 2026 | Featured, Research, School

Sooyun Caroline Tavolacci, MD, MSCR, with her mentor, Anelechi Anyanwu, MD

Sooyun Caroline Tavolacci, MD, MSCR, is a third-year PhD student in the Clinical Research Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and a surgeon-scientist in training. Her dissertation research focuses on heart transplantation outcomes, specifically evaluating beating heart transplantation using ex-vivo heart perfusion and its impact on donor pool expansion, under the mentorship of Anelechi Anyanwu, MD, Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, and Natalia Egorova, PhD, Professor, Department of Population Health and Science.

In parallel with her doctoral training, Dr. Tavolacci works as a clinical research coordinator in the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at The Mount Sinai Hospital, Clinical Research Office, which is led by Julie Swain, MD, Professor and Vice Chair of the Department.

Having progressed from an international master’s student to a PhD candidate and hospital employee, she reflects on five years of training marked by perseverance, balance, and growth across research, work, and life.

Her interest in medicine began early, sparked by seeing the Jarvik-7 artificial heart in a school textbook. She was fascinated by the idea of replacing a vital organ, the multidisciplinary care behind it, and the trust required between patients and surgeons.

“What I liked most during my two years of research training at the Icahn School of Medicine was that I could apply what I learned in the classroom right away in real-world settings.” -Sooyun Caroline Tavolacci, MD, MSCR

 

Cardiothoracic surgery has since become her lifelong passion. She completed six years of medical school in South Korea, followed by a cardiovascular surgery sub-internship in Brescia, Italy. After graduating from medical school, and realizing that she lacked experience in clinical research, she sought a program that bridged scientific research and clinical practice, leading her to Mount Sinai’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

“The Icahn School of Medicine is unique as a pioneering model for a medical school grown directly from a hospital, not a university” she says. “The rich clinical environment, combined with strong multidisciplinary faculty, makes it ideal for studying clinical research.”

In 2021, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, she entered the Master of Science in Clinical Research (MSCR) program at the Icahn School of Medicine while working on an NIH-funded study examining the serological response to the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in lung cancer patients led by Fred Hirsch, MD, PhD, Professor and Director, Center of Excellence for Thoracic Oncology, The Tisch Cancer Institute. She described this experience as firsthand exposure to bench-to-bedside translational research. Her days began in the lung cancer clinic at the Institute and ended in the Biorepository and Pathology CoRE laboratories.

“Weekly meetings involved thoracic oncologists, thoracic surgeons, pathologists, virologists, immunologists, biostatisticians, and radiologists. This multidisciplinary collaboration and exposure to different perspectives taught me how to approach team science in research,” she says.

Dr. Tavolacci completed her master’s thesis, in which she investigated the mechanisms underlying sex-based differences in immunotherapy response in lung cancer, with Dr. Hirsch and co-mentor Rajwanth Veluswamy, MD, MSCR, a former faculty member of the Icahn School of Medicine and a graduate of the MSCR program. She presented her work at national and international meetings and published her several peer-reviewed articles during her master’s program.

“What I liked most during my two years of research training at the Icahn School of Medicine was that I could apply what I learned in the classroom right away in real-world settings,” she says. “I was extremely satisfied with the coursework and the quality of education I received.”

After completing her MSCR in June 2023, she decided to continue her research education and was accepted into the PhD in Clinical Research program.

“I developed a strong interest in biostatistics during my master’s program,” she says. “My experience was primarily in thoracic oncology, with a focus on lung cancer; however, I wanted dedicated time to learn outcomes research in cardiovascular surgery.”

After her acceptance into the PhD program, she faced significant financial hardship due to a loss in her family and visa restrictions that limited her ability to secure a job at The Mount Sinai Hospital at that time.

She considered returning to South Korea or continuing her academic journey in the United States, but instead reached out for help. In recognition of her academic excellence, she received Emergency Fund support from the Office of Postdoctoral and Student Affairs at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and continued her work-study program through Westchester Medical Center in New York State. During this time, she completed her PhD coursework and conducted heart failure and transplant outcomes research under the mentorship of Suguru Ohira, MD, PhD, Cardiac Surgeon at Hartford HealthCare. This included large database analyses using the United Network for Organ Sharing registry.

Now Dr. Tavolacci balances her dissertation research with her role as a research coordinator in the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at Mount Sinai. She credits the Icahn School of Medicine’s hospital-based model for naturally generating research questions through close interaction with surgeons, fellows, and residents.

