2019 Speaker Bios

Steven J. Burakoff, MD
Dean for Cancer Innovation
Chief, Division of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Dr. Burakoff, is a leader in immunology, oncology, and translational medicine. Dr. Burakoff founded The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai. He served as its director for more than 10 years. Under his leadership, The Tisch Center became a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center. The Institute sees more than 10,000 patients annually. It focuses on early disease detection, intervention, and treatment through the development and implementation of diagnostic tools, vaccines, imaging, and immune monitoring.

Dr. Burakoff holds Board of Trustees, Board of Directors, and External Advisory Committee appointments at multiple leading cancer research organizations. He has received many awards, including the first Harvard Medical School Excellence in Mentoring Award. He has been an editor and associate editor for numerous journals. He has also authored more than 300 publications in peer-reviewed journals. In 2009, Dr. Burakoff received the American Association of Immunologists Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dennis S. Charney, MD
Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
President for Academic Affairs, Mount Sinai Health System

Dr. Charney is a world expert in the neurobiology and treatment of mood and anxiety disorders. He is committed to innovation and science. He is also a transformational leader who led the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to unparalleled growth and high national rankings. His research on depression has led to the discovery of novel therapies. These include the first digital treatment using Emotional Faces Memory Task (EFMT). His discovery with his co-inventors of the use of intranasal ketamine for treatment-resistant depression led to the approval of esketamine (Spravato) as a treatment for the disease in March 2019. This development has been hailed as one of the most important discoveries for the treatment of depression in decades. Dr. Charney was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2000. He was elected to the National Academy of Inventors in 2017.

Kenneth L. Davis, MD
President and Chief Executive Officer
Mount Sinai Health System

Dr. Davis is President and CEO of the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, one of the nation’s largest integrated health systems, which includes the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, eight hospitals, and more than 400 ambulatory sites. He is a leader in the move away from fee-for-service medicine to population health. His goal is to keep more patients healthy and out of the hospital. As a neurobiologist, Dr. Davis conducted pioneering research that led the FDA to approve four of the first five drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. In 2002, he was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. The author or co-author of more than 575 scientific articles, Dr. Davis has been recognized as one of the most highly cited researchers in the field of brain diseases. He has won numerous awards including the George H. W. Bush Lifetime of Leadership Award from Yale University. In 2014 he was named a trustee of the Aspen Institute.

Fred R. Hirsch, MD, PhD
Executive Director, Center for Thoracic Oncology
Associate Director, The Tisch Cancer Institute
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Dr. Hirsch has been an international authority on lung cancer treatment and research. For more than 25 years, he has focused on translational research, targeted therapies, and early detection. His research has helped identify and validate prognostic markers for lung cancer outcomes. It has also helped develop biomarkers for personalized therapies that show how these therapies work and who is most likely to benefit from them.

Dr. Hirsch has received a number of awards and honors. These include the IASLC Mary Matthews Award for Translational Research in Lung Cancer in 2007; the Japanese Lung Cancer Society Merit Award in 2010; the Addario Foundation Lecture Award in 2015; and the Wuan Ki Hong Lectureship Award in 2019. He has contributed to more than 400 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Miriam Merad, MD, PhD
Director of the Precision Immunology Institute
Director of the Human Immune Monitoring Center
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

As the leader of the Merad Laboratory at Mount Sinai, Dr. Merad leads research to understand the immune system and to develop therapies for cancer and inflammatory diseases. Dr. Merad’s laboratory has made pivotal discoveries in understanding the mechanisms that control the development and functional identity of tissue-resident dendritic cells and macrophages during homeostasis. They have helped with examining how these regulations are changed in cancer and inflammatory diseases. Dr. Merad also founded the Human Immune Monitoring Center at Mount Sinai. This center’s goal is to implement technology platforms to maximize information obtained from limited biological samples.

Dr. Merad has authored more than 180 papers and reviews. She receives generous funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She belongs to several NIH consortia. In 2018, she received the prestigious William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Tumor Immunology. She is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation.

Carrie Quinn, MD
Executive Director of the Mount Sinai Parenting Center
Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Dr. Quinn leads the efforts behind the Mount Sinai Parenting Center at Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital. She runs an interdisciplinary team of doctors, psychologists, researchers, and social workers striving to transform the way pediatric health care is delivered. She strives to maximize opportunities to impart positive parenting tools that encourage a child's social, emotional, and cognitive growth. Her team has created a model curriculum for incorporating the promotion of positive parenting behaviors into pediatric residency training. They have also expanded this curriculum to pediatric residency programs throughout the country. In addition, the Parenting Center is working to transform the hospital environment with messaging and staff training. The goal is to turn everyday health care moments into brain-building opportunities.