Faculty Advisory Council

George Atweh, M.D.

George Atweh, M.D., is certified in Internal Medicine and Hematology. Dr. Atweh is the Lillian and Henry M. Stratton Professor of Medicine and Professor of Gene and Cell Medicine. Dr. Atweh did a majority of his training and education at the American University Medical Center where he completed residency, internship, and earned his medical degree. Dr. Atweh then completed his f ellowship in Hematology/Oncology at Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Atweh is professionally affiliated with, as a member of, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Federation for Clinical Research, and the American Society of Hematology. Among his most recent honors and awards are Program Committee, meeting of the American Society of Gene Therapy; Plenary lectures on gene therapy of hemoglobinopathies and on induction of fetal hemoglobin with arginine butyrate, Seventh International Conference on Thalassemia, Bangkok, Thailand; and Chair, Hemoglobin/Red Blood Cell Subcommittee of the American Society of Hematology.

Angela Diaz, M.D.

Angela Diaz, M.D., is the Director of the Adolescent Health Center at The Mount Sinai Hospital, Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Dr. Diaz served as a White House Fellow in 1995, where she examined health care policies in the U.S. Territories in the Pacific and the Caribbean. She has been involved in issues of international health, as well as advocacy issues and policy in the United States. Her research has covered adolescent reproductive health, teen pregnancy prevention, childhood sexual victimization, and adolescents in the Juvenile Justice System. Dr. Diaz has been the recipient of numerous honors and awards and has authored a number of professional articles. She received her medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and her postdoctoral training from Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Janice Gabrilove, M.D.

Janice L. Gabrilove, M.D., is a world renowned expert on leukemia and ameliorating the destructive side-effects of chemotherapy on blood-cell production. She joined Mount Sinai as Professor and Chief of the Division of Medical Oncology in the Department of Medicine in 1998 and presently serves as Vice Chair of Medicine for Clinical Research and is a the James F. Holland, M.D., Professor of Neoplastic Diseases.

Dr. Gabrilove has been a pioneer in the development of the understanding of hematopoietic cytokines, chemicals in the blood that play a key role in combating infections and altered cells. She and her colleagues were the first to purify and characterize a substance called granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), and to demonstrate that it could alleviate certain harmful effects of chemotherapy on blood cell production. G-CSF, now produced commercially by Amgen, Inc. under the trade-name Neupogen, is used worldwide as a supplement to chemotherapy. It also was central factor in revolutionizing bone marrow transplantation with the development of peripheral blood stem-cell transplants. Dr. Gabrilove's recent studies have focused on the role of basic fibroblast (connective tissue) growth factor in malignancy and cell differentiation.

After earning her medical degree at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where she received the Harold Elster Memorial Award for highest academic standing in her graduating class, Dr. Gabrilove trained in internal medicine at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. She was a Hematology-Oncology Fellow at memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, before joining the faculty there, as well as Cornell University Medical College, where she has been Associate Member and Associate Professor, respectively.

Dr. Gabrilove serves in numerous capacities related to her research including membership on the Food and Drug Administration Advisory Committee for the Approval of Biologics and the NIH Study Section on Hematology-2, as well as on the Editorial Board of the American Society of Hematology's prestigious journal, Blood and The Executive Committee of The American Society of Hematology.

Kurt Hirschhorn, M.D.

Kurt Hirschhorn, M.D., was born May 18, 1926, in Vienna, Austria. He received his early public school education in Vienna and attended high school in Pittsburgh. After three years in the Army, he received his B.A. cum laude in 1950 from New York University and his M.D. degree in 1954 from New York University School of Medicine. He was elected to both Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Alpha. He served his residency in internal medicine at Bellevue Hospital, New York, and remained there as a Fellow in Metabolic Diseases and then had a Fellowship in Human Genetics in Uppsala, Sweden. He was awarded a M.S. degree in Internal Medicine and Genetics in 1958, when he became Assistant Professor and then Associate Professor of Medicine at New York University School of Medicine. He became Professor of Pediatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York in 1966 where he established a new Medical Genetics Program. From 1968 to 1976 he was the Arthur J. and Nellie Z. Cohen Professor of Genetics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. In 1977, he became the Herbert H. Lehman Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Pediatrician-in-Chief at The Mount Sinai Hospital. In 1995, he stepped down from the chairmanship and returned to research in human genetics as a Professor of Pediatrics, Human Genetics, and Medicine.

