Leesa M. Galatz, MD
Two renowned physicians and researchers—Leesa M. Galatz, MD, and Barbara G. Vickrey, MD, MPH—recently became the Mount Sinai Health System Chair of Orthopaedics, and Neurology, respectively, at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Galatz was recruited from Washington University in St. Louis, where she was a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Chief of the Shoulder and Elbow Service. Dr. Vickrey had served for 25 years on the faculty of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she was Professor of Neurology.
Dr. Galatz, who also has the title of Mount Sinai Professor in Orthopaedics, is considered an authority in surgery for traumatic and degenerative disorders of the shoulder and elbow, including rotator cuff repair, arthroscopic surgery, minimally invasive fracture repair, and joint replacement. She is an active researcher in tendon healing and tissue engineering, serving as a co-primary investigator on two major projects funded by the National Institutes of Health. She additionally is an Associate Editor for Basic Science for the Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery and a peer reviewer for other orthopaedic publications. Dr. Galatz has received numerous awards, and has been a European Shoulder and Elbow Traveling Fellow, sponsored by American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons, and an American-British-Canadian Traveling Fellow, sponsored by the American Orthopaedic Association.
“As a leading researcher in shoulder and elbow surgery, Dr. Galatz has unique expertise and experience that will be a great asset to our School of Medicine and our hospitals,” says 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.
Barbara G. Vickrey, MD, MPH
Dr. Galatz earned her MD degree at George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C. Following an internship and residency at George Washington University Hospital, she completed a fellowship in shoulder and elbow surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Vickrey, who was also named the Henry P. and Georgette Goldschmidt Professor of Neurology, is an internationally renowned neurologist and health services researcher. She was elected in 2011 to the National Academy of Medicine, one of the highest honors in academic medicine, and currently is President of the American Neurological Association.
Her wide-ranging research has demonstrated that a collaborative approach—one that engages health care systems, community organizations, patients, and caregivers—can enhance both quality of care and outcomes for dementia patients. She has designed health care delivery innovations for post-stroke risk factors in underserved populations and better ways to treat Parkinson’s disease in veterans. Dr. Vickrey currently leads a cooperative agreement from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for a five-year stroke prevention/intervention research program in health disparities.
“Dr. Vickrey’s outstanding research dovetails with other ongoing research efforts throughout the Mount Sinai Health System,” says Dr. Charney. “Her contributions will go beyond Neurology as she enlivens collaborations with Population Health Science and Policy, Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, the Mount Sinai Institute of Technology, and the Institute for Health Care Delivery Science.”
Dr. Vickrey earned her MD degree at Duke University School of Medicine and her MPH at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. She completed postgraduate clinical training in medicine and neurology at the University of Washington in Seattle and then research fellowships in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program at UCLA and the RAND/UCLA Center for Health Policy Study.