Mount Sinai Science & Medicine 2016 Fall

THROUGH THE EYES OF PATIENTS

Perspectives on Mount Sinai Care

Researchers and clinicians collaborate to provide support

PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

MOUNT SINAI HEALTH SYSTEM

Kenneth L. Davis, MD

ANNE AND JOEL EHRENKRANZ DEAN, ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI

PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS, MOUNT SINAI HEALTH SYSTEM

Dennis S. Charney, MD

CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR DEVELOPMENT

MOUNT SINAI HEALTH SYSTEM

Mark Kostegan, FAHP

EDITOR

Celia M. Regan

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Anna Horton

CONTRIBUTORS

Julie Briggs

Elizabeth Chute

Danny Clinch Photography

Jessica Copen

Alison Dalton

Sheena Fallon

Don Hamerman

Andrew Lichtenstein

Susan McCormick

Rhianna Morris

Anna Parini

Deborah Schupack

Katie Quackenbush Spiegel

Veronica Szarejko

DESIGN

Taylor Design

Mount Sinai Science & Medicine is published twice annually by the Office of Development, Mount Sinai Health System, for an audience of friends and alumni. We welcome your comments; please contact us at a magazine@mountsinai.org or call us at (212) 659-8500. Visit us online at philanthropy.mountsinai.org

28 20

Through the Eyes of Patients: Perspectives on Mount Sinai Care

There can be no lens more finely ground, more precise—or more important to us. In a Health System that annually supports more than 152,576 inpatient admissions, more than 3,400,000 non-emergency outpatient visits, and more than 425,000 Emergency Department visits, every patient experience requires a clinical team that can provide outstanding care.

But there’s more to the equation. Behind the clinical team is—often— a research team that has helped chart the path to a patient’s diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. The synergy between the teams shapes the outcomes, and it puts Mount Sinai in the top tier of academic medical centers.

ABOUT THE COVER

ispum. Lorem ispum. Lorem ispum.

In this issue, we present ten stories demonstrating how patient outcomes are supported by the strength of Mount Sinai’s clinical and research enterprise, ranging from clinical trials that show immediate results and great promise, and long-term relationships between patients and their caregivers that continue to yield good health. These are stories of strong bonds, the generosity of faith, the expertise of doctors who lead their fields—and the recognition that caring for each patient requires unblinking trust, wide-ranging vision, and keen perspective from everyone involved.

04 Mount Sinai continues to rise in national rankings + Announcing Mount Sinai Downtown + Ambulatory Pavilion Planned for Mount Sinai St. Luke’s + Continued Expansion of Mount Sinai Queens + Collaboration with Celgene + Bristol-Myers Squibb and Mount Sinai Innovation Partners + Genome sequencing: 600,000 and counting + New app for patients + Recognition from DiversityInc and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation + Undocumented student receives Soros Fellowship + Commencement x 2

08 From Barlogie to Teruya-Feldstein: Spotlight on 11 new recruits + New Deans for the Graduate School and for Academic and Scientific Affairs + More than 175 faculty receive honors and recognition + Mammograms may warn of heart disease, Predicting IBD, Cancer and sepsis, Pre-term birth, Pediatric pneumonia, “Undruggable” cancer genes, Cardiac fibrosis, and Prostate cancer

52 Generous gifts throughout the Health System + TEAM ANDI supports NICU + Legacy gifts pledged to Medical Education + A year of celebrations

60 Seven receive Jacobi Medallion + SLR Alumni Association 125th Anniversary Dinner + Profile: Jewel Mullen, MD, MPH, MPA, MSSM ’77 + Scholarship students share their stories + Sinai Alumni celebrate at Reunion 2016

How Babies and Mothers May Offer Hope to IBD Patients

A mother’s pregnancy is a research powerhouse.

Mitral Valve: A new beat for Max Weinberg.

Artificial Pancreas Trials Hold Promise Artificial pancreas trials spotlight a special partnership.

Old Drug, New Use? Ketamine: New possibility for depression.

Preserving ‘Who You Are’ Saving face—and fighting back against HPV.

Partners for Life

When a first transplant fails, a second may succeed.

Challenging

Autism treatment supports a family’s journey.

Message from THE CEO THE DEAN &

We believe we can design and implement a strategy that effectively transforms us from a group of hospitals and ambulatory care centers into a system that truly acts as one—and that captures and energizes the synergistic relationship between our clinical practice and the research and training within our schools.

With the involvement of hundreds of faculty and more than 100 national and international experts, the Mount Sinai Health System is nearing completion of our new strategic plan—our first as a seven-hospital Health System, anchored by a top-tier School of Medicine. Our previous strategic plan, created in 2007, brought us to this turning point in our history. A combination of factors helped drive its success:

• We anticipated the trajectories of biomedical science and health care, through such decisions as making a major investment in cancer research and clinical care; recognizing the need for high-performance computing and taking a leadership role in big data analytics and genetics as they apply to increasing our understanding of human disease; and committing to advancing personalized medicine, basing treatments on the biology of a patient’s disease.

• We remained true to our core values, providing care for all who come to our doors. We are blind to socioeconomic status, race, religion, and ethnicity; everyone gets, to the best of our ability, the same quality of care. We are dedicated to the notion that the grandchildren of our current patients won’t suffer from the same diseases as the grandparents of our current patients; this means a commitment to the creation of new knowledge and to developing new therapeutics and the targets for therapeutics.

• We made educating the next generation of practitioners and scientists the cornerstone of Mount Sinai. Our tradition is one of innovation, and we have crafted curricula and new programs at the Icahn School of Medicine and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences that reflect this mission, while fitting it into the extraordinary context of a Health System serving the most diverse patient population in the country.

As we complete our strategic plan later this fall, we know that no new vision can merely duplicate or simply build on the one that came before it. But because our approaches will follow the principles that shaped our recent results, we believe we can design and implement a strategy that effectively transforms us from a group of hospitals and ambulatory care centers into a system that truly acts as one—and that captures and energizes the synergistic relationship between our clinical practice and the research and training within our schools. We are predicting a new set of exciting ideas that will become pillars of the plan. While the full list is still in formation, here are some highlights:

• We will make a commitment to immunology, which has begun to have major implications and yield new therapeutic discoveries across a spectrum of human disease.

• We will continue to make major strides in research related to cancer, heart disease and brain disorders—.

• As a world leader in understanding infectious diseases, we must continue to invest heavily in research, especially related to outbreaks such as Ebola and the Zika virus, which present ongoing, ever-evolving challenges.

• Because diabetes and obesity are epidemic in our community, we have a responsibility to deepen our strong commitment by further investments in research designed to discover new therapies.

• Regenerative medicine, involving the ability to regenerate tissue that was destroyed or died, will be a focus, based on new methodologies of understanding cell death and cell growth, and the potential of using stem cells to develop tissue.

• We will invest in infrastructure that allows us to do early-stage clinical trials, to test therapeutic approaches for the most serious diseases that do not, as yet, have adequate treatment.

• Our research will reflect our “for you, for life” approach, supporting the development of new therapies for infants, children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly.

• We will make our care will accessible to a much larger territory, through the most robust health care system in the New York metropolitan area, rivalling any in the United States. This will include a greater ability to make appointments and access your own information, as well a greater emphasis on telemetry software applications and the ability to deliver more care through the Internet and at home.

• We will maximize partnerships between the medical school and industry, particularly in the life sciences, where our relationship with pharmaceutical companies will help them to make drugs that are safe and effective.

Above all, we will ensure our continued leadership in three essential ways: providing high quality care—care that can take all patients, treat all diseases, offers exceptional access and quality, and provides the most efficient care possible at the lowest cost; in generating new science that is particularly focused on the development of new therapeutics; and in training outstanding leaders, both in biomedical research and clinical medicine.

Kenneth L. Davis, MD Dennis S. Charney, MD President and CEO, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean, Mount Sinai Health System Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai President for Academic Affairs, Mount Sinai Health System

Mount Sinai Continues to Climb in National Rankings

The Mount Sinai Hospital has been recognized as a leading institution in several national surveys by U.S. News & World Report and the Association of American Medical Colleges.

The Mount Sinai Hospital is listed on the “Honor Roll” in the U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals rankings for 2016. Seven departments ranked among the top 20 nationally in their specialties, and four other departments at the Hospital were among the top 50. The Hospital ranked third regionally, in both New York City and the New York metropolitan area. The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai ranked No. 10 nationally for Ophthalmology, one point higher than last year. Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai St. Luke’s, and Mount Sinai West all ranked regionally.

In addition, Kravis Children’s Hospital at Mount Sinai is again ranked among the country’s top children’s hospitals in seven out of ten pediatric specialties as measured by U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals” rankings for 2016–2017. Kravis ranked in the Top 25 in two specialties—urology and pulmonology—and returned to the rankings in cardiology after a two-year absence.

In a national survey by the American Association of Medical Colleges, Mount Sinai faculty have ranked first in grants per investigator, placing the Icahn School of Medicine at more than double the mean of $282,857. This same survey also shows that Mount Sinai has the third highest research density (grants dollars per square foot) in the country, and is third in growth of sponsored program expenditures.

7

DEPARTMENTS RANKED AMONG THE TOP 20 NATIONALLY IN THEIR SPECIALTIES

“Mount Sinai Downtown is a dramatic next step that will enable us to improve access and increase quality by providing care for residents of downtown Manhattan where they live and work.”

Mount Sinai Invests $500 Million to Create New “Mount Sinai Downtown” Network

In May, the Mount Sinai Heath System announced a plan for the sweeping transformation of Mount Sinai Beth Israel, by investing more than $500 million to create the new Mount Sinai Downtown, an expanded and unified network of innovative facilities stretching from the East River to the Hudson River below 34th Street. Much of the existing Beth Israel infrastructure is aging and unable to meet the needs of the modern health care landscape. On average, less than 60 percent of the hospital’s licensed beds are occupied and patient volume at the financially troubled hospital has decreased by double digits since 2012.

Mount Sinai’s investment will create a network of greatly expanded primary, specialty, behavioral, and outpatient surgery services, including a new, smaller Mount Sinai Downtown Beth Israel Hospital with approximately 70 beds and a brand-new Emergency Department with up-to-date technologies; expanded and renovated outpatient facilities at three major sites with more than 35 operating and procedure rooms; and an extensive network of 16 physician practice locations with more than 600 doctors. The

transformation will also include a major investment to support and strengthen behavioral health services, anchored at Beth Israel’s Bernstein Pavilion. Additionally, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai will be preserved and enhanced.

Mount Sinai Downtown’s facilities will be located throughout the lower Manhattan community, providing care for each patient in the most appropriate setting, whether in a traditional hospital bed, an outpatient practice, a surgical facility, or even in the patient’s home. The $500 million investment is represents Mount Sinai’s commitment to its Downtown network into one of the most innovative and accessible health care systems in the country.

“For several years, we have been transforming the Mount Sinai Health System toward a new model of care, where we focus on keeping entire communities healthy and out of the hospital,” said Kenneth L. Davis, MD, President and CEO of the Mount Sinai Health System. “Mount Sinai Downtown is a dramatic next step that will enable us to improve access and increase quality by providing care for residents of downtown Manhattan where they live and work.”

Ambulatory Pavilion Planned for Mount Sinai St. Luke’s

Renovation is set to begin this fall on a 17-floor ambulatory pavilion at Amsterdam Avenue and 114th Street that will serve as the anchor in a new master plan to transform Mount Sinai St. Luke’s outpatient care. The updated facility will expand the hospital’s primary, preventive, and specialty care, and foster integration with all departments within the Mount Sinai Health System. Located at 1090 Amsterdam Avenue, the new ambulatory pavilion will be financed through the sale of four underutilized properties on the Mount Sinai St. Luke’s campus, a $20 million grant from New York State, and philanthropic support. The new pavilion will help provide a focal point for Mount Sinai St. Luke’s faculty practices to grow and to recruit physicians. Mount Sinai St. Luke’s transformation aligns with an industry-wide shift to a more cost-efficient population health model of care that promotes greater access to multidisciplinary health care. “If we implement this vision and create one facility where patients can go to receive all of their care without having to navigate through multiple areas within our hospital, we can really start to make a difference in the community,” says Berthe Erisnor, MBA, Vice President of Ambulatory Services at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s. “We want people to know that health care is really changing uptown.”

Mount Sinai Queens Continues to Expand

Mount Sinai Queens has opened the doors to its new Ambulatory Pavilion, a $175 million facility that allows it to better serve the health needs of its community and significantly expands its medical and surgical capabilities. Located in Astoria, it serves the communities of Western Queens and beyond. The six-floor, 140,000-square-foot Ambulatory Pavilion, which broke ground in October 2013, is one of the largest new medical construction projects in Queens in recent years. While parts of the facility remain under construction, it has been opening in phases since May and is now home to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Emergency Department, Mount Sinai Doctors multispecialty medical practice, and Mount Sinai Queens Imaging. “As we continue to grow, we are expanding the role we play in all aspects of our neighbors’ health, from providing primary care and imaging tests to surgery and cancer care,” says Caryn A. Schwab, Executive Director, Mount Sinai Queens. “We want to deliver the best care for our community and borough, and in this building, they will get it.”

Strategic Collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb in Oncology

Dual Therapeutics, LLC, an oncology start-up company developing novel therapeutics for prostate cancer, lung cancer, and acute lymphoblastic leukemia, announced a strategic collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb to advance small molecule compounds for the treatment of cancer and other diseases. Dual Therapeutics was founded in 2013, and its technology is based on research developed and exclusively licensed from the Icahn School of Medicine and Case Western Reserve University. This work was made possible in part through Mount Sinai Innovation Partners, which facilitates the real-world application and commercialization of Mount Sinai discoveries and the development of research partnerships with industry. “Mount Sinai Innovation Partners enthusiastically embraces this partnership with Dual Therapeutics and Bristol-Myers Squibb as a seminal next step in translating a discovery made by Mount Sinai researchers into tomorrow’s cancer therapeutics,” said Erik Lium, PhD, Vice President and Executive Director of Mount Sinai Innovation Partners.

Landmark Research Consortium and Collaborations with Celgene

Last month, The Tisch Cancer Institute joined a small, elite consortium receiving a combined $50 million in NIH funds to develop multiple, high-impact research programs that will be presented to Celgene Corporation for consideration over the next 10 years. In addition to The Tisch Cancer Institute, The Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania, The Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University Medical Center, and the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins will each receive $12.5 million for the option to enter into future agreements to develop and commercialize novel cancer therapeutics arising from the consortium’s efforts. Subject to Celgene’s decision to opt-in and license the resulting technologies, each program has the potential to be valued at hundreds of millions of dollars.

“The active and coordinated engagement, creative thinking and unique perspectives and expertise of each institution have made this collaboration a reality,” said Steven Burakoff, MD, Director of The Tisch Cancer Institute, in a shared statement with the directors of the consortium institutions. “Our shared vision and unified approach to biomedical research, discovery, and development, combined with Celgene’s vast research, development, and global commercial expertise, will enable us to accelerate the development and delivery of next-generation cancer therapies to patients worldwide.”

Erik Lium, PhD, Senior Vice President of Mount Sinai Innovation Partners; and Steven J. Burakoff, MD, Director of The Tisch Cancer Institute

Largest Genome Study to Date Analyzed Nearly 600,000 Genomes

“Characterizing the intricacies of our genomes will ultimately reveal elements that could promote health in ways we haven’t even imagined.”

As part of a global collaboration, scientists from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Sage Bionetworks reported the first systematic search across hundreds of Mendelian disorders in hundreds of thousands of individuals apparently not afflicted with any of these disorders to identify those carrying disease protective factors. The Resilience Project launched in 2014 with a unique vision: by studying massive numbers of healthy adults, scientists might find rare individuals who are unaffected by genetic variants that should induce disease. Genome analysis of these resilient people could uncover naturally occurring, protective mechanisms that would serve as novel treatments for people affected by these diseases. “We see tremendous opportunity in figuring out what keeps people healthy,” said Eric Schadt, PhD, the Jean C. and James W. Crystal Professor of Genomics, Founding Director of the Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology, and the Project’s co-leader. “Characterizing the intricacies of our genomes will ultimately reveal elements that could promote health in ways we haven’t even imagined.”

Mobile App Connects Patients to Services

Mount Sinai’s Department of Information Technology has developed MountSinaiNY, a new mobile application for patients. The app is a one-touch experience, featuring centralized information and services that provide greater access to such health services as appointment scheduling, mobile bill payment, and access to patient medical records; it is available for free in the Apple App Store, features.

Mount Sinai Twice Recognized for Diversity and Health Care Equality

This year, Mount Sinai was honored for its leadership in diversity by two different organizations.

In April, in recognition of its comprehensive efforts aimed at ensuring a diverse workforce and leadership, the Mount Sinai Health System was ranked No. 3 on DiversityInc’s Top Hospitals and Health Systems list for 2016. DiversityInc Top 10 companies have significantly more diversity than average American corporations, including nearly 50 percent more blacks, Latinos, and Asians, and 49 percent more women than the U.S. corporate average. “We are proud that our leadership efforts continue to be recognized and that the value and positive social impact of a diverse, inclusive, and culturally competent workforce is once again being commended,” said Gary Butts, MD, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the Mount Sinai Health System and Dean for Diversity Programs, Policy, and Community Affairs at the Icahn School of Medicine.

Also in April, six of Mount Sinai’s campuses—The Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai St. Luke’s, Mount Sinai West, Mount Sinai Queens, and New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai—were recognized as “Leaders in LGBT Healthcare Equality” by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the educational arm of the country’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights organization. Seven years ago, Mount Sinai Beth Israel was the first hospital in New York City to receive this honor; the Health System has now earned top marks in meeting best practice benchmarks that include nondiscrimination, LGBT education, training, and community engagement, and demonstrating a commitment to equitable, inclusive care for LGBT patients and their families. “Mount Sinai has created a diverse organization that understands the unique needs of the many communities we serve,” said Barbara Warren, PsyD, who is the Director of LGBT Programs and Policies in Mount Sinai’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion. “We continue to advance equity and inclusion throughout our health system by creating a culturally and clinically competent environment, training and educating our health workforce and clinicians committed to this goal, and mainstreaming health services for the LGBT community.”

Undocumented Student at the Icahn School of Medicine Receives Prestigious Fellowship

Denisse Rojas Marquez, a Mexican immigrant and firstyear medical student at the Icahn School of Medicine, was awarded a 2016 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, the premier graduate school fellowship for immigrants and children of immigrants in the United States.

Ms. Marquez became one of the first two undocumented students at the School of Medicine in 2015. This fellowship will support her continued work toward earning her medical degree, and becoming a doctor in underserved immigrant communities and a leader in shaping health care policies. This was the most competitive year in the Fellowship’s history—just two percent of applicants were chosen.

Ms. Marquez was 10 months old when she and her family left Mexico for the United States. In their new home of Fremont, California, her family found new opportunities that enabled her and her two siblings to attend college. Due to her status, however, Ms. Marquez was ineligible for financial aid and often felt discouraged that no career counselor could offer her guidance on her goals.

Remaining steadfast in her aspirations, Ms. Marquez co-founded a national organization called Pre-Health Dreamers (PHD) to provide advising, resources and advocacy for other undocumented students. In just a few years, PHD has reached 652 members in 41 states. Through Ms. Marquez’s leadership, the organization co-sponsored legislation to allow California licensing boards to award professional licenses to undocumented professionals and engaged in institutional advocacy with other academic groups. As a result, more than 50 medical schools will now consider undocumented students for admission.

47th Annual Medical Education Commencement Ceremony and Inaugural Master’s Degree Commencement

This year’s commencement ceremonies included the first separate commencement ceremony for master’s degree recipients as well as the 47th annual medical education commencement. A total of 327 degrees were conferred to medical and graduate students, including 148 master’s degrees in areas including Public Health, Biomedical Sciences, Clinical Research, Biostatistics, Genetic Counseling, and Health Care Delivery Leadership; 120 MDs; 37 PhDs; and 22 Dual Degrees. Former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, MPA, and Peabody, Polk, and Pulitzer award-winning journalist Laurie Ann Garrett received honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees and delivered the commencement addresses to the medical education and master’s degree graduates, respectively.

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Receives Award from Burroughs Wellcome Fund

In recognition of its innovative efforts to prepare the next generation of physicians and scientists, the Postdoc Executive Committee at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai was recently awarded a grant by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, a private foundation dedicated to advancing biomedical sciences and to enhance the Postdoctoral Training program. The grant will fund Mount Sinai’s Future Leaders in Science Education and Communication Training Program, and is one of seven programs across the United States to receive this prestigious award. “Effective science communication and education are a gateway to diverse careers in academia, teaching, and science, but practical, hands-on training in these areas can often be difficult to achieve— an obstacle that we look to address through our Future Leaders program,” said Alison P. Sanders, PhD, postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Preventive Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, who leads the program along with postdocs Eric S. Sweet, PhD, and Ryan J. Cummings, PhD.

FACULTY

RECENT RECRUITS

1. Bart Barlogie, MD, PhD

Professor and Director of Myeloma Research in the Department of Medicine; previously at the Myeloma Institute at the University of Arkansas.

2. Jane Eisen, MD

Professor and Site Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s and Mount Sinai West; previously at Brown University.

3. Cynthia Harden, MD

Professor and Director of Epilepsy Services in the Department of Neurology; previously at Northwell Health.

4. Ira Jacobson, MD

Professor and Site Chair in the Department of Medicine at Mount Sinai Beth Israel; previously at New York Presbyterian/WeillCornell Medical College.

5. Nadia Micali, MD, PhD, MSc

Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Medical Director of the Eating and Weight Disorders Program; previously at University College of London Institute of Child Health.

6. Grant Mitchell, MD

Associate Professor and Site Chair in the Department of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai Beth Israel; previously at Columbia University.

7. Gregory Stock, PhD

Research Professor in the Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences and Co-Director of the Harris Center for Precision Wellness of the Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology; previously at the University of California, Los Angeles.

8. James Sumowski, PhD

Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology and Neuropsychologist in the Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for Multiple Sclerosis; previously at the Kessler Foundation.

9. Philip Szeszko, PhD

Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry; previously at Zucker Hillside Hospital.

10. Emanuela Taioli, MD, PhD

Professor in the Department of Population Health Science and Policy and in the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Director of the Institute for Translational Epidemiology, Chief of the Division of Social and Clinical Epidemiology in the Department of Population Health Science and Policy, and Director of the Center for the Study of Thoracic Diseases; previously at Northwell Health.

11. Julie Teruya-Feldstein, MD

Professor and Director of Hematopathology in the Department of Pathology; previously at Memorial Sloan Kettering.

New Dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences

Marta Filizola, PhD has been appointed Dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Icahn School of Medicine. Recognized as an innovative researcher and a strong adviser and mentor to students and trainees at all levels, Dr. Filizola oversees the academic and administrative functions of all PhD and Master’s programs, as well as the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs. “I am both excited and humbled by the opportunity to serve as a catalyst for innovation in graduate education at Mount Sinai,” said Dr. Filizola. “I believe that we at Mount Sinai are in the best position to train the next generation of great scientists, to prepare them for a wide range of careers in academia, industry, or even finance. Our goal is to empower students with the skills they need to make a difference in today’s world, and I look forward to working with our terrific researchers and educators to achieve this goal.” According to the 2013-2014 report by the Association of American Medical Colleges, only 16 percent of deans in academic medicine are women.

“I am both excited and humbled by the opportunity to serve as a catalyst for innovation in graduate education at Mount Sinai.”

New Dean for Academic and Scientific Affairs

Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD has been appointed Dean for Academic and Scientific Affairs at the Icahn School of Medicine. Dr. Nestler, the Nash Family Professor of Neuroscience, also serves as Chair of the Department of Neuroscience and Director of the Friedman Brain Institute, and as Interim Chair of Psychiatry. He is an internationally renowned neuroscientist and psychiatrist who has made significant contributions to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of addiction and depression. His research team explores the ways in which long-term exposure to stress or drugs of abuse changes gene expression and chromatin structure within the brain’s reward circuitry, leading to addiction, or depression-like syndromes. As Dean for Academic and Scientific Affairs, Dr. Nestler will oversee the School’s basic research enterprise and all aspects of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and will provide a bridge for the educational programs of the Graduate School and the Department of Medical Education. His broad scope of responsibilities will include significant involvement in strategic planning and goal attainment, program development, faculty recruitment and retention, research grant portfolio growth, and integration of the scientific enterprise into the larger School and Mount Sinai Health System.

Research Roundup

Cancer Screening Proves Valuable for Assessing Cardiovascular Disease Risk

Routine mammograms used for the early detection of breast cancer may also provide women with an early warning of cardiovascular disease, according to a recent study led by Laurie Margolies, MD, Associate Professor of Radiology and Chief of Breast Imaging at the Dubin Breast Center of The Tisch Cancer Institute. Dr. Margolies’ research showed that nearly 70 percent of mammograms with breast arterial calcification correlated with the presence of coronary artery calcium. Calcium deposits in the coronary arteries can narrow arteries and increase the risk of heart attack. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in women. This type of screening enables women to take early steps to improve their health. As Dr. Margolies says, “If we can find out information that’s indicative of heart disease, we can save even more lives.”

Biomarker Discovery Paves Way for Predicting Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Cancer Drug Could be Used to Treat Sepsis

Tiny doses of a cancer drug may stop the raging, uncontrollable immune response to infection that leads to sepsis and kills up to 500,000 people a year in the United States, according to research led by Ivan Marazzi, PhD, an Assistant Professor of Microbiology. The new drug treatment may also benefit millions of people worldwide who are affected by infections and pandemics. The study, reported in Science, demonstrates in both cells and animals that a small dose of topoisomerase I (Top 1) inhibitor can dampen an acute inflammatory reaction to infection while still allowing the body’s protective defense to take place. The treatment may help control not only sepsis—deadly infections often acquired in hospital by patients with a weak immune system—but also new and brutal assaults on human immunity such as novel influenza strains and pandemics of Ebola and other singular infections.

“ The new drug treatment may also benefit millions of people worldwide who are affected. ”

A multi-institute study has learned that years before inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is diagnosed and symptoms exist, biomarkers are already circulating that can help predict risk not only of disease development but also of complications. Using clinical data obtained from the main data repository of the US armed forces, researchers identified patients with a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease, and then retrieved pre- and postdiagnostic serum samples to assess the presence of antimicrobial antibodies. These markers have previously been shown to circulate in patients’ serum years before diagnosis and have been associated with more severe disease when identified at the time of or shortly after diagnosis. This was the first study demonstrating these markers and their progression using multiple samples at different time points before diagnosis. “Acquiring mechanistic information on pre-clinical IBD can potentially uncover key pathogenic events, lead to the development of new therapeutic targets and inform predictive algorithms that could be used to define at-risk populations in whom to test these approaches,” said Jean-Frédéric Colombel, MD, co-senior author, and Co-Director of The Susan and Leonard Feinstein Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinical Center.

Finding Clues to Pre-term Birth

Preterm birth is a leading cause of infant mortality, but the mechanisms that precede preterm labor remain elusive. Researchers led by Alison Sanders, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Preventive Medicine, found that increased levels of microRNA (miRNA) were directly related to shortened gestational periods. Dr. Sanders and colleagues at Harvard Medical School established a link between mercury and lead exposure and cervical miRNA expression. Their studies show the influence miRNAs have on gestational age at the time of delivery, and environmental contaminants that factor into miRNA expression. Improvements in preterm birth prediction could help to better target therapies for pregnancies at risk for preterm delivery. In addition, novel interventions could be designed to interrupt the cascade of molecular events that occur to trigger labor and produce preterm birth.

A Safe Substitute for Diagnosing Pediatric Pneumonia

Chest X-ray is considered the test of choice for diagnosing pneumonia—the leading cause of death in children—but the WHO estimates three-quarters of the world’s population does not have access to radiography. Investigators led by James Tsung, MD, MPH, Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and Department of Pediatrics, have found that lung ultrasound can be highly effective and safe for diagnosing pneumonia in children and a potential substitute for chest X-ray. By conducting a randomized controlled trial in the pediatric Emergency Department at The Mount Sinai Hospital comparing lung ultrasound to chest X-ray in 191 children, they found nearly a 40 percent reduction in chest X-rays by performing an ultrasound first, with no missed pneumonia cases and no increase in any other adverse events. “Ultrasound is portable, costsaving and safer for children than an X-ray because it does not expose them to radiation,” says Dr. Tsung. “Our study could have a profound impact in the developing world where access to radiography is limited.”

Going After an “Undruggable” Cancer Gene

The Potential for Reversing Cardiac Fibrosis Through Gene Targeting

Roger J. Hajjar, MD, the Arthur and Janet C. Ross Professor of Medicine and Director of the Cardiovascular Research Center, and a South Korean colleague have discovered that CCN5, a matricellular protein, has been found to reverse established cardiac fibrosis in heart failure models. Cardiac fibrosis occurs when healthy cardiac cells are replaced with fibrous connective tissue, causing scarring and a stiffer and less compliant cardiac muscle. It is an independent predictor for the progression of heart failure, which accounts for approximately 450,000 deaths per year in the United States. While there currently are no effective cardiac fibrosis therapies available, is considered a valid target for treatment.

“

” Our research is the first to demonstrate the ability to reverse cardiac fibrosis in heart failure models.

Genes related to RAS, a family of proteins, are mutated in more than 30 percent of human cancers and represent one of the most sought-after cancer targets for drug developers. The lack of progress towards developing drugs that systematically target the RAS oncogenes have led many in the field to label RAS an “undruggable” cancer gene. A study led by E. Premkumar Reddy, PhD, has identified a new mechanism for targeting this important cancer gene, and as Dr. Reddy says, “is a significant breakthrough for the cancer field.” Dr. Reddy and a multi-institute team of scientists have identified the first small molecule able to inhibit the different signaling pathways activated by RAS oncogenes simultaneously. The discovered small molecule acts as a protein-protein interaction inhibitor that prevents binding between RAS and signaling proteins that turn a cell into a cancer cell. There is now potential to target the mechanism in the treatment of several RAS-driven cancers.

“Our research is the first to demonstrate the ability to reverse cardiac fibrosis in heart failure models by targeting a specific gene,” said Dr. Hajjar. “These findings demonstrate that CCN5 may provide a novel platform for the development of targeted anti-cardiac fibrosis therapies, which could benefit many patients with previously untreatable heart failure.”

New Prostate Cancer Study Using Gold Nanoparticles

The Mount Sinai Health System is one of only two test centers in the world collaborating with Philips Health Care to help refine fusion biopsy technology and develop applications for guided focal therapy—a treatment option that relies on targeted imaging that has been gaining acceptance by urologists to achieve cancer control and minimize damage to healthy tissue. We are now embarking on a gold nanoparticle directed focal therapy trial, the first one of its kind. In preclinical studies, gold nanoparticles have been shown to provide highly selective and rapid tissue destruction with minimal damage to surrounding tissue, enabling a potentially curative treatment of tumors with minimum toxicity. Gold nanoparticles are able to actively target and conform to areas associated with abnormal tissue growth within the prostate. Ardeshir Rastinehad, MD, Associate Professor, Urology and Radiology is national co-principal investigator of this study.

Recognition &Awards

Faculty from across Mount Sinai have received significant honors in recent months.

The Tisch Cancer Institute

Randall Holcombe, MD, MBA, Professor; National Chair, Physicians Clinical Leadership Initiative, Association of American Cancer Institutes

John Levine, MD, Professor; Chair, Clinical Trials Advisory Committee, Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research

Charles Shapiro, MD, Professor; Co-Chair, Osteoporosis in Cancer Guidelines, American Society of Clinical Oncology

The Kimberly and Eric J. Waldman Department of Dermatology

Gary Brauner, MD, Associate Clinical Professor; Presidential Citation, American Academy of Dermatology

David J. Goldberg, MD, JD, Clinical Professor of Dermatology; Chair, New Frontiers in Cosmetic Meeting; Co-Chair, Aesthetic Extender Symposium; Co-Chair, Five Continents Cosmetic Meeting; Presidential Citation, American Society for Lasers in Medicine and Surgery; Keynote Speaker, South Carolina Dermatology Meeting

Emma Guttman, MD, Professor; Co-Chair, Inflammatory Skin Disease Summit; Co-Chair, Joint Symposium, International Psoriasis Council/ International Eczema Council, European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology; President Elect, International Eczema Council; Keynote Speaker, Society for Pediatric Dermatology; Keynote Speaker, California Dermatology Society; Keynote Speaker, Israeli Meeting of Atopic Dermatitis; Presidential Citation, American Academy of Dermatology

Cindy Hoffman, DO, Adjunct Assistant Clinical Professor; Koprince Award, American Osteopathic College of Dermatology

Mark Kaufmann, MD, Associate Clinical Professor; Chair, Resource Based Relative Value Scale Committee, American Academy of Dermatology; President’s Award, American Society for Dermatologic Surgery

Mark G. Lebwohl, MD, Waldman Chair of Dermatology; President, American Academy of Dermatology; Stuart Madden Lecture, Honorary Member, Canadian Dermatology Association; Presidential Lecture, National Medical Association; Honorary Membership, Florida Society of Dermatology and Dermatologic Surgery

Jacob O. Levitt, MD, Professor; American Academy of Dermatology Presidential Citation, American Academy of Dermatology

Department of Developmental and Regenerative Biology

Ross L. Cagan, PhD, Professor; Keynote Speaker, 20th Annual Scientific Symposium, Wilmot Cancer Institute; Keynote Speaker, 8th Annual Conference, Zebrafish Disease Models Society; Keynote Speaker, Protein Kinase Inhibitor Design and Screening Conference; Keynote Speaker, 2016 Grace Lecture, Center for Integrative Genomics, Switzerland

Michael Rendl, MD, Associate Professor; Co-Chair, Skin and Hair Developmental Biology, Annual Meeting; State-of-the-Art Lecture, Annual Meeting, Society of Investigative Dermatology

Department of Emergency Medicine

Saadia Akhtar, MD, Associate Professor; President and Chair, Clinical Pathophysiology Competition Committee, Council of Residency Directors

Dan Egan, MD, Associate Professor; Chair, Remediation Task Force; Chair, Best Practices Committee, Council of Residency Directors

Sigrid Hahn, MD, Associate Professor; Chair, Early Pregnancy Clinical Policy, American College of Emergency Physicians

Jennifer Huang, DO, Assistant Professor; Co-Chair, Emergency Ultrasound Simulation Section, American College of Emergency Physicians

Ula Hwang, MD, Associate Professor; Chair, Geriatric Committee, American College of Emergency Physicians

Andy Jagoda, MD, System Chair and Professor; Chair, Prehospital Management of Traumatic Brain Injury Task Force, Brain Trauma Foundation; Chair, Emergency Medicine Benchmarking Committee, Association for Academic Chairs; Co-Chair, Airway Credentialing Committee, National Football League; 50 over 50 List, City & State Media Company; Keynote Speaker, International Emergency Medicine Congress, Government of Qatar

Stuart Kessler, MD, Associate Professor; Chair, Practice Management Committee, New York American College of Emergency Physicians

Michelle Lin, MD, Assistant Professor; Presidential Scholarship for New Health Services Researchers, Academy Health

Kevin Munjal, MD, Assistant Professor; Chair, Innovations in Emergency Medical Services Steering Committee, National Highway and Traffic Safety Association; Chair, Community Paramedicine Committee, National Association of EMS Physicians; Physician of Excellence Award, Regional Emergency Medical Services Council of New York City

Devorah Nazarian, MD, Assistant Professor; Chair, Clinical Policy on Psychiatric Emergencies Committee, American College of Emergency Physicians

Bret Nelson, MD, Associate Professor; Chair, Point of Care Ultrasound Community, American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine

Jeff Rabrich, DO, Assistant Professor; Chair, Emergency Medical Services Committee, New York American College of Emergency Physicians

Michael Redlener, MD, Assistant Professor; Mission Lifeline EMS award, American Heart Association

Lynne Richardson, MD, Professor; Chair, Advisory Committee to the Director Health Disparities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Kaushal Shah, MD, Associate Professor; Chair, Trauma Committee, Society for Academic Emergency Medicine; Chair, Education Committee, New York American College of Emergency Physicians; Co-Chair, Airway Credentialing Committee, National Football League

Jason Shapiro, MD, Professor; Chair, Informatics Section, American College of Emergency Physicians

Christopher Strother, MD, Associate Professor; President Simulation Academy, Society for Academic Emergency Medicine

James Tsung, MD, Associate Professor; Ultrasound Research Award, Society for Academic Emergency Medicine

continued on page 64 »

Mount Sinai’s patients experience illness, disease, surgery, pain—conditions that can disrupt a family, tear apart a life. When they come to Mount Sinai, they see something else: clinicians and surgeons whose expertise and compassion can provide relief and set patients back on a course of health and hope.

But they may not see an equally essential component: the researchers whose science is offering new therapies, innovative tools, insights that transform our knowledge of disease. Mount Sinai’s mission has historically emphasized the collaboration among scientists and clinicians, because our founding leaders knew that the synergy between great minds will not only drive brilliant medicine, but also spark patients’ recovery.

Here are 10 stories that show all these components—told through the eyes of our patients, who are at the heart of everything we do.

HOW BABIES AND MOTHERS MAY OFFER

hope uIBD Patients

Think diapers. If you’re pregnant, you know they’re coming. But could they truly change your life—and perhaps millions of other lives—for the better? For Emily, it’s one of her greatest hopes.

BY SHEENA K. FALLON

Emily, 28 weeks into her pregnancy, laughs easily, resting her hands on her round belly, as she describes how she and her husband are preparing for the arrival of their daughter. But for Emily, the future is more complicated than for other pregnant women. Emily has ulcerative colitis, a type of chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which causes inflammation, ulcers, and bleeding in the lining of the large intestine. Conception and pregnancy—the health of both mother and baby—can be complicated by the need to manage symptoms, ensuring that the disease is in remission.

And Emily’s thoughts about the future don’t end at childbirth. Her chronic disease must be managed throughout her lifetime, and because genetic predisposition is a factor for IBD, her child has a higher risk of having it as well. For these reasons, she is part of a Mount Sinai program designed to address a full range of such concerns—and her participation is adding a new expectation to her pregnancy: she looks forward to what the future may bring for her and her daughter, a future where, perhaps, the discoveries made in the Mount Sinai studies may change her life.

“I think it’s exciting that my daughter’s diapers will be used to potentially find a treatment for me, or— and hopefully this will not be necessary—to treat her,” Emily says.

