Since 2021, a global-local collaboration between Mount Sinai and NYC Health + Hospitals called the NYC Partnership has funded pilot projects that address health inequities faced by communities in Queens. These Pilot Project Awards encourage investigators at Mount Sinai, NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, and NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens to collaboratively consider health challenges and design research investigations, care interventions, and/or trainings to address them.
The collaborative nature of these awards has benefited previous recipients. Eyal Shemesh, MD, a 2023 awardee investigating a cardiology care engagement intervention, noted, “The grant was instrumental in allowing us to set-up and maintain a new and successful research partnership between the two institutions, a relationship that will now not be limited to the specific project related to the grant but, rather, will move forward with other initiatives.” Dr. Shemesh is a Professor of Pediatrics, and Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and directs the behavioral precision medicine program at The Mindich Child Health and Development Institute.
The community benefits as well. Deborah Reynolds, MD, Co-Principal Investigator with Dr. Shemesh, noted, “Our patients were absolutely thrilled with the project. According to their own testimonies, it made them feel like they are participating in a community effort to help our providers learn how best to improve support—not just for the participants, but for others who receive care at the cardiology clinic.” Dr. Reynolds is an Assistant Professor, Medicine (Cardiology) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
This is the spirt of these awards. The NYC Partnership aims to continue to meet the needs of these communities through these awards and is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2024 NYC Partnership Pilot Project Awards. A 23-member Selection Committee conducted an NIH-style review of 20 applications. The Committee selected five projects for funding of up to $25,000.
Improving Inpatient Care for the Transgender Population in Queens, NYC: Joan Curcio-Williams, MD, Jessica Lichter, MD, and Guangdong Liu, MD
Transgender people experience significant health disparities and often receive substandard care. Many clinicians have not been trained to provide evidence-based, culturally competent care for this population, and operate in health care systems designed from a cisgender framework. There have been interventions to better address the health needs of transgender patients in the outpatient setting, but few have focused on inpatient hospitalizations. To address this gap, this project at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst aims to educate clinicians on providing optimal care for transgender patients in the inpatient setting and develop guidelines that safeguard the needs and dignity of this vulnerable population during acute hospitalizations.
Characterizing Children in Street Situations in New York City: A Mixed Methods Study: Lonnie Embleton, PhD, MPH
New York City’s migrant crisis has resulted in children in street situations selling candy and other items in the subway and begging on the streets with their families. Children in street situations rely on the street to live and/or work by themselves or with friends or family. These children often face social, health, and economic disparities and human rights violations. Their presence in NYC requires attention and interventions to ensure their well-being. This necessitates accurate data on these children’s social, economic, and health circumstances. This project will characterize the circumstances of children in street situations aged 5 to 17 years through a field-based survey of these children; a cross-sectional survey of a sample of these children, who will also receive a well child checkup at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst and be enrolled in NYC Care or Child Health Plus; and in-depth interviews with a sample of parents of these children.
Impact of a Virtual Healthy Lifestyle Intervention for Children and Adolescents with Obesity: Joan Han, MD and Thaina Rousseau-Pierre, DO, MS
In the United States, pediatric obesity affects 20 percent of children and adolescents, with higher rates among Hispanic and Black youth. The 2023 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines for childhood obesity treatment recommend intensive health behavior and lifestyle treatment (IHBLT) to improve nutrition and physical activity habits. Virtual IHBLT programs reach a larger population than in-person programs, but efficacy data are lacking and needed. Since 2021, the Pediatric and Adolescent Clinics at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst have been piloting a virtual 18-week IHBLT program developed and led by Larissa Polanco, MD, that meets AAP standards for patients age 8-17 years. This project will assess the impact of this program on physical and mental health outcomes and aims to improve the program through surveys, focus groups, and semi-structured interviews of past participants. Based on these data, the IHBLT program will be expanded to the Healthy Lifestyle Clinic for pediatric obesity treatment at Mount Sinai Hospital.
Assessing Barriers to Health Care and Enhancing Health Care Access for Latinx Immigrant Workers: Homero Harari, ScD, Adina Valceanu, MD, and Laura Sirbu, MD
Nearly 75 percent of Latinx immigrants in New York City work in occupations that deem them “essential workers,” however these jobs can put them at higher risk for occupational injury. Many of these workers do not receive health insurance or paid sick leave and are unaware how to address their injuries and health needs. Through a collaboration between the Mount Sinai Selikoff Centers for Occupational Health (SCOH) and NYC Health + Hospitals (H+H)/Queens, this project aims to assess this gap in care through focus groups of workers, semi-structured interviews with SCOH and NYC H+H/Queens employees and key community stakeholders, and a survey of workers from different occupational sectors. Based on these results, a referral system between NYC H+H/Queens and SCOH will be created to address the occupational injuries of this population, with the goal to expand this pilot project to all ambulatory NYC H+H sites.
Digital Inclusion and Risk Communication to Improve Blood Pressure Control in the Emergency Department (ED) (INCLUD-ED): Phase 1 Planning: Kimberly Souffront, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, FAAN
Elevated blood pressure detected during an emergency department (ED) visit can be a predictor of chronic uncontrolled hypertension. There is variability in hypertension management in the ED. This project will develop a novel intervention that will use electronic health records to identify patients in the ED at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst with sustained asymptomatic hypertension and provide them a tailored risk communication intervention led by an ED nurse. These patients will be referred to a digitally inclusive remote patient monitoring program that does not require Wi-Fi and is supported by clinical pharmacists for up to 12 months, regardless of insurance status, to further manage their hypertension.
The NYC Partnership congratulates the award recipients and looks forward to working with them to address the needs of communities in Queens.
The NYC Partnership is a collaboration between the Arnhold Institute for Global Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the Global Health Institute at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst and NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens. The NYC Partnership Pilot grant program aims to stimulate innovative, collaborative, and multidisciplinary projects to improve the health of our community.
Payal Ram is the Research Program Coordinator for the New York City Partnership at the Arnhold Institute for Global Health and the Department of Global Health and Health System Design at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Global Health Institute at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst.