Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Accelerates Drive to Diversity, Announces First Biomedical Laureates

(New York, NY – June 14, 2021)  – Less than eight months after unveiling its Biomedical Laureates Program, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai announced today the first Laureates to join its academic faculty, delivering on an institutional commitment to drive diversity and enhance mentorship opportunities. Both Laureates will start in July. 

Announcements of additional Laureate appointments will be forthcoming. Icahn Mount Sinai will select a total of four Laureates per year, two in basic science and two in translational or clinical science.

“The premise of the Biomedical Laureates Program is that a diversity of perspectives will enhance both the quality of academic research we put forth and the capacity of our basic, translational, and clinical investigators to effectively solve complex problems,” says Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD, Nash Family Professor of Neuroscience, Director of The Friedman Brain Institute, and Dean for Academic and Scientific Affairs, and an early champion of the Biomedical Laureates Program.

“Being selected as a Mount Sinai Laureate is a great honor and privilege,” says Kecia N. Carroll, MD, MPH, one of the newly appointed Laureates. Dr. Carroll is the incoming Chief of the Division of General Pediatrics; Professor of Pediatrics, and Environmental Medicine and Public Health; and a board certified general pediatrician, clinical investigator, and epidemiologist. “Throughout my career, I have worked to make advances around equity, mentorship, and creating inclusive spaces where individuals from diverse backgrounds can thrive and have healthy experiences as they pursue their education, training, or advance in their careers. To join Mount Sinai’s academic community, with its laser-focused commitment to diversity and inclusion, will provide a wonderful opportunity to drive further momentum towards these important goals,” says Dr. Carroll.

Most recently on faculty at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Dr. Carroll brings her distinguished accomplishments in pediatrics as well as her deep commitment to mentorship to Mount Sinai. She is a former recipient of early investigator awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Parker B. Francis Fellowship Program. Dr. Carroll’s current NIH-funded research program investigates how environmental exposures influence childhood asthma risk.

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Carroll, who has worked brilliantly as an investigator and a clinician while leading a way forward as an educator who deeply values the importance of mentorship,” says Lisa Satlin, MD, Chair, Jack and Lucy Clark Department of Pediatrics at Icahn Mount Sinai.

“Dr. Carroll’s selection as an inaugural Laureate for this flagship program speaks to her many contributions to research elucidating the root causes of childhood asthma, as she seeks to find not only risks but to identify modifiable factors that can prevent the development of chronic respiratory disorders. We are excited she will continue this work at Mount Sinai, which promises to significantly improve the health of our patients and communities.” says Rosalind Wright, MD, MPH, the Horace W. Goldsmith Professor of Children’s Health Research and Pediatrics at Icahn Mount Sinai.   

The second appointee, Shameeke Taylor, MD, MPH, will be the first junior faculty member to become a Laureate. Dr. Taylor graduated from Icahn Mount Sinai’s Global Health Fellowship last year, and is currently completing his second year of a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute National Service Award (T32) Fellowship.

Dr. Taylor was awarded the Blue Ribbon Award for exemplary scholarship in education research through the Institute for Medical Education at Mount Sinai for an education project he developed in the Dominican Republic to improve the knowledge base around head and neck trauma at a regional hospital. As an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, he will focus his research on predicting and assessing outcomes after traumatic brain injury, particularly in older adults.

“I am honored to have been chosen for the Laureates Program and thrilled to continue my early research career at Mount Sinai and to join its first-class research faculty,” says Dr. Taylor.

“The aims of the Laureate program are strongly aligned with my own professional and personal goals. As I grow as a researcher and emergency medicine physician, I hope to mentor and support young minority physicians and researchers. In collaboration with the Institute for Health Equity Research, one of my initial projects will involve investigating the intersection of disability and race in health care and evaluating opportunities to improve the access to and delivery of their medical care.”

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About the Mount Sinai Health System

The Mount Sinai Health System is New York City’s largest academic medical system, encompassing eight hospitals, a leading medical school, and a vast network of ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. Mount Sinai is a national and international source of unrivaled education, translational research and discovery, and collaborative clinical leadership ensuring that we deliver the highest quality care—from prevention to treatment of the most serious and complex human diseases. The Health System includes more than 7,200 physicians and features a robust and continually expanding network of multispecialty services, including more than 400 ambulatory practice locations throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, and Long Island. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 14 on U.S. News & World Report’s “Honor Roll” of the Top 20 Best Hospitals in the country and the Icahn School of Medicine as one of the Top 20 Best Medical Schools in country. Mount Sinai Health System hospitals are consistently ranked regionally by specialty and our physicians in the top 1% of all physicians nationally by U.S. News & World Report.

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