Emily is enrolled in a study whose acronym is based on the first fecal substance produced in utero by a fetus: the MECONIUM (Exploring MEChanisms Of disease traNsmission In Utero through the Microbiome) study. The study’s goal is to explore what role IBD plays in the composition of the microbiome, or the complex system of microscopic organisms and bacteria, in newborn babies and mothers, and whether there are particular bacterial strains that may increase the risk of IBD in offspring that could be prevented. Some studies show higher transmission rate of disease from mothers with IBD as compared to fathers, implying that transmission of IBD from mother to baby starts in utero. The specific types of bacteria, along with the patterns of bacterial transmission between the mother and baby, determine the fetal immune composition as well as immediate and long-lasting health outcomes.

As a researcher herself, Emily appreciates the research focus at Mount Sinai and the effect it has on her care. “I love having good data available so I know what my options are, especially as I’ve learned to become a more sophisticated reader of it, and to see my health in relation to that data.”

RESEARCH-BASED CARE

Marla Dubinsky, MD, Co-Director of the Susan and Leonard Feinstein Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinical Center, and the IBD team at Mount Sinai have far-reaching research goals for their patients. “We would like all patients that walk through the front door to be involved in research—to be able not only to advance the field on their own behalf, but also help the next generation of patients diagnosed with IBD.” By engaging patients in behavioral research, clinical trials, drug optimization research, microbiome research, or other areas, the IBD team seeks to approach IBD from all angles.

To do so, Mount Sinai has assembled a multidisciplinary team whose collaborations in research has made the Health System a world leader in IBD understanding and treating the disease [see sidebar].

BY

THE HOUSE THAT CROHN’S BUILT

“The footprint in the world of IBD was essentially made here at Mount Sinai.” Mount Sinai manages IBD for approximately 3,000 unique new patients every year and provides long-term follow-up for more than 7,000 additional patients at the Feinstein IBD Clinical Center.

THE NUMBERS

3,000

Mount Sinai’s researchdriven treatment of IBD is not a recent phenomenon. “This is the house that Crohn’s built,” said Dr. Dubinsky, gesturing around her in her office. Mount Sinai’s research and clinical care in IBD is part of a tradition that dates back to the days of Burrill B. Crohn, MD. At Mount Sinai, Dr. Crohn and his colleagues Leon Ginzburg, MD and Gordon Oppenheimer, MD performed research and published a landmark 1932 article that first described regional ileitis, which would later become known as Crohn’s disease. Nearly a century later, Mount Sinai physicians working in IBD take pride in this history, and Mount Sinai’s renowned position in the field. “When we think about IBD patients, we think about the history of IBD—not only Crohn’s but also ulcerative colitis,” said Dr.

Approximate number of unique new IBD patients whom Mount Sinai manages every year.

IBD was once viewed as an intermittent disease, but clinical data have demonstrated that it is actually a progressive disease. Physicians at the Feinstein IBD clinic diagnose patients as early as possible, especially as IBD patients appear to have a window of opportunity early in the course of the disease when treatment is most effective. To prevent complications and progressive bowel damage, the paradigm of treatment is shifting to early, effective intervention. But knowing what therapeutic strategy to employ first and at what dosage is not a clear-cut decision.

INDIVIDUALIZED CARE

“In one day we could have a hundred patients walking the halls here and each would have a different diagnostic approach and treatment approach. That’s what makes Sinai such a unique platform upon which we change the lives of people with IBD,” Dr. Dubinsky said. Unlike the step-up or guideline-based approaches that are common treatment strategies for IBD, at the Feinstein IBD Clinical Center, recently

diagnosed IBD patients are evaluated with the intention of personalizing an approach to preventing disease progression. The goal for Mount Sinai clinicians is to remain nimble in treatment strategies, adjusting treatment accordingly to respond to disease progression. “We’re able to stratify patients into what we call ‘high risk of progression to complication’—for example, progressing to surgery faster,” continued Dr. Dubinsky. “We’re able to identify those risk factors very early and because of the wealth of experience we bring to patients, we’re able to quickly assimilate all of their individualized characteristics and customize our approach to treatment.”

Additionally, the individual approach to treatment at Mount Sinai is supported with psychosocial support, including behavioral health, nutrition, and other resources to encourage a patient’s self-management and self-efficacy. “The ability to support the patients, give them confidence, and self-management skills is really important,” added Dr. Dubinsky.

PERSONALIZED TREATMENT IN PREGNANCY

One of the ways in which Mount Sinai translates scientific laboratory discoveries in IBD into therapeutic interventions is through the IBD Preconception and Pregnancy Planning Clinic, which was designed for IBD patients who are pregnant or considering pregnancy. This clinic offers education on planning and maintaining a flare-free pregnancy as well as regular assessments, delivery guidance, and

monitoring of therapeutics—and Emily’s experiences there have been welcome.

“Part of what’s great about the work these doctors are doing is that pregnancy can sometimes look like ulcerative colitis—like if you have digestive problems,” said Emily. A clinic that understands both conditions of pregnancy and of IBD can better manage both the treatment of both, as well as any anxieties a patient may feel, which Emily appreciates. “The doctors are good at saying, ‘no, that’s actually a normal expression of pregnancy.’”

The clinic has also worked with Emily to modify her treatment schedule for IBD to accommodate the delivery of her baby. “Often when a woman has a medical condition and becomes pregnant, the conditions are treated in isolation and not together,” said Maria Teresa Mella, MD, Assistant Professor, Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science, and Emily’s obstetrician.

“The benefit of the IBD Preconception and Pregnancy Planning Clinic is that patients, especially pre-conception, come to see me once they are pregnant, leading to an open dialogue about IBD issues throughout the pregnancy. We also meet in the patient’s second trimester to discuss options for IBD treatment and what would be safest.”

Emily receives Remicade® infusions every two months to keep her ulcerative colitis in remission, and Dr. Dubinsky and Dr. Mella are modifying her schedule to

avoid an infusion during the last month of pregnancy, when there is the greatest chance for the medication to be passed to the fetus. Emily will then receive an infusion before she leaves the hospital after she gives birth, so she doesn’t have to return after being discharged because, she notes, “It’s very hard to leave the house with an infant.”

THE FUTURE OF IBD

“There’s no greater feeling than having someone like Emily come in wanting to get pregnant,” said Dr. Dubinsky, “and then getting her medication perfectly controlled so she could become pregnant, be pregnant, and deliver a healthy baby, contributing to the future of IBD through research.”

Which brings us back to those diapers. Like Emily, Dr. Dubinsky is also looking to the future—but to the future of IBD research and prevention, and the results of the MECONIUM study. “Her baby won’t know quite what we’re doing and why. But let’s say that, as the baby gets older, she did have an at-risk microbiome marker. And let’s say that our studies with our other populations were able to create a prevention treatment, to be able to intercept a baby who may be at risk later on. It’s hard to think that could even be possible, but in fact it’s being done—and it’s pretty incredible.

“And it’s all based here, in the house that Crohn’s built.”

Judy Cho, MD, Director, The Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine, Ward-Coleman Professor of Translational Genetics, and Professor, Department of Medicine and Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, first discovered the first gene for Crohn’s Disease in 2001 and continues making breakthroughs in genetics. Jeremiah Faith, PhD, Assistant Professor, Genetics and Genomic Sciences; Assistant Professor of Medicine, Clinical Immunology and Jose Clemente, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences and the Immunology Institute are conducting research on the microbiome, an area at the forefront of recent translational research in IBD. As a result of this work, clinicians may soon be able to target treatments to an individual patient’s bowel wall, allowing for more effective and specific treatment. Within the Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology, several researchers are studying the expression of the genes in the gastrointestinal tract lining: Eric Schadt, PhD, Director of the Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology, Chair of the Department of Genetics and Genomics Sciences, and the Jean C. and James W. Crystal Professor of Genomics; Andrew Kasarskis, PhD, Vice Chair, Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences and Co-Director, Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology; Jean Frédéric Colombel, MD, Director, Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsely Charitable Trust IBD Center; Professor, Department of Medicine, Gastroenterology; Bruce E. Sands, Chief of the Henry D. Janowitz Division of Gastroenterology, Burrill B. Crohn Professor of Gastroenterology; and Inga Peter, PhD, Assistant Professor, Genetics and Genomic Sciences. This work has led to collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a pharmaceutical company of Johnson & Johnson, to develop the next generation of treatment for IBD.

( HEART ) BEAT Keeping the

BY KATIE QUACKENBUSH SPIEGEL

Dr. David Adams, an acclaimed leader in mitral valve repair, leads a surgical team that performs more than 400 repair procedures a year. He is also dedicated to teaching mitral valve reconstructive surgery across the globe, and his research continues to advance the understanding of mitral valve disease. So, when a world-famous rock drummer needed to keep the beat, he turned to Dr. Adams.

The mitral valve helps the heart keep its life-sustaining rhythm. Like a metronome... or a drum beat. When the left ventricle contracts, the mitral valve closes, forcing oxygen-rich blood to flow into the aorta and out to the body. Without the mitral valve’s constant opening and closing, the heart wouldn’t beat, and the blood wouldn’t flow. Since 1974, drummer Max Weinberg has done the same job for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. A powerful and spectacularly steady player, Weinberg has delivered thrilling performances that, for decades, kept the beat for The Boss. Known affectionately by fans as “Minister of The Big Beat,” Max was also a late night television personality for seventeen years, collaborated with many renowned musicians, and, today, continues to tour the world.

The whole time, though, Weinberg’s heart was failing to maintain the rhythm for his body. Since his mid-30s, his mitral valve had been failing.

“I had been diagnosed at thirty-five, but I never really knew my malfunctioning valve was affecting me because of the demands of my particular job—your adrenaline while performing can mask symptoms,” says Weinberg, who says he has always kept himself in top physical shape. “But in my fifties, I noticed that just climbing stairs on the stage to my drums was becoming more challenging.”

In 2009, Max saw his longtime cardiologist, who told him the window of opportunity to intervene and take care of his valve problem was closing. He was 57. After an extensive nationwide search

for a valve replacement surgeon, Max was dissatisfied; all of the surgeons he met told him he’d have to lose his own valve. But if he had a tissue valve replacement, a procedure that uses bovine donor tissue, he would likely have to repeat the complex surgery later in life—perhaps even a few times, given his young age. And if he had a mechanical valve replacement, made of plastic, he would need a lifetime of blood thinners, and there was a good chance the valve would click, audibly, and constantly, as it opened and closed. As a drummer, he says, he couldn’t consider this an option.

Then Max found David Adams, MD, Mount Sinai’s Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Professor, Chairman of Cardiovascular Surgery, Cardiac Surgeon-in-Chief, Program Director of the Mitral Valve Repair

Reference Center, and President of the Mitral Foundation. Dr. Adams told Max he was not going to discuss the possibility of a valve replacement with him as he was an ideal candidate to have his own valve repaired. He explained that the valve not only opens and closes but, as it does so, it squeezes the blood creating a torque-like velocity enabling the valve to work more efficiently. “Dr. Adams was the only physician who explained the importance of the squeezing action,” Max notes. At the end of their consultation, Dr. Adams asked Weinberg what he did for a living.

“I told him I am a rock drummer, and he said, ‘You don’t look like a drummer, you look like an accountant,’” says Weinberg. “So I invited him to a show. Afterward, Dr. Adams was flabbergasted; he said, ‘You should not physically be able to do that for more than a few minutes, and you did it for four hours.’”

“In Max’s case, having the valve repaired instead of replaced wasn’t only a survival issue but a quality of life issue,” says Dr. Adams. “If he had a mechanical valve replacement, he would have potentially listened to constant clicking while he’s trying

to play music. Having his own valve repaired was fundamentally important to his daily life.”

In February 2010, Dr. Adams repaired Weinberg’s valve in an intensive 12-hour surgery. Recovery from openheart surgery is difficult, but Weinberg says the procedure that saved his life was worth it, and hardly left a scar: “I had the best seamstress on the team!”

“Our Mitral Valve Repair Reference Center is one of the highest volume centers in the world, and we have the infrastructure to carry out complex reconstructive procedures, and to follow and study patients after surgery to measure our outcomes and publish longterm data,” says Dr. Adams. “We have helped to establish the basic understanding of the outcomes of mitral valve repair in the current

era, setting benchmarks for which valves are repairable and how durable, safe, and effective repairs are.”

Weinberg says he feels lucky to have found Dr. Adams, whom he calls “the Bruce Springsteen of mitral valve surgery.” an conclusively tell you that I’m in the best shape of my life; I play four-hour shows, I’m touring the world, I exercise all the time, and my heart valve problem is behind me,” says Weinberg. “Putting myself in the care of Dr. Adams and his team illustrated to me that the mechanics of mitral valve repair can be approached in a very artful fashion. And I can tell you that from the very bottom of my brand new, perfectly working heart, if not for Dr. Adams, Mount Sinai, and this surgery, I would not be standing here today.”

Lung Cancer

‘It’s Simple: Catch it Early’

BY DEBORAH SCHUPACK

arvey and Faith Edelman travel extensively, regularly walk three or four miles, and have been known to see more than one Broadway show in a day. At age 79, Harvey works full time at his dental practice and golfs when he can. The Philadelphia couple is so active that their daughter Laurie Edelman, who is an associate professor at Mount Sinai, calls them “bionic.”

So they were not about to be sidelined when Harvey was diagnosed with lung cancer. “We don’t do sick,” says Faith, Harvey’s wife of 54 years. Shortly after his surgery at Mount Sinai to remove the cancer, the Edelmans were already walking to the park, and, perhaps even more challenging, to an Upper West Side staple. “People said to me, ‘You took him to Fairway?’” Faith recounts. “Whatever comes our

way, we’ll handle it. What’s your choice?”

Harvey Edelman’s outcome exemplifies Mount Sinai’s pioneering approach to successfully treating lung cancer, which focuses on early detection and minimally invasive surgical treatment, and is making great strides in curing a particularly deadly cancer and preserving quality of life for patients.

“He did beautifully,” says Raja Flores, MD, Chairman of the Department of Thoracic Surgery and the Steven and Ann Ames Professor in Thoracic Surgery, who performed the video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) lobectomy, which removes the small tumor through three tiny incisions. “He’s cured and immersed back into his productive life.”

EARLY DETECTION TO COMBAT A DEADLY DISEASE

Lung cancer is the leading cause of all cancer deaths in the U.S. and worldwide, and is too often caught once the tumor is too large to successfully resect. A surgery such as VATS lobectomy, which Dr. Flores has made the gold standard in lung cancer surgery, is possible only when the tumor is found at stage one, measuring about 1 to 2 centimeters.

By the Numbers

80 –90%

THE CURABILITY PERCENTAGE OF CT-DETECTED STAGE ONE TUMORS WHEN ANNUAL CT SCREENING IS PERFORMED.

“Lung cancer becomes a curable disease when it is found early and treated,” says Claudia Henschke, PhD, MD, Director of the Lung and Cardiac Action Program and Professor of Radiology.

“It is critical to find the cancer early.”

Dr. Henschke and David Yankelevitz, MD, Professor of Radiology and Director of the Lung Biopsy Service, are renowned for changing the equation in lung cancer diagnosis. They were the founding investigators of the Early Lung Cancer Action Program (ELCAP), the first study to demonstrate that low-dose computed tomography (CT) scans can reliably diagnose early stage lung cancer in people at high risk for the disease. Before ELCAP, the prevailing methods of screening, such as chest X-rays, could seldom detect stage one

tumors, which are the earliest and most treatable manifestations of lung cancer.

Their groundbreaking work on screening has led to major advances in diagnostic guidelines and nationally and internationally. Among other findings, International (I)-ELCAP (the expanded version of ELCAP, with about 80,000 participants in 10 countries) found that annual CT screening led to more than 80 percent of lung cancers being diagnosed at the earliest stage, stage one, and that the curability of these CT-detected stage one tumors was between 80 to 90 percent, a vast improvement from just five – 10 percent curability today.

NEXT STEP: “HOW DO YOU BEST TREAT IT?”

“As technology improves, you see things better,” says Dr. Yankelevitz, explaining that a CT scan can find not only nodules but reveal information about emphysema, coronary artery disease, and other smoking-related illnesses, as well as breast diseases and osteoporosis.

“Once you see things better, you have to figure out what to do with the information. The diagnostic part of our work is mature, but it’s not enough to diagnose. The question becomes, How do you best treat it?”

This urgent question has prompted Mount Sinai’s Initiative for Early Lung Cancer Research on Treatment (IELCART), designed to transform the research methodology for identifying the optimal personalized treatments for early stage lung cancer.

Mount Sinai has recruited a terrific team that has a real passion about early lung cancer work. The surgical team, radiology, pulmonary medicine, radiation oncology, epidemiology, immunology—we have all these pieces in one place that are important for taking the field further.”— Dr. Claudia Henschke

IELCART aims to answer such questions about how much lung should be resected for curative treatment given individual characteristics of both the patient and the cancer; when and to what extent mediastinal lymph node resection should be performed; if sublobar resection is to be performed, the minimal tumor-normal tissue margin; and what nodules are best suited for “watchful waiting.” Says Dr. Flores, “For the patient’s sake, we want to be able to answer those questions now rather than waiting another ten years.”

IELCART has begun recruiting patients within the Mount Sinai Health System and other institutions throughout the city, with the aim of further expanding to include partners globally. “This is a major initiative,” says Dr. Henschke. “It should revolutionize surgical treatment.”

In Harvey Edelman’s case, his doctors at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia discovered several nodules on his lungs in an annual check-up following treatment for a previous cancer, thyroid cancer. The nodules were carefully monitored and no treatment was warranted until 2012, when one began to change. Harvey was referred to Dr. Yankelevitz, who biopsied the nodule and found it cancerous and determined the nodule which was changed was unrelated to the previous thyroid cancer. Dr. Flores then performed the successful VATS lobectomy. “Fortunately, the techniques and the technologies have improved so much in recent years,” says Harvey.

Historically, a large thoracotomy incision was used to remove one of the lobes of the lung. This involved cutting major muscle groups in half and frequently removing a rib. But now, surgeons can remove the tumor—if it’s small enough—through a few small incisions and without spreading the ribs apart. Dr. Flores’ work in VATS lobectomy validated its effectiveness by demonstrating equivalent survival and recurrence rates with fewer complications and shorter hospital stays—usually, two days—when compared to standard thoracotomy.

And because a person who has had lung cancer is at an elevated risk of getting the disease again, a surgery that removes less lung is key to their longterm survival; the patient is more resilient, able to handle another small resection, if another cancer develops.

THE PROMISE OF A TREATABLE ILLNESS

The team believes the progress in lung cancer surgery will follow that of breast cancer, which, with early diagnosis, can be a treatable disease with preserved quality of life. “Treatment for breast cancer used to be radical mastectomy,” says Dr. Yankelevitz. “They would remove the entire musculature of the breast down to the bone. Over time that’s changed. Now, treatment can be a small lumpectomy and radiation, which is much less invasive. A similar approach needs to be done for lung cancer. That’s what we’re doing here, building a solid foundation of data to develop the best way to treat lung cancer. It dovetails completely with our screening program, because we’re finding it earlier and earlier.”

Dr. Flores notes that while 90 percent of prostate and breast cancers are found at a stage where they can be treated, fewer than 20 percent of lung cancers are identified at a curable stage. “If we can bump that up to as high as early detection rates for breast cancer and prostate cancer, you’ll see a lot more cures,” he says. “Lung cancer is the number one killer of men and women. If you really want to make an impact on cancer, make an impact on lung. It’s simple: catch it early.”

