Interviewer Biography Directory

Interviewer Biography Directory

(Alphabetical by Last Name)

Name Title Credentials Affiliation Biography

Saloni

Agrawal

MS4 MA Mount Sinai

Hospital, Icahn

School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Saloni Agrawal is a fourth-year

medical student at the Icahn School of

Medicine at Mount Sinai. She

graduated from Hunter College with a

Bachelor of Arts in Biology, a Master

of Arts in Biotechnology, and a Minor

in Theatre. Prior to medical school,

Saloni conducted translational research

in cancer metastasis at Memorial Sloan

Kettering Cancer Center and her

efforts resulted in a paper in Nature

Cell Biology. Aside from research,

Saloni is passionate about the

intersection of health and human rights

and has worked with multiple non-

profit organizations in the NYC area.

Specifically, during her time at Sinai,

Saloni pursued a Global Health project

to understand the barriers to care that

affect the South Asian population with

the support of the Global Health

Fellowship and the guidance of Dr.

Joseph Masci. She envisions patient

advocacy to be a central component of

her eventual work as a physician.

Jacob M.

Appel Associate

Professor of

Psychiatry and

Medical

Education

MD, JD,

MPH

Mount Sinai

Hospital,

Mount Sinai

Beth Israel,

Mount Sinai

Morningside,

Mount Sinai

West, Icahn

School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Jacob M. Appel is Associate Professor

of Psychiatry and Medical Education

at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of

Medicine, where he is Director of

Ethics Education in Psychiatry and

Assistant Director of the Academy for

Medicine and the Humanities. He is

also the author of four literary novels

including Millard Salter's Last Day,

ten short story collections, an essay

collection, a cozy mystery, a thriller, a

volume of poems and a compendium

of medical dilemmas. Prior to joining

the faculty at Mount Sinai, Jacob

taught at Brown University in

Providence, Rhode Island, and at

Yeshiva College, where he was the

writer-in-residence. More at

www.jacobmappel.com

Heidi Baer Associate

Professor

MD Mount Sinai

West, Mount

Sinai

Morningside

Dr. Heidi Baer is an Associate Professor

of Emergency Medicine and the

Director of Simulation at Mount Sinai

West and Morningside. She is

clinically active at the Mount Sinai

West and Morningside Hospital’s

Departments of Emergency Medicine.

She trained in emergency medicine at

Drexel (Formerly MCP-Hahnemann), in

Philadelphia. Prior to residency, she

completed her undergraduate degree at

Duke University, a Master of Arts in

Health Sciences, at Harvard University

Extension School, and medical school

at Drexel University College of

Medicine.

Dr. Baer has held multiple clinical and

administrative positions in addition to

her role as the Director of Simulation

Emergency Medicine, including the

Medical Director of the Patient Safety

Institute at Staten Island University

Hospital, Staten Island, Donald and

Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at

Hofstra/Northwell.

As a noted simulation education leader,

Dr. Baer is active locally and nationally

in healthcare simulation education and

has been a mentor for residents and

fellows for more than a decade. She has

developed evidence-based curricula to

improve communication and team-

based learning for medical students,

residents, fellows, faculty and

interdisciplinary advance practice

providers. She is nationally known for

her participation in local, national and

international SimWars® events.

Richard

Bakst

Associate

Professor

MD Mount Sinai

Hospital, Icahn

School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Dr. Bakst is a radiation oncologist who

specializes in the treatment of head

and neck cancers and lymphoma. He

conducts both translational and clinical

research that often involves Mount

Sinai Medical students.

Martin

Beitler

Adjunct Assistant

Professor

MD Icahn School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Dr. Martin Beitler, MD is an Internal

Medicine Specialist in New York, NY

and has over 35 years of experience in

the medical field. He graduated from

Mount Sinai School of Medicine in

1985.

Lauren

Blackwell

Assistant Program

Director of the

Pulmonary and

Critical Care

Fellowship

Program,

Assistant

Professor

MD Mount Sinai

Morningside,

Mount Sinai

West, and

Mount Sinai

Beth Israel.

Dr. Lauren Blackwell is the Assistant

Program Director of the Pulmonary and

Critical Care Fellowship Program at

Mount Sinai Morningside, Mount Sinai

West, and Mount Sinai Beth Israel.

She joined the faculty in the Division of

Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

at Mount Sinai Beth Israel as Assistant

Professor in 2019. Prior to this, she

worked as an intensivist for Bayshore

Medical Center in Holmdel, NJ.

Dr. Blackwell completed her

undergraduate degree at the University

of Maryland College Park and received

her medical degree from Rutgers, New

Jersey Medical School in Newark. She

also completed residency and

fellowship at NJMS. During her year as

Chief Medial Resident, she pioneered a

procedure simulation training program

for residents. She taught critical care

ultrasound during fellowship and as

Chief Fellow revamped the board

review lecture series for fellows. Her

other interests include medical

education and sepsis.

Erik

Blutinger

Assistant

Professor

MD, MSc Mount Sinai

Queens, Icahn

School of

Dr. Blutinger has many interests. He is

an emergency physician at Mount

Sinai Queens (MSQ) Hospital and

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

works part-time in Urgent Care and

telehealth services across the Sinai

Health system. He also serves as

Simulation champion, providing high-

fidelity based medical education to all

staff on a monthly basis. He

continuously works with various

media outlets to educate the general

public about clinical conditions and

has been featured in the US (CNN,

MSNBC, WAPO, and the WSJ) and

overseas (ABC World News, ITV,

BBC) for his frontline clinical

experience in the COVID19 pandemic

- now even working on his own

documentary film. Erik has an

advanced degree in public health, and

has worked in multiple national

healthcare systems and underserved

communities, including townships in

South Africa and Guatemala, Bhutan,

India, and Austria. He serves on

several national Committees to the

American College of Emergency

Physicians (ACEP), and the

International Federation of Emergency

Medicine (IFEM) Education

Committee. He has written numerous

peer-reviewed publications plus Op-Ed

pieces for newspapers including the

Philadelphia Inquirer. He holds an MD

degree from the George Washington

School of Medicine and holds an MSc

in Health Policy from the London

School of Hygiene and Tropical

Medicine (LSHTM) and the London

School of Economics (LSE).

Richard

Bonforte

Clinical Professor MD Mount Sinai

Hospital, Icahn

School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

A graduate of Georgetown University

School of Medicine, Dr. Bonforte

completed his residency and fellowship

training at Mount Sinai Hospital and

has held a variety of clinical and

managerial roles as a Division Chief,

Department Chair and, most recently,

Senior VP for Medical Affairs at

various sites within the Mount Sinai

Healthcare System. He is currently

Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Icahn

School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

School of Medicine. Dr. Bonforte has

been actively involved with

NYCHSRO/MedReview since its

inception, and currently serves as

Secretary of the Board of Directors.

More recently, he joined the staff as

Medical Director for Pediatrics.

Eileen

Callahan

Associate

Professor

MD Mount Sinai

Hospital,

Mount Sinai

Morningside,

Icahn School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Eileen Callahan MD is an Associate

Professor in the Brookdale Department

of Geriatric and Palliative Medicine.

She did her Internal Medicine

residency and a chief residency at St.

Vincent's Hospital. She did her

Geriatric fellowship at Mount Sinai.

As an attending here, in 1997 she was

Medical Director of the ACE Unit

until 2005. Since then her primary

clinical focus is in the Martha Stewart

Center for Living caring for older

patients in the community. She has

been a faculty member in Arts and

Science of Medicine Year 2 since 2006

and Year 1 since 2019.

Fernando

Carnavali

Assistant

Professor

MD Mount Sinai

Morningside,

Mount Sinai

West

Dr. Carnavali graduated from the

University Of Buenos Aires School Of

Medicine in 1988 and completed his

residency in Internal Social Medicine

and fellowship in Infectious Diseases at

Montefiore Medical Center/ Albert

Einstein University. After his

fellowship, he joined the faculty of the

Designated AIDS Center at St. Luke’s -

Roosevelt Hospital Center in New

York. He continued his career within

the field of HIV care for over a decade

as Medical Director of different New

York State Designated AIDS Centers.

In 2009, he joined the Association for

the Help of Retarded Children (AHRC)

in New York, an affiliated of Beth

Israel Medical Center as its Medical

Director. At AHRC, Dr. Carnavali

successfully tackled the challenge of

managing a complex multi-specialty

practice. Dr. Carnavali joined the

Mount Sinai Health System in

November of 2014 and led the re-design

of two large multispecialty clinical

practices in Queens. Dr. Carnavali has

remained committed to teaching

medical students since his time in

medical school. He has continued in this

role coordinating, supporting and

actively participating in the outpatient

clerkship hosting Mount Sinai Medical

School students. In 2019, Dr. Carnavali

joined the Department of Medicine at

Mount Sinai Morningside – Mount

Sinai West as its Chief for the Division

of General Internal Medicine. Dr.

Carnavali has an active involvement in

other substantial activities and

committees within the Mount Sinai

Health System including the Mount

Sinai Health Partners - Board of

Managers Executive Committee and the

Compensation and Funds Flow

Committee. When the COVID-19

health crisis came to New York City,

Dr. Carnavali coordinated the respond

to the crisis at all Mount Sinai West and

Mount Sinai Morningside outpatient

sites.

Michael

Chietero

Associate

Professor of

Anesthesiology &

Pediatrics

MD Mount Sinai

Hospital

Dr. Chietero is a pediatric

anesthesiologist at Mount Sinai. He

went to medical school at Columbia

University and has been at Mount Sinai

since 1985. He did his residency in

anesthesiology and his fellowship in

pediatric anesthesiology at Mount Sinai

and started as a faculty member in

1988. He has been involved in medical

education since 1995, as Clerkship

Director for the Anesthesiology

Clerkship, which has now transitioned

to Co-clerkship director for the Surgery-

Anesthesiology Clerkship. He has been

an interviewer for the medical school

admissions committee since the year

2000.

Sayeeda

Chowdhury

MS4 BA Icahn School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Sayeeda Chowdhury is a fourth-year

medical student that hopes to apply

into family medicine. She is a native

New Yorker, growing up in Queens.

During her time at Mount Sinai, she

has been involved in multiple student

organizations, such as Human Rights

and Social Justice Program, American

Women's Medical Association, Family

Medicine Interest Group, and the

Admissions committee. Her goal is to

intersect human rights, community-

based health, and medicine in her

career. In her spare time, She is a

powerlifter and teaches others to lift

weights as a program manager at an

organization called Strength For All.

Jeffrey

Ciccone

Assistant

Professor

MD Mount Sinai

Hospital,

Mount Sinai

West, Icahn

School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Dr. Ciccone is assistant professor of

anesthesiology and pain management in

the department of anesthesiology,

perioperative and pain medicine at

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount

Sinai. He completed his undergraduate

training at Cornell University and went

on to earn his medical degree from

Stony Brook School of Medicine. He

completed his board certification

residency in anesthesiology. He further

went on to fellowship training for pain

management. He specializes in

interventional spine, sports and

musculoskeletal medicine and

procedures, with particular interest in

advancing the field of neuromodulation

(nerve stimulation). He specializes in all

spine and musculoskeletal techniques

and is part of the sub-department of

integrative pain management and is

interested in employing multimodal

therapies using technological advances

in conjunction with physical therapy.

Courtney

Connolly

MS4 BA Icahn School

of Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Courtney Connolly is a fourth year


Medicine at Mount Sinai. She is

originally from New Jersey and

studied biology at the University of

Pennsylvania. She is returning from a

scholarly year where she developed an

independent research project studying

the use of 3D ultrasound to analyze

IUD malpositioning. At Sinai, she is a

founding member of Girls Empowered

in Science and Medicine (GEMS) and

has enjoyed volunteering for the

school's student run free clinic,

EHHOP, Prenatal Partners, and

MedDOCs.

James

Cornwall

Assistant

Professor

MD Mount Sinai

Hospital,

Mount Sinai

Beth Israel,

Mount Sinai

Morningside,

Mount Sinai

West,

Icahn School

of Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Dr. Cornwall is an assistant professor

of vascular surgery at Icahn School of

Medicine at Mount Sinai. He

graduated with an MD from the Mount

Sinai School of Medicine and

subsequently stayed at Mount Sinai to

complete his training in the integrated

vascular surgery residency

Elisha

Dickstein

Associate

Professor of

Anesthesiology,

Perioperative &

Pain Medicine

MD Mount Sinai

Hospital

Dr. Dickstein serves as Vice Chair of

Clinical Operations for the Department

of Anesthesiology and Clinical

Coordinator in the MSH Operating

Rooms. Aside from these

administrative roles, his clinical efforts

focus on patients undergoing

colorectal and kidney transplant

surgery. He has published novel

research and spoken extensively on the

incorporation of truncal blocks into

abdominal surgery and directs the

implementation of Enhanced Recovery

After Surgery (ERAS) protocols at

MSH.

Aislyn

DiRisio

MS4 BS Icahn School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Aislyn DiRisio is a fourth year

medical student in the MD/MS in

Clinical Research program from

Albany, NY. She is pursuing a career

in neurosurgery and is interested in the

intersection between neurologic and

psychiatric disease, movement

disorders, and research

methods/design for surgical

specialties. She graduated from

Cornell University in 2016 where she

majored in Human Biology, Health,

and Society -- studying molecular

nutrition, developmental psychology,

and health policy. At ISMMS, she has

expanded on her interests in public

health and mental health through her

work with the Mount Sinai Human

Rights Program, which provides

medical and psychological evaluations

for asylum seekers. Outside of

medicine she enjoys figure skating,

hiking in the Adirondack mountains,

biking through Central Park, and

exploring restaurants in New York.

Celina

Dubin


Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Celina Dubin is a fourth year medical

student applying into dermatology.

She attended Harvard University for

her undergraduate degree and was

admitted to Mount Sinai through the

FlexMed program. Throughout

medical school, she has done

translational research on inflammatory

skin diseases, focused on identifying

immune dysregulations in the skin and

serum of patients with conditions such

as atopic dermatitis, alopecia areata,

and vitiligo. She also serves as a

member of the board of directors and

the Director of Medical Student

Organization, Development, and

Strategy for a national non-profit

organization called Scrubs Addressing

the Firearm Epidemic (SAFE), which

is focused on promoting increased

research and education to support

evidence-based policy initiatives to

protect patients from firearm violence.

Celina is passionate about medical

education and teaching, while at

Mount Sinai she has been a tutor, a

head teaching assistant for the MS1

anatomy course, and she has been

involved with the admissions

department since her first year. In her

free time, she loves to be outdoors

hiking or biking, and enjoys running,

tennis, and other fitness activities.

Erick Eiting Associate

Professor

MD, MPH,

MMM

Mount Sinai

Beth Israel

Erick A. Eiting, MD, MPH, MMM, is a

tireless advocate focused on improving

care and access for vulnerable patient

populations. He is currently Vice Chair

of Operations in the Department of

Emergency Medicine at Mount Sinai

Downtown, where he is also Medical

Director for Quality at the Center for

Transgender Medicine and Surgery at

Mount Sinai. He serves as Co-Chair of

Committee to Eliminate Healthcare

Disparities for the Medical Society of

the State of New York and Vice

President for the New York County

Medical Society. He previously worked

for NYC Health + Hospitals in

Correctional Health Services as the

Director of Population Health, and at

the Keck School of Medicine of the

University of Southern California,

where he served as Medical Director for

Inmate Health Services at LAC+USC

Medical Center and also as Medical

Director for USC Correctional Health.

His award-winning interventions

focused on improving health outcomes

and access to care for incarcerated

patients and generated millions of

dollars in cost savings for Los Angeles

County.

Carrie

Ernst

Associate

Professor

MD Mount Sinai

Hospital, Icahn

School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Dr. Ernst is a psychiatrist who

specializes in Consultation-Liaison

Psychiatry, an area of psychiatry

focusing on those individuals with both

medical and psychiatric conditions. In

addition to her clinical work, she runs

the Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry

fellowship, is the Associate Course

Director for the 2nd year medical

student Brain and Behavior course, and

is the Co-Director of Admissions at the


Sinai.

Rebecca

Fisher

MS4 MS, BA Icahn School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Rebecca Fisher is a fourth year

medical student at Mount Sinai. She

was born and raised in New York City

and studied French at Duke

University. Before coming to medical

school, she worked for Teach for

America as a 6th grade special

education teacher in the Bronx, NY.

At Mount Sinai, she has been involved

in teaching local high school students

about medicine, global health research,

and cardiology research. In her free

time she enjoys traveling and

exploring the outdoors. She plans to

begin her residency in internal

medicine this coming fall.

Kenneth

Flax

Assistant

Professor

MD Mount Sinai

Hospital

Kenneth Flax, M.D. is an Assistant

Professor of Anesthesiology,

Perioperative and Pain Medicine at

Mount Sinai Hospital. He received his

undergraduate degree from Williams

College and his medical degree from

the Mount Sinai Medical School. He

completed his residency in

Anesthesiology at The Mount Sinai

Hospital. In his clinical practice, Dr.

Flax is involved in a wide variety of

surgical procedures, including

orthopedic, vascular, obstetric,

transplant, and ambulatory procedures.

He is directly involved in resident and

medical student education, with

experience in simulation based

curricula, and a particular interest in

the application of point-of-care

ultrasound.

Beverly

Forsyth

Associate

Professor

MD Mount Sinai

Hospital, Icahn

School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Dr. Forsyth took a non-traditional path

to medicine, living and working in San

Francisco for many years after college

before returning to the east coast to

attend the University of Vermont

College of Medicine. She came to New

York City because she wanted to work

with urban underserved communities,

and completed the Primary Care/Social

Medicine Residency at Albert Einstein

College of Medicine. She came to

Mount Sinai in 2003 as an Infectious

Diseases Fellow and has remained as

faculty. As an Infectious Diseases HIV

specialist, she provides comprehensive

and longitudinal care to HIV-infected

individuals. As a physician in an

academic practice, she has the

opportunity to teach clinical medicine to

fellows, residents, and medical students.

She participates in the medical school

curriculum as Director of Medical

Student Electives. She also advises

students on their elective plans. In

addition, she develops and oversees the

Nexus Learning courses, which are non-

credit courses for first -and second-year

students. In addition to her work with

electives, she is the Medical Director of

the Morchand Center for Clinical

Competence, the clinical skills center

for the school and health system.

Eric Fried Assistant

Professor

MD, BS Mount Sinai

Hospital

Dr. Fried is an assistant professor in

the Department of Anesthesiology,

Perioperative and Pain medicine at the


Sinai. He completed his undergraduate

training at Cornell University and went

on to earn his medical degree from

SUNY Downstate. He completed his

residency in Anesthesiology at

Columbia University Medical Center

and went on for fellowship training in

Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology at

Columbia University Medical Center.

He specializes in Cardiothoracic

Anesthesiology. His research interests

include cough simulator development,

testing of intubation barrier devices,

and blood conservation.

Stephanie

Freilich

Assistant Clinical

Professor

MD Mount Sinai

Hospital, Icahn

School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Dr. Freilich graduated from the Mount

Sinai School of Medicine in 1991 and

completed her Pediatric residency at the

Mount Sinai Hospital in 1994. She is

currently in private practice in

Manhattan.

Jennifer

Fung

Assistant

Professor

MD Mount Sinai

Morningside,

Mount Sinai

West

Dr. Jennifer Fung is an assistant

professor at Mount Sinai Morningside

and West hospitals in both pulmonary

and critical care medicine and

palliative care medicine. She attended

college at Columbia University,

medical school at SUNY Downstate

and residency at Brown University.

She completed fellowships in

pulmonary and critical care medicine

at Mount Sinai Hospital and a

palliative care fellowship at New York

University. She spends the majority of

her time at Mount Sinai Morningside

providing ICU care and palliative care.

Sylvia

Garcia

Assistant Program

Director,

Emergency

Medicine

Residency,

Assistant

Professor

Pediatric

Emergency

Medicine

MD Mount Sinai

Hospital;

Mount Sinai

Queens; Mount

Sinai Beth

Israel; Mount

Sinai

Morningside;

New York Eye

and Ear

Infirmary of

Mount Sinai;

Icahn School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

A native New Yorker, who went to

Brown University as an undergraduate,

completing her medical education at

Morehouse School of Medicine, then a

Pediatric residency at Emory

University, and later a fellowship in

Pediatric Emergency Medicine at the

University of Pittsburgh, Dr Garcia

circled back home to New York and has

been an attending in the Department of

Emergency Medicine at Mount Sinai for

the past 12 years. Mount Sinai is a high

acuity site for the Emergency Medicine

residency, and medical education is the

focus of her clinical contribution to the

residency. As the Pediatric Education

leader for the Emergency Medicine

(EM) and Pediatric residencies, she

coordinates conferences with the

Chiefs, and is the leader for Pediatric

Simulation for the EM residency. She

serves as an Assistant Program Director

for the EM residency. Her other

interests lie in Diversity, Equity and

Inclusion (DEI). She is involved with

the system-wide and EM resident DEI

committees, with a focus on community

outreach and recruitment for the EM

residency.

Evan

Garden


Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Evan Garden is a 4th year medical

student at ISMMS interested in

pursuing a career in urology. He has

spent the last two years as one of three

student council representatives to the

Admissions Committee. Evan recently

completed a scholarly year performing

clinical research in the Department of

Urology and developing a clinical

procedural skills curriculum as part of

an independent research project funded

by the Institute for Medical Education.

Alioune

Gaye


Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Alioune Gaye is a fourth year medical

student at the Icahn school of

Medicine at Mount Sinai. Prior to

attending Mount Sinai Alioune

received his Bachelors of Science in

Chemical Engineering from Howard

University. In addition to his MD

Alioune is concurrently working on his

MPH in Global Health. While at

Mount Sinai Alioune has been

involved in EHHOP (East Harlem

Health Outreach Partnership), our

student run free clinic, as a Clinic

Manager and Phlebotomist, as well as

SNMA, MedStart, Christian

Fellowship and Med Students for

Haiti. In his free time Alioune enjoys

watching/playing basketball and

soccer and finding new food spots in

the city.

Brandon

Gold

Scholarly Year BA Icahn School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Brandon Gold is a Scholarly Year

student in between his MS3 and MS4

years at the Icahn School of Medicine

at Mount Sinai and the current Head

and Neck Research Fellow for Mount

Sinai’s Department of

Otolaryngology-Head and Neck

Surgery. He grew up on Long Island

and earned his Bachelor of Arts from

Cornell University, majoring in

Economics. In addition to serving on

the admissions committee, some of

Brandon’s involvements as a Sinai

student have included leading both the

Surgery Interest Group and

Maimonides Society, taking part in the

ISMMS Covid Student Taskforce, and

serving as a teaching assistant for the

first year ISMMS Structures Course.

His current research interests range

from clinical to basic science and

include the investigation of various

prognostic indicators for HPV-related

head and neck cancer, as well as the

utilization of regenerative medicine

and immunobiology to help facilitate

long-segment tracheal transplantation.

Outside of his academic interests,

Brandon enjoys taking advantage of

living in NYC by going for runs in

Central Park, exploring the diverse

restaurant scene, or catching a game at

Yankee Stadium.

Robert

Green

Associate

Professor

MD Mount Sinai

Hospital

Dr. Green is an Associate Professor in

the Division of Newborn Medicine at

ISMMS and an attending neonatologist

at the Mount Sinai Kravis Children's

Hospital and takes care of babies in the

intensive care unit. His primary focus

is the clinical care of newborns in the

NICU and the teaching of neonatology

fellows, pediatric residents, and

medical students. He also serves on

numerous hospital and medical school

committees.

Arthur

Guffanti

Research

Associate

Professor

PhD Mount Sinai

Hospital, Icahn

School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Dr. Guffanti was trained as a

microbiologist and received a PhD from

Columbia University, after a stint in the

U.S. army. He started working at Mount

Sinai in 1975 in the Dept. of

Biochemistry and continued there for

thirty years doing basic research in

bacterial bioenergetics where he studied

bacteria (alkaliphiles) that grow at high

pH values. The research involved

elucidating the mechanisms whereby

these organisms take in molecules, how

they swim, and how they synthesize

ATP via a proton-motive force. In the

laboratory he supervised many PhD

candidate graduate students,

undergraduates, and high school

students who were co-authors on

scientific papers with him. Through his

work he was able to attend several

domestic and international conferences

where he presented his findings to his

fellow microbiologists. Dr. Guffanti has

served on the admissions committee for

over thirty years and has had the

pleasure of interviewing many

outstanding applicants.

Swapnil

Gupta

Associate

Professor

MBBS, MD Mount Sinai

Morningside

Swapnil Gupta is Associate Professor

and Medical Director of Ambulatory

Psychiatry at Mount Sinai

Morningside Hospital. She was trained

as a psychiatrist both in India as well

as the United States, at SUNY

Downstate Medical Center and Yale

University, developing the skills of

phenomenological, psychodynamic

and neurobiological approaches

towards distressing psychological

experiences. She started her career as

an academic psychiatrist researching

the role of the endocannabinoid system

in the pathophysiology of

schizophrenia. Her subsequent

scholarship has focused on the

application of deprescribing, or the

systematic reduction of superfluous

medications, to the discipline of

psychiatry by rooting it in the

principles of recovery-oriented care.

She has authored numerous peer-

reviewed papers on the topic of

deprescribing including a book

published by OUP.

Blaze Gusic Director of

School Based

Health

MD Mount Sinai

Hospital

Dr. Blaze Gusic is the Director of

School Based Health at Mount Sinai

Medical Center. He received his

Bachelor of Arts from the University of

Pennsylvania, graduating summa cum

laude with a major in The Biological

Basis of Behavior. He continued at the

University of Pennsylvania School of

Medicine where he received his

Medical Degree. He completed his

internship and residency in Pediatrics at

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los

Angeles. He has extensive experience

in Outpatient Pediatrics, including

serving as the Medical Director of the

Primary Care Center at The Children’s

Hospital of Philadelphia, the Director of

Primary Care for Crozer Pediatrics in

Pennsylvania and most recently as the

Director of Outpatient Pediatrics at The

Bronx-Lebanon Health System in New

York. He also spent ten summers as the

Medical Director of Dragonfly Forest, a

camp for children with chronic medical

conditions. He is certified by the

American Board of Pediatrics.

Publications:

The Five Minute Pediatric Consult, two

chapters.

Leeza Hirt MS4 BA Icahn School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Leeza Hirt is a fourth-year medical

student at the Icahn School of

Medicine at Mount Sinai applying into

Anesthesiology. Originally from

Lawrence, NY, Leeza earned a B.A. in

History from Columbia University

before beginning medical school.

During her time at ISMMS, she has

been involved in and led several

student organizations, including the

Mount Sinai Human Rights Program,

Chemo Companions, REACH-in, and

the Maimonides Society. She is also a

student advisor for first, second, and

third-year students.

Patrick Hof Professor MBBS, MD Icahn School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Dr. Hof is Regenstreif Professor in the

Nash Family Department of

Neuroscience at ISMMS where he

directs the Glickenhaus Center for

Successful Aging and co-founded the

Computational Neurobiology and

Imaging Center. He also is Associate

Director of the ISMMS Alzheimer’s

Disease Research Center. He is

internationally recognized for his work

in quantitative neuropathology of

normal aging and dementia. He is the

author of more than 500 papers in

human neuroanatomy and brain

evolution. In 2012, he became Editor-

in-Chief of the Journal of Comparative

Neurology. His research is directed

towards the study of selective neuronal

vulnerability in neuropsychiatric

illnesses using classical

neuropathological as well as modern

quantitative cell biology methods. Dr

Hof has extensive expertise in

neurostereology, morphometry, and

comparative brain anatomy and is one

of the leaders in the development of

software for automatic 3D high-

resolution reconstruction of neuronal

morphologies and analysis of their

morphometric characteristics.

Jeff Huang Scholarly Year BA Icahn School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Jeff is currently a scholarly year

student between his 3rd and 4th years

of medical school. He is planning to

apply for Ophthalmology and is

currently doing research involving

improving cataract surgery via

machine learning as well as studying

exfoliation syndrome. At Sinai, he has

been involved in Music to Heal,

Culinary Club, and also volunteers in

the Ophthalmology Clinic at Mt.

Sinai's EHHOP free clinic on

weekends. Jeff is originally from

California at went to undergrad at the

University of California Irvine and

studies business administration. He

spent a gap year working as a scribe in

the Emergency Department, improving

his Mandarin language skills, and

travelling across Asia. In his free time,

he enjoys hiking, camping,

snowboarding, cooking, and exploring

new restaurants in New York.

Teresa

Janevic

Associate

Professor

PhD, MPH Icahn School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Dr. Teresa Janevic, MPH PhD is a

perinatal epidemiologist with a focus

in health equity and social

determinants of population health. Dr.

Janevic is Associate Director of the

Blavatnik Family Women’s Health

Research Institute, in the Departments

of Population Health Science and

Policy, and Obstetrics, Gynecology

and Reproductive Science, at Icahn

School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

She obtained her MPH in

Epidemiology and Biostatistics from

University of California, Berkeley, and

PhD in Epidemiology from Columbia

University. Dr. Janevic’s research

examines why social exposures such

as neighborhood context, racial

discrimination, immigration, and stress

influence perinatal and reproductive

health outcomes, and the role of

quality of health care in these

relationships. She uses a mixed

methods approach – large

administrative data provide a “real-

world” population health perspective,

while community-based qualitative

work gives voice to vulnerable women

and stimulates novel research

hypotheses. Her current research

portfolio includes projects on: (1) the

role of hospital quality in social

determinants of maternal and neonatal

morbidity, (2) health care

discrimination and maternal health, (3)

disparities in long-term health after

gestational diabetes, (4) the influence

of health care policy on immigrant

maternal health, and (5) birth equity

and long-term cardiometabolic health.

Her wide ranging skills in qualitative

and quantitative research methods

provide a rich source of material for

mentorship of medical students,

residents, and fellows at ISMMS. The

ultimate goal of her research is to

identify strategies to attain health

equity, and to catalyze the next

generation of women’s health

researchers.

Waleed

Javaid

Associate

Professor

MD Mount Sinai

Beth Israel,

Mount Sinai

Brooklyn, New

York Eye and

Ear Infirmary

of Mount Sinai,

Icahn School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Dr. Waleed Javaid, in his role as a

Hospital Epidemiologist and Director of

Infection Prevention and Control, works

to reduce healthcare-associated

infections with a focus on patient safety.

He believes that infection prevention is

everyone’s responsibility. His major

interest is to engage the whole team,

from frontline staff to senior leadership,

to collaboratively reduce patient harm,

infections and enhance patient safety

throughout the organization. He has

integrated infection control and

stewardship principles with evidence-

based clinical practice guidelines

resulting in sustainable enhanced

outcomes. Hospitals, under his

leadership, have achieved nationally

recognized significant decrease in

hospital-acquired infections. Dr. Javaid

is a national expert and educator in

infection control. He continues to

participate in many national

organizations and committees. He is a

member of the Society for Healthcare

Epidemiology of America (SHEA)

guidelines and education committee,

and Council for Outbreak Response:

HAI and Antibiotic resistance

(CORHA). He participated and

contributed to the development of

SHEA CDC/SHEA Outbreak Response

Training Program and the Online ID

Fellows Course: Primer on Healthcare

Epidemiology, Infection Control &

Antimicrobial Stewardship. He has

given talks on a wide range of infection

control, infectious diseases and

leadership topics in international,

national and local meetings. He also

has written and co-authored several

publications on antimicrobial resistance,

infectious diseases, and is a regular

guest expert in the media. He is a

Fellow of the American College of

Physicians, the Infectious Disease

Society of America and the Society of

Health Care Epidemiology of America.

Jacqueline

Junn

Assistant

Professor

MD Mount Sinai

Hospital

Dr. Jacqueline Junn is a

neuroradiologist specializing in head

and neck imaging. She completed her

residency at Emory University

Hospital and neuroradiology

fellowship at the University of

California, San Francisco.

Arjun

Kapoor

MS4 MA Icahn School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Arjun Kapoor is a 4th year medical


Medicine, currently applying into

Internal Medicine. Before entering

medical school, he obtained a Masters

in Public Policy, completing a thesis

on reducing waste in the US healthcare

system. At Mount Sinai, Arjun focused

his time on research at both the Mount

Sinai Kidney Stone Center as well as

the Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital

Health. His work includes identifying

predictors of antibiotic resistance in

patients with urosepsis, as well as

studying kidney injury biomarkers

associated with Holmium:YAG laser

lithotripsy. Arjun also contributed to

research identifying key risk factors

for mortality in COVID-19

hospitalized patients. Previously an

undergraduate biology lecturer, Arjun

is passionate about teaching and has

continued this role as an anatomy

teaching assistant. Outside of

medicine, Arjun is an avid

photographer, car enthusiast, and

biker.

Alexandra

Karol


Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Alex Karol is a 4th year medical

student at ISMMS. Prior to

matriculating he served as a high

school STEM teacher at a St. Louis

charter school. At Mount Sinai he has

been heavily involved in EHHOP

where he serves as a chronic care

provider. He also participates in

translational hematology research at

the Tisch Cancer Institute.

