Mount Sinai’s departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery are committed to innovation for the treatment of disorders of the brain, spine, and central nervous system. That commitment has been recognized now that The Mount Sinai Hospital’s Neurology and Neurosurgery departments were ranked for the first time among the top 10 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.
Joshua B. Bederson, MD
For decades, the departments have expanded clinical and research programs offering ground-breaking treatments for patients with a wide range of conditions, including cancer, brain tumors, and strokes as well as neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, and multiple sclerosis, and psychiatric disorders such as major depression.
“Over the years, this process has involved recruiting the best and brightest neurosurgeons who align with my vision of highly specialized care, centers of excellence, and programs within each subspecialty that are as deep and as broad as an entire neurosurgery department,” says Joshua B. Bederson, MD, Leonard I. Malis, MD / Corinne and Joseph Graber Professor of Neurosurgery and System Chair, Department of Neurosurgery. “It’s also been meaningful to collaborate with the Department of Neurology to support their own recruits and create joint programs that provide comprehensive, well-rounded care to patients with neurological conditions.”
Added Barbara G. Vickrey, MD, MPH, System Chair, Department of Neurology, and Henry P. and Georgette Goldschmidt Professor of Neurology: “Our ranking is an acknowledgement of the Neurology Department’s leadership in clinical care on a national basis. We excel in treating the most challenging neurological patients and providing high-quality care to all of our New York City communities, including those that are under-resourced.”
In this Q&A, Dr. Bederson and Dr. Vickrey discuss how changes they have made over the years have helped patients.
What are some of the most significant changes the Department of Neurosurgery has made?
Over the past several years, our focus has been on building our divisions that deal with different disease states such as brain tumors, vascular problems and stroke, pediatric neurosurgery, movement disorders, and epilepsy. We recruited the nation’s best and brightest leaders in each one of these areas, building programs around their expertise into very strong, and sometimes very large divisions, many of which rival the average neurosurgery department in other parts of this country.
What are some national and global accomplishments?
Some of our national and global accomplishments focus on the creation of the division sub-specializations. In the cerebrovascular space, we recruited one of the world’s great leaders, Dr. J Mocco, to direct our Cerebrovascular Center, and he’s turned it into a very large service line with 10 full-time faculty. We are making groundbreaking changes to clinical treatment, including reducing the “time to needle” and treatment from the onset of stroke down to very low numbers, meaning very fast treatment times. We are achieving results that are the best in the world.
We’ve created centers of excellence around movement disorders, with one of the great deep brain stimulation programs and neurostimulation for intractable epilepsy. We have one of the largest pituitary tumor, skull base surgery, and malignant brain tumor programs in the country, with numerous NIH-funded research studies, and a large number of novel clinical trials in each of these areas. Our Division of Neurocritical Care is a large, world-class division with a unique Neuro Emergencies Management and Transfers (NEMAT) program transferring more than 1,000 patients with critical neurological illness every year.
How does the Department of Neurosurgery advance industry and academia?
Neurosurgery is inherently a technological field, and we rely very heavily on advanced digital and other technologies in the operating room. Through a significant partnership with industry, we have innovated in many creative ways, including in the use of augmented and virtual reality and the use of artificial intelligence that support our advanced digital platforms. We’ve created a new division called Sinai BioDesign, which is an incubator for innovative device creation. Here, surgeons work together with bioengineers to create new solutions for fixing problems that we face in the operating room and turn those solutions into products and companies.
How do these accomplishments result in better outcomes for neurosurgical patients?
All of our activities are aimed at improving patient outcomes. By creating centers of excellence, we can take advantage of our large health system by concentrating normally rare diseases into high volume centers, giving surgeons and other health care professionals the experience they need to become experts. They leverage the high volume to develop clinical protocols and research protocols that allow us to advance care in each disease state. Sinai BioDesign is creating new solutions and devices to help us treat conditions that require new solutions through advanced technologies, improving safety for patients.
Barbara G. Vickrey, MD, MPH
What changes has the Department of Neurology made?
The Neurology Department has grown dramatically in education, research, and clinical care in the last five years. Our department has had an approximately two-and-a-half-fold increase in NIH funding over five years. We have recruited more than 70 new faculty, who have been recruited both internally from our talented Mount Sinai graduates and from major academic institutions around the United States.
What are some specific areas of success?
We strive to improve outcomes in multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, stroke, epilepsy, headache, neuropathies, brain and spinal cord tumors, dementia, and other neurological disorders in children and adults, and we have subspecialty fellowship training programs in all these areas. We have well-regarded centers, programs, and divisions that are dedicated to this mission, such as the Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for Multiple Sclerosis, which is known for providing the best available multiple sclerosis care, including access to a wide range of clinical trials and a wellness program.
How does this make a difference for patients?
The Department provides patients with a unique blend of personalized and coordinated care, groundbreaking research, and technology. This integrated approach is instrumental in our pursuit of improving outcomes.
Can you give some examples?
Patients who come to our Comprehensive Stroke Center experience better outcomes on average than those of other New York City hospitals and other comprehensive stroke centers. Our Epilepsy Program provides a spectrum of treatments from the latest medications to vagal nerve stimulation and coordinates with Neurosurgery when surgical intervention is needed, with the goal of living seizure-free. Our patients in any subspecialty can count on physicians who have experience with unusual disorders as well as more common ones. In short, patients can expect to experience the benefits of a large, academic medical center along with personalized care. It’s the best of both worlds.