Adolescent Medicine Trailblazer Angela Diaz, MD, PhD, MPH, Steps Down as Director of Adolescent Health Center and Chief of the Division of Adolescent Medicine at Mount Sinai Health System
Incoming Director Sarah M. Wood, MD, MS, to embark on the next era of care for adolescents
Angela Diaz, MD, PhD, MPH, (left) and Sarah M. Wood, MD, MS (right).
After decades of work transforming health care and caring for adolescents and young adults in New York City with Mount Sinai Health System, Angela Diaz, MD, PhD, MPH, is stepping down as Director of the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center and Chief of the Division of Adolescent Medicine in the Jack and Lucy Clark Department of Pediatrics. Sarah M. Wood, MD, MS, a physician-scientist at the University of Pennsylvania who has worked to enhance sexual, reproductive, and mental health services for adolescents, will succeed her in both roles.
“I have loved my decades of working at the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center, and I feel strongly that this is the right moment to give the opportunity to a new leader,” said Dr. Diaz. “It has been an honor to have such meaningful work, and to care for countless young people. Their stories have continued to inspire me. Looking ahead, I’m delighted to hand this role to Dr. Wood, who will infuse new ideas and freshness to the Center.”
The Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center, located on East 94th Street in Manhattan, was established in 1968 as a primary care program specifically for the health needs of teenagers. It now offers comprehensive, integrated care including medical, sexual, and reproductive health; behavioral and mental health; health education; and nutrition, dental, optical, and legal services for people aged 10 to 26.
Dr. Wood is a certified HIV specialist who also delivers complex gynecologic and family planning care to adolescents, including long-acting reversible contraception. Before joining Mount Sinai, she served as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine; an attending physician and a faculty member in PolicyLab at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; and the Co-Director of the Penn Center for AIDS Research Clinical Core.
In her new roles, Dr. Wood will direct the expansion of the clinical, research, and educational missions of the Division of Adolescent Medicine, and will lead all medical and organizational decisions affecting the delivery of clinical care to adolescent medicine patients at Mount Sinai, among other responsibilities.
“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to draw on Dr. Diaz’s incredible legacy and usher in the next generation of innovation at the Adolescent Health Center,” said Dr. Wood. “I aim to continue the Center’s vision of providing high-quality, low-barrier health care to adolescents and young adults, while also making the Division of Adolescent Medicine a national leader in clinical and translational adolescent health research and a premier training site for future leaders in adolescent health.”
Dr. Diaz’s first encounter with the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center was as a patient herself during her teenage years. Then, in 1984, she started working at the Center as a young physician, training as a fellow in adolescent medicine. In 1989, she became the Center’s third Director, and developed a model of providing adolescent health care for the underserved and underprivileged that has become a model of excellence replicated nationwide. As her scope expanded, Dr. Diaz also took on leading global and public health research efforts at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai as Dean for Global Health, Social Justice, and Human Rights, and the Jean C. and James W. Crystal Professor in Adolescent Health, positions she will continue to hold. Dr. Diaz is the Center’s longest-serving leader.
“Dr. Diaz is a legendary figure, both at Mount Sinai and throughout the nation, as somebody who is committed to providing outstanding care to those who are underserved,” says Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of Icahn Mount Sinai and President for Academic Affairs of the Mount Sinai Health System. “When you look back upon her leadership in running the Adolescent Health Center for as long as she did, she has changed the trajectory of thousands of adolescents who have become successful individuals.”
“We are very proud of Dr. Diaz’s achievements and contributions to the Center, and grateful for all that she’s done for her patients,” said Lisa M. Satlin, MD, Chair, Jack and Lucy Clark Department of Pediatrics, and Pediatrician-in-Chief, Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital. “Looking ahead, we are confident in the wealth of clinical and research experience that Dr. Wood brings to Mount Sinai Health System. Her work developing strategies to enhance the health and well-being of adolescents and young adults has garnered funding from sources such as the National Institute of Mental Health and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Her expertise will both honor Dr. Diaz’s accomplishments and help carry this important work into its next era.” Dr. Satlin is also the Herbert H. Lehman Professor of Pediatrics at Icahn Mount Sinai.
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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