For the Edelman family, including the couple’s three children and grandchildren, the impact is clear. “He’s my rock,” says Faith. “I can’t have anything happen to him.”

MULTIPLE MYELOMA

BUILDING

for Patients BRIDGES

BY DEBORAH SCHUPACK

Mount Sinai’s pioneering program in multiple myeloma is finding new treatment options— and helping to extend life.

or more than 30 multiple myeloma patients enrolled in a complex clinical trial at Mount Sinai, a crossdisciplinary team of experts is bringing new hope in the face of a disease that is notoriously hard to fight.

Multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow, is a unique shapeshifter that is made up of diverse clones of tumor cells, and, as such, is particularly challenging to treat and cure. Explains Sundar Jagannath, MD, Director of the Tisch Cancer Institute’s Multiple Myeloma Program: “As one clone proliferates and manifests itself as the active disease, you treat it and it goes down, putting the patient in remission. But then another clone, which has not been eradicated, comes up. And so on and so forth. Eventually, new clones emerge, which are much more resistant to chemotherapy.”

Urgent patient need for better therapies in multiple myeloma is coinciding with great promise in science and medicine: the ascendance of precision medicine through genomics and immunotherapy, two of the most exciting and innovative areas in biomedical research today. They are showing extraordinary promise and results in transforming the treatment of cancer through a greater understanding of human biology and disease mechanisms, the discovery of more precise molecular markers, and the development of more sophisticated treatments. Working at the intersection of genomics and immunotherapy, Mount Sinai clinicians and translational researchers are unlocking new treatment options for multiple myeloma patients, who currently face five-year survival rates of 48.5 percent, according to the National Cancer Institute.

“IN PROJECTS LIKE OUR SEQUENCING TRIAL, THE WILLINGNESS OF OUR PATIENTS TO PARTICIPATE IS OUR GREATEST STRENGTH.”

— Hearn Jay Cho, MD, PhD

“By integrating both the genomics and the immunologic analysis, we can take a more global approach—and it’s a more unbiased approach—in understanding what governs the development of multiple myeloma as a disease, what predicts response or resistance to particular types of therapies, and how can we use that information to apply the optimal therapy for a patient,” says Hearn Jay Cho, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology, a researcher whose focus includes immunological therapy.

FINDING SUCCESS FOR THE PATIENT: “GETTING TO THE NEXT MILESTONE”

Mount Sinai recently launched a clinical trial at this intersection, for patients who have been diagnosed with and treated for multiple myeloma but have relapsed many times and are running out of options for further therapies. “Treatment of such patients is very challenging,” says Samir Parekh,

MBBS, Associate Professor of Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology and of Oncological Sciences. “We ultimately hit a wall in terms of FDA-approved treatment options. Given that we have so many patients in this situation, I decided to collaborate with the genomics group and use their computational expertise to help us find treatment options for these patients.”

By the Numbers

Together with Dr. Jagannath and Eric Schadt, PhD, Director of the Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology and the Jean C. and James W. Crystal Professor of Genomics, Dr. Parekh designed the trial, which takes tumor cells from these patients, sequences their DNA and RNA with high-end technology, and analyzes the sequencing data to determine what mutations are at

48.5%

THE FIVE-YEAR SURVIVAL RATE OF MULTIPLE MYELOMA PATIENTS

Dr.

“More than half of our patients have gone on to significant milestones.”

work in the cancer. The doctors then seek to match the mutations to those present in other cancers for which there are FDAapproved treatments. The goal is to connect patients to these particular treatments, using them outside their current purpose. “This individualizes care, personalizes it to a patient’s disease and helps us direct the treatment very rapidly by repurposing the drug for this cancer,” says Dr. Parekh. While many research organizations are also sequencing DNA material, Mount Sinai is at the forefront in sequencing RNA—valuable because it reveals the gene’s expression patterns and expands the possibility of finding a therapeutic match for the patient. Dr. Parekh’s team works closely with the laboratory of Joel Dudley, PhD, Director of the Institute for Next Generation Healthcare at Mount Sinai, Director of Biomedical Informatics at Mount Sinai’s Icahn Institute of Genomics and Multiscale Biology, Director of the Harris Center for Precision Wellness, and Associate Professor of Genetics and Genomic Sciences. Dr. Dudley is an expert in RNA sequencing and a recognized pathbreaker in the development and use of computational approaches for the repurposing of approved drugs to address unmet clinical needs.

For more than half of the 30 or so patients enrolled in the multiple myeloma trial to date, Dr. Parekh and his team found suitable treatment options that would likely have eluded them without the sequencing trial. “These patients have gone on to significant milestones,” says Dr. Parekh, emphasizing that the treatments are not curative but rather buy time until more discoveries can be made. “Most of our approaches take them

Dr. Hearn Jay Cho: “Our patients are very educated, activist, and altruistic.”

to the next big event in their lives—like attending a wedding or graduation—or to a clinical breakthrough, such as approval of the next drug or the next line of treatment. We’re really building bridges for them.”

As the sequencing trial moves towards its goal of accruing about 50 patients over the next year, Dr. Parekh’s team is further refining researchers’ ability to match the right therapies to each patient. “We are developing software that recalls the treatments that we give and learns from it, in an artificial intelligence-based manner, to help make better and better predictions,” says Dr. Parekh, who was drawn to Mount Sinai because he could combine his background in hematologic malignancies with the Health System’s expertise in genomics.

“WE HAVE GREAT PATIENTS”

None of this research in genomics or immunotherapy could be conducted without patient samples, and no new therapies could be assessed without a group of patients to participate in clinical trials. A world expert in treating multiple myeloma, Dr. Jagannath has built one of the largest and most revered clinical practices in the country. His expertise and reputation have enabled him to lead a practice that admits as many as 400 new patients per year.

“In projects like our sequencing trial, the willingness of our patients to participate is

our greatest strength,” says Dr. Cho. “We have great patients. They’re very educated, activist, and altruistic, and they understand that their participation in clinical trials now advances the state of the art. It means new drugs might be approved down the road.”

Dr. Jagannath agrees, emphasizing that the research begins, literally, with the patient, as researchers use patients’ cancer cells (with the patient’s consent) to learn what makes them work. Findings from the lab are immediately translated back to the patient, in the form of the right treatment at the right time for their particular cancer. “That’s why it is so important to put the lab and the clinic close together, and to have investigators who bridge both areas,” says Dr. Jagannath, who is also Professor of Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology.

Together, Mount Sinai researchers are accelerating the development of novel therapies and personalized vaccines for multiple myeloma patients and coalescing a multidisciplinary group of exceptional translational investigators for the simple, but profound, goal of finding a cure.

“All these approaches make it an exciting time in myeloma research and treatment,” says Dr. Jagannath. “We are poised to make a big difference in this disease. Patients come here thinking this is a death sentence, and we want to do the best for them. So we are excited that we are at the cusp of trying to find a cure for myeloma.”

Why Sequence RNA?

DNA contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of every living cell. RNA acts as a messenger that relays genetic information in the cell so that the proteins required for processes needed for tissue to function properly can be correctly generated. Sequencing of DNA and RNA by Mount Sinai researchers captures the widest amount of data for analysis and possible matching of novel therapeutics for myeloma patients.

NEW TREATMENTS FOR PHELAN-MCDERMID SYNDROME

A Family’s Story .

BY ALISON DALTON

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREW LICHTENSTEIN

Phelan-McDermid Syndrome is a genetically linked form of autism with symptoms that are frequently severe, including intellectual disability, delayed or absent speech, low muscle tone, motor delays, insomnia, and epilepsy.

The Seaver Autism Center at Mount Sinai, which conducts both fundamental laboratory research and clinical treatment, is currently investigating the effects of two drugs, IGF-1 and oxytocin, on patients with Phelan-McDermid Syndrome. Marc and Chardell Buchanan moved their family from Utah to New York so that their son, Ben, could participate in the treatment trials.

This is their story. Q

Ben is very sweet, very affectionate. He will walk right up to people in a grocery store and put his hand in theirs. Part of it is scary because he does like to run and he’s not scared of strangers, so he’ll go with anybody. Or he’ll go by himself; he’ll just run into the road.

—Chardell Buchanan

Babies usually smile by the time they’re a month old, and Ben didn’t. So I took him to the doctor, and the doctor kept telling me he was a late bloomer, I was a worrier. This was in Utah.—Chardell

When he was over two years old, we decided to do some genetic testing and found out that Ben has Phelan-McDermid. That was good and bad: Good, because we had a name for it, so we could find out more about it. Bad, because he was the only one in Utah.—Marc Buchanan

When Ben was three, he started losing his skills. He was signing, but he lost all his signs. He couldn’t set blocks anymore. He wouldn’t go get his shoes. It was because he was having seizures. He would touch his eye and then zone out to where you couldn’t call him back. We didn’t even know that was a seizure.—Chardell

Ben has never understood cause and effect. He’s never understood, for instance, that something falling down on him could hurt him—which is one of our biggest fears in trying to protect him.—Marc

We are working with families that are really dealing with a heavy burden, especially with the more severely affected individuals. In addition to the day-to-day challenges, the future can be a terrifying thing for the family. What happens when they’re not around?—Joseph Buxbaum, PhD, Director, Seaver Center

The people who are most severely affected need the most help but historically have not been part of research because it’s much harder. So we’ve developed tools, like specialized EEG and observational tools, to assess responses in those who can’t speak, who can’t tell us how they feel.

—Dr. Buxbaum

The families are incredibly resilient but they’re living with these problems, every day. You’re thinking about the big outcomes, and of course they’re important, but I think it’s the small things, like being able to sleep, to watch a movie as a family, to have a day out.—Pilar Trelles, MD, Child Psychiatrist, Seaver Center

One of the things that influenced me to pursue research was to discover new treatments, which can actually affect whole populations of kids.

Our work with Ben is a perfect example of the collaboration between our research scientists and our clinicians.—Alex Kolevzon, MD, Clinical Director, Seaver Center

We’re hoping for little things with the treatment trials—increasing Ben’s eye contact, maybe, so that we could somehow understand more what he wants , or just getting him to lift his leg so I can get his pants on.

—Chardell

In the first IGF-1 trial, we saw kids gain skills, including things they’d never done before, like brushing their teeth, riding a scooter, holding a TV remote. In terms of functional outcomes, those are very meaningful. When I see those kinds of things, I get really, really excited.—Dr. Kolevzon

Dr. Kolevzon and Ben, with Pilar Trelles, MD, Child

I am extraordinarily enthused about the results of the first IGF-1 trial. They exceeded our expectations. The frustration for us is that we want to do a much bigger study, but the costs are prohibitive. We want to do a study that’s big enough to be unequivocal.—Dr. Buxbaum

At the Seaver Autism Center, clinicians get excited about the basic research science we do because they know it may lead to an effective treatment. And our basic research scientists, they’ll meet a family and hear about the challenges they face in day-to-day life. The family will walk up to them and shake their hand and say, “Thank you for what you’re doing.” And I can tell you, that is a strong motivation.—Dr. Buxbaum

I think the success of our clinical trials, the fact that these families stick with these studies—that speaks to the dedication of the families, but also to the effectiveness of our team in helping families feel supported through the process. We’re all very excited and passionate about the work that we do, and I think that comes across.—Paige Siper, PhD, Chief Psychologist, Seaver Center

One day Pilar was sick, and she called us at home from her bed because she was worried about Ben and she wanted to check on him. And Dr. Kolevzon gave us his cell phone number and told us we could call any time, even at night.

Marc

Everyone at Seaver has been phenomenal. Ben gets very happy when he knows he’s coming to Seaver. When we walk in it feels like a second home. We know they’re going to take good care of us. They go above and beyond. We know they care about us.

Chardell

ARTIFICIAL PANCREAS TRIALS HOLD

Promise

BY JESSICA COPEN

When doctor and patient share a disease, faith, trust, and enthusiasm can result. And a life-changing device may be transformational for millions.

t’s a bond forged, tested, and strengthened over nearly two decades, and not for the reason you might expect: Alecia Wesner and her doctor, Carol Levy, MD, both have type 1 diabetes. But ask Alecia if their shared diagnosis is at the heart of that bond, and she will shake her head. “At the end of the day, your doctor has to be someone you trust. Dr. Levy is both an incredible person and amazing doctor—and she also happens to have type one diabetes.”

A veteran of two Artificial Pancreas (AP) system trials led by Dr. Levy, who is Director of the Mount Sinai Diabetes Center and Associate Professor of Medicine, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease at the Icahn School of Medicine, Alecia lights up when she talks about the two trials; she is equally, excited about future opportunities. For years she heard about research for the development of different kinds of devices

for people with diabetes, but none of them was based in New York City. “I think it’s really exciting they’re finally happening at Mount Sinai,” she says. “It’s something to celebrate.”

There’s good reason for her enthusiasm. The AP system could be life changing because it takes a lot of the management onus off the shoulders of patients with the disease. Dr. Levy refers to the device as a “relief of burden” for patients. “The challenge for people with diabetes is that they need to check their blood sugar throughout the day to see what’s affecting their glucose levels,” Dr. Levy says. The attention required to calculate insulin doses based on food, physical activity, blood glucose levels, and other factors, such as menstrual cycles and stress, requires a great deal of physical, mental, and emotional stamina. Even the most meticulous person can’t perfectly match insulin doses to the body’s needs all the time. And

failure to maintain proper blood glucose levels can lead to life-threatening hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, as well as other complications that can arise from elevated glucose levels.

The AP device changes the game by becoming, in effect, the decision maker. For almost all patients, it provides improved blood glucose control with minimum effort, helping people avoid the perpetual tightrope they’ve teetered on for most of their lives. Combined with a tiny sensor and wearable insulin pump, a smartphone (with an algorithm acting like a mini computer), can stand in for a pancreas, automatically monitoring blood sugar levels and delivering insulin as needed. In fact, the smartphone-loaded program adjusts the dose, communicating with the pump via Bluetooth--using real-time data. “The system is user-friendly and that makes it likely to be widely used,” Dr. Levy says.

DIY

There’s a community of patients and their families, however, who are unwilling to wait for the FDA’s blessing. The movement has even spawned Facebook groups and Twitter with the hashtag #Wearenotwaiting. Dr. Levy acknowledges that some tech-savvy people have been able to create AP devices that work well for them and their families, but the trend toward open-sourcing homemade devices and sharing algorithms makes her uncomfortable. “It’s great to be able to hack into a system to do all these things. But it’s not a one-size-fits-all. What works for one person with diabetes may not work for another. Besides, she adds, “they haven’t gone through the hundreds of thousands of patient-hours of testing” that the InControl AP system has. For instance, in the trial that begins in July, each person will participate for six months, and the entire study is expected to last through 2019. “Homemade devices have not been vetted in the same way,” Dr. Levy says.

It’s not a cure but it may be the next best thing. Alecia had “a renewed sense of hope,” she says, during the first trial because the device monitored and adjusted her nighttime basal insulin, to maintain target glucose levels, which can dip dangerously. “I had five nights of testing a device that could make adjustments predictively in a way I cannot, especially while sleeping. I would have stolen the device if I could.”

But like so many others with the disease, she must wait for the FDA’s final seal of approval. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.25 million Americans have type 1 diabetes. Usually diagnosed in children and young adults, the disease is increasing worldwide, with an estimated 80,000 children around the globe diagnosed each year.

THE CLINICAL TRIALS

This first AP study at Mount Sinai in 2014 was done in collaboration with the University of Virginia and the Mayo Clinic. It followed ten patients with type 1 diabetes for five days and was the first outside of the hospital study of an AP system in New York State. The sec-

ond study was conducted in partnership with the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Stanford University, and the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes at the University of Colorado; it observed participants over three days while they wore the AP system. Both studies were completed in controlled outpatient settings. Dr. Levy notes that though there was never a shortage of trial participants, for both volunteers and staff these are labor-intensive studies. Both patients and the study team, however, are still willing to contribute whatever is needed to keep the research moving forward. The study that just opened will be one of the largest long-term clinical trials of an artificial pancreas in the U.S. Mount Sinai is one of ten sites throughout the world participating and sharing a $12.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. Scheduled for July 2016, this trial will evaluate the system over a longer term for people on the device at home, going about their normal daily routines. Dr. Levy says the ultimate goal of the two-part study will be to establish the safety and efficacy of the InControl AP system for FDA approval and accelerate its introduction to the market.

“This is something that could benefit the quality and longevity of my life, and the lives of my peers. The impact the device could have for everyone touched by type one diabetes is momentous.”

– ALECIA WESNER

A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP

For Alecia, like so many others, FDA approval for the InControl AP system can’t come soon enough. “This is something that could benefit the quality and longevity of my life, and the lives of my peers. The impact the device could have for everyone touched by type one diabetes is momentous.” An activist for finding a cure, she’s a New York City board member for the JDRF, the leading charitable funder of type 1 diabetes research, and a well-known public speaker. Wesner also participates in the JDRF’s 100-mile bike rides. “I’ve had type one diabetes for thirty-seven years and I feel strongly that my life is a gift. Participating in clinical trials is a way of giving back, with the hope of helping provide a better a future for all of us living with type one.”

Alecia cites her trust and faith in Dr. Levy as the core of their connection; for the doctor, it’s her patient’s enthusiasm that stands out. “Without patients like Alecia, these studies couldn’t be done. She’s lovely, hardworking and a straight shooter who will tell you when she’s not happy and when she is.” They became even closer during the first two AP trials. “During one of our studies, it was three in the morning and I had to wake up Alecia to check her blood sugar. Both of us were in our pajamas, no makeup with our hair pulled back,” she recalls with a smile. “It was an experience.”

Alecia agrees. “It was shocking for a second or two when Dr. Levy woke me in the middle of the night to check my blood glucose level. Then I remembered where I actually was—and why—and I laughed, as these are unique moments in pushing medical technology forward.”

HOW DOES AN ARTIFICIAL PANCREAS SYSTEM WORK?

CGM Censor

Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) sensor is inserted under the skin to continuously measure blood glucose levels in the patient’s body fluids.

CGM Receiver

CGM receiver displays the updated readings as graphs and trends minute by minute, and translates readings from USB to Bluetooth.

Control Algorithm Device (CAD)

Readings are sent to a control algorithm device (CAD)—eg a smartphone, tablet, or PC— where an algorithm analyzes them and calculates the correct insulin dose, if required.

BY ELIZABETH CHUTE

ew clinical research that points to a potential breakthrough in treating depression is occurring at Mount Sinai, where researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine are paving the way for a new treatment that could provide hope for a significant number of people suffering from the oftencrippling mood disorder.

The discovery that the drug ketamine—first synthesized in 1962 and used widely since then for anesthesia—may relieve the symptoms of serious depression has been described by many as potentially the most significant advance in depression research in decades. Still to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for this new purpose, it is the focus of ongoing clinical research that will ultimately determine its safety and efficacy for treating depression or other serious mood disorders.

PATH TO DISCOVERY

OLD DRUG, NEW USE? The possibility of ketamine

by Dr. Charney and Mount Sinai—based on the anti-depressant effects of ketamine in treatment-resistant depression.

Securing a patent led to the next step in researching the drug’s use as a treatment: a license to develop it, granted to pharmaceutical company Janssen, which is conducting large-scale clinical trials and developing the drug for FDA approval. Now in phase three of the trials, the drug could be approved as a treatment for depression and ready for use with patients as early as 2018 or 2019 if successful.