Furthermore, he has a passion for

education and currently serves as

senior academic tutor. In his free time

you can find him fishing on long

island sound, running in central park,

or playing basketball at Aron hall!

Daniel Katz

Associate

Professor

MD Mount Sinai

Hospital

Dr. Katz is very interested in research

involving serious games as teaching

tools, and has been involved in the

development of several serious games,

two of which he designed and validated.

Currently, Dr. Katz has focused on

virtual and augmented reality

environments and their role in

education. He has developed virtual

teaching modules and performing

studies on both participant and clinical

outcomes. In the clinical domain,

Dr. Katz is heavily involved in obstetric

anesthesiology and clinical research. He

has conducted clinical trials examining

the utility of spinal additives for

cesarean section, as well as the

utilization of quantified measurements

of blood loss using artificial

intelligence. Dr. Katz also

has a focus on obstetric hemorrhage and

viscoelastic testing.

Saakshi

Khattri

Assistant

Professor

MD Mount Sinai

Hospital,

Dr. Saakshi Khattri is a board certified

Dermatologist, Rheumatologist and

Mount Sinai

Morningside,

Mount Sinai

West

Internist and one of only a handful of

triple board certified physicians across

the United States. After completing

her M.B.B.S. from Delhi University

(India), Dr. Khattri moved to New

York to complete her Internal

Medicine Residency followed by a

fellowship in Rheumatology at the

Albert Einstein College of Medicine in

New York. It was during her

fellowship that she realized how little

rheumatologists knew about the skin

and vice versa. She completed a two-

year long research fellowship in

Rockefeller University under the

mentorship of Dr. Emma Guttman and

Dr. James Krueger where she

conducted both bench research and

clinical trials in atopic dermatitis and

psoriasis. Dr. Khattri then completed a

residency in Dermatology at the Icahn

School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in

New York, where she served as chief

resident and after the completion of

her residency stayed as an Assistant

Professor. She is the Director of The

Center for Connective Tissue

Diseases, at Mount Sinai. Her clinical

focus is on inflammatory and

autoimmune skin diseases, complex

medical dermatology and diseases with

rheumatology/dermatology overlap.

Besides patient care she is actively

involved in research and is PI for

several clinical trials in various

autoimmune and inflammatory

diseases ( psoriasis, atopic dermatitis,

lichen planus and hidradenitis to name

a few)

Alyce Kuo Scholarly Year BS Icahn School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Alyce Kuo is a scholarly year student

at Mount Sinai. She is currently

spending a year between her third and

fourth year of medical school doing

research at Memorial Sloan Kettering

Cancer center, focusing on adverse

events as a result of cancer therapies.

Her other research interests include

identifying and addressing health

disparities and improving patient

quality of life. She is originally from

south Florida and graduated from the

University of Miami with degrees in

Public Health and Biology prior to

starting medical school. At Mount

Sinai, Alyce has been deeply involved

with leading the Music and Medicine

and Music at Bedside student groups,

among others.

Karen Lee Associate

Professor

MD Mount Sinai

Hospital

Dr. Lee is an Associate Professor in

the Department of Diagnostic,

Molecular and Interventional

Radiology, Body Imaging section. She

is involved in clinical research, with a

personal interest in oncologic diseases

of the hepatopancreaticobiliary system

and an emphasis on hepatocellular

carcinoma (HCC). In addition to her

involvement with medical school

through Admissions and medical

student electives, she has participated

in surgical missions to Liberia through

the Institute of Global Health. She

received both her undergraduate and

medical degrees from Northwestern

University before returning to New

York, her home state. She completed

residency and fellowship at the Icahn


and has stayed on as faculty since

graduating.

Jun Yeop

Lee


Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Jun Yeop Lee grew up in Seoul, SK

and migrated to Toronto, Canada for

his secondary education. He went on

to receive his BA in Biology and

Chemistry at the University of

Pennsylvania and worked for five

years in neurodegenerative diseases

lab and breast cancer research lab as

well as volunteered with Action

Wellness of Philadelphia with

HIV/AIDS clients for three years

before coming to ISMMS. During his

years in medical school, Jun was

engaged in a variety of student

activities, including serving as the

junior and senior clinician at the East

Harlem Health Outreach Program,

case manager as the Mount Sinai

Human Rights Program, and

volunteered at programs and initiatives

including the Korean-American

Medical Student Association’s

outreach program as well as the

COVID ED Vaccine outreach

program, based on Mount Sinai

Morningside. He also served as a

leader of the Diagnostic and

Interventional Radiology Interest

Group, the Radiation Oncology

Interest Group, and the Oncology

Interest Group, and conducted number

of research projects in Interventional

Radiology, Radiation Oncology and

Anesthesiology. He plans to apply to

Anesthesiology for his residency

program.

Patrick

Maher

Assistant

Professor

MD MS Mount Sinai

Hospital

Dr. Maher was born in Baltimore,

Maryland but grew up in Atlanta,

Georgia. His undergraduate degree is

from the University of Georgia in

Athens, GA, and he completed his MD

at Georgetown University School of

Medicine in Washington, DC. For

residency, He was part of the inaugural

class in Emergency Medicine at the

University of Washington, where he

also completed fellowship training in

Critical Care Medicine. Since coming

to Mount Sinai, he has been an

Assistant Professor in the Department

of Emergency Medicine, working both

in the ED and the ICU. His research

focuses on coagulopathy and blood

transfusion.

George

Mellgard


Medicine at

Mount Sinai

George Mellgard is a fourth-year


Medicine at Mount Sinai. He was born

and raised in New York City and

attended Duke University for college

where he majored in the Classics. He

is currently applying into internal

medicine residency and plans on

pursuing fellowships in palliative care

and hematology/oncology. While at

ISMMS, George has conducted

research on clinical outcomes for

cancer patients on immune checkpoint

inhibitors, state Medicaid spending for

older adults, and ethics related to

capacity for dementia patients and

financial conflicts of interest at the

end-of-life. He is also involved in the

student-run free clinic, the East

Harlem Health Outreach Partnership,

where he serves as the Chair of the

EHHOP Consulting Group --

providing external consulting for

student-run free clinics across the

country and identifying areas for

quality improvement at EHHOP. In his

spare time, he likes to watch movies

(currently working his way through the

films of Miyazaki), make ice cream,

and go running in Central Park.

Yuko

Merchant

Assistant

Professor

MD Mount Sinai

Hospital, Icahn

School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Dr. Merchant is Assistant Professor in

the Department of Medicine at the


Sinai, and an internist at the Mount

Sinai Doctors Faculty Practice

Associates. In addition to her role at

Faculty Practice, Dr. Merchant serves

as an attending physician in the

Division of Hospital Medicine at

Mount Sinai Medical Center, where

she works closely with many residents

and medical students. During the

COVID pandemic, she led the team as

a frontline clinician and served on

New Yorkers.

Bahar

Moghadda

m

Assistant

Professor

MD, MASc Mount Sinai

Hospital

Bahar Moghaddam, MD is an

Assistant Professor of medicine in the

Division of Rheumatology at Mount

Sinai Hospital. Dr. Moghaddam

received her BA and MS in stem cell

biology, and medical degree from the

University of Toronto and completed

her internal medicine residency at the

University of British Columbia. She

returned to the University of Toronto

for her fellowship in rheumatology

where she served as Chief Resident.

During her training she completed

research in lupus related mortality and

neuropsychiatric lupus. Her clinical

interests include management of

rheumatoid arthritis, connective tissue

diseases and vasculitis, particularly in

women and young adults

Jay A

Motola

Associate

Professor

MD, FACS Mount Sinai

Hospital,

Mount Sinai

Queens,

Mount Sinai

Beth Israel,

Mount Sinai

Morningside,

Mount Sinai

West, Icahn

School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Jay A. Motola, MD, FACS is an

associate professor of Urology at the

Mount Sinai School of Medicine in

New York City. He is also the

residency site director at the Mt Sinai

West. His clinical practice is

concentrated at Mt Sinai West. Prior to

this he was practicing at The Smith

Institute of Urology at Lenox Hill

Hospital, where he was the Vice -

Chairman of the Department of

Urology. Prior to joining Lenox Hill,

he was in clinical practice in

Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess

Counties, New York and was a partner

in one of the largest multispecialty

groups in the region. He is presently a

member of the Coding and

remimbursement committee of the

American Urological Association

(AUA) and serves on the American

Medical Association's CPT Advisory

Board. Dr. Motola served as chair of

Urologic Oncology at Putnam Hospital

and provides charitable services to

Actors Guild Clinic. He was the

President of the NY Section of the

AUAU 2018-2019. Prior to this he was

secretary, and previously the

socioeconomic representative for the

section, and a current member of the

Health Policy Council of the AUA. Dr.

