By Josh Borgerding (entering class of 2014)

Mount Sinai has long been a place to set imagination free. Before the medical school was founded in 1968, Sinai received more NIH funding than any other freestanding hospital in the country. The increasing molecularization of medicine after WWII , however, pushed Sinai to move beyond its singular roots. In response, the physicians at Mount Sinai planned a school of medicine. Medical and Graduate education would invigorate the hospital and aid in the improvement of medicine.

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By David Chiang (entering class of 2009)

On September 8, 2014, Dr. Yasmin Hurd officially stepped down as the Director of the MD/PhD program to move on towards a new position: innaugural Director of the Mount Sinai Center for Addictive Disorders. As much as she would have loved being a highly applauded and successful scientist, program director, and center director (all at the same time), it would have simply been too much for one person – even with a career track that has been marked with as many successes as hers.

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By Teddy Wohlbold (entering class of 2011)

Even non-Manhattanites may be familiar with the posh reputation of the Upper East Side (UES), whether it be from the catchy theme song, “Movin’ On Up” from The Jeffersons, or from the portrayed stomping grounds of the privileged youth in Gossip Girl. It is no secret that this rather large neighborhood of Manhattan (spanning from East 59th to 96th street) is home to some of New York’s wealthiest aristocracy, including former mayor, Michael Bloomberg, comedian Ricky Gervais, and – not too long ago – the Queen of Pop herself, Madonna. Even the most crass at heart may find it difficult to enunciate “The Upper East Side” without holding a fancy cup of tea, pinky up. However, Mount Sinai is located on the far outskirts of the Upper East Side, where neighborhood boundaries begin to blur. In fact, while the New York Department of Buildings extends the definition of the Upper East Side to include 97th to 110th streets if one lives between 5th and Madison Avenues, Mount Sinai lies in the 10029 zip code, which mostly includes East Harlem (also known as Spanish Harlem, or “El Barrio”) to the north.

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It is an honor and a pleasure to have this opportunity to serve as Interim Director of the MD-PhD Program at Mount Sinai. First, I’d like to thank Dr. Yasmin Hurd for her passionate and tireless devotion to the Program during her years as Director. I wish her well in her new role as Director of Mount Sinai’s Center on Addictive Disorders. Yasmin is a nationally and internationally renowned translational researcher in drug addiction and I cannot think of anyone better suited to take on the task of driving our Medical Center’s efforts in addiction sciences and treatment.

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