“The clinical exposure I gain every day as a research coordinator helps me understand why these variables scientifically matter in clinical trials and studies, and it directly shapes my academic research,” she says. “With my master’s and PhD training in clinical research, I have a strong understanding of research methodology, such as study design, logistics, objectives and hypotheses, and analysis planning. This foundation is incredibly helpful in performing my role. It is a humbling experience to care for patients and to advocate for advancements in clinical research.”

Dr. Tavolacci frequently mentors prospective international applicants, particularly those navigating funding challenges in the PhD in Clinical Research program. She receives emails and LinkedIn messages from many people interested in clinical research asking how to find a mentor, identify research topics, and secure funding.

“It is challenging, and sometimes being equivalent as an international student is not enough—you have to be better to get noticed. However, people who have been through similar processes recognize your strengths.” She strives to do the same for prospective applicants by sharing her honest journey as an international student.

Dr. Tavolacci recalls what her PhD mentor, Dr. Anyanwu, said during their first meeting: “See how far you have come.” She carries this message with her whenever she faces difficulties or setbacks, using it as a reminder to keep moving forward.

In 2026, Dr. Tavolacci will present her doctoral research at various national meetings within the cardiothoracic surgery community. Throughout her academic journey, she has learned that research comes with many practical challenges. What has been most helpful to her is maintaining concentration and focus to push projects forward and see them through to completion. What she learned the hard way is that everything takes time and effort, and that there are many failures behind every achievement in academia.

Dr. Tavolacci will complete her PhD in two years and plans to enter cardiothoracic surgery residency. Her training will allow her to practice surgery while designing and conducting clinical studies and trials. Her ultimate goal is to become a surgeon-scientist.

Learn more about the Clinical Research Education Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Mount Sinai AIHH Grand Rounds: A Thoughtful Way to Adopt AI in Health Care

Feb 10, 2026 | Artificial Intelligence, Featured, Research, School

Isaac Kohane, MD, PhD, Chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, was keynote speaker of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai’s Windreich Department of AI and Human Health (AIHH) December 2025 session of AIHH Grand Rounds.

Health care systems across the country have been increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) systems to assist and augment what clinicians and researchers can achieve. As adoption of machine learning accelerates, thought leaders have been scrutinizing how AI is being embraced.

“Many doctors are already using these tools, such as OpenEvidence, but without visibility or oversight by health care systems,” says Isaac Kohane, MD, PhD, Chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School. OpenEvidence is an AI-powered clinical decision support and medical search engine.

Dr. Kohane is a prominent researcher in biomedical informatics and AI whose nearly 400 papers have been cited more than 95,000 times, according to Google Scholar. He was the keynote speaker of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai’s Windreich Department of AI and Human Health (AIHH) December 2025 session of AIHH Grand Rounds. Dr. Kohane wants to see not just more use of AI, but more responsible use—a theme of his lecture, which was titled “A Tipping Point for Clinicians’ Influence Upon AI-Driven Clinical Decisions.”

Dr. Kohane gave a lecture, titled “A Tipping Point for Clinicians’ Influence Upon AI-Driven Clinical Decisions,” which focused on where the opportunities lie for the health care industry to use AI more, but in a thoughtful way that accounted for human values and ethics.
The AIHH Grand Rounds is a monthly seminar series hosted by Mount Sinai’s Windreich Department of AI and Human Health (AIHH). Clinicians and researchers who work extensively with AI, including Girish N. Nadkarni, MD, MPH, CPH, Chair of AIHH (left) and David L. Reich, MD, President of The Mount Sinai Hospital (right), attend to learn and discuss the latest developments in the field.
AI is transforming the health care and scientific publishing industries, with its potential to save time and effort for individuals and institutions. However, as long as there are incentives for perverse behaviors regarding AI, there will be bad actors abusing the technology, says Dr. Kohane. These fields need to collectively reset such cultures and behaviors.
A theme Dr. Kohane discussed in his lecture is the need to build in human values within AI models. There will be occasions when a broad, normative model will fail to account for the needs of an individual patient. He proposes that the responsibility for building human values in AI lies with the clinicians and researchers who use it.
A highlight of the AIHH Grand Rounds is not merely the lectures presented, but the discussions that occur after. These discussions help foster collaboration between researchers as they share ideas.

