• Press Release

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Appoints David C. Thomas, MD, MS, MHPE, Dean of Medical Education

image of David C. Thomas, MD, MS, MHPE
  • New York, NY
  • (February 12, 2024)

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai announced today the appointment of David C. Thomas, MD, MS, MHPE, as Dean of Medical Education and Chair of the Department of Medical Education.

“I am thrilled and honored to serve as Dean of Medical Education at Icahn Mount Sinai and excited to oversee the evolution of our curriculum, while maintaining the school’s highest of standards for teaching, scholarship, innovation, mentorship, collaboration, and professionalism,” says Dr. Thomas. “Furthermore, I am proud to serve our East Harlem community as a physician, teacher, and leader as we continue to build on our anti-racism commitment and strive towards greater health equity and fairness.”

For more than two decades, Dr. Thomas has served with distinction as an internal and rehabilitation medicine physician as well as Associate Dean for Continuing Medical Education since 2011 and System Vice Chair for Education within the Department of Medicine since 2012. From 2020-2022, he served as Chair of the Department of Medicine for the Mount Sinai Health System.

“Dr. Thomas had led with distinction through these formative years and I know he will continue to uphold the legacy of excellence established at Icahn Mount Sinai,” 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. “He will play an important role in the next big chapter of our school as we unveil our new ASCEND curriculum, which draws on the school’s tradition of academic rigor, innovation, and transformational health care.”

Notable accomplishments during his previous roles at Icahn Mount Sinai include:

  • Overseeing undergraduate and graduate medical education, as well as continuing medical education for all physicians in the Department of Medicine across Mount Sinai, and involvement in in recruitment, training, and mentoring of interns, residents, and fellows.
  • Co-founding the East Harlem Health Outreach Partnership (EHHOP), Icahn Mount Sinai’s student-run, attending-directed free clinic for uninsured residents of East Harlem, and serving as Medical Director.
  • Chairing the Community Advisory Board of The Mount Sinai Hospital and Icahn Mount Sinai and strengthening relationships between the hospital, school, and the East Harlem community.

In addition to being named a Master Educator by Mount Sinai’s Institute for Medical Education, Dr. Thomas is the recipient of numerous awards, both locally and nationally, for clinical and teaching excellence and other recognitions, including the Solomon Berson Award for Excellence in Teaching; The Edward J. Ronan Mount Sinai Medical Student Distinguished Teacher Award; the Alexander Richman Award for Humanism in Medicine; the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award for his work with the East Harlem Health Outreach Partnership; and the Jacobi Medallion, received in 2019 from the Mount Sinai Alumni Association and Icahn Mount Sinai.

After receiving a Master of Science in Public Health from Tufts University, Dr. Thomas earned his medical degree from the Hahnemann/Drexel University School of Medicine in Philadelphia. Dr. Thomas served as a resident at Mount Sinai in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, where he became Chief Resident. He also completed an internship and residency at St. Vincent’s Hospital of New York Medical College in Internal Medicine. Dr. Thomas received a Master of Health Professions Education from the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Dr. Thomas has authored or coauthored more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and has presented almost 150 regional, national, and international presentations.

About the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is internationally renowned for its outstanding research, educational, and clinical care programs. It is the sole academic partner for the eight- member hospitals* of the Mount Sinai Health System, one of the largest academic health systems in the United States, providing care to a large and diverse patient population.   

Ranked 13th nationwide in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding and among the 99th percentile in research dollars per investigator according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, Icahn Mount Sinai has a talented, productive, and successful faculty. More than 3,000 full-time scientists, educators, and clinicians work within and across 44 academic departments and 36 multidisciplinary institutes, a structure that facilitates tremendous collaboration and synergy. Our emphasis on translational research and therapeutics is evident in such diverse areas as genomics/big data, virology, neuroscience, cardiology, geriatrics, as well as gastrointestinal and liver diseases. 

Icahn Mount Sinai offers highly competitive MD, PhD, and Master’s degree programs, with current enrollment of approximately 1,300 students. It has the largest graduate medical education program in the country, with more than 2,000 clinical residents and fellows training throughout the Health System. In addition, more than 550 postdoctoral research fellows are in training within the Health System. 

A culture of innovation and discovery permeates every Icahn Mount Sinai program. Mount Sinai’s technology transfer office, one of the largest in the country, partners with faculty and trainees to pursue optimal commercialization of intellectual property to ensure that Mount Sinai discoveries and innovations translate into healthcare products and services that benefit the public.  

Icahn Mount Sinai’s commitment to breakthrough science and clinical care is enhanced by academic affiliations that supplement and complement the School’s programs.  

Through the Mount Sinai Innovation Partners (MSIP), the Health System facilitates the real-world application and commercialization of medical breakthroughs made at Mount Sinai. Additionally, MSIP develops research partnerships with industry leaders such as Merck & Co., AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk, and others.  

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is located in New York City on the border between the Upper East Side and East Harlem, and classroom teaching takes place on a campus facing Central Park. Icahn Mount Sinai’s location offers many opportunities to interact with and care for diverse communities. Learning extends well beyond the borders of our physical campus, to the eight hospitals of the Mount Sinai Health System, our academic affiliates, and globally.  

 

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 Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Related Articles
James Center
Doctor adjusting microscope
Bhardwaj
Adolescent Directors
New York skyscrapers
Parsons Team
Icahn
Ben Abella
two doctors looking at a computer monitor
Image of researchers