In the annual Profiles in Pride, the Mount Sinai Health System recognizes employees for their leadership and dedication to LGBTQ+ health equity. This year, we salute the following employees.
Michael Cruz, MS (they/theirs/he/his)
Program Manager, Institute for Advanced Medicine
Bringing HIV Prevention and Health Education to Diverse Communities
Michael is a first generation Latinx American, born and raised in Miami, Florida. They joined the HIV outreach team at Mount Sinai’s Institute for Advanced Medicine in 2014 and as Program Manager have used their role to expand Mount Sinai’s outreach to women, transgender and non-binary, incarcerated, and immigrant communities. As an active leader in Mount Sinai’s LGBTQ Employee Resource Group, Michael coordinates the MSHS outreach booth every year at Pridefest, the annual Pride month street fair (on hiatus this year due to COVID-19).
Patti Cuartas, PA-C, MBA, PMP (she, her, hers)
Executive Director, Information Technology, Population Health and Payer Systems
Mentoring and Supporting LGBTQ Employees and Allies
Patti is responsible for leading the development and implementation of business-aligned IT services to support Population Health activities for all populations, including commercially insured, Medicare, and Medicaid patients. She has been a tireless advocate for the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity data across all of Mount Sinai’s patient data collection. As co-chair of the corporate Employee Resource Group, she helped to establish, and is an “out” role model in, Mount Sinai’s corporate employee mentoring program. In her spare time, Patti and her wife volunteer for Sugar Mutts Rescue, a 501(c)(3) dog rescue and farm sanctuary organization in Pennsylvania.
Leona Hess, PhD (she, her, hers)
Director of Strategy and Equity Education Programs, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Transforming Medical Education to Undo Racism and Bias
Leona brought her background and experience as an LGBT and anti-racism educator and a lesbian activist for social justice to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai as its first Director of Strategy and Equity Education Programs, where she is leading a structured process to support complex change with a focus on the people side of change related to the School’s Racism and Bias Initiative.
Ellis Luka Katz, RN, MSN, CCRN, CMC (they, them, theirs)
RN, Neurosurgical ICU, Mount Sinai West
Promoting LGBTQ Affirmative Inpatient Care
El has been instrumental in advocating for and bringing educational resources to providers and staff within inpatient settings at Mount Sinai West on best practices in LGBTQ-sensitive and culturally competent care. They were able to get the inpatient whiteboards to accurately reflect each patient’s name and pronoun, which has become a model for the rest of the Health System. Their courage in coming out to colleagues as non-binary has also inspired efforts to increase colleague-to-colleague sensitivity and respect.
John Henry Pang, MD (he, him, his)
Department of Surgery/Division of Plastic Surgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Leading Research in Transgender Medicine and Surgery
John completed Mount Sinai Health System’s Transgender Surgery Fellowship two years ago, and today he specializes in the care of transgender and gender-nonconforming people. As a native of Hawaii and a longtime LGBTQ activist, he has a special interest in ensuring that medical education is inclusive of the needs of his community. He has published and lectured broadly on both plastic surgery and transgender care. He is the Research Group Lead for the Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, is an active member of the World Professional Association of Transgender Health, and has received multiple awards for his leadership and research in this area.
Julio C. Ramos (he, him, his)
MD Student, Class of 2021, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Engaging Student Activism for LGBTQ Equity and Inclusion
Julio is an active member in the Stonewall Alliance and oSTEM, the two LGBTQ student organizations at the Icahn School of Medicine. He participated in raising more than $7,000 during the Second Annual Mount Sinai Charity Drag Race and appeared in the contest in his drag persona, “Penelope.” During the pandemic, he led the PPE distribution task force at The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai West.