His work in genetics began with studies of the genetics of hypercholesterolemia and other lipid disorders. While in Sweden, he began to work in tissue culture genetics and cytogenetics, activities which he has sustained to this day. At Mount Sinai he began to work on several aspects of biochemical genetics and more recently in molecular genetics. In the early 1960s, he discovered the mixed lymphocyte reaction which was one of the major beginnings of the field of cellular immunology and immunogenetics. He made fundamental contributions in a number of inborn errors including several lysosomal enzyme defects and Menkes Syndrome.

Although the name Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome derives from the back-to-back publication with Dr. Wolf's paper published in 1965. Dr. Hirschhorn first published this entity in the Mammalian Chromosome Newsletter (4:14 , 1961).

Dr. Hirschhorn is a member of many societies, including the American Society of Human Genetics (President, 1969), Harvey Society (President, 1980), American Society for Clinical Investigation, Association of American Physicians, American Pediatric Society, American Academy of Pediatrics (Fellow), the American College of Medical Genetics (Honorary and Founding Fellow), the AAAS (Fellow) and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences (Senior Member). He has served or is currently serving on the Editorial Boards or Committees of 21 journals including Advances in Human Genetics (co-editor), Teratology, Blood, American Journal of Human Genetics, American Journal of Reproductive Immunology, Journal of Cellular Immunology, Contemporary Pediatrics and Current Opinions in Pediatrics. He has served as a Consultant or Member of the Advisory Board of the NIH, National Foundation-March of Dimes Basic Sciences Research Committee (Chairman), Tay-Sachs Association, Dysautonomia Foundation (Chairman), American Board of Medical Genetics (Founding Member) and American Cancer Society (Council). He chaired the Medical Board Ethics Committee at Mount Sinai for 30 years. He received the Rudolph Virchow Medal in 1974, the Solomon A. Berson Medical Alumni Achievement Award from New York University School of Medicine in 1982, the Jacobi Medallion from The Mount Sinai Medical Center in 1993, and the William Allan Award from the American Society of Human Genetics in 1995.

Dr. Hirschhorn continues to be actively involved in research and in the clinical practice of medical genetics. His work includes research and application of the various subdisciplines of genetics including cytogenetics, biochemical genetics and molecular genetics. He is one of the founding members of The Hastings Center for Biomedical Ethics. His longstanding interest and leadership in medical genetics has resulted in the publication of more than 396 articles and book chapters.

Ravi Iyengar, Ph.D.

Ravi Iyengar, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology And Biological Chemistry, Professor in the Department of Oncological Sciences, and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry. His training and education includes Ph.D. and an M.S. degree from Biophysical Sciences University of Houston, and a M.Sc. from Biophysics Bombay University, Bombay, India. Dr. Iyengar's current research involves Cellular signaling systems with emphasis on heterotrimeric G proteins.

Terry Krulwich, Ph.D.

As dean of the graduate school of biological sciences at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Terry Krulwich administers a Ph.D. program in biomedical sciences, a medical scientist training program taken by M.D.-Ph.D. students, a master's program in genetic counseling, and a master's track in community medicine for medical students. Dr. Krulwich is a Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Biological Chemistry. Her training and education is as follows: Postdoctoral Fellow (196 -70) Molecular Biology Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA; Ph.D. (1968) University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA. Dr. Krulwich's current research centers on Antibiotic-Resistance: Structure-Function Studies of the Gram-Positive Tetracycline Efflux Protein.

Danielle Laraque, M.D.

Danielle Laraque, M.D., is Chief of the Division of General Pediatrics at The Mount Sinai Medical Center and Founder and Director of the Child and Family Support. Dr. Laraque also serves as the HRSA Primary Care Clinician Research Fellowship Director. Dr. Laraque earned her M.D. from UCLA and completed her internship and residency in Pediatrics at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation General Academic Fellowship at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Laraque is the recipient of several awards and honors, among them are The Debra and Leon Black Professor of Pediatrics-Endowed Chair at Mount Sinai School of Medicine; American Academy of Pediatrics New York Chapter 3, Chapter Special Achievement award and Chapter excellence; and the National Institutes of Health, Agency for Health Care Research and Quality Task Force on violence and related health-risking social behaviors in adolescents - Selected peer reviewer. Dr. Laraque's other professional affiliations include Harlem Hospital Injury Prevention Program Awards; The Mount Sinai Hospital - Clinical Access Committee; Liaison Committee on Medical Education (Committee II - Education Programs for the M.D. degree); and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine Student Promotion Committee. Dr. Laraque is also affiliated with the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Division of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Bureau of Family Health, Infant Mortality Case Review Committee; the Manhattan Inter-hospital Child Protection Network; and the Mayor's Task Force on Child Abuse.