Motola was the Chairman of the

practice management committee of the

AUA (2013-2019). Dr. Motola

actively participates in clinical

research trials and studies combination

therapies for overactive bladder with

simultaneous bladder outlet

obstruction, bladder cancer, BPH, and

LH/RH agonists in the use of prostate

cancer. He is a regional expert for the

use of cryotherapy and minimally

invasive means for treating prostate

cancer. He has extensive experience in

minimally-invasive surgery and female

incontinence. Dr. Motola is the past

Chairman of Medical Board at Putnam

and member of Medical Board at the

Hudson Valley Hospital.

Alberto

Muniz

Rodriguez


Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Alberto is a fourth-year medical


Medicine at Mount Sinai. He's

originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico,

where he lived before moving to

Baltimore to pursue a Writing

Seminars major at The Johns Hopkins

University. He currently serves as the

Operations Chair and as a Teaching

Senior for the Sinai student-run clinic,

EHHOP. Interests outside of medicine

include theater, poetry, and running.

He will be applying to Ob/Gyn in the

upcoming residency application cycle.

Devika

Nadkarni

Scholarly Year BA Icahn School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Devika Nadkarni graduated from

Boston University with a Bachelor of

Arts in Chemistry, following which

she spent a year working at the

intersection of global health and

biomedical engineering with projects

in Zanzibar, Tanzania and Beirut,

Lebanon. She has a strong interest in

international health and biomedical

innovation, and currently serves as Co-

Chair of the East Harlem Health

Outreach Partnership, ISMMS's

student-run free clinic. Her research

interests include inflammatory bowel

disease and infectious disease. She is

currently taking a scholarly year

following her third year of medical

school to keep a fellowship at the

CDC.

Kusuma Nio Assistant

Professor

MD Mount Sinai

Morningside,

Mount Sinai

West,

Dr. Nio is an Assistant Professor in the

Department of Surgery at Icahn School

of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He

specializes in trauma/ acute care

surgery and surgical critical care,

practicing at Mount Sinai Morningside

and Mount Sinai West. Dr. Nio is a

native of Indonesia and grew up in

Canada. He graduated from the

University of Waterloo in Ontario and

received his medical education at the

University of Minnesota Medical

School. He subsequently completed

his general surgery residency training

at Hofstra Northwell School of

Medicine and his surgical critical care

fellowship at University of Illinois -

Chicago, before joining Mount Sinai

as an Assistant Professor of Surgery in

2019. He is also currently serving in

the United States Army Reserve

Medical Corps.

Samuel Oh Scholarly Year BA Icahn School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Samuel Oh is currently on a scholarly

year with the Department of

Otolaryngology. His research interests

span from clinical research to quality

improvement studies in the

department. At ISMMS, Samuel is

involved with the Asian Pacific

American Medical Student

Association (APAMSA) as well as the

East Harlem Health Outreach

Partnership (EHHOP). Outside of

school, Samuel enjoys taking dance

classes, jogging in central park, and

attending live music events (when they

were open).

Femi

Oyewole


Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Femi is currently a 4th year medical

student at Mount Sinai. He is from Los

Angeles, CA and attended University

of Massachusetts Amherst for college

where he majored in Biochemistry,

minored in Mathematics, and played

Division I Football. During his gap

years, he worked at TriLink

Biotechnologies constructing modified

oligonucleotides. At Mount Sinai, he

serves as a Senior Coordinating TA for

Structures, the first course in the

ISMMS curriculum, and volunteers at

EHHOP, the student-run free clinic.

He is interested in community

outreach, medical education, and

sports medicine. In his free time, he

enjoys playing basketball, soccer, and

video games.

Ann-Gel

Palermo Senior Associate

Dean for

Diversity,

Equity, &

Inclusion;

Associate

Professor

DrPH, MPH Icahn School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Ann-Gel S. Palermo DrPH, MPH is

the Senior Associate Dean for

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the


Sinai and the Chief Diversity, Equity,

and Inclusion Officer in Education and

Research of the Mount Sinai Health

System’s Office for Diversity and

Inclusion. Dr. Palermo’s provides

leadership and strategic vision and

guidance in the integration of

diversity, equity, and inclusion

principles into the structures, policies,

and practices of the education and

research environments. Dr. Palermo

spearheads and works in partnership

with senior leaders to develop and

implement initiatives with effective

accountability and assessment

mechanisms to foster a holistic,

equitable, and thriving environment

for Mount Sinai faculty, staff,

students, and trainees.

Valerie

Parkas

Senior Associate

Dean of

Admissions and

Recruitment;

Associate

Professor

MD Icahn School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Dr. Valerie Parkas received both her

undergraduate and medical degrees

from Brown University and completed

her residency training in internal

medicine at New York Hospital-Cornell

University Medical College and her

fellowship in Infectious Diseases at

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer

Center. She joined the faculty of Icahn

School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in

the Department of Medicine, Division

of Infectious Diseases in 1997.

Clinically, Dr. Parkas takes care of

HIV-infected patients. Academically,

she was Course Director for a course

entitled the Art and Science of

Medicine. In this role,

Dr. Parkas developed a clinical

curriculum for first year medical

students as well as an innovative

program, the Longitudinal Clinical

Experience. In 2007, she spearheaded

the implementation of a forward

thinking clerkship in urban primary

care.

She is the faculty advisor for the

Women in Medicine student group. In

2009, Dr. Parkas became the Senior

Associate Dean of Admissions and

Recruitment for the Icahn School of

Medicine at Mount Sinai, a position she

currently still holds.

Alopi Patel Assistant

Professor

MD Mount Sinai

Morningside,

Mount Sinai

West

Dr. Alopi Patel is a double board

certified anesthesiologist and

interventional pain physician. She

attended New Jersey Medical School

at Rutgers and currently works at

Mount Sinai West and Morningside. In

addition to treating many

musculoskeletal conditions, Dr. Patel

focuses on women's health conditions

including interventional techniques for

management of chronic pelvic pain.

Dr. Patel launched a podcast called

The Hurt by The Female Pain Docs

which is meant to empower and

educate patients regarding their health

on topics within anesthesiology, pain

medicine and lifestyle medicine. As a

faculty member, Dr. Patel is actively

engaged in clinical research projects

and resident/fellow education. She has

given lectures in regional and national

conferences on topics in perioperative

and pain medicine as well as the use of

social media in medicine.

Parth Patel Scholarly Year BA Icahn School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Parth Patel is an MD candidate at the


Sinai, currently on a scholarly year

between his third and fourth year of

medical school. He is originally from

New Jersey and attended New York

University for his undergraduate,

where he majored in Anthropology

before coming to ISMMS via the

FlexMed Program. His scholarly year

project is focused on assessing surgical

outcomes after cardiac surgery,

particularly post-operative cardiac

arrest and cardiogenic shock. In

addition to his research, his other

interests include addressing health

disparities, global and community

health, global surgery, and medical

education. He has co-designed and

implemented an innovative curriculum

called Global Surgery and Surgical

Leadership (GSSL) Scholars Program

for first- and second-year medical

students meant to foster the next

generation of global surgery leaders.

Outside of medicine, he enjoys

running through Central Park,

exploring restaurants across NYC,

cooking, and spending time with

friends and family.

Samantha

Platt


Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Sam is a 4th year medical student at

Mount Sinai applying into diagnostic

radiology. She grew up in Cedar

Grove, NJ and attended The College of

New Jersey, where she studied biology

and had minors in English and

Women/ Gender Studies. There, she

pitched for the varsity softball team

and conducted crab osmoregulation

research for four years. While at Sinai,

she has done research in the pediatric

allergy, neurosurgery, orthopedics,

emergency medicine and radiology

departments. She will graduate with a

distinction in research. She was

heavily involved as a tutor and peer

mentor as well as a co-founder of 1G

Sinai, a student group to support first

generation college students at Sinai.

She maintains the Instagram account

for the diagnostic radiology interest

group

(@ismmsradiologyinterestgroup-

follow to see cool cases)! She LOVES

NYC and Central Park, running and

reading books (Educated and Born a

Crime are two of her faves).

Jashvant

Poeran

Associate

Professor

MD PhD Icahn School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Dr. Poeran, at Mount Sinai since 2014,

is an Associate Professor and Director

of the Center for Clinical and Outcomes

Research, collaboration between the

Department of Population Health

Science & Policy and the Department of

Orthopedic Surgery. In addition to these

departments, he is also affiliated with

the Department of Medicine. Dr. Poeran

is a full-time researcher and trained as a

physician and clinical epidemiologist in

the Netherlands, after which he

completed a post-doc at Weill Cornell

Medical College. Dr. Poeran’s research

focuses four central themes 1)

orthopedic surgery, 2)

anesthesiology/perioperative care, 3)

hospital quality improvement, and 4)

sepsis. In his role as Director of the

Center for Clinical and Outcomes

Research, Dr. Poeran works with and

mentors numerous medical students and

residents throughout the academic year

during their research. In his quality

improvement work, Dr. Poeran

collaborates with and mentors various

clinicians throughout the Mount Sinai

Health System on projects varying from

clinical decision support for advanced

imaging to overutilization of laboratory

tests and evaluations of unintended

consequences of hospital policies.

Madhavi

Ponnapalli

Assistant

Professor

MD Mount Sinai

Hospital

Madhavi Ponnapalli was a student at

Mount Sinai School of Medicine from

1990-1994 and completed her Internal

Medicine Residency at Mount Sinai

Hospital in 1997. She then went on to

do an Infectious Diseases fellowship at

Montefiore Hospital. After completing

her training, she joined a private

practice in Central New Jersey where

she practiced inpatient and outpatient

Internal Medicine and Infectious

Diseases for almost 20 years.

Interested in teaching and in widening

the scope of her experience, she

returned to Mount Sinai in 2019 and

joined the staff. She is an Associate

Director of the OPAT program at

MSH, she does inpatient general ID

where she works with fellows,

residents and students. She does

outpatient general ID and HIV and

teaches the microbiology small group

sessions for first year medical

students. She looks forward to meeting

students who might also begin their

medical journey as students at Mount

Sinai!

Pamela

Saenger

Assistant

Professor

MD, MPH Mount Sinai

Hospital

Dr. Pamela Saenger is an Assistant

Professor and has worked as an

Attending for the Hospitalization at

Home (HaH) program at Mount Sinai

since 2017. She graduated from the


Sinai in 2014 and completed her

residency in Internal Medicine at

Mount Sinai. She took a non-

traditional path to medicine, working

in Silicon Valley for several years

after undergrad before relocating

(back) to NYC and pursuing a post-

bacc and med school. Her work within

the HaH program, for which she is

Lead Provider, has focused on quality

improvement, protocol development,

and the launch of HaH pilots for post-

surgical and oncology patients.

Clinical and research interests include

identifying barriers to HaH care and

exploring further adaptations of the

HaH model.

Clifford

Sales

Clinical Assistant

Professor of

Surgery

MD MBA Icahn School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Dr. Sales is a member of the Class of

1986 of the Mount Sinai School of

Medicine who completed a General

Surgery residency and Vascular

Fellowship at Montefiore Medical

Center. He is currently the Managing

Partner of The Cardiovascular Care

Group--one of the largest single

specialty Vascular Surgery practices in

the United States. He has served as

President of the Vascular Society of

New Jersey, has developed the

Overlook Summer Internship Program

(OSIP) which allows college students

interested in a career in medicine to

experience various aspects of the field.

Dr. Sales remains active in clinical

research in addition to Resident

education.

Jay

Schechtman

Assistant Clinical

Professor

MD MBA Icahn School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Dr. Schechtman is Chief Clinical

Officer of Healthfirst for the past 20

years. Healthfirst is a value based, non -

profit managed care organization

sponsored by Mount Sinai and other

academic medical centers in New York.

Dr. Schechtman works with the

population health, finance, and clinical

teams at Mount Sinai to assure top

quality and outcomes for our joint

patients under system risk. Dr.

Schechtman graduated from Mount

Sinai School of Medicine and was a

resident, chief resident and attending in

Rehabilitation Medicine at Mount Sinai.

He also graduated from the 7 year

Sophie Davis/CCNY BS/MD program

as well as the Baruch, Mount Sinai

MBA Program in Healthcare.

Lyris

Schonholz

Assistant Clinical

Professor

MD Icahn School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Dr Lyris Schonholz graduated from

ISMMS in 1983 and completed her

residency in radiology at Mount Sinai

Hospital in 1987. She completed a

fellowship in ultrasound at Thomas

Jefferson University Hospital in 1988.

She is a partner at Schonholz &

Drossman LLP where she exclusively

performs sonograms with a focus on

screening asymptomatic individuals to

diagnose cancers as early as possible

in the ovaries and pancreas for

example. Her practice includes

diagnostic sonograms. All patients are

personally scanned by Dr Schonholz.

She teaches radiology residents at

Mount Sinai board review.

Gita Shaari Assistant Clinical

Professor

MD Icahn School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Dr. Gita Iraj-Shaari (Shaari) is an

Obstetrician-Gynecologist at Elmhurst

Hospital in New York. She is an

Assistant Clinical

Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology

and Reproductive Science at the Icahn

School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr

Iraj- Shaari received her medical degree

at Mount Sinai and completed her

residency training in the Department of

Obstetrics and Gynecology at Mount

Sinai in 1997.

Ron Shapiro Professor of

Surgery

MD Mount Sinai

Hospital

Ron Shapiro, MD is Professor of

Surgery and Surgical Director, Kidney

and Pancreas Transplantation at the

Recanati/Miller Transplantation

Institute at the Icahn School of

Medicine at Mount Sinai. He has been

involved in clinical transplantation for

over 30 years.

Cleo

Siderides


Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Cleo Siderides is a fourth year medical

student originally from Connecticut.

She graduated from Cornell University

with a degree in Art History. She

served as a student council third year

class representative and is currently

serving as a fourth year class

representative. She also served as the

EHHOP head of student recruitment

and a chronic care senior clinician, and

will be serving as a teaching senior

this year. Throughout medical school

she has also participated in surgical

oncology and breast surgery research.

Elizabeth

Singer Associate

Professor of

Emergency

Medicine and

Medical

Education

MD, MPH Mount Sinai

Morningside,

Mount Sinai

West, Icahn

School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Dr. Singer is the Director of the Mount

Sinai Human Rights Program and

faculty in the Emergency Medicine

Global Health Division. Her

background in health and human rights

includes work as a healthcare provider

to survivors of human rights abuses

and asylum seekers to the United

States, as a trainer of clinicians on

immigrant health and trauma-informed

care, and as a contributor to research

and policy agenda. At the Icahn


(ISMMS) she is an educator in the

Institute of Medical Education, the

faculty co-director for the second year

medical school course on health and

human rights, In Focus 3, and the

faculty co-lead of ISMMS’ Gold

Humanism Honors Society chapter.

Prameet

Singh

Associate

Professor

MD Mount Sinai

Hospital,

Mount Sinai

Morningside,

Mount Sinai

West, Icahn

School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Prameet Singh, M.D., is Associate

Professor of Psychiatry and VP of

Behavioral Health for the Mount Sinai

Health System in New York. His

training in psychiatry and fellowship

in addiction psychiatry was completed

at the Beth Israel Medical Center in

New York The majority of Dr. Singh’s

career has been in the graduate

medical education arena, as a

residency program director, and

although he has transitioned to clinical

administration over the last several

years, he remains deeply engaged in

clinical teaching. His expertise is in

complex cases at the interface of drug

use and psychiatric illness, personality

disorders and the treatment of

substance use and mental illness in

physicians. In his present role, he

oversees the clinical operations in

psychiatry across the Mount Sinai

Health System.

Maya

Lakshmi

Srinivasan


Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Maya Lakshmi Srinivasan is currently

a 4th year medical student at Mount

Sinai applying into General Surgery.

She grew up in Saratoga, California

and went to Dartmouth College, where

she majored in Studio Art and Math.

At Mount Sinai, Maya has been

involved in general surgery research

studying post-operative pain

management and the opioid epidemic.

She has also spent time volunteering at

Kravis Children’s Hospital and the

East Harlem Health Outreach

Partnership (EHHOP). Outside of

medical school, Maya enjoys all types

of art but especially painting and

printmaking, singing, running, and

spending time with her friends and

family.

