Mount Sinai Health System Launches Bold $2 Billion Capital Campaign
“Limitless” Campaign has raised $1 billion ahead of schedule for critical clinical centers and research institutes in the wake of the pandemic
Expanding upon its nearly 170-year history of innovation and discovery, the Mount Sinai Health System has launched a bold capital campaign to raise $2 billion by 2025 that will power the organization into a forward-looking era of advanced patient care, research, and education.
With more than $1 billion in gifts raised one year ahead of schedule, this new “Limitless” campaign is the first comprehensive campaign since the formation of the Mount Sinai Health System in 2013, when it merged with the former Continuum Health Partners to become one of the largest health systems in the New York City region. Now, as the public phase of the campaign commences, philanthropy will allow Mount Sinai to realize its goal for the future—to improve human health and equitable care for all through scientific breakthroughs, personalized medicine, and training of the next generation of physician-scientists.
“This is a game-changing campaign,” says Kenneth L. Davis, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mount Sinai Health System. “It will support forward-thinking initiatives at Mount Sinai that challenge conventions and push the boundaries of medicine, so we can more rapidly solve today’s most pressing health problems and better the lives of the diverse communities we serve in New York City and around the world.”
Through the “Limitless” campaign, Mount Sinai is investing in leading-edge technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning that enhance doctors’ ability to predict, diagnose, and treat disease. Intensifying the funding of precision medicine efforts throughout the institution will allow discoveries to move more swiftly from the laboratory to a patient’s bedside. Additional support will accelerate scientific investigations, leading to novel therapeutics for cancer, brain disease, and other devastating conditions, and revolutionary medical developments such as the world’s first human tracheal transplant, which took place at Mount Sinai earlier this year. It will strengthen investments in the Health System’s nationally ranked hospitals, clinical centers, and research spaces to create enhanced facilities that will bolster the work of both emerging and established scientists, as well as elevating the patient experience for everyone who comes to Mount Sinai for care.
The campaign will also aid in the recruitment of talented students, fellows, researchers, and physicians, who are critical to delivering first-class care and pioneering research. Additionally, it reflects Mount Sinai’s longtime commitment to diversity, inclusion, and caring for the underserved, with priorities for investment that include endeavors to advance health equity, promote equal access to quality care, and combat racism in the practice of science and medicine.
A Campaign That Unlocks Limitless Potential
Mount Sinai’s “Limitless” campaign will support the entire integrated Health System across its eight hospitals, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and more than 400 ambulatory facilities. Because of the generosity of trustees, longtime benefactors, and new donors inspired by Mount Sinai’s heroic efforts to combat COVID-19, the campaign raised more than half of its total $2 billion goal in the campaign’s nucleus phase from 2017 to 2020—an entire year earlier than expected.
“The fact that we were able to exceed our fund-raising targets during an unprecedented global pandemic is truly extraordinary,” says Mark Kostegan, Chief Development Officer and Senior Vice President of Development for the Mount Sinai Health System. “It speaks to the faith that people have in Mount Sinai’s brilliant researchers, courageous clinicians, and dedicated instructors, who are leading the way in science and medicine.”
The more than $1 billion raised by the “Limitless” campaign so far has already funded numerous capital projects aimed at enriching patient health and fueling remarkable science, including improvements at all eight hospitals, an expanded pediatric intensive care unit, and new laboratories throughout the Health System.
Foundational gifts from some of the institution’s most venerable patrons made during the campaign’s nucleus phase enabled the launch of a number of critical institutes and centers, such as the Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Health, focused on artificial intelligence and machine learning, created through the support of the Hasso Plattner Foundation; the Kimberly and Eric J. Waldman Melanoma and Skin Cancer Center, funded by the family of Mount Sinai Trustee Eric J. Waldman; the Alper Neural Stem Cell Center, which is using nerve and other types of brain cells to study multiple sclerosis and screen new treatments, funded by the family of Trustee Andrew Alper; a clinical center that offers a full range of health services for women, with the support of the Blavatnik Family Foundation; and a state-of-the-art emergency room for The Mount Sinai Hospital, funded by the family of Trustee Andrew Saul.
Moreover, support from the Mount Sinai Boards of Trustees—led by Trustee Donald J. Gogel—allowed Icahn Mount Sinai in 2019 to unveil the Enhanced Scholarship Initiative, which offers substantial debt relief for students with demonstrated financial need. An estimated 40 percent of students attending Icahn Mount Sinai will benefit from this program, with scholarship funds going toward all costs of attending medical school, including tuition and fees, housing, meals, and other expenses. The goal of the initiative is to help students from groups underrepresented in medicine, and individuals from lower-income families, pursue careers as physicians, and to eliminate the stress that accompanies overwhelming student loan debt. These philanthropic gifts enabled Icahn Mount Sinai to become one of a small number of medical schools nationwide that have established this kind of life-changing scholarship program for students of diverse backgrounds.
In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic highlighted long-standing disparities in health care and presented opportunities to address the lingering effects of this disease on patients and health care staff. The campaign made it possible for Mount Sinai to quickly establish urgently needed, and never-before-seen, enterprises that include the Center for Viral Pandemic Response; the Mount Sinai Clinical Intelligence Center; the Center for COVID Clinical Trials; the Center for Post-COVID Care; the Center for Stress, Resilience, and Personal Growth; and the Institute for Health Equity Research.
“Philanthropy is the engine that helps drive our trailblazing, one-of-a-kind work, and once again, our trustees have been an integral part of this campaign,” says Boards of Trustees Co-Chairman Richard A. Friedman. “Thanks to their leadership and generosity, as well as that of our other philanthropic partners, Mount Sinai will remain at the forefront of clinical care and scientific discovery for years to come.”
Incredible Achievements Powering an Extraordinary Goal
Since its founding in 1852, Mount Sinai has established itself as a world-class academic medical institution and it continues to lead the way in high-quality, compassionate care and scientific advances.
That is why The Mount Sinai Hospital is recognized among the nation’s leading health care institutions for care excellence in the 2021-2022 U.S. News & World Report “Best Hospitals” rankings, landing on the distinctive “Honor Roll” list. This marks the sixth straight year it has been recognized as one of the nation’s top 20 hospitals.
The Mount Sinai Hospital was also recognized as one of the most technologically advanced hospitals, ranking No. 1 in New York City and No. 4 globally, on Newsweek’s “World’s Best Smart Hospitals 2021.”
The “Limitless” campaign will carry forward and build on these achievements, with fund-raising efforts continuing in earnest to meet the $2 billion goal by 2025 so Mount Sinai can grow and evolve for years to come.
“I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished thus far but we need to stay the course,” says Boards of Trustees Co-Chairman James S. Tisch. “We are deeply grateful to all of our wonderful, visionary donors who are partnering with us to meet the clinical, educational, and research needs of our institution. Together, our potential is limitless. ”
Learn more about the Mount Sinai “Limitless” capital campaign at giving.mountsinai.org/campaign
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 48,000 employees working across eight hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, more than 600 research and clinical 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 9,000 primary and specialty care physicians and 11 free-standing joint-venture centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida. Hospitals within the System are consistently ranked by Newsweek’s® “The World’s Best Smart Hospitals, Best in State Hospitals, World Best Hospitals and Best Specialty Hospitals” and by U.S. News & World Report's® “Best Hospitals” and “Best Children’s Hospitals.” The Mount Sinai Hospital is on the U.S. News & World Report® “Best Hospitals” Honor Roll for 2024-2025.
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