• Press Release

Mount Sinai's Arnhold Institute for Global Health and NYC Health + Hospitals Announce Inaugural Winners of CURE-19 Research Grants and Pilot Projects

Will support new COVID-19 research over the next five years Winners will each receive $25,000 to assist their work

  • New York, NY
  • (September 29, 2021)

The Arnhold Institute for Global Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and NYC Health + Hospitals today announced the four inaugural grant awardees of the CURE-19 Research Pilot Projects, an initiative to support collaborative, interdisciplinary COVID-19 research to better understand the novel virus that has transformed health care globally. Each winner will receive $25,000 to support their research project thanks to funding by Icahn Mount Sinai.

The CURE-19 Research Pilot Projects will support new COVID-19 research over the next five years, with an emphasis on projects related to disease control for large communities, informatics and decision support systems, addressing structural racism and social determinants of health, translational science research, and evidence-based interventions and policies. The projects will also address the long-term effects of COVID-19, social and environmental determinants of COVID-19, and maternal and child health related to COVID-19.

“We are excited to fund the first cohort of research studies under the CURE-19 collaboration with NYC Health + Hospitals,” said Dennis S. Charney, MD, the Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of Icahn Mount Sinai and President for Academic Affairs of the Mount Sinai Health System. “The pandemic has disproportionately affected vulnerable populations. We must understand the systemic issues in order to address inequities in medicine and provide equitable care that improves health outcomes and enhances pandemic preparedness and response initiatives.”

“Elmhurst is thrilled to collaborate with our colleagues at Mount Sinai to further understand the relationship between COVID-19 and community, clinical, and socio-economic variables,” said NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst CEO Helen Arteaga Landaverde, MPH. “We saw first-hand how terribly impacted our precious community was in the early days and weeks of the pandemic. However, that impact will have lasting effects for decades and generations to come. It is critical, as community health care providers, to thoroughly understand these impacts and better adapt our care and support services to those needs.”

“Congratulations to the four inaugural grant awardees of the CURE-19 Research Pilot Projects,” said NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens CEO Neil J. Moore, MBA, MPA, FACHE. “By partnering with our neighboring health institutions, our experts will be able to collect larger samples of information to draw stronger conclusions and correlations that will ultimately help address health needs in these communities, now and in the future.”

The inaugural research grant winners and their projects include:

  1. Environmental Impact on Outcomes: Saadiyah Bilal, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Icahn Mount Sinai, will examine the relationship between neighborhood-level community variables with clinical outcomes and vaccination rates for patients with COVID-19.

 

  1. Community Health Care Workers: Stanley Pierre, MD, MPA, Patient Safety Coordinator and Director of the Clinical Centers of Excellence Development Program, NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens, will examine how community health care workers can promote equity in vaccine access and trust to historically marginalized and vulnerable communities.

 

  1. Maternal COVID-19 Vaccination: Uday Patil, MD, Director of Neonatology and Newborn Services at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, and Global Health and Health Systems Design, at Icahn Mount Sinai, will examine the transfer of passive immunity against COVID-19 to newborns after vaccination of mothers in diverse, multiethnic communities that are often underserved and underrepresented.

 

  1. Opioid Overdose During Pandemic: Siri Shastry, MD, MS, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Icahn Mount Sinai, will examine the impact of COVID-19 on risk behaviors of patients with non-fatal opioid overdose in the Emergency Department, while understanding the influence of structural, community, and network factors.

The four inaugural research grant winners were required to submit a proposal that included a project summary or abstract, research description that emphasized its focus and significance, proposed timeline, list of principal and co-principal investigators, and more. The proposals were reviewed by a committee of research leaders from the CURE-19 partner institutions, who scored them on criteria including overall impact, significance, innovation, and approach.

The research pilot projects are part of a larger partnership known as the COVID-19 Unit for Research at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst and /Queens (CURE-19), a collaboration between Mount Sinai’s Arnhold Institute for Global Health and NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst Global Health Institute that formed during the initial peak of the pandemic in 2020. CURE-19 translates data, experiences, and lessons from clinicians at the Mount Sinai Health System, NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, and NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens into research to address both the global pandemic and root causes of health disparities in New York City.

About NYC Health + Hospitals

NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest public health care system in the nation serving more than a million New Yorkers annually in more than 70 patient care locations across the city’s five boroughs. A robust network of outpatient, neighborhood-based primary and specialty care centers anchors care coordination with the system’s trauma centers, nursing homes, post-acute care centers, home care agency, and MetroPlus health plan – all supported by 11 essential hospitals. Its diverse workforce of more than 42,000 employees is uniquely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest life possible. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org and stay connected on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NYCHealthSystem/ or Twitter at @NYCHealthSystem.


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.

For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on FacebookTwitter and YouTube.