Dr. Dennis S. Charney

Mount Sinai researchers have played an instrumental role in discovering that ketamine can treat depression that is otherwise resistant to medication and therapy. Research led by Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, resulted in the first U.S. patent—held jointly

As a drug long approved for use in humans, ketamine is well known to medical practitioners. It is a quick and effective anesthetic for surgery, and is commonly used in veterinary medicine. It lives in another marketplace as well: known colloquially as “special K,” it is a drug of abuse, taken for its hallucinogenic effect in larger doses.

Ketamine affects glutamate, a neurotransmitter in the brain, by blocking a receptor called the NMDA receptor. In this way, it works differently from traditional antidepressants, such as SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), according to Dr. Charney. All currently available antidepressants work primarily via actions on serotonin and norepinephrine and require regular, repeated doses before they begin to have an effect on symptoms. There is often a delay of several weeks or even several

months before a standard antidepressant medication begins to reduce depression symptoms in patients. In stark contrast, ketamine has been shown to start to reduce depressive symptoms within a few hours or days. It is this dramatic departure of ketamine from standard antidepressants that has both researchers and patients taking notice.

Originally interested in the studying the role of glutamate, Dr. Charney and researchers decided nearly two decades ago to probe its function in patients with serious depression by looking at the patients’ response to ketamine. “We were not expecting that it would be a treatment for depression,” he says. “When we conducted the study, we found to our surprise that a single dose of ketamine produced a rapid antidepressant effect—within hours—in patients with serious depression.”

THE SINAI TRIALS

Ketamine’s quick and positive effect on depression symptoms is the focus of the ongoing clinical trials at Mount Sinai, led by Dr. James Murrough, Director of the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program at the School. In one active study, which includes a testing protocol lasting eight to 12 weeks, patients are selected to participate because they have not responded to other types of antidepressant treatment; they are given weekly infusions of ketamine for the first few weeks. Trial participants are also screened for any history of drug abuse, given ketamine’s history as a recreational drug.

“Patients who respond to ketamine report a profound lifting of negative thoughts and feelings, and a marked increase in their ability to experience positive emotions,” Dr. Murrough explains. The effects can be seen almost immediately following treatment, and can last days, weeks, or even months in some cases. Perhaps most striking, patients who suffer suicidal thinking may experience rapid relief from these thoughts, according to Murrough.

Extending the effects of ketamine is critical for treating patients, says Dr. Murrough. He points out that ketamine is not necessarily a cure for depression, which is a chronic disorder similar to conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and Alzheimer’s and requires ongoing treatment. “Ketamine may become an important part of a patient’s treatment if it gains approval for this indication [depression]”, says Dr. Murrough. “For patients with serious and persistent depression, a combination treatment strategy that includes psychotherapy and other medications will likely yield the most durable benefit.”

Translational research focused on new mechanisms of action is key to developing the drug as a treatment for depression, he says.

“We know a lot about ketamine, but we don’t know yet how the story ends, what a treatment regimen will look like. Taking the scientific discoveries from basic neuroscience research to new treatments for patients is our ultimate goal.”

“Patients who respond to ketamine report a profound lifting of negative thoughts and feelings, and a marked increase in their ability to experience positive emotions.”

– JAMES MURROUGH, MD

A member of the current Mount Sinai research team, Drew Kiraly, MD, PhD, who is Chief Resident for Research in the Department of Psychiatry Residency Program, notes, “After twenty-four hours, a lot of patients say this is the best they’ve felt in years…Finally, there is a sense of relief and of feeling free of the symptoms.”

As part of the study, lithium is combined with ketamine order to study how these two drugs work together—with hope of extending ketamine’s antidepressant effects, which tend to wear off after about two weeks.

Researchers have extended the original findings to studies in four areas: combining lithium with ketamine to extend the antidepressant effect; studying its effect on suicidal thinking; evaluating it as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder; and giving ketamine via an intranasal route—rather than by intravenous infusion, as all previous studies had done.

SEEKING APPROVAL TO OFFER HOPE

Ketamine may have appeal to potential patients for two outstanding reasons: it works quickly, and it may be effective where other treatments have failed. Clinicians are also hopeful that, if approved by the FDA, the drug may bring long-term relief for some of their patients.

“Depression is set to be the leading cause of disability world-wide—it is critical that science and medicine catch up with this massive public health need, and do so quickly,” says Murrough.

This is the first hope for a truly novel treatment for depression that the field has seen in years, the team believes. Right now several companies are making significant investments in order to study ketamine or ”ketamine-like” drugs as potential new, more effective treatments.

“While the regulatory process has yet to be completed, there is good reason for optimism,” says Dr. Murrough. “Delivering ketamine or related medications to patients in the clinic will represent a true breakthrough in depression treatment, and will represent a milestone in drug discovery for psychiatry and behavioral health.”

Note: Dr. Dennis Charney is a named co-inventor on a use patent for ketamine as a treatment for depression. Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is named on a licensed use patent on ketamine for the treatment of depression and will receive payments related to the use of ketamine for the treatment of depression. Dr. Charney is entitled to a portion of these payments. Dr. Murrough is not named on this patent and will not receive any royalties related to ketamine for the treatment of depression. Dr. Murrough is named on a patent pending for the combination of ketamine and lithium to extend the antidepressant effect of ketamine and for the treatment of suicidal ideation.

New Treatment Paradigm for Cancer of the Throat PRESERVING ‘WhoYou Are’

BY DEBORAH SCHUPACK

Eugene Bryant’s perspective on life is hard won.

The longtime construction worker and contractor has seen New York from 60 stories in the air and, working on tunnels under Grand Central Station, from 250 feet below ground.

His recent treatment for throat cancer and his subsequent good health are integral to that perspective. “Life is good,” says Eugene, 54, enumerating his day-to-day pleasures—golfing, mowing his lawn, visiting with his grown daughters and playing with his young grandson. “I’m on the right side of the grass.”

In July 2014, he went to the doctor for flulike symptoms and swollen glands, one of which remained swollen even after a course of antibiotics. After several months, and visits to “every doctor in the world,” he received a diagnosis: oropharyngeal (throat) cancer. “It was like someone stabbed me. My heart

stopped,” he recalls. “Then I decided, Okay, how do I fix this?”

Eugene was referred to Eric Genden, MD, MHCA, FACS, the Isidore Friesner Professor and Chairman of OtolaryngologyHead and Neck Surgery and Professor of Neurosurgery, and Immunology, who found him to be an excellent candidate for a pioneering clinical trial involving TransOral Robotic Surgery (TORS) and a lowered dose of radiation treatment, designed to preserve quality of life for people with his particular cancer.

“Because this cancer affects the head and neck, it affects speech, taste, cosmetic appearance, ability to socialize,” says Dr. Genden. “It affects the very core of who you are. Many of the therapies traditionally used to treat these patients may achieve cure but decimate quality of life and function. We have an epidemic of younger patients, who are going to live a long time, so we are faced with the question, What is the best approach for them?”

SKYROCKETING EPIDEMIC

The incidence of throat cancers associated with the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), which also causes cervical cancer in women, has skyrocketed to epidemic proportions in recent years among men in their 40s and 50s, says Dr. Genden; previously, the typical patient with throat cancer was age 70 or older and likely to be a smoker and heavy drinker.

The current standard of care for HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer is chemoradiation, which can be extremely toxic. It can cause significant health, cosmetic, and quality-of-life side effects, can elevate the risk of subsequent radiation-induced cancer, and can eventually leave a patient dependent on tubes for feeding or breathing.

At Mount Sinai, surgeons perform an innovative minimally invasive robotic surgery that allows them to tailor therapy and reduce the dose of radiation in selected cases, improving function and quality of life. The surgery also spares the lip and jaw by entering the mouth robotically and removing the tumor with a laser, which is much quicker and less disfiguring than invasive surgeries of the past. In fact, patients can return home and resume eating normally the next day.

This surgery and subsequent treatment are at the heart of a pioneering clinical trial that aims to change the equation for HPVassociated throat cancer. Developed by renowned oncologists, Marshall Posner, MD (Professor of Medicine, Medical Director of the Head and Neck Oncology Center, and Associate Director of the Center for Personalized Cancer Therapeutics) and Brett Miles, DDS, MD (Associate Professor of Otolaryngology and Assistant Professor of Dentistry), the Sinai Robotic Surgery Trial in HPV Positive Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma, or SIRS Trial, uses information gleaned from surgery to improve postoperative treatment and reduce toxicity for better long-term outcomes.

“This is a young population who can live another twenty to forty years after their cancer. Although radiation proves curative, the long-term consequences can be severe,” says Dr. Posner, citing several: scarring, fibrosis, disintegration of teeth, bone destruction, and even carotid stenosis, which can increase risk of stroke. “These effects are essentially dependent on the dose of radiation delivered. The primary purpose of the SIRS Trial is to demonstrate the feasibility of giving no

BY THE NUMBERS

500

Number of robotic surgeries that Mount Sinai has performed for oropharyngeal cancer.

32

Number of patients to date who ahve entered the SIRS trial.

85–90%

Likely cure rates for early stage HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer.

“One of the things that makes Mount Sinai a terrific place to innovate is its creative progressive approach to taking care of patients—dating back to the advent of many of surgeries developed here at the turn of the century. These kinds of trials, which require that we engage many different disciplines, push medicine forward.” – Dr. Genden

radiation in some cases, or reducing the dose.” He emphasizes that patients are carefully screened and observed, to make sure they are appropriate for the trial and are getting the right reduced or eliminated dosage.

PUTTING THE PATIENTS FIRST

Vishal Gupta, MD, Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology, a key part of the clinical team, explains that the patients’ needs have been at the heart of the trial from its very inception. “When I would follow up with patients who’d been treated traditionally, many of them would have these symptoms—difficultly eating, dry mouth, bone destruction,” he says. “That’s what prompted this, the belief that we should try to do something better for our patients.”

For Eugene, the surgery and subsequent therapy—25 courses of radiation instead of 32, as well as five courses of chemotherapy— mean that he not only is facing a better long-term prognosis but also could work while undergoing treatment. “Work in the morning, hospital in the afternoon, then home to bed,” he recounts. “I was tired, but I didn’t lose any work.”

Preliminary data for the trial, which is still enrolling patients, show promising results: reduced side effects, excellent quality of life, and cure rates comparable to standardof-care therapy. The team has performed more than 500 robotic surgeries for this cancer, and 32 patients to date have entered the SIRS Trial. This preliminary analysis of the enrolled patients lead the investigators to believe that in early stage HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer, cure rates are likely to approach 85-90%.

ADVANCING RESEARCH TO ADVANCE TREATMENT

A team of pioneering scientists led by Thomas Moran, PhD, and Thomas Kraus,

PhD, at the Experimental Therapeutics Institute, is developing monoclonal antibodies to advance noninvasive diagnostic methods and highly targeted therapies for HPV-associated head and neck cancer. Monoclonal antibodies are natural and man-made proteins that can bind to substances in the body, such as cancer cells, and be used to deliver therapeutic or diagnostic matter directly to these cells. Mount Sinai is well positioned to develop monoclonal antibodies more rapidly and efficiently than ever.

“We have very sophisticated, highly automated facilities,” says Dr. Moran, Director of Center for Therapeutic Antibody development and Professor of Microbiology and Immunology. “We can make monoclonal antibodies twice as fast as it used to be done, and that’s no exaggeration. Coupling the technology that we have developed with the available clinical samples and the expertise of our clinical staff here at Mount Sinai—it’s just a great team effort.”

Dr. Kraus, Assistant Professor in the Experimental Therapeutics Institute, agrees. “It’s crucial that we’re all here together at Sinai—our high-level antibody facility, the clinicians, the pathologists, and the patients. It starts with the patient. With the patient’s consent, we can use the excised tumor as an immunogen to generate antibodies. The pathologists verify the specificity of the antibodies for binding to tumors. The validated antibodies may then be used by the clinical team in the diagnosis and treatment of their patients.”

HELPING PATIENTS NOW

There is an urgency to Mount Sinai’s advancing the frontiers against HPVrelated head and neck cancer because the numbers continue to rise; the National Cancer Institute expects that, if current trends continue, the number of men with

HPV-associated head and neck cancer will exceed the cases of cervical cancer in women by 2025. “You’ve got this new disease with this new treatment and this innovative trial all coming together at one time, early in the disease process,” says Dr. Genden. “That’s very exciting. We’re not waiting twenty years to see how we can help these patients. We’re helping them now.”

Says Dr. Miles, Principal Investigator of the SIRS trial, “It’s very gratifying to give patients not only a cure but also a good quality of life, the ability to continue working, socializing, living their life.”

Eugene, for one, is happy with the results. “Cancer treatment is so much less invasive now,” he says, noting that his father and grandmother died of cancer. “I mean, I went to work every day. Even five, six years ago, people weren’t doing that. I feel lucky that I wound up in this program.” Formerly an avid cook, he does mourn the loss of his acute sense of taste, but he has little difficulty eating, swallowing—or maintaining his sense of humor. “I’ve told my children I’m going to live long enough to be a burden on them,” he says with a smile.

PARTNERS vLIFE

Investigating solutions to transplantation failure— and preventing it—requires partnership.

llen Skolnick has her sights set on a vacation in the Galápagos Islands with her husband, Rob, and daughter, Rebecca. As a seasoned traveler and an animal lover, Ellen has dreamed of visiting the equatorial islands and seeing the unique species that inspired the theories of Charles Darwin. But planning a trip there is not as simple as arranging a hotel, booking flights, and checking on Rob’s and Rebecca’s work schedules. Ellen has the additional tasks of researching the hospital facilities available in Ecuador and convincing her team of doctors at Mount Sinai that her body can handle the adventure.

“One of my doctors said I couldn’t go. But I want to go. He said I should go to Europe; that I should go to Italy because it tastes better. I would just love to see the animals.”

BY RHIANNA MORRIS

TWO TRANSPLANTS

WHEN TRANSPLANTS FAIL

BY THE NUMBERS

50% of all transplanted grafts fail within 11 YEARS.

3,000 patients are added to the national wait list EACH MONTH.

Ellen enjoys bantering with her doctors, but after 30 years, she knows to heed their advice. Starting in the mid-1980s with a diagnosis of diffuse scleroderma, a connective tissue disease, Ellen has developed a close, strong relationship with Mount Sinai. Her health concerns required it: The scleroderma ravaged her kidneys, requiring her first graft (organ) transplant in 1992 and because of that graft’s failure, a second one in 2000. Prior to each transplant, Ellen was at Mount Sinai multiple times per week to receive life-saving kidney dialysis. Post-transplant follow-up and care require regular visits as well, so the halls of Mount Sinai have become as familiar as those of her home; her doctors have become extended family. “Love” and “amazing” are words that come up often when she talks about the doctors who have cared for her and who she remains connected to. But there is more than familiarity to the relationships, “I work with them as my partners,” Ellen says. “My doctors want me to be there for them as much as they are there for me. They want me to understand what’s going on with my health, and when I don’t understand, they answer all my questions. There is no question too small or ridiculous, and there is always someone, sometime, somewhere, who’s going to answer me.”

This partnership for life enabled Ellen to finally take Rebecca to Disney World after the second transplant; it has allowed her to watch Rebecca grow up and become an accomplished clinical psychologist; it has allowed her and Rob to become typical New Yorkers, enjoying the City’s dining scene and regular trips to the symphony; and it has given her an independent life—a gift transplant patients do not always have.

For although nearly 100 percent of transplant patients and their grafts survive after one year, half of all transplanted grafts fail within 11 years. Second transplants are generally considered risky and call for much higher doses of immunosuppressant drugs. The demand for transplants is also always very high—3,000 patients are added to the national wait list each month, and the average wait for a first transplant is nearly four years. Improving the long-term survival of the first graft is a top priority for those in the transplant community.

“Ellen demonstrates how the success of transplantation transforms lives. She also reminds us that we could do better. If we had better research tools at our disposal, then our hope is that she would not have had to lose the first kidney,” explains Barbara Murphy, MD, Chair of the Department of Medicine and Murray M. Rosenberg Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine. Dr. Murphy was also Ellen’s transplant nephrologist during the period of her second transplant.

PERSONALIZED MEDICINE AND RESEARCH

Progress in research tools has been limited by the fact that organ transplantation has not yet benefited from the discovery and application of personalized medicine. Currently, treatment regimens for transplant patients still largely follow a one-size-fits-all approach, rather than a precise, individualized one.

There is great potential for personalization in assessing which patients might be at risk for graft failure and for tailoring the heavy doses of immunosuppressants that a transplant patient receives after surgery. This potential drives the work of Dr. Murphy and her colleague Peter S. Heeger, MD, Director of Transplant Research. Their combined research efforts constitute one of the best-funded National Institutes of Health transplant research groups in the country.

“The goals of the research that Barbara and I undertake are to define and identify graft-failure risk factors and testing strategies for transplant patients,” Dr. Heeger says. “We want to be able to change the

“My doctors want me to be there for them as much as they are there for me. They want me to understand what’s going on with my health, and when I don’t understand, they answer all my questions.”

— ELLEN SKOLNICK

DR. BARBARA

MURPHY

“Ellen demonstrates how the success of transplantation transforms lives. She also reminds us that we could do better.”

— BARBARA MURPHY, MD

“We have an outstanding clinical transplant program, a center of excellence, which performs two hundred kidney transplants a year,” Dr. Heeger notes. “And we also have investigators who are committed to identifying those individuals who are likely to have good outcomes over the long run, and to identify those people who are at risk for losing their grafts. It’s a very interactive, cross-disciplinary system. We start off in animal models, we define mechanisms, and we work directly with our clinician partners to translate our discoveries into clinical trials. We are better than anyone else in country at doing this sort of translational work.”

therapies for individual patients to make it such that their one kidney transplant will last for their lifetime.”

Using genetic and genomic techniques, Dr. Murphy has recently made headway with a study that has the ability to predict the development of kidney fibrosis—a common cause for graft loss—through a gene expression profile. The hope, Dr. Murphy points out, is that before damage even begins, patients “would have their immunosuppression and treatment modified, even using some new therapies, to prevent the development of fibrosis so that we can slow or prevent the graft loss.” This first-of-its kind finding was published in July in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet, and it has the potential to change how all kidney transplant patients are monitored and managed. This opportunity for early intervention would mark a significant breakthrough in transplant research and care, as doctors might eventually be able to change the treatment approach in order to prevent fibrosis from progressing.

ANOTHER PARTNERSHIP: RESEARCH AND CARE

That connection—that partnership—between research and care defines the success that Drs. Murphy and Heeger have had at Mount Sinai and inspires their research that aims to save lives.

Ellen’s first transplant fell within the expected window of failure. But thanks to a strong living-donor match for her second transplant, her younger brother David, Ellen has overcome the statistics at 16 years and counting and takes pride in the partnership she has formed with her Mount Sinai caregivers, such as Dr. Murphy.

It’s what has allowed her to dream of seeing the blue-footed boobies and magnificent frigatebirds just like Darwin.

“You have to be able to get back into the swing of things and do something that makes you happy,” Ellen says. “I know that my Mount Sinai partners will do all that they can to help me with that.”

DR.

CONVENTION Challenging

When Mount Sinai urologist Howard Schiff, MD (center) was diagnosed with a lifethreatening case of prostate cancer, he and his colleagues William Oh, MD (right) and Ashutosh Tewari, MD (left) decided to do something unconventional. Their approach could help change the way we think about treating the disease. It wasn’t what he expected.

