(NEW YORK –October 2, 2018) The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is preparing to host its seventh annual SINAInnovations festival, focused this year on Innovations in Science and Medicine. Corresponding with the School's 50th Anniversary, the conference will cast an eye on the future of biomedicine through the School's leadership in interdisciplinary collaboration, innovation, and discovery.

SINAInnovations takes place Tuesday-Wednesday, October 23-24, preceded by the Mount Sinai Health Hackathon from Friday-Sunday, October 19-21. SINAInnovations will include keynote addresses from renowned thought leaders along with focused panel discussions among physicians representing the Mount Sinai Health System. The program will focus on four domains that reflect the institution's past, current, and future strengths: Cell and Gene Engineering; The Arc of Innovation From Concept to Cure; Data-Driven Innovation That Is Transforming Medicine; and Caring for the Community Through the Lifespan.

"This year, SINAInnovations will explore innovations in science and the next frontier of patient care while reflecting on the rich history of scientific discovery at the Icahn School of Medicine, founded half a century ago," says Scott L. Friedman, MD, Dean for Therapeutic Discovery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and director of the conference. A tribute to the School's many scientific discoveries, from Tay-Sachs disease (1887) to "regional ileitis," later known as Crohn's disease (1932) to the development of a new influenza vaccine (2010) is available online.

A deep dive into rare diseases will be the focus of this year's Mount Sinai Health Hackathon, an exciting 48-hour multidisciplinary competition focused on creating novel technology solutions for problems in health care, held in conjunction with the festival. More than 7,000 rare diseases have been identified, affecting 300 million people. The Hackathon will emphasize rare diseases in the belief that there is a compelling need to advance the outlook of patients with these diseases and to find novel technology solutions to address their needs. Details about the Health Hackathon are available online.

"We're thrilled with the high caliber of physicians and scientists from within the Mount Sinai Health System and elsewhere who will convene to exchange ideas, celebrate the Icahn School of Medicine's extraordinary contributions and innovations, and, ultimately, explore the future of science," says Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and President for Academic Affairs, Mount Sinai Health System.

For more information about SINAInnovations, please visit the Icahn School of Medicine website. To register for the event, please visit the following link.


Notable speakers at this year's SINAInnovations include the following:

Tuesday, October 23:

Charles Murry, Director, Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, University of Washington, who will give a keynote address on regenerating the heart

Katherine A. High, President, Spark Therapeutics, whose keynote will focus on the future of cell and gene engineering

Raymond Schinazi, Frances Winship Walters Professor, Department of Pediatrