The Mount Sinai Health System in New York City encompasses eight hospital campuses and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, functioning as one of the most prolific biomedical discovery and tertiary care networks in the world.
Consistently featured on the U.S. News & World Report “Best Hospitals” Honor Roll, Mount Sinai has fundamentally redefined the modern healthcare landscape.
While it operates top-tier programs across multiple adult disciplines, the health system’s global reputation is anchored by three defining pillars: its field-defining Geriatric Medicine program, the Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital, and a prolific pipeline of innovative translational therapies.
1. The Global Pioneer in Geriatric Medicine and Palliative Care
Mount Sinai’s relationship with geriatric care is historic. In 1909, Mount Sinai physician Dr. Ignatz Leo Nascher coined the term “geriatrics” (from the Greek geron, meaning old man, and iatros, meaning healer) and went on to write the first American textbook on geriatric medicine.
Today, the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Mount Sinai is widely regarded as the premier training and clinical program of its kind in the United States, routinely securing the top tier of national specialty rankings.
Pillars of Mount Sinai Geriatric Care
┌─────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────┐
│ Martha Stewart Centers │ Specialized Geriatric │ Comprehensive In-Home │
│ for Living │ Emergency Department │ Primary Care Programs │
├─────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
│ • Outpatient holistic │ • Non-slip floors, soft │ • Visiting Doctors │
│ and primary care │ lighting & acoustic │ program delivering │
│ • Integrative mind-body │ dampening to prevent │ bedside medicine to │
│ therapies │ acute delirium │ homebound seniors │
└─────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────┘
The Martha Stewart Centers for Living
Designed to optimize longevity and physical independence, the Martha Stewart Centers for Living offer integrated outpatient medical care alongside supportive, non-pharmacological therapies. Patients receive personalized primary care alongside acupuncture, yoga, nutritional guidance, and cognitive health workshops.
The Nation’s First Dedicated Geriatric Emergency Department
Standard emergency rooms are often loud, disorienting environments that can trigger acute delirium in frail older adults. In 2012, Mount Sinai opened the nation’s first dedicated Geriatric Emergency Department.
Featuring low lighting, specialized beds to prevent pressure ulcers, acoustic wall dampening, and dedicated geriatric nurse liaisons, the unit triages older patients rapidly while mitigating hospitalization risks.
The Mount Sinai Visiting Doctors Program
For homebound elderly patients with complex chronic illnesses, Mount Sinai operates the largest academic home-based primary care program in the United States. Physicians, nurse practitioners, and social workers provide ongoing medical evaluations directly in patients’ homes, reducing emergency room visits and preventable readmissions.
2. World-Class Cardiovascular Medicine: Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital
Under the leadership of world-renowned cardiologist Dr. Valentin Fuster, the Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital has consistently ranked among the top 10 cardiology and heart surgery centers in the United States.
Mount Sinai Heart Clinical Capabilities
┌─────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────┐
│ Complex Percutaneous │ Mitral & Aortic Valve │ Cardiovascular Imaging │
│ Coronary Interventions │ Repair Expertise │ & Preventive Biology │
├─────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
│ • Highest procedural │ • High success in native│ • Multimodal 3D CT and │
│ volume in NY state │ mitral valve repairs │ PET-MRI plaque maps │
│ • Lowest risk-adjusted │ • Advanced transcatheter│ • Early atherosclerosis │
│ coronary stent death │ valve implants (TAVR) │ detection frameworks │
└─────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────┘
Catheter-Based Interventional Cardiology
Mount Sinai operates one of the highest-volume cardiac catheterization laboratories in North America. Data published by the New York State Department of Health has repeatedly documented that Mount Sinai achieves the lowest risk-adjusted mortality rates in New York State for percutaneous coronary interventions (angioplasty and stenting), despite handling exceptionally high-risk, multi-vessel blockage cases.
Surgical Mitral Valve Repair Leadership
For structural heart conditions, the surgical teams at Mount Sinai emphasize native mitral valve repair over mechanical replacement. The team maintains an operative repair success rate of nearly 99% in degenerative mitral valve disease, avoiding the long-term anticoagulation risks associated with artificial valves.
Global Preventive Cardiology
Dr. Fuster and his research teams have directed landmark multinational clinical trials focused on understanding the systemic biology of vascular disease. Through advanced vascular imaging (including PET-MRI), Mount Sinai researchers identify subclinical, vulnerable plaque in arterial walls decades before clinical heart attacks or strokes occur, pioneering early behavioral and pharmaceutical interventions.
3. Innovative Therapies and Translational Medicine
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is an elite biomedical research engine, consistently ranking among the top medical schools in National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant funding.
Translational Science Pipeline
┌──────────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────┐
│ Mount Sinai │ ── Digital Biomarker │ BioMedical AI & │
│ BioMe Biobank │ Discovery Engine │ Computational Labs │
└──────────────────────┘ └──────────────────────┘
│
Targeted Therapies
│
▼
┌──────────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────┐
│ Direct Patient │ <── Accelerated ─── │ Personalized Cancer │
│ Bedside Application │ Clinical Trials │ Vaccines & Biologics │
└──────────────────────┘ └──────────────────────┘
Personalized Cancer Immunotherapies
At the Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai, translational oncologists develop personalized therapeutic cancer vaccines. By sequencing a patient’s tumor and normal DNA, scientists identify unique tumor-specific “neoantigens” and manufacture custom synthetic mRNA vaccines designed to train the patient’s own immune system to target residual cancer cells.
Advanced Cellular and Stem Cell Therapies
Mount Sinai’s Black Family Stem Cell Institute develops regenerative therapies for complex organ systems:
- Cardiac Regeneration: Engineering human pluripotent stem cells into working heart muscle cells to repair damaged myocardium after severe heart attacks.
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD): Utilizing gut microbiome mapping to identify microbial strains that modulate mucosal inflammation in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
BioMe Biobank and Computational Precision Medicine
The BioMe Biobank at Mount Sinai is one of the most racially and ethnically diverse electronic health record-linked biorepositories in the world. Enrolling over 60,000 diverse participants, the project allows computational geneticists to analyze the interplay between genomic variants, environmental stressors, and disease susceptibility to develop targeted therapeutics for diverse patient populations.
4. Specialty Performance Snapshot
| Clinical Specialty | Core Strengths & Benchmark Distinctions |
| Geriatric Care | Consistently ranked top tier nationally; pioneers in geriatric ERs and home-based primary medicine. |
| Cardiology & Heart Surgery | Top 10 national standing; state volume leader in complex coronary interventions. |
| Gastroenterology & GI Surgery | Global referral hub for refractory IBD, therapeutic endoscopy, and complex hepatology. |
| Neurology & Neurosurgery | Masters in deep brain stimulation, endovascular stroke thrombectomy, and skull-base tumor resections. |
| Orthopedics | Leaders in minimally invasive joint replacements, complex spine surgery, and sports medicine repairs. |
5. Navigating Patient Access and Global Care
┌────────────────────────┐ ┌────────────────────────┐ ┌────────────────────────┐
│ Central Digital Intake │ ───> │ Multidisciplinary Team │ ───> │ Integrated Clinical, │
│ & Records Review │ │ Diagnostic Review │ │ Surgical, or Home Care │
└────────────────────────┘ └────────────────────────┘ └────────────────────────┘
- Digital and Virtual Second Opinions: Patients across the United States and abroad can upload diagnostic imaging and pathology records to receive remote evaluations from Mount Sinai sub-specialists.
- Mount Sinai International Services: A dedicated team assists international patients traveling to New York, coordinating appointments across multiple campuses, providing multilingual medical interpreters, and assisting with visa support letters.
- Integrated Care Network: With ambulatory centers spanning Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island, patients access specialized tertiary and quaternary services within a connected system.
Summary
Mount Sinai NYC maintains its leadership in academic medicine through three core capabilities:
- Geriatric Excellence: Founded the modern concept of geriatric care and leads the nation in outpatient centers and emergency departments built for older adults.
- Cardiovascular Leadership: Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital delivers low-risk catheter-based coronary interventions and advanced valve repairs.
- Translational Innovation: The Icahn School of Medicine drives genomic biobanking, personalized cancer vaccines, and cellular regeneration therapies.
For patients seeking comprehensive geriatric management, advanced cardiovascular surgery, or access to early-phase translational therapies, Mount Sinai provides specialized academic healthcare backed by proven clinical outcomes.