Charles

Stacy

Associate

Professor

MD Mount Sinai

Hospital, Icahn

School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Charles B. Stacy, MD, joined the

Mount Sinai Faculty Practice as

Director of General Neurology,

following 25 years of consultative work

on the voluntary faculty. He is

Associate Professor of Neurology,


Sinai. Dr. Stacy graduated from

Harvard University with honors in

physics, and received his medical

degree from Cornell University School

of Medicine. He pursued his residency

in internal medicine at Mount Sinai

where he subsequently undertook his

training in neurology. Following his

fellowship in pain and neuro-oncology

at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer

Center, he returned to Mount Sinai,

where he started the institution’s first

Pain Clinic and co-founded its first

Sleep Disorder Center.

Dr. Stacy has pursued interests in

numerous areas of consultative and

general neurology, and has taught

clinical skills to residents and students

at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. As

the Director of General Neurology, his

goal is to establish a high level

consultative service for the Medical

Center.

Richard

Stern

Associate

Professor

MD Mount Sinai

Hospital, Icahn

School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Dr. Richard Stern is a senior member of

the faculty of the Department of

Radiology and the Icahn School of

Medicine at Mount Sinai. He holds joint

Associate Professor appointments in the

departments of Radiology, Surgery and

Medical Education. Upon graduation

from medical school he pursued broad

training in the fields of Internal

Medicine, Radiology and Nuclear

Medicine and maintains board

certification in Radiology and Nuclear

Medicine. He is a full-time member of

the Mount Sinai Hospital Department of

Radiology as a member of the

Abdominal Imaging Section where he

reads CT, Ultrasound and MRI.

He complements his clinical

responsibilities with his work in the

medical school.

He teaches students throughout their 4

years at Sinai and is the Director of

Medical Student Education for the

Radiology Department. He has been

recognized for his service to the

hospital and medical school and his

devotion to teaching, receiving multiple

education awards bestowed upon him

by both students and faculty.

Toni Stern Associate

Professor

MD, MS,

MBA,

CHCQM,

CPE

Mount Sinai

Hospital, Icahn

School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Dr. Stern is an Associate Professor in

the Department of Obstetrics,

Gynecology and Reproductive

(OB/GYN) Science, at the Icahn


(ISMMS) and the Mount Sinai Health

System Vice-Chair of Quality and

Clinical Transformation and Chief

Patient Experience Officer for the

Department of OB/GYN. She also

serves as the Senior Associate Dean

for Gender Equity in Clinical Affairs

at the ISMMS. Dr. Stern joined the

faculty in February 2019, and in her

role focuses on establishing a data-

driven framework for the integration

of the quality, equity, and patient

experience with the goal of utilizing

this integrated approach to identify and

eliminate disparities.

Johnny

Tackett Assistant

Professor of

Surgery and

Pediatrics

MD, MHS Mount Sinai

Hospital,

Mount Sinai

Queens,

Mount Sinai

Beth Israel,

Mount Sinai

Brooklyn,

Mount Sinai

Morningside,

Mount Sinai

West,

New York Eye

and Ear

Infirmary of

Mount Sinai,

Icahn School

of Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Dr. Tackett earned his medical degree

from the University of Wisconsin

School of Medicine and Public Health,

graduating with Honors in Research.

He completed surgical residency at the

Yale-New Haven Hospital where he

also completed post-doctoral research

fellowships in pediatric surgery and

surgical education. During his chief

year, he served as the Chief of

Scholarship and Professional

Development, a role that focused on

enriching the educational experience

and training culture at Yale. He

obtained a Master of Health Science

degree from Yale University with his

thesis "Serotonin Mediated

Enhancement and Protection of the

Intestinal Mucosa.” Additionally, he

completed a Fellowship in Pediatric

Surgery at the Nicklaus Children’s

Hospital in Miami, FL, in 2020. Dr.

Tackett’s clinical interests include

pectus excavatum, thyroid tumors, and

colorectal malformations and

pathology along with the full breadth

of pediatric surgical care.

Serena

Tharakan


Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Serena graduated from Yale University

where she studied Molecular Biology.

Here at Sinai, Serena is a Senior

Clinician at our student run clinic

(EHHOP) and leads the Big Sibs

mentorship program. In addition, she

has been heavily involved with both

basic science and clinical research in

cardiology and oncology. She hopes to

go into the field of hematology-

oncology. In her free time, she enjoys

making ice cream, watching soccer,

and playing chess.

Deepti

Thomas-

Paulose

Assistant

Professor

MD, MPH Mount Sinai

Morningside,

Mount Sinai

West

Dr. Deepti Thomas- Paulose is a native

New Yorker. She went to the Bronx

High School of Science and received

her Bachelor’s from Sophie Davis

School of Biomedical Education at

City University of New York. During

medical school, she spent two months

in the KwaZulu-Natal district in South

Africa studying the diagnosis of

pneumonia in a HIV prevalent

pediatric population. She obtained her

medical degree from the State

University of New York at Stony

Brook and went on to complete her

Emergency Medicine training at St.

Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital. During

that time, she worked clinically in

Mexico, Kenya and Nicaragua. Dr.

Paulose completed her International

Emergency Medicine Fellowship at

New York Presbyterian Hospital and

obtained her MPH from the Mailman

School of Public Health at Columbia

University. As a fellow, she worked

with the Averting Maternal Death and

Disability program in Malawi and on

an Advanced Cardiac Life Support

training project in Gujarat, India. She

currently serves as a faulty member in

the Global Health Division of the

Department of Emergency Medicine at

St. Morningside- West Hospital and is

involved in a number of education

initiatives. She has helped develop the

Gambian Medical Student Exchange

program now in its fifth year to

promote the specialty of emergency

medicine in the Gambia. In addition,

she directs the efforts of a Dominican

Republic Emergency Medicine

teaching program. She also runs the

Global Health Track and the

Residency Global Health Curriculum

for emergency medicine residents at

Morningside West.

Jessica Tran Scholarly Year BS Icahn School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Jessica is currently a scholarly year

student and MD/MSCR candidate in

the PORTAL program at ISMMS. She

is originally from Ventura, CA and

was a Posse Foundation Scholar,

leading her to receive a full tuition

scholarship to Tulane University. At

Tulane, she majored in public health

and minored in cell & molecular

biology. During college, she

developed an interest in mitigating

educational inequity and founded a

mentoring program for high school

students to assist with college

readiness. She was also interested in

the intersection between public health

and language barriers, leading to a

thesis on the inclusion of limited

English proficient individuals in U.S.

clinical research. She was accepted to

ISMMS through the FlexMed program

and took a gap year to pursue her

interests in language and education

through a Fulbright Teaching

Scholarship in Vietnam. At ISMMS,

she became interested in strengthening

her research skills and was selected to

be part of the PORTAL MD/MSCR

program. Her research focus is in

outcomes and genomics research. She

has continued her interests in

education and near peer mentoring

through her involvement in Medical

Education curriculum development

and EHHOP, where she is the chief

teaching senior at the student-run

ophthalmology clinic.

Robin

Varghese

Associate

Professor

MD, MS,

FRCSC

Mount Sinai

Hospital, Icahn

School of

Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Dr. Varghese is a cardiovascular

surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital. He is

also boarded in Critical Care and is the

System Director for Cardiovascular

Surgery Critical Care for Mount Sinai

Health System. He enjoys education

and being involved in Mount Sinai's

residency program. He did most of his

training in Canada where he was born.

Dr. Varghese specializes in valve

reconstruction surgery and coronary

bypass surgery. He loves being a

surgeon as he enjoys fixing the hearts

of my patients and seeing them

improve rapidly.

Matthew

Williams


Medicine at

Mount Sinai

Matthew is an MS4 student who was

born and raised in Midlothian, VA. He

attended Johns Hopkins University

where he studied Biology and played

four years of varsity soccer. After

completing his undergraduate degree,

he spent a scholarly year conducting

basic science cancer research at the

National Cancer Institute. While at

Sinai, he has volunteered in several

capacities through various different

student groups including Chemo

Companions, EHHOP, MedDOCs,

PEERS, and Sinai Tours. He has also

conducted research in clinical

oncology and cancer genetics during

his time at Sinai. His hobbies include

soccer, snowboarding, hiking, running,

weightlifting, and finding the best

brewery in NYC. He is applying into

Anesthesiology this application cycle

and hopes to stay at Sinai for

residency.

Interviewer Biography Directory

Documents

Transcript of Interviewer Biography Directory