About Us

This Occupational and Environmental Health Clinical Center is an internationally respected diagnostic referral center and an important interface between the research programs of the Division of Environmental Health Science and populations exposed to environmental hazards. Open to all persons with environmentally-induced disease or with toxic occupational exposure, the clinic has long enjoyed a reputation for excellence in the areas of diagnostic assessment and preventive intervention. Diseases frequently seen in the Center include lead poisoning, asbestosis, and carpal tunnel syndrome.

Examples of service conducted through the Clinical Center include provision of educational programs for building trades workers to enable them to identify and reduce their exposures to asbestos. Research by physicians in the Clinical Center led to the recognition and control of excessive lead exposures of police and shooters at recreational firing ranges. Investigations are underway on the health effects of lead and asbestos exposure in demolition and structural steel maintenance workers, and of carbon monoxide exposure in tunnel workers.

The Clinical Center has recently added satellite sites in Westchester County and in Brooklyn, where staff physicians see patients several days a week. Our goal is to improve public health by preventing occupational and environmental disease and by early detection of work-related illness when it has occurred. In this effort, we work closely with labor unions, employers, government and service organizations, health care providers, and community organizations to prevent job-related and other environmental illness. Our research and prevention activities are supported by government grants and by service fees.

Each year in the US, over 6,000 workers are killed on the job, while 50,000 more die from job-related illnesses. Injuries strike another 1.8 million workers, affecting their well-being, their livelihood, and the lives of their families.

Named for Dr. Irving J. Selikoff, the physician and scientist who first raised alarms about the health dangers of asbestos, Mount Sinai–Irving J. Selikoff Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine has been a national leader for 30 years in diagnosing and treating work-related injuries and illnesses, as well as in conducting research into their causes, improving methods of prevention, and serving as an advocate for injured workers.

The Selikoff Center is part of the NYS Network of Occupational Health Clinics, a unique statewide network, and is a member of the international Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics, among other professional affiliations.

The Selikoff Center supports the NYC metropolitan area with three clinic locations in Manhattan, Queens and Yonkers. It is the largest center for work-related illness and injury in New York State. A wide range of services is offered by highly specialized physicians and other expert health and social service professionals to workers, labor and community organizations, employers, other healthcare professionals and agencies. These services include:

• Confidential medical exams and treatment for current and retired workers with health problems that may be work-related
• Medical screenings for groups of workers who have been exposed to work-related hazards
• Social work services to address disease-related personal and family problems, including one-on-one counseling and monthly support groups
• Work-site evaluations to identify potential health and safety hazards and recommend solutions
• Ergonomic evaluations for workers with musculoskeletal disease who use computers
• Assistance with Workers' Compensation and other benefits to which you may be entitled
• Training programs and assistance to unions, to help make jobs safer and teach workers about the signs and symptoms of occupational disease

The Selikoff Center's unique public health initiatives serve as national and local models for public health programming, among them:

• World Trade Center (WTC) Programs, operating nationally and locally, offering comprehensive medical screening, monitoring and treatment services for WTC responders and others affected by the events of 9/11
• Occupational Lung Disease Services
• State-of-the-Art Ergonomics Program

Call us for more information.