BY TRAVIS ADKINS

CONVENTION

When Howard Schiff, MD went to his doctor in 2013 to be examined for back pain, the last thing he thought he’d hear was a diagnosis of metastatic prostate cancer. A urologist at the Mount Sinai Health System for more than 36 years, Dr. Schiff is a firm believer in practicing what he prescribes: he’s vigilant about having his levels of PSA—the telltale protein that, when elevated, often indicates prostate cancer— checked every year. But when an MRI scan showed evidence of metastatic cancer on his spine, Dr. Schiff understood immediately what he was up against.

BREAKING WITH THE STATUS QUO

BY THE NUMBERS

1 of 7

Prostate cancer is the most common men’s cancer in America affecting 1 in 7 men.

2.3 min

A new case of prostate cancer occurs every 2.3 minutes.

Source: American Cancer Society and Prostrate Cancer Foundation

“Because I’m a urologist, and because of the location and description of the tumor, I knew right away that this was most likely metastatic prostate cancer, even though my PSA levels had been normal up until that time,” says Dr. Schiff. “So I went back to my office and had someone draw a PSA test on me.” Many doctors consider any PSA level above 4 to be possible evidence of cancer; in one year, Dr. Schiff’s levels had gone from 2.5 to 76.

Out of the blue, Dr. Schiff found himself diagnosed with an advanced stage of the very disease that he has spent much of his life preventing. Subsequent CAT scans and bone scans showed the cancer had spread to his pelvis, right hip and leg bone, spine, and ribs. The long-term survival rate for metastatic prostate cancer this aggressive, Dr. Schiff knew all too well, was extremely low—but that’s where his case took another unexpected turn. Thanks to a highly personalized and unorthodox treatment plan he devised with his Mount Sinai colleagues William Oh, MD and Ashutosh Tewari, MBBS, MCh, Dr. Schiff’s cancer is in remission, and he’s back to doing what he does best: keeping his patients—including himself—healthy and cancer-free. The most surprising part? His treatment didn’t involve an experimental drug or untested therapy—just the willingness to do things differently with the techniques at hand, the expertise to make it work, and the courage to take a chance.

Immediately after his diagnosis, Dr. Schiff went on a course of hormone therapy--the standard first line of defense for advanced prostate cancer—that succeeded in lowering his PSA count to an undetectable level within six weeks. According to the usual standard of care, Dr. Schiff should have continued with nothing but hormone therapy until the treatments stopped working—on average, a year or two--, then moved on to chemotherapy. It’s the course he himself would have taken if he were treating a patient with his same prognosis; physicians are bound ethically and legally to take the tested and proven approach, even if the proven approach is flawed. Ever the physician, though, Dr. Schiff decided that he would look at his prostate cancer as a chance to take action on something that had long bothered him about the way urologists treat the disease.

“Up until recently, oncologists and urologists have thought about prostate cancer reactively,” Dr. Schiff says. “Something would happen, and we would treat patient with one thing; something else would happen, and then we’d treat them with something else. Why are we reactive instead of proactive?”

Dr. Schiff didn’t have to look far to find a leading prostate cancer researcher who agreed with him on this point and was eager to find a better way. Dr. Oh, Chief of the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Ezra M. Greenspan Professor in Clinical Cancer Therapeutics, and Associate Director for Clinical Research at Mount Sinai’s Tisch Cancer Institute, oversaw his treatment.

“The standard of care is to do one treatment at a time, and to wait for that treatment to stop working before adding the next treatment,” says Dr. Oh. “The problem with that approach is that for men with advanced disease, we know with almost one hundred percent certainty that the cancer will progress. By using one treatment at a time, we’re very concerned about the fact that we’re just letting the cancer develop resistance.”

“WHEN I NEEDED THE BEST PEOPLE, I went to my colleagues at Mount Sinai. I want to offer the same thing to my patients.”

— HOWARD SCHIFF, MD

One year into Dr. Schiff’s treatment, the hormone therapy seemed to be containing his tumor’s spread. Yet going by the statistics for a case such as his, Dr. Schiff knew that in all likelihood it was only a matter of time before he’d need chemotherapy. A new study had just been presented that suggested that the chemotherapy agent docetaxel, when used early in conjunction with hormone therapy, had shown promising results for prostate cancer. He’d also read a number of recent papers which sug gested that a prostatectomy—even when performed after the cancer has metastasized beyond the prostate—could extend life span significantly. What if, instead of waiting for the tumor to make its next move, he beat it to the punch?

RISK AND REWARD

Urology, of the Milton and is Chairman of the Carroll Petrie Department of Urology; Dr. Tewari performed Dr. Schiff’s prostatectomy.

“There was a medical oncologist, Dr. Oh, who was very much up-to-date on understanding how to control the distant metastasis; a patient who happened to be a urologist and was highly aware of the literature; and a surgeon who had done the surgery thousands of times,” says Dr. Tewari, who has performed more than 5,000 robotic radical prostatectomy procedures. “The stars aligned at that exact same time.”

With Dr. Oh’s approval, Dr. Schiff decided to have his prostate removed immediately and, as soon as he recovered, to skip straight to chemotherapy. It was a daring choice. Many doctors would hesitate to recommend that a patient choose surgery based on promising but inconclusive studies, and then follow that with a course of chemotherapy that was not yet a common practice. It took an extraordinary convergence of circumstances to make such an aggressive approach feasible, according to Dr. Tewari, who holds the Kyung Hyun Kim, MD Chair in

The results of the stars aligning are— well, pretty stellar. Dr. Schiff completed a series of three different treatments in January 2016; as of April, the most advanced scanning technology currently available could find no evidence of disease. His PSA levels are undetectable. Drs. Oh and Tewari, meanwhile, are expanding clinical studies to determine if the approach that worked so well for Dr. Schiff could be beneficial for more patients. This type of approach is also being investigated in major cancer centers around the world as it represents a new and more aggressive way of treating an otherwise lethal malignancy.

“I feel terrific,” says Dr. Schiff. He has resumed seeing patients and has shared his personal story with those with comparable stages of prostate cancer to let them know what a difference new therapies can make. “When I needed the best people, I went to my colleagues at Mount Sinai. I want to offer the same thing to my patients.”

Mount Sinai Receives Significant Gifts Supporting Key Priorities

Since our last issue, several donors have provided critical support for some of the Health System’s most pressing priorities. Their philanthropy has helped advance many key initiatives, including these:

Arnhold Support for Adolescent and Global Health

Two transformational gifts facilitated by Jody and John Arnhold are having a significant impact on endeavors central to Mount Sinai’s core mission.

The Arnhold Foundation and the Mulago Foundation have committed an additional $15 million to support the expansion and impact of The Arnhold Institute for Global Health, which was established in 2014.

Under the leadership of Prabhjot Singh, MD, PhD, the Institute is poised to take a fresh approach that will allow our researchers to discern where a population’s problems run deepest, develop programs that address these issues, and provide care that offers new hope for patients and the communities they live in, both at home and throughout the world.

A $5 million commitment from the Arnholds will support an expansion of the programs at the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center for the thousands of young patients who seek integrated medical and mental health services and prevention education each year. The Center, led by Angela Diaz, MD, Jean C. and James W. Crystal Professor in Adolescent Health, has served the needs of underserved youth

in New York City for more than 45 years and is the largest free-standing health center of its kind in the country. Thanks to the Arnholds’ generous support, the Center will expand the breadth and depth of its supportive services, including mental health, trauma support, suicide prevention, and eating disorder treatment and counseling.

Cohen Foundation Spurs Research in Lyme Disease

The Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation is supporting Mount Sinai’s Multiscale Integrated Network model of Lyme Disease (LymeMIND) project with an $8 million grant. LymeMIND represents a unified, predictive network model of Lyme disease that enables systems medicine approaches to identify biomarkers and therapies. The Icahn Institute of Genomics and Multiscale Biology is at the forefront of applying integrative network biology approaches to understanding complex disease; however, multiscale network biology approaches have never before been applied to address the complexity of Lyme disease. Thanks to this support, Mount Sinai expects to make a significant impact on the landscape of Lyme disease research.

Joel Dudley, PhD, and Brian Kidd, PhD in the Genetics and Genomic Sciences department will lead this initiative. Dr. Dudley is Assistant Professor of Genetics and Genomic Sciences and Director of Biomedical Informatics, and also directs the Center for Precision Wellness. His team is focused on developing and applying methods to integrate the

digital universe of information to build better predictive models of disease, drug response, and wellness. Dr. Kidd is Assistant Professor of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, and his research is focused on solving key problems in systems immunology, translational bioinformatics, and precision medicine.

The Alfred and Gail Engelberg Department of Family Medicine and Community Health

Alfred and Gail Engelberg have made a $4 million gift to the Icahn School of Medicine to support the expansion of Mount Sinai’s residency program and help the next generation of family medicine. Located at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the Alfred and Gail Engelberg Department of Family Medicine and Community Health is dedicated to education, research, and patient care for medically underserved communities. As a collaboration between the Icahn School of Medicine and the Institute for Family Health, the Department’s mission is to ensure outstanding primary care educational experiences for students, residents, and other trainees in both outpatient and inpatient settings, using a family practice model. The

Department is led by Neil Calman, MD, who also serves as President and CEO of the Institute for Family Health.

“Mount Sinai is the only academic medical center in Manhattan to recognize that training family physicians that are capable of providing high quality and low cost care in urban neighborhoods is essential to the health and well-being of New York City,” said Alfred Engelberg. “Gail and I are proud to support this effort.”

Honoring Bernard and Josephine Chaus for Legacy of Giving

A patient waiting area in the newly opened Center for Executive Health and Wellness has been named in recognition of the Chaus family and their long legacy of philanthropy to Mount Sinai, totaling more than $5 million. As founding supporters of Mount Sinai Heart, the late Bernard and Josephine Chaus were loyal to our mission: to provide the best research and clinical care for the community we serve. The family’s commitment has made it possible for Mount Sinai Heart, under the leadership of Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, to further its mission of improving health for whole populations and reflects Dr. Fuster’s

To Support the NICU, TEAM ANDI is Born

Supported by a $2 million gift from philanthropist Chella Safra, Mount Sinai Heart continues its mission “I brought Andi into this world, but the Mount Sinai NICU staff brought her to life,” says Amy Knepper, whose daughter was born 10 weeks early in mid-2012, weighing just two pounds, 12 ounces. “I truly believe how newborns enter this world and how they are cared for lays the blueprint for their future,” she says. “I will forever be grateful to the nurses and staff.”

Amy and her husband, Jonathan, came to consider the NICU staff part of the family: Andi spent nine weeks in The Mount Sinai Hospital’s NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit), and Amy visited her every day. When the Kneppers were finally able to take Andi home, no longer a newborn but an infant, Amy’s only wish was that she could have spent not just days at the NICU, but nights with her daughter as well.

Learning that Mount Sinai was planning to create private NICU suites where families could stay overnight with their newborns, Amy created TEAM ANDI as an Official Charity Partner of the New York City Marathon in order to raise funds to support this effort. She ran the Marathon by herself for TEAM ANDI in 2013, raising $67,000 and then the effort grew quickly: from eight runners in 2014 to 10 runners in 2015, raising more than $270,000 in three years. And Amy hasn’t stopped there: now 17 runners are slated to fundraise and run in the 2016 Marathon.

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that at mile twenty-three, on an uphill portion of the race, sits The Mount Sinai Hospital’s NICU,” says Amy. “All at-risk newborns face personal uphill obstacles to survival.”

“Mount Sinai Heart is dedicated to transforming the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cardiovascular disease, but we could not achieve this mission without philanthropy.”

- Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD

longstanding dedication to health through preventative medicine and lifestyle changes.

Gilinskis Support Global Women’s Health Program in Colombia

Thanks to a $2.5 million gift from Jaime and Raquel Gilinski and the Fundaciόn Vida Raquel K. Gilinski, the Mount Sinai Global Women’s Health Program is extending its reach into Cartagena, Colombia. Major gaps in maternal and fetal care exist in this region due to a lack of updated equipment and training; with this support, ultrasound and electronic fetal monitors have been purchased and workshops on the use of this equipment have begun. Additional initiatives in Cartagena funded through this generous support include educational programs for pregnant teens and the introduction of anesthesia for women in labor. The Global Women’s Health Program was founded by Michael Brodman, MD, Professor and Ellen and Howard C. Katz Chair of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Science at the Mount Sinai Health System, and is led by Annmarie Beddoe, MD, who is also Director of Chemotherapy Services at Mount Sinai. The program is funded entirely through philanthropy and is strengthening women’s health care in Botswana, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Jamaica, Liberia, Niger, and South Africa.

Lucyna and Arminio Fraga: Advancing Research for Fibromuscular Dysplasia and Stroke

Lucyna and Arminio Fraga are supporting two significant research priorities at Mount Sinai with gifts totaling $2.4 million. A gift to support the research of Jeffrey W. Olin, DO, FACC, FAHA, MSVM will allow his team at Mount Sinai Heart to advance their critical research investigating the cellular and genetic basis of Fibromuscular Dysplasia, a rare vascular disease that causes abnormal cellular growth

in the walls of medium and large arteries throughout the body. Through careful review and assessment of Fibromuscular Dysplasia patient data gathered from across the country and around the world, physicians and scientists hope to discover the physical and/or genetic factors that contribute to this condition.

The Fraga’s gift to establish the Stroke and Cerebrovascular Disease Program Fund within the Department of Neurosurgery will advance the mission of improving global stroke care through the development of a comprehensive stroke program across the Mount Sinai Health System, under the direction of J Mocco, MD, MS. Dr. Mocco is an expert in treating blood vessel diseases of the brain, neck, and spine and his research focuses on translational efforts to treat ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes.

Moise and Chella Safra: Support for Mount Sinai Heart

Supported by a $2 million gift from philanthropist Chella Safra, Mount Sinai Heart continues its mission to provide compassionate clinical care and offer patients access to innovative research, in New York and around the globe. “Mount Sinai Heart is dedicated to transforming the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cardiovascular disease, but we could not achieve this mission without philanthropy,” says Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, Director, Mount Sinai Heart; Director, The Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute; Richard Gorlin, MD/Heart Research Foundation Professor; Physician-in-Chief, The Mount Sinai Hospital. In recognition of this generous gift, a section of the reception area in the Lauder Family Cardiovascular Center has been named the Moise and Chella Safra Patient Engagement Area, honoring Mrs. Safra and her late husband, Brazilian banker and philanthropist Moise Safra. The area provides a relaxed setting for patients and their families.

Leaving a Legacy

Mount Sinai’s efforts in medical education have been strengthened by two notable and significant planned gifts this year—from donors who recognize the need for inspiring future generations through a legacy pledged now.

In the spring, Vera and Donald Blinken made a historic and transformational bequest to name the Donald and Vera Blinken FlexMed Program at the Icahn School of Medicine. For each of them, the inspiration to contribute to the future of health care stems from their past. A native New Yorker, Donald Blinken has been treated by Mount Sinai doctors for more than 50 years. He co-founded the investment firm of Warburg Pincus, chaired the State University of New York Board of Trustees, and served as Ambassador to Hungary in the 1990s. While in Hungary, Vera founded Primavera, the first mobile breast cancer screening program in Central Europe. “With a planned gift, we can do much more with our legacy,” said Ambassador Blinken, “and we hope that this gift will inspire others to do the same.”

The Blinkens’ generosity will massively expand the innovative FlexMed program at the Icahn School of Medicine, the first program in the country to offer early acceptance to college sophomores, including those studying the humanities. “Buildings are important, but we feel that doctors are a critical element in the quality of medicine,” said the Blinkens. “Intellectual curiosity is as important as a stethoscope, and we’re pleased to support young people who are interested in the world and have broadened their horizons through the study

Kenneth L. Edelson, MD has also been inspired to include Mount Sinai in his estate plans. In July, he committed to fund scholarship support and endow a professorship in the Kimberly and Eric J. Waldman Department of Dermatology. “Mount Sinai gave me my life and I want to give back,” said Dr. Edelson, an Associate Clinical Professor of Dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine who was one of 42 graduates of the School’s inaugural Class of 1972. “Receiving a scholarship meant the world to me and was the reason I was able to graduate from medical school.”

Dr. Edelson noted that he trained with giants in the field of medicine—Hans Popper, Lou Aledort, Richard and Mortimer Bader, and Henry Janowitz, among others— who inspired him to pursue a career in dermatology. “My legacy is Mount Sinai,” he said with pride.

And for Mount Sinai, bequest intentions like these are essential to providing outstanding education, research, and clinical care for future generations.

“Making a philanthropic commitment is a deeply personal decision, and there are different ways to make gifts that are long lasting and meaningful,” according to Mark Kostegan, FAHP, who is Chief Development Officer and Senior Vice President for Development at Mount Sinai. “Planned gifts help to sustain the mission of Mount Sinai and ensure our institution’s success for many generations to come.

We are deeply grateful for the vision and thought that moved the Blinkens and Dr. Edelson to make such generous commitments.” – Susan McCormick

Celebrations

Over the past year, Mount Sinai hosted nearly 50 events in New York City and around the country, attended by more than 6,000 guests. We are grateful to celebrate our community of dedicated partners.

WHEN: May 5, 2016

WHERE: Central Park Conservancy Garden, New York City

WHO: 1. Jonathan

Celebration and Naming of the Alfred and Gail Engelberg Department of Family Medicine and Community Health

WHEN: May 24, 2016

WHERE: The Mount Sinai Hospital

WHO: Gail Engelberg; Alfred Engelberg; Neil Calman, MD; Kenneth L. Davis, MD; Robert “Red” Schiller, MD.

Dubin Breast Center Fourth Annual Fact vs. Fiction Luncheon and Symposium

WHEN: September 30, 2015

WHERE: 320 Park

WHO: 1. Jessica Sliwerski; Eva Andersson-Dubin, MD, Trustee. 2. Sandra Lee.

The 10th Annual “What a Wonderful World” Gala

WHEN: October 5, 2015

WHERE: The Gramercy Theatre, New York City

WHO: Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine award recipients Bernie Williams; Gabriel A. Sara, MD; Roy Haynes; Kaley Clavell.

Margaret Loeb Kempner Humanitarian Award

WHEN: November 5, 2015

WHERE: The Colony Club, New York City

WHO: James Tsai, MD; Thomas L. Kempner, Jr.; Douglas

Dubin Breast Center Fifth Annual Gala

WHEN: December 7, 2015

WHERE: Mandarin Oriental Hotel, New York City

WHO: 1. Len Blavatnik; Emily Blavatnik; Michael Brodman, MD.

2. Perri Peltz; Eric Ruttenberg, Trustee. 3. Michele Barakett; Timothy Barakett, Trustee; Wendy Hakim.

WHEN: April 11, 2016

The

WHO: 1.

Mount Sinai Women’s Health Day of Learning and Luncheon

WHEN: November 12, 2015

WHERE: The Plaza Hotel, New York City

WHO: Jennifer Gersten Price; Judy Gersten; Carol Lowenthal; Lisa Lowenthal Pruzan; Leni May; Leslie May Blauner; Jane G. Rittmaster.

Celebration and Ribbon Cutting for the Stavros Niarchos Foundation

Emergency Department

WHEN: June 9, 2016

WHERE: Mount Sinai Queens

WHO: Michael Minikes, Trustee; Judith O. Rubin, Trustee; David Reich, MD; Roula Siklas; Caryn Schwab; Vasili Tsamis; Costas Constantinides.