“I chose these topics for Grand Rounds because I view the Icahn School of Medicine and its leadership as among the most forward-looking in the country,” says Dr. Kohane, “and therefore they should be truly focused on setting an example in terms of accelerating adoption options that are both safe, and also enabling patients and clinicians to benefit from the complementarity of AI to human expertise, as well as changing the promotion process to reflect greater engagement with reproducibility and robust research.”

The AIHH Grand Rounds is a monthly seminar series that showcases developments in how AI, science, and medicine intersect, and features an open discussion to foster collaboration. The inaugural session launched in September 2025.

How should health systems think about engaging with AI as it pertains to patients, clinicians, and researchers in a way that is beneficial to all parties? Dr. Kohane discussed the following themes during the seminar.

Transforming the institution with AI

By their nature, large health care systems in the United States are high-revenue, low-margin businesses, and because of that, they face challenges in moving rapidly with change to avoid disruptions.

Institutionally, AI adoption has found more comfort and scalability on the administrative side of operations, including reimbursement and corporate functions. AI is a critical lever, but not a priority for health care system spending presently, according to Dr. Kohane.

However, the application of AI on the clinical side, including continuity of care, clinical operations, and quality and safety, remains nascent or in pilot stages.

“It’s actually the doctors who are leading [with AI adoption], even when their own institutions are not supporting them directly,” says Dr. Kohane.

That landscape is slowly changing as health care leaders begin to engage their clinicians with AI support where it is needed now, but it should not be at the cost of extended, effortful multi-year governance conversations, Dr. Kohane pointed out. The incentives for using AI in the practice of medicine must be focused on improving care rather than maximizing revenue.

“And so, I anticipate that the future first adoptions will happen in specialized high-end services like concierge services, primary care, or cancer care,” he says. “But eventually, it would become a requisite for the safe practice of medicine, and for meeting the expectation of our patients, that ultimately our health care systems will be propelled into more significant engagement [with AI].”

Transforming publishing and literature review with AI

“Every part of the scientific publication process—that is, the generation of manuscripts and review of manuscripts—is going to be augmented by AI,” says Dr. Kohane. “That is going to present, or is already presenting, challenges that the whole peer-review publishing industry is not well equipped to handle.”

Dr. Kohane discussed a case study in which he created a hypothesis that was incorrect, and with AI tools was ultimately able to generate data that were not only fictional, but designed by AI to avoid detection by the majority of fake-data-generation detectors.

“We’re going to really have to address, first and foremost, the incentives that drive perverse behaviors,” he says. An industry that prizes publication volume, or publishing in high-profile publications over producing work with actual scientific impact—such as important but unglamorous replication studies—is only going to drive bad actors.

In the right hands, AI will increase the efficiency and quality of scholarly scientific review. AI can serve as a prism that allows clinical and laboratory experience to be distilled into new knowledge, forming a substrate for truly lifelong medical education. “However, we have to reset the culture and incentives,” Dr. Kohane says.

Transforming AI with human values

In an industry where urgency and time matters, AI presents a strong value proposition with its capability to process large datasets and execute large volumes of actions in a blink of an eye. Time-consuming tasks can be automated by AI, but when decisions that pertain to the care of individuals with unique needs are left to a normative model that adheres to overarching policies, the individual’s needs might not be met.

The solution is not to turn away from AI, but to develop personal models that account for the needs of not just the patient at hand, but also their caretakers, doctors, or any other relevant stakeholders, says Dr. Kohane. It is about building human values within an AI model, which can flag when an individual case does not align with the normative model.

That work to develop such projects falls on the health care system, says Dr. Kohane. He introduced the Human Values Project, an international initiative led by Harvard Medical School’s Department of Biomedical Informatics, which aims to characterize how AI models respond to ethical dilemmas in medicine, measuring both their default behaviors and their capacity for alignment. And he proposed that researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine have that potential to develop their own human values-based AI models.

“My takeaway from presenting and participating in the AIHH Grand Rounds really stemmed not from the presentation itself, but from discussions I had afterwards with various leaders of the AI efforts,” says Dr. Kohane. “My sense was that more than most institutions, [Mount Sinai’s] leadership was willing to invest and take a chance on pilots of deployments of these technologies to learn fast and adapt fast. And at the same time, everybody recognized that this is very challenging, given our current regulatory environments and incentives.”

Dr. Kohane ended his presentation with a line of wisdom for participants to consider: “There is no one to lead this in the direction we want, other than us.”

Learn more about the Windreich Department of Artificial Intelligence and Human Health and AIHH Grand Rounds