CDC Awards Funding for Mount Sinai World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program Clinical Center of Excellence
New contract provides eight years’ support for vital WTC-related health care for 9/11 workers and volunteers
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has awarded new funding for the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program Clinical Center of Excellence at the Icahn School of Medicine’s Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health.
Under this new contract, which will fund up to $340 million over eight years, our WTC Health Program will continue to provide— at no cost—medical monitoring, treatment, and case management services for responders who participated in the rescue, recovery, debris clean-up, and related support services following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Our WTC Health Program, a component of the Mount Sinai Selikoff Centers for Occupational Health, is the largest such center in the country and proudly cares for more than 25,000 responders at its Manhattan, Staten Island, Suffern, and Yonkers, New York, locations.
“The ongoing support of the federal government ensures that we’re able to provide critically needed services to responders,” said Michael Crane, MD, MPH, Medical Director of the Selikoff Centers. “Decades after 9/11, we’re only beginning to understand the health effects related to exposure to the WTC disaster site. Thousands of responders have developed chronic physical and mental health conditions, and all of them require monitoring and dedicated, ongoing care. The terms of this contract underscore our WTC Health Program’s commitment to meet the expanding health care needs of our aging responder population, in areas including mental health, cancer care, and case management.”
Sandra M. Lowe, MD, Medical Director of the WTC Center’s Mental Health Program, added “Many responders who developed psychiatric conditions due to their work at the WTC disaster site continue to experience symptoms, adding to their overall health burden. This funding will allow us to continue to address the growing mental health care needs of our program’s brave responders.”
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 2023-2024.
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