Mission Statement

Mount Sinai's Department of Community and Preventive Medicine was established in 1967 with the founding of the School. To signal the strong commitment of Mount Sinai to community health, the Department was designated in the Medical School's charter as a "third faculty", coequal in status with the basic science and clinical faculties. The Department's mission is to prevent disease, protect the environment, and promote good health in partnership with the communities that Mount Sinai serves. The focus of the research and clinical care undertaken by the Department is on the highly diverse communities that are geographically adjacent to The Mount Sinai Hospital, especially East Harlem.

The Department is a nationally and internationally recognized center of excellence in preventive medicine, occupational and environmental medicine, community health, and environmental pediatrics. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has designated the Department the major provider of clinical care and epidemiological follow-up to the survivors of the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The Department has been designated a Collaborating Centre in Environmental Epidemiology by the World Health Organization, and has worked closely with the WHO in recent years in issues pertaining to children's environmental health. In September 2005, the Department was designated a Vanguard Center for the National Children's study. With $26.3 million in extramural funding (direct costs), the Department ranks third in total extramural research funding among all academic departments at Mount Sinai.

The Department has a tradition of strong and proactive leadership. The first Chairman, George James, M.D., former Commissioner of Health of the City of New York, was also the founding Dean of the School of Medicine. Kurt W. Deuschle, M.D., known as "The Father of Community Medicine" succeeded Dr. James in 1968. Dr. Deuschle served as Chairman for 22 years until 1990. He established the Department as a preeminent center of scholarship in urban community health. In the same era, Irving J. Selikoff, M.D., served as Director of the Department's Environmental Sciences Laboratory. He undertook seminal research on the diseases of asbestos and was a tireless advocate for the health of workers. The current Chairman, Philip J. Landrigan, M.D., M.S.c has directed the Department since 1990.

Today the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine consists of 47 full-time faculty, 130 adjunct and voluntary faculty, and 147 staff. It has an annual budget (FY 2005) of $32 million. It is housed principally in the Nathan Cummings Basic Science Building, occupying 20,053 square feet, including lecture and seminar rooms, offices, laboratories and an auditorium; clinical space is located in the basic Sciences Building and also at 1212 Fifth Avenue. The Department is highly interdisciplinary and undertakes research in preventive medicine, public health, epidemiology, environmental and occupational medicine, and the behavioral sciences. It educates medical students, MPH students, residents and fellows. It provides clinical services to workers exposed to occupational hazards, to workers and volunteers from the World Trade Center disaster, and to children exposed to environmental toxins. It also provides a wide array of preventive services in East Harlem and in the other communities that Mount Sinai serves.

The Department contains eight Divisions: Epidemiology, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Biostatistics and Data Management, Environmental Health Science, Preventive Medicine, International Health, Family Medicine, Social and Behavioral Science, Health Care Management and Practice, as well as, the Thomas C. Chalmers Clinical Trials Unit, and the IJ Selikoff Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The Department's Education Unit is responsible for training medical students, for residency programs in general preventive medicine and in occupational and environmental medicine, for the Ambulatory Pediatric Association fellowship program in environmental pediatrics, and for the Medical School's M.P.H. degree program.