Sandra Masur, Ph.D.

Sandra Masur, Ph.D., is Associate Dean for Faculty Development, Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology, Associate Professor, Physiology and Biophysics, and Associate Professor in the Center for Anatomy and Functional Morphology. Dr. Masur is also chair of the Women Faculty Group and Faculty Coordinator of Shared Resource Facilities at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She earned her M.A. in Zoology, a Ph.D. in cell biology, and completed her postdoctoral fellowship in cytochemistry from Columbia University. Her current research topics of interest include cell adhesion and extracellular matrix, cell biology, extracellular matrix, proteases, receptors, and signal transduction.

Miki Rifkin, Ph.D.

Miki Rifikin is Director of the Humanities and Medicine Program, Associate Dean of the Graduate School of Biological Sciences, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Medical Education. She earned her Ph.D. and completed her postdoctoral work from Rockefeller University in New York. The committees and memberships she currently serves include the N ominating Committee, Weizmann Women in Science Award, of American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science; AAMC GREAT group; FASEB Graduate Education Consensus Conference; Board of Directors, National Space Biomedical Research Institute; Chair of the Education Committee, Board of Directors, Executive Committee, Strategic Planning Committee, Netherland-America Foundation.

Barry Stimmel, M.D.

Barry Stimmel, M.D., is the Dean for Graduate Medical Education at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He is the Katherine and Clifford Goldsmith Professor of Medicine and Professor of Medical Education, and has served as the Dean for Academic Affairs, Admissions, and Student Affairs at the School of Medicine for more than 20 years. A practicing internist and cardiologist, Dr. Stimmel is also Executive Director of the Narcotics Rehabilitation Center at The Mount Sinai Medical Center. He is the Editor of the Journal of Addictive Diseases, the journal of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. He is the author of more than 100 articles and several books dealing with drug abuse, the effects of mood-altering drugs on the heart, and pain control. In addition, Dr. Stimmel lectures extensively on issues in medical education, substance abuse, and pain management.

Helen Vlassara, M.D.

Helen Vlassara, M.D., formerly Professor and head of the Laboratory of Diabetes and Aging at the Picower Institute for Medical Research, joined Mount Sinai in 1998 as Professor in Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Adult Development and Director of the Division of Experimental Diabetes and Aging. She is also Professor of Medicine, and Gene and Cell Medicine.

Dr. Vlassara has conducted extensive, innovative research in areas as diverse as atherosclerosis, kidney disease, and disorders of the central nervous system such as stroke and Alzheimer's disease. Her work has helped define one of the major mechanisms that induce aging and diabetes-related illnesses: the process of spontaneous modification of proteins, lipids and nucleic acids by glucoses, known as glycation. She has also conducted seminal studies demonstrating the protective effects of agents that inhibit this process.

With the establishment of the Division, Dr. Vlassara will be expanding her investigations in basic and clinical research. Goals of the basic research program will be to broaden the working model on pathogenic processes and obtain tools for prevention/intervention treatments of the complications of aging and diabetes. These complex entities reflect multiple interactions of environmental and genetic parameters. Her studies have defined: a) the chemical and cellular-toxicity of advanced glycation; b) a new receptor system that recognizes AGE-modified molecules (AGE-receptor); c) genetic factor(s) influencing the AGE-receptor function. Cellular activation via this receptor contributes to vascular, renal, and neuronal dysfunction under conditions of AGE-overaccumulation, as in aging, diabetes, or renal impairment. These factors, combined with environmental AGEs, eg., diet and tobacco smoke, can contribute to tissue injury, leading to chronic degenerative disorder. Dr. Vlassara's studies have applied a broad range of molecular, cell-culture, and animal-based approaches to confirm a cause-and-effect relationship between AGEs and pathology. Concurrently, they also have produced novel quantitative and sensitive diagnostic methods and highly effective therapies that are actively tested.

Within the clinical research program, Dr. Vlassara's goals will be the early diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of vascular, renal, and cerebrovascular diseases of diabetes and aging. Studies in this program include: a) AGE-receptor gene defects as risk factors in atherosclerosis, hypertension, nephropathy, and dementias of aging and diabetes; b) prevention of cardiovascular/cerebrovascular injury, hypertension, and dementia (vascular or Alzheimer's); c) prevention of renal disease in diabetic and non-diabetic aging patients; d) intervention/reversal of complications of diabetes and aging.