Palliative Care Specialist Diane Meier, MD, FACP, Named to U.S. Senate HELP Committee Fellowship Post
Director of both the Center to Advance Palliative Care and the Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute, Dr. Meier has an extraordinary opportunity to take part in the federal policy-making process.
Diane Meier, MD, FACP, Professor of Geriatrics and the Catherine Gaisman Professor of Medical Ethics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, has been selected as a 2009-2010 Health and Aging Policy Fellow with the United States Senate HELP Committee.
The HELP committee has jurisdiction over issues such as workforce, medical education and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As one of four resident fellows, Dr. Meier will participate in the policymaking process on the federal level as on the Committee, which also oversees public health and health insurance statutes to address emerging threats and changing patterns in the healthcare industry.
Dr. Meier is also Director of both the Center to Advance Palliative Care and the Lilian and Benjamin Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2008 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.
This is an enormous honor and a tremendous opportunity to gain insight into how health care policy is made, especially during this time of health reform, said Dr. Meier. "My hope is that the field of palliative care will be the ultimate beneficiary of this experience."
The Health and Aging Policy Fellows Program, in partnership with the American Political Science Association Congressional Fellowship Program, is a highly selective non-partisan program that provides a unique opportunity for health and aging professionals to obtain the experience and skills necessary to make a positive contribution to the development and implementation of health policies that affect older Americans. Founded in 1953, the APSA Congressional Fellowship Program is the nation's oldest and most prestigious congressional fellowship devoted to expanding knowledge and awareness of Congress throughout the United States and worldwide.
About The Mount Sinai Medical Center
The Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The Mount Sinai Hospital is one of the nation’s oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. Founded in 1852, Mount Sinai today is a 1,171-bed tertiary-care teaching facility that is internationally acclaimed for excellence in clinical care. Last year, nearly 50,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients, and there were nearly 450,000 outpatient visits to the Medical Center.
Mount Sinai School of Medicine is internationally recognized as a leader in groundbreaking clinical and basic-science research, as well as having an innovative approach to medical education. With a faculty of more than 3,400 in 38 clinical and basic science departments and centers, Mount Sinai ranks among the top 20 medical schools in receipt of National Institute of Health (NIH) grants.
About the Mount Sinai Health System
Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 43,000 employees working across eight hospitals, over 400 outpatient practices, nearly 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time — discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.
Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 7,300 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. We are consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals, receiving high "Honor Roll" status, and are highly ranked: No. 1 in Geriatrics and top 20 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Rehabilitation, and Urology. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 12 in Ophthalmology. U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals” ranks Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital among the country’s best in several pediatric specialties.
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