From left: Alexander Preker, MD, PhD, Executive Scholar and Visiting Professor, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Elisabeth A. Brodbeck, MPH, MA, Administrative Director, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences; Nata Menabde, PhD; and Nils Hennig, MD, PhD, MPH, Director of the Master of Public Health Program, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Special lectures and wellness events sponsored by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai’s Graduate Program in Public Health were held throughout the Health System during the first week of April, in recognition of National Public Health Week.
Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, Director of Mount Sinai Heart and Physician-in-Chief of The Mount Sinai Hospital, commenced the week with a discussion about novel approaches to cardiovascular health. Other events included a lecture on increasing Master of Public Health (MPH) student engagement with the international health community, led by Nata Menabde, PhD, Executive Director, World Health Organization Office at the United Nations, as well as a screening of Before the Flood, a documentary about climate change. Shirley Gatenio Gabel, PhD, MPH, Professor, Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service, led a conversation on social justice and “intersectional” womanhood, which examines the relationship between interconnected social identities and discrimination.
Graduate student Catherine Sinfield prepared meals at the New York City Rescue Mission.
Mount Sinai’s MPH students ended the week with a Day of Service, when nine of them served meals to the homeless at New York City Rescue Mission, the nation’s oldest shelter.
“As public health students, we are committing to professionally assisting communities as a whole through advocacy, policy, health care management, and research,” says Heather Omdal, a second-year MPH student and event organizer. “This opportunity allowed us to engage our academic interests with face-to-face interaction. It was a great union of including the issues that matter to us and engaging with the community on a personal level.”