Innovations in Cardiovascular Medicine at Mount Sinai

WHEN: March 10, 2016

WHERE: Palm Beach Country Club

WHO: 1. Valentin Fuster, MD; Rhonda Starr; Gerald Starr; Eileen Grunther.

Dedication of the Richard and Cynthia Zirinsky Center for Bipolar Disorder

WHEN: November 11, 2015

WHERE: The Mount Sinai Hospital

WHO: Cynthia Zirinsky; Igor Galynker, MD, PhD.

Meeting Patients Where They Are

How Jewel Mullen, MD, MPH, MPA, MSSM ’77, Principal Deputy Assistant

Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, leverages her Mount Sinai medical education to improve public health

“I used to write on my school applications that I wanted to help people, but I didn’t know from the start that I wanted to work in public health,” says Dr. Jewel Mullen, physician, epidemiologist, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai graduate. “I’m one of those people who like a lot of different things, and I’m very stimulated by education—which is why I have so many degrees, I guess.”

Dr. Mullen holds multiple degrees— her Bachelor’s and Master’s in Public Health from Yale, her Master’s in Public Administration from Harvard, and her Doctor of Medicine from Mount Sinai— and has spent more than three decades in leadership roles at state and federal health agencies tackling chronic disease by

“The ability to go from the Annenberg building to the Bronx VA, or Elmhurst, or down to Beth Israel, even in the 1970s, presented more of a mosaic experience in terms of the patients I met and the medical problems I was exposed to.”

– Jewel Mullen, MD, MPH, MPA, MSSM ’77

building community-based prevention and care programs, strengthening coordination between communities and public health and health care systems, and removing barriers to high-quality care.

“I grew up in the suburbs of New York City, in an environment where I observed demographic differences in health from a young age. I learned that the factors that contribute to a community’s health, like race, social status, access to quality care, weren’t always equitable,” says Dr. Mullen. “It has always been clear to me that a guiding interest in medicine was equity—ensuring people have access to what they needed to be healthy.”

She was asked to come to Washington to take on her newest role at HHS, where her goal is to foster collaboration across its programs to advance public health, including women’s health, disease prevention, and the federal government’s response to the Zika virus. Recently, she has traveled a great deal between Puerto Rico and the U.S. as part of that effort, and says her public health experience coupled with her medical knowledge— her Icahn School of Medicine education—have been indispensable.

“It’s important to meet people where they are to partner with them for their health,” she explains. And she means that literally and figuratively. “My experience allows me to offer the best public health assets of the federal government to the people of Puerto

SPOTLIGHT ON SCHOLARSHIP

Rico, where they live, while understanding the challenges they’re facing in face of their current economic crisis. The ways you engage with people and really learn about their experiences— those are social and cultural bridges we have to cross to do this work effectively.”

Although she was a student who had her pick of many medical schools, she knew Mount Sinai was the right place for her, Dr. Mullen says.

“Mount Sinai has always had a reputation of academic excellence, but I knew that academic rigor was backed by the long history of Sinai as a teaching hospital even before the medical school was founded. That told me that it was a great place to get an education,” says Dr. Mullen. “The ability to go from the Annenberg building to the Bronx VA, or Elmhurst, or down to Beth Israel, even in the 1970s, presented more of a mosaic experience in terms of the patients I met and the medical problems I was exposed to. My experience there informed my desire to think about patients in a community context.”

Dr. Mullen says she enjoys meeting current medical students to learn about their diverse interests—something she had the opportunity to do in March 2016, when she was in New York to receive Mount Sinai Alumni’s

prestigious Jacobi Medallion.

“Hearing about the spectrum of their interests gave me an appreciation for how much more broadly medical students today think about how they might leverage their medical education,” she says. “Mount Sinai has grown exponentially as a research institution, and its partnerships with different sectors and organizations have grown as well. It is clear to me that students today are better positioned to go into a range of careers, shaped by their medical education, while at the same time there are a core group of students who are focused on patient care and community health. Some schools have a reputation for producing one type of doctor or the other; I hope Mount Sinai continues to do well at producing both.”

When she is on campus again in the fall to speak at the annual White Coat Ceremony, Dr. Mullen wants to communicate to incoming medical students the vast range of possibilities that their Icahn School of Medicine degree will afford them.

“I want them to know that you’re never locked in—don’t limit your thinking to what your opportunities might be in the moment,” she says. “There are so many different ways that we can express the art and science of medicine.” – Katie Quackenbush Spiegel

At Mount Sinai, our conviction that “medicine is service” informs everything we do, and our primary mission is to enable students to serve patients with compassion, dedication, and skill. What begins here becomes a lifelong journey of service and scientific discovery. Thanks to scholarship support, many students who might not otherwise be able to afford a medical education can pursue their passions without facing a future of debt. Meet two of our students:

Alexandra Dembar, MD Class of 2019, was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. She graduated from Indiana University with a BA in Spanish, focusing specifically on Linguistics. In college she was involved in increasing access to financial capital via microfinance in rural communities in Honduras, and worked in Honduras for a summer and led several trips of her fellow students during which they partnered with community leaders to create microlending institutions and set up community financial infrastructure. She is a member of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai’s Primary Care Scholars Program, which is designed to prepare the next generation of primary care physicians to meet the rising needs of local and global communities through core training, mentorship, and experiences.

“I am especially passionate about working to increase access to care for underserved populations, particularly in areas of women’s health and mental health, and hope to use medicine as a platform for fighting for equal access to health care both in the United States and abroad.”

Khameer Kidia, MD Class of 2017, earned a BA in French Literature from Princeton University, and an MPhil in Medical Anthropology from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. He was drawn to the medical field after working with a team of physicians on a project targeting the treatment of HIV-positive teenagers in his native Harare, Zimbabwe. Shortly thereafter, Khameer applied to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai’s FlexMed program, which encourages college sophomores in any major to apply for early assurance of acceptance to the School. He is a global health scholar in The Arnhold Institute for Global Health and recently published a personal narrative about his family’s history of cardiac disease entitled “Disheartening Disparities” in The New England Journal of Medicine.

“Coming from Zimbabwe and having studied in the United States and United Kingdom makes me think critically about the disparities in the distribution of health care internationally; I am interested in closing those gaps.”

St. Luke’s-Roosevelt 125th Anniversary Dinner

The St. Luke’s–Roosevelt Hospital Alumni Association celebrated its 125th anniversary on April 14, 2016 with dinner and a reception recognizing the accomplishments of the following individuals whose careers exemplify the highest standards of medical practice:

Barbara Edwards Dennis, BS, RN

Grace J. Kim, MD, FACS

Annetta J. Kimball, MD

George Unis, MD

Since 1881, the St. Luke’s–Roosevelt Hospital Alumni Association has built a strong sense of community and enhanced the recognition of St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital as a center for excellence in research, education, and patient care.

Mount Sinai Honors 2016 Jacobi Medallion Recipients

More than 325 guests gathered at The Plaza Hotel on Wednesday, March 16, to celebrate and honor the 2016 Jacobi Medallion recipients. Seven leaders received the Jacobi Medallion, the highest award bestowed by Mount Sinai, in recognition of their commitment to compassionate care and to the advancement of medicine.

: Standing, from left: Kenneth L. Davis, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mount Sinai Health System; Adolfo García-Sastre, PhD; Dennis S. Charney, MD; Alexander Kirschenbaum, MD, MSSM ’80, MSH ’87; Donald Bergman, MD, MSH ’77, President, The Mount Sinai Alumni Association, and Clinical Professor of Medicine; Albert L. Siu, MD, MSPH; and William Lawson, MD, DDS, MSH ’73. Seated from left: Jean C. Crystal, Trustee; Jewel Mullen, MD, MPH, MPA, FACP, MSSM ’81; Sandra K. Masur, PhD, Chair, Jacobi Medallion Selection Committee, and Professor of Ophthalmology; and Rosanne M. Leipzig, MD, PhD.

More than 100 alumni and guests gathered on May 13 to reconnect and reminisce with classmates, colleagues, and friends at the 2016 Alumni Reunion and Alumni Awards Ceremony. Attendees were welcomed by David Muller, MD, MSSM ’95, Dean for Medical Education, who reflected on the extraordinary growth and reach of the Mount Sinai Health System, and attended on-campus lectures by faculty members on topics that included the Visiting Doctors Program, medical education today, and the East Harlem Health Outreach Partnership.

SAVE THE DATE

REUNION 2017

Friday, May 19, 2017

We hope to see you there!

Guests moved on to the New York Academy of Medicine for the ceremony, where Theodore Christopher, MD, MSSM ’81 delivered the keynote address, and the Mount Sinai Alumni Association’s President, Donald Bergman, MD, MSSM ‘77 and Vice President and Chairman of the Alumni Awards Committee, Burton A. Cohen, MD, MSSM ‘79 presented awards to the following individuals for their service to the Mount Sinai community:

Theodore Christopher, MD, FACEP, MSSM ’81

Carine Davila, MD, ISMMS ’16

Leslie Dubin Kerr, MD, MSSM ’85

Marvin Gilbert, MD, MSSM ’69

Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD

Ilana Ramer Bass, MD, ISMMS ’16

Lester Silver, MD, MSSM ’69

In Memoriam

Mount Sinai Science & Medicine salutes two Trustees who died since the publication of our last issue. We extend our deepest condolences to their family and friends.

continued from page 12

Steven Ames served as a member of the Mount Sinai Boards of Trustees from 1973 to 1987, following in the footsteps of his late mother, Harriett Annenberg Ames. With his spirt of philanthropy, he generously endowed programs including cardiology, scholarship, pediatric, fellowships, and pulmonary care. His family’s tradition of support is commemorated with the naming of the Annenberg Building of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Betty Yarmon was a Trustee of the former Beth Israel Medical Center and Continuum Health Partners for nearly 20 years. She and her late husband, Morton, showed their support by naming the Betty and Morton Yarmon Center for Parkinson’s Disease, the Betty and Morton Yarmon Neurobehavior and Alzheimer’s Disease Center, the Betty and Morton Yarmon Center for Healthy Aging, and the Betty and Morton Yarmon Stroke Center at Mount Sinai Beth Israel.

Recognition &Awards

Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine

Patricia Bloom, MD, Associate Clinical Professor; Keynote Speaker, Loraine Halis Family Caregiver Conversation Series, Alzheimer’s Association

Jay Horton, PhD, Clinical Instructor; Keynote Speaker, Central Committee to Promote Palliative Care Conference, Hospital Authority/Institute of Health Care

Rosanne M. Leipzig, MD, PhD, Gerald and May Ellen Ritter Professor of Geriatrics and Adult Development; Robert S. Gordon Lectureship, Yale University School of Medicine

Elizabeth Lindenberger, MD, Associate Professor; Keynote Speaker, United Jewish Appeal Federation

Janeen Marshall, MD, Assistant Professor; Distinguished Young Alumni Award, Chowan University

Jacqueline Yuen, MD, Assistant Professor; Keynote Speaker, United Jewish Appeal-Federation

Mount Sinai Heart

Department of Family Medicine and Community Health

Neil S. Calman, MD, System Chair and Professor; President, American Association of Teaching Health Centers; Lewis and Jack Rudin Prize in Medicine and Health, New York Academy of Medicine and the Greater New York Hospital Association; Champion of Diversity Award, Manhattan Staten Island Area Health Education Center; Commencement Speaker, College of Optometry, State University of New York

Eric Gayle, MD, FAAFP, Assistant Professor; Jack Geiger Award, Community Health Centers Association of New York

Raymond Teets, MD, Assistant Professor; Education Working Chair, Academic Consortium of Integrative Medicine and Health

Jeffrey Farber, MD, MBA, Associate Professor; Keynote Speaker, Hospital Acquired Conditions Conference, Global Healthcare Professional Network

Nathan Goldstein, MD, Professor; Keynote Speaker, Central Committee to Promote Palliative Care Conference, Hospital Authority/Institute of Health Care

Cameron R. Hernandez, MD, Associate Professor; House Call Physician of the Year, The American Academy of House Call Medicine; House Call Physician of the Year, American Academy of Home Care Medicine

Gregory Hinrichsen, PhD, Assistant Professor; M. Powell Lawton Award for Distinguished Contributions to Clinical Geropsychology, Society of Clinical Geropsychology

Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, Director and Physician-in-Chief; The Great Cross, Ministry of Health, Spain; First Cardiovascular Fellow in Recognition of Excellence in Scientific and/or Educational Contributions to Respiratory Medicine, European Respiratory Society, Netherlands; Award for Leadership in Global Population Health Education, Research, Science, American College of Cardiology; Doctor Honoris Causa, Instituto Universitario Escuela de Medicina del Hospital Italiano, Argentina; Award for Valuable Support in the Progress to Prevent Cardiac Diseases, Ecuadorian Society of Cardiology; Honorary Guest Award, City of Córdoba, Argentina; Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Córdoba, Argentina; Honorary Member, Argentinian Federation of Cardiology; Honorary Acknowledgement Award, Ministry of Health, Government of Córdoba, Argentina; National Award “Caja Rural”, City of Granada, Spain; Ignacio Chavez Award, World Congress of Cardiology and Cardiovascular, Mexico; Biomedical Research Award, Fundación Ferrer Investigación; Opening Lecture, World Congress of Cardiology, World Heart Federation; Opening Lecture, National Congress of Cardiology, Argentina; Opening Lecture, Cardiovascular Symposium, University of Rome; Keynote Speaker 80th Annual Scientific Meeting, Japanese Circulation Society; Keynote Speaker, 15th Annual Controversies Course, Cedars Sinai & California American College of Cardiology Chapter; Opening Lecture, Argentine Congress of Cardiology; Keynote Speaker, Imaging Institute, University of Oxford; Keynote Speaker, The Royal College of Physicians, United Kingdom

Department of Medical Education

Gary C. Butts, MD, Dean for Diversity Programs, Policy, and Community Affairs; Professor; National Medical Fellowships Lifetime Achievement Award, Institute for InterGroup Understanding; Member, Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honors Society; Champion Award, Building the Next Generation of Academic Physicians

Reena Karani, MD, MHPE, Senior Associate Dean for Curricular Affairs and Undergraduate Medical Education; Professor; Board Member; Chair, Step 2CS Test Materials Development Committee, National Board of Medical Examiners; Edward Beacham Lectureship, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Davidoff Lectureship, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Jeffrey T. Laitman, PhD, Distinguished Professor; Creation of the “Professor Jeffrey T. Laitman Award” to Recognize Outstanding Scientists and Educators Who Establish Bonds Between Nations, Brazilian Society of Anatomy; Keynote Speaker, Santa Casa Medical School, Brazil; Board of Directors Certificate of Appreciation for Leadership Service, American Association of Anatomists; University Lecture, Federal University of Rio de Janiero, Brazil; University Lecture, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil

David Muller, MD, Dean; Marietta and Charles C. Morchand Chair in Medical Education; Professor; Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award, Alpha Omega Alpha Society and Association of American Medical Colleges

Samuel Bronfman Department of Medicine

Julio Aguirre-Ghiso, PhD, Professor; Distinguished Speaker, Seminar Series, Wistar Institute; Distinguished Speaker, Seminar Series, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Indu Ayappa, PhD, Associate Professor; Chair, Planning Committee, Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology Assembly, American Thoracic Society

Nina Bhardwaj, MD, PhD, Ward-Coleman Chair Cancer Research; Professor; Frederick W. Alt Award for New Discoveries in Immunology, Cancer Research Institute

Paolo Boffetta, MD, MPH, Professor; Honorary Member, Italian Society of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene

Nicole M. Bouvier, MD, Assistant Professor; Sir William Osler Young Investigator Award, Interurban Clinical Club

Alfred Burger, MD, Associate Professor; Chair, Annual Meeting, American Board of Internal Medicine, Self-Evaluation Process, Program Committee, Society of General Internal Medicine; 2016 Award for Excellence in Clinician Education, Society of General Internal Medicine, Mid-Atlantic Region

Daniel Caplivski, MD, Associate Professor; Keynote Speaker, Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Oxford University; Keynote Speaker, John Radcliffe Hospital, United Kingdom; Keynote Speaker, National Center for Global Health, Japan; Keynote Speaker, Peruvian American Medical Society

Andrew Dunn, MD, Professor; Chair, Board of Governors; Chair Health and Public Policy Committee, American College of Physicians

Janice Gabrilove, MD, Professor; Program Chair, Translational Science 2016 Conference, Association for Clinical and Translational Science, American Federation for Medical Research

Adolfo García-Ocaña, PhD, Professor; Session Chair, 76th Scientific Sessions, American Diabetes Association; Session Chair, 5th Annual NYC Regional Diabetes Meeting

Sacha Gnjatic, PhD, Associate Professor; Chair, Biomarker Task Force Working Group 4, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School; Lloyd J. Old, MD Award for Excellence in Cancer Immunology, Cancer Vaccine Cancer Immunotherapy Foundation

Scott L. Friedman, MD, Dean for Therapeutic Discovery; Irene and Dr. Arthur M. Fishberg Professor of Medicine; Burton Combes Memorial Lecture, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School; Charles S. Lieber Memorial Lecture, American Gastroenterologic Association; Maud Menten Honorary Lecture, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; Emmet B. Keefe Mentorship Award, National Liver Conference; Visiting Professor, Earl A. Chiles Research Institute; Distinguished Achievement Award; State of the Art Hans Popper Lecture, American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases; Member, Board of Directors, American Friends of the US Israel Binational Science Foundation; Keynote Speaker, Catalan Association for Gastroenterology, Spain

Donald Gardenier, DNP, Assistant Professor; Edge Runner, American Academy of Nursing

Erica Grabscheid, MD, Associate Professor; Winner, Presidential Poster Competition, American Geriatrics Society

David Greenwald, MD, Professor (Pending); Chairman, Citywide Colon Cancer Control Coalition; Trustee, American College of Gastroenterology; Educational Director, New York Society Gastrointestinal Endoscopy

Percio Gulko, MD, Lillian and Henry M. Stratton Professor of Medicine (Rheumatology); Visiting Professor, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Yujin Hoshida, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor; Member Tisch Cancer Institute; Keynote Speaker, University of Strasbourg, France; Keynote Speaker, Seoul National University; Keynote Speaker, Japan Association of Molecular Targeted Therapy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma; Keynote Speaker, Kumamoto University, Japan; Keynote Speaker, International Workshop on NASH Biomarkers; Keynote Speaker, Paris NASH Symposium; Keynote Speaker, National Cancer Institute

Shirsh Huprikar MD, Associate Professor; Chair, Infectious Diseases Community of Practice, American Society of Transplantation

Harish Jasti, MD, Associate Professor; Award for Leadership, Society of General Internal Medicine, Mid-Atlantic Region

Minal Kale, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor; Co-Chair, Scientific Abstracts Committee, Society of General Internal Medicine; Mid-Atlantic Award for Excellence in Clinician Investigation, Society of General Internal Medicine, Mid-Atlantic Region

Laurie Keefer, PhD, Associate Professor; Chair, Psychosocial Patient Education Sub Committee, Crohns and Colitis Foundation of America; Co-Chair, Centrally Mediated Disorders of GI Pain Committee, Rome Foundation; Commissioner for the Recognition of Specialties and Proficiencies in Psychology, American Psychological Association

Boe-Hyun Kim, PhD, Instructor; Kamel Khalili, Pioneer in NeuroVirology Lectureship Award, International Society for NeuroVirology

Paula Klein, MD, Assistant Professor; Alumni Achievement Award, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center

Josep M. Llovet, MD, Professor; Chair and Invited Speaker, 6th Asia-Pacific Primary Liver Cancer Expert Meeting; Chair and Keynote Speaker, Annual Conference, International Liver Cancer Association; Fellow and Best Oral Presentatin on Liver Cancer, American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases; Educational Councilor, International Liver Cancer Association; Senior Editor, Clinical Cancer Research, American Association of Cancer Research; Chair and Keynote Speaker, 17th World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer, European Society for Medical Oncology; Keynote Speaker, 11th International Meeting on Therapy in Liver Diseases; Keynote Speaker, 10th International Symposium on Alcoholic Liver and Pancreatic Diseases and Cirrhosis; Keynote Speaker, Session VII Symposia, Falk Foundation; Keynote Speaker, American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases; Keynote Speaker, International Liver Congress 2016 -European Association for the Study of Liver Diseases; Keynote Speaker, European Conference on Interventional Oncology

Paul J. Maglione, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor; Editorial Board, Clinical and Experimental Medicine

Aniwaa Owusu Obeng, PharmD, Assistant Professor; Chair, Provider Adoption Barriers Interest Group, The Implementing GeNomics In PracTicE (IGNITE) Network , National Institute of Health (NIH), National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI); Chair, Provider Adoption Barriers Interest Group, The Implementing GeNomics In PracTicE (IGNITE) Network, National Institute of Health, National Human Genome Research Institute

Charles A. Powell, MD, Professor; Service Award and Chair, Nominating Committee, Assembly for Thoratic Oncology, American Thoracic Society; Service Award, Chair, Assembly for Thoracic Oncology of the American Thoracic Society; President Elect, Fleischner Society

Neil Schachter, MD, Professor; Chairman, Grants Committee, American Lung Association of the Northeast; Co-Chair, American Thoracic Society’s Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology’s Journal Club Committee, American Thoracic Society; Will Ross Award, American Lung Association

Gwen Skloot, MD, Chair, Program Committee, Respiratory Structure and Function Assembly; Chair, Evaluation and Management of Asthma in the Elderly Workshop, American Thoracic Society

Dan Steinberg, MD, Associate Professor; Chapter President, New York Special Interest Group, Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine

Talia H. Swartz, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor; Young Investigator Award, Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, Medscape

David C. Thomas, MD, MHPE, Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education and Professor; Our Town Thanks You Award, Straus News, “Our Town” newspaper

Surafel Tsega, MD, Instructor; Audience Choice Award for Best Research Abstract, Lown Research Day, Lown Institute for High-Value Care

David J. Volsky, PhD, Professor; Distinguished Fellow, Collegium of Eminent Scientists, Kosciuszko Foundation; Plenary Speaker, 13th International Symposium on NeuroVirology and Conference on HIV in the Nervous System; Keynote Speaker, Annual NeuroHIV Symposium, Johns Hopkins University/ National Institute of Mental Health Center for Novel Therapeutics of HIV-associated Cognitive Disorders; Professor Emeritus in Pathology and Cell Biology, Columbia University

Christopher Walsh, MD, Associate Professor; Leadership in Research Award, National Hemophilia Foundation

Jeffrey Weiss, PhD, MS, Associate Professor; Edge Runner, American Academy of Nursing

Juan P. Wisnivesky, MD, DrPH, Irene and Dr. Arthur M. Fishberg Professor of Medicine; Elected Member, American Society of Clinical Investigation

Department of Microbiology

Dusan Bogunovic, PhD, Assistant Professor; Milstein Award for Young Investigators, International Cytokines and Interferon Society; Young Investigator Award, American Society for Microbiology

Benhur Lee, MD, Ward-Coleman Chair in Microbiology; Keynote Speaker, 4th Measles-Rubella Mini Symposium, Sabin Vaccine Institute

Peter Palese, PhD, Chair and Professor, Horace W. Goldsmith Professor of Medicine; Member, Committee on International Security and Arms Control; Member, Standing Committee Committee on Medical and Public Health Research During Large-Scale Emergency Events, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Honorary Doctorate, McMaster University; Maurice Hilleman Award, American Society for Microbiology

Benjamin tenOever, PhD, Irene and Arthur Fishberg Professor of Medicine; Professor; Keynote Speaker, Keystone Symposia; Keynote Speaker, International Society for Influenza and Other Respiratory Virus Diseases

Domenico Tortorella, PhD, Professor; Chair, Immunology Study Section, American Heart Association

Estelle and Daniel Maggin Department of Neurology

Susan B. Bressman, MD, Site Chair, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai St. Luke’s; Professor; Movement Disorders Research Award, American Academy of Neurology and Parkinson’s Disease Foundation

Uraina Clark, PhD, Assistant Professor; Suffrage Science Award, MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, Imperial College, United Kingdom

Mark W. Green, MD, Professor; Lifetime Achievement Award, National Headache Foundation

Cynthia Harden, MD, Professor; Chair-Elect, Epilepsy Section, American Academy of Neurology; Keynote Speaker, Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurology; Lecturer, 2nd Foro de Epilepsia, Spain

Fred D. Lublin, MD, Saunders Family Professor of Neurology; John F. Kurtzke Memorial Lecture, Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers

Aaron Miller, MD, Professor; Secretary, American Academy of Neurology

Lawrence C. Newman, MD, Professor; President and John Graham Lecture Award Recipient, American Headache Society

David M. Simpson, MD, Professor; Chair, Quality Standards Subcommittee on Botulinum Toxins, American Academy of Neurology; Co-Chair, Clinical Science Subcommittee, International Neurotoxin Association

Barbara G. Vickrey, MD, MPH, System Chair, Estelle and Daniel Maggin Department of Neurology; Henry P. and Georgette Goldschmidt Professor of Neurology; President, American Neurological Association

Ruth Walker, MB, ChB, PhD, Associate Professor; Plenary Lecture, International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society

Fishberg Department of Neuroscience

Mark Baxter, PhD, Professor; Pavlovian Research Award, Pavlovian Society

Patrizia Casaccia, MD, PhD, Professor; Chair, Congressionally Directed Medical Programs on Multiple Sclerosis Research; Vice Chair, Myelin Conference, Gordon Research Conference; Keynote Speaker, Virginia Symposium on Brain Immunology and Glia

Paul Kenny, PhD, Chair and Professor; NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Award, Brain & Behavior Research Foundation

Eric Nestler, MD, PhD, Dean for Academic and Scientific Affairs; Director, Friedman Brain Institute; Nash Family Professor; Lifetime Achievement Award, PATH Foundation, New York

Department of Neurosurgery

Johanna T. Fifi, MD, Assistant Professor; Fellow; Chair, Annual Meeting, Society of Vascular and Interventional Neurology

Ellen and Howard C. Katz Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Services

Michael Brodman, MD, Chairman’s Chair; System Chair and Professor; First Vice President, New York Obstetrical Society

Department of Oncological Sciences

Amaia Lujambio, PhD, Assistant Professor; Pinnacle Research Award in Liver Disease, American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases

Miriam Merad, MD, PhD, Professor; Keynote Speaker, Dendritic Cell International Meeting; Keynote Speaker, European Neuroimmunology Meeting; Keynote Speaker, European Academy of Tumor Immunology; Keynote Speaker, French Society of Immunology

Eirini Papapetrou, MD, PhD, Associate Professor; New Investigator Award, American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy

Ramon Parsons, MD, PhD, Chair and Professor; Chair, Special Conference Committee, American Association of Cancer Research; Keynote Speaker, Department of Pathology Retreat, Yale University; Keynote Speaker, Breast Cancer Research Retreat, Johns Hopkins

Department of Ophthalmology

Rudrani Banik, MD, Associate Professor; Chair, Patient Information Committee, North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society

Ronald C. Gentile, MD, Professor; Rhett Buckler Award, American Society of Retina Specialists, Austria; Keynote Speaker, Annual Vitrectomy Course, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School; Richard C. Troutman, MD Award in Ophthalmology, State University of New York-Downstate Medical Center Alumni Association

Michelle Rhee, MD, Assistant Professor; Chair, Scientific Program Committee, Contact Lens Association of Ophthalmologists; Vice Chair, Scientific Program Committee, Eye Bank Association of America; Leadership Development Program, American Academy of Ophthalmology

Paul A. Sidoti, MD, Professor; Induction, Doheny Society of Scholars, Doheny Eye Institute

James C. Tsai, MD, MBA, President, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai; Chair, Department of Ophthalmology; Dealfied-Rogers Professor of Ophthalmology; Physician Scientist Award, Fight for Sight; Secretariat Award, American Academy of Ophthalmology; Elected Fellow, New York Academy of Medicine

Albert Wu, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor; Romanian Association of Plastic Surgery, Honorary Member

Leni and Peter W. May Department of Orthopaedics

Alexis Colvin, MD, Associate Professor; Segal Talk, U.S. Food and Drug Administration Arthritis Foundation

Leesa M. Galatz, MD, System Chair, Mount Sinai Chair in Orthopaedics and Professor; Chair, Fellowship Match Committee, American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons; Spotlight Speaker, Rotator Cuff Disease Session, Orthopaedic Research Society; Presidential Guest Speaker, New Zealand Shoulder and Elbow Society

William Hamilton, MD, Associate Professor; Forty Years of Service in the Field of Dance Medicine, New York City Ballet

James C. Latridis, PhD, Mount Sinai Chair in Orthopaedic Research; Professor; Chair, Spine Section, Orthopeadic Research Society; Chair, New Investigator Research Funding Workshop,

Orthopeadic Research Education Foundation; Inducted Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering; Henry Farfan Award, North American Spine Society

Lillian and Henry M. StrattonHans Popper Department of Pathology

Carlos Cordon-Cardo, MD, PhD, System Chair and Irene Heinz Given and John LaPorte Given Professor of Pathology; “Thought Leader” Award, Agilent Technologies; Keynote Speaker and Certificate of Honor, Museo de Historia de la Medicina y Ciencias de la Salud, University of Puerto Rico; Keynote Speaker, European Association of Urology; Keynote Speaker, American Association of Pathologists’ Assistants; Keynote Speaker, International Society for the Study and Exchange of Evidence from Clinical Research and Medical Experience; Keynote Speaker, Asociacion Española de Urologia, Spain

Jack and Lucy Clark Department of Pediatrics

Edward E. Conway, MD, Professor and Mount Sinai Beth Israel Site Chair; Chairman, Executive Section on Critical Care, American Academy of Pediatrics; Board of Regents, American College of Critical Care Medicine; Nominee for the Distinguished Career Award, Section on Critical Care, American Academy of Pediatrics

Bruce D. Gelb, MD, Professor; President, International Pediatric Research Foundation; Featured Speaker, Annual Meeting, Congenital Heart Surgeons Society; James C. Hunt Visiting Professor, Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Maria New, MD, Professor; Elected Member, and Guest Lecturer, Interurban Club; Guest Editor, Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Lead Guest Editor, International Journal of Reproduction, Fertility and Sexual Health; Selected Abstract Reviewer, European Society of Pediatric Endocrinology

Lawrence Noble, MD, Associate Professor; Policy Chair, Section on Breast Feeding, American Academy of Pediatrics; Secretary, Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine

Anna Nowak-Wegrzyn, MD, Associate Professor; Chair, Medical Advisory Board, International Food Protein Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome Association; Gail Shapiro Memorial Lectureship, American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology

Hugh A. Sampson, MD, Professor; Stephen D. Lockey, Jr. MD Lectureship, American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology

Lisa M. Satlin, MD, System Chair, Herbert H. Lehman Professor of Pediatrics; Chair, Hepatorenal Fibrocystic Disease Center External Advisory Committee, University of Alabama ; Annual Alan B. Gruskin, MD Lecture, Children’s Hospital of Michigan

Annemarie Stroustrup, MD, MPH, Associate Professor; Co-Chair, Communications Committee, Society for Pediatric Research

Julie Wang, MD, Associate Professor; Physician Chair, Allied Health Professionals Assembly; Chair, Anaphylaxis Committee, American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology

Amy Woolover, MD, Assistant Professor; Literacy Champion Award, Reach Out and Read of Greater New York

Steven Yung, MD, Assistant Professor; Chair, New York State Solutions for Patient Safety

Charles R. Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine

Judy Cho, MD, Director; Keynote Speaker, Department of Medicine Research Retreat, Johns Hopkins University

Eimear Kenny, PhD, Assistant Professor; Keynote Speaker, Consortium on Asthma among African-Ancestry Populations in the Americas; Keynote Speaker, Pharmacogenomics Research Network; Keynote Speaker, Human Heredity and Health in Africa

Girish Nadkarni, MD, Instructor; Best Abstract, American College of Cardiology

Dorothy H. and Lewis Rosenstiel Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics

Ravi Iyengar, PhD, Professor; Keynote Speaker, Drug Safety, Gordon Conference; Jeffrey Michel Innovations in Systems Biology Award, Department of Bioengineering; Lectureship, Rice University

Department of Preventative Medicine

Manish Arora, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor; 2015 Joan Daisey Award, International Society of Exposure Sciences

Jia Chen, ScD, Professor; Chair, American Association of Cancer Research

Maida Galvez, MD, Associate Professor; Environmental Champion Award, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 2; Award for Outstanding Dedication and Service to the Members and Children of NY Chapter 3 AAP, American Academy of Pediatrics

Luca Lambertini, PhD, Assistant Professor; Co-Chair, Advisory Council on Children’s Environmental Health, New York State Department of Health

Philip J. Landrigan, MD, Dean for Global Health; Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine; Dr. Irving Selikoff Lifetime Achievement Award, Asbestos Disease Awareness Association; Araki Foundation Award for Social Medicine Promotion, Juntendo University, Japan; Outstanding Leadership in Children’s Environmental Health, Grassroots Environmental Education

Department of Psychiatry

Cindy J. Aaronson, MSW, PhD, Assistant Clinical Professor; Secretary, Board of Directors, Anxiety and Depression Association of America

Hansel Arroyo, MD, Assistant Professor; Dorfman Journal Paper Award for Best Article for Original Research, Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine

Joseph Buxbaum, PhD, G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Research Professor of Geriatrics and Adult Development (Molecular Biology of Aging); Professor; Elected Member, National Academy of Medicine; Keynote Speaker, Meeting of the Minds Symposium, Neurosciences Institute, State University of New York at Stony Brook

Barbara Coffey, MD, Professor; Co-Chairman, Risk Symposium, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; Named Lecturer, San Antonio County Psychiatric Society

Don Des Jarlais, PhD, Professor; Co-Chair, Expert Committee to Update Science of HIV and Drug Use; Presenter, UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Rita Goldstein, PhD, Professor; Symposium Chair, Society for Neuroscience

Iliyan Ivanov, MD, Associate Professor; Best Poster Presentation, Annual Meeting, American Professional Society of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Related Disorders

Harold Koenigsberg, MD, Professor; Fellow, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology

Alexander Kolevzon, MD, Associate Professor; Chair, National Medical Student Training Program; Outstanding Mentor Award for the Summer Medical Student Fellowship, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Glenn Martin, MD, DFAPA, CIP, Senior Associate Dean for Human Subjects Research; Assistant Professor; Speaker of the Assembly, American Psychiatric Association

Nadia Micali, MD, PhD, MSc, Associate Professor; President, Eating Disorders Research Society

Jeffrey Newcorn, MD, Associate Professor; Chair of Advisory Board, Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation

Mercedes Perez, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor; Keynote Speaker, Psychiatry Resident and Fellow Graduation Ceremony, Bergen Regional Hospital, New Jersey

Panagiotis Roussos, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor; New Vision Award, Charleston Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease; Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, Office of Science and Technology Policy, The White House

Akhil Shenoy, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor; Dorfman Award, Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine

Pamela Sklar, MD, PhD, Mount Sinai Chair in Psychiatric Genomics; Professor; Fellow, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology; Keynote Speaker, National MD/PhD Student Conference, University of Colorado; Keynote Speaker, Mental Health Research Conference, Society of Mental Health Research; Keynote Speaker, Department of Neuroscience Annual Retreat, University of Connecticut

James J. Strain, MD, Professor; Frits Huyse Award, European Psychosomatic and Consultation-Liaison Society

Talia Wiesel, PhD, Assistant Professor; Diplomate, Academy of Cognitive Therapy

Department of Radiation Oncology

Manjeet Chadha, MD, Professor; Fellow, American Society of Radiation Oncology

Ronald Ennis, MD, Associate Professor; Chairman, Government Relations Committee, Government Relations Council, American Society of Radiation Oncology

Department of Radiology

Burton Drayer, MD, Dean for Clinical Affairs; System Chair, Department of Radiology; Charles M. and Marilyn Newman Professor; Chairman, Research and Education Foundation, Radiological Society of North America

Adam Jacobi, MD, Assistant Professor of Radiology; Keynote Speaker and Certificate of Merit for Abstract, Annual Meeting, Society of Thoracic Radiology

Alexander Kagen, MD, Associate Professor; Chair, Pathology Working Group, American College of Radiology

William L Simpson, Jr. MD, Associate Professor; Fellow; Fellowship, American College of Radiology

Bachir Taouli, MD, Professor; Honorary Membership, Iranian Society of Radiology

Department of Rehabilitation Medicine

Kristjan T. Ragnarsson, MD, Professor; Distinguished Public Service Award, American Scandinavian Foundation; Distinguished Rusk Alumni Award, Rusk Rehabilitation of New York University School of Medicine

Ruth J. & Maxwell Hauser and Harriet & Arthur H. Aufses, Jr., MD Department of Surgery

Susan K. Boolbol, MD, FACS, Associate Professor; Chair, Breast Fellows Program Director Committee, Society of Surgical Oncology; Chair, Vendor Relations Committee, American Society of Breast Surgeons

Celia M. Divino, MD, Professor of Surgery; Associate Examiner, American Board of Surgery; Advisory Council for General Surgery, American College of Surgeons

Daniel M. Herron, MD, Professor; Chair, Communications Committee, American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery; Chair, Executive Committee for Video-Based Education, American College of Surgeons

James C. Jeng MD, Associate Professor; Chairman, Disaster Preparedness Committee, International Society for Burn Injuries; Chairman, Disaster Subcommittee, American Burn Association; Invited International Speaker; Delivery of Murray Clarke Oration, Australian New Zealand Burn Association; Study Section Reviewer, Orphan Diseases Program, Food and Drug Administration; Keynote Speaker, National Consolidated Operations Plan, Health and Human Services

Sung Yup Kim, MD, Assistant Professor; President, Korean American Physicians Association of New York

Barry Salky, MD, FACS, Professor; Keynote Speaker, Institut de Recherche contre les Cancers de l’Appareil Digestif, France; Keynote Speaker, Invasive Digestive Surgery Seminar for Next Generations; Keynote Speaker, Annual Congress of the Indian Association of Gastrointestinal Endo-Surgeons, India

Mark Sultan , MD, FACS, Professor; The Eugene Courtiss Annual Lecture, Northeastern Society of Plastic Surgeons

Patricia Sylla, MD, Associate Professor; Chair, Conflict of Interest Task Force, Society of the American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons

Ageliki Vouyouka, MD, Associate Professor; President, New York Society for Vascular Surgery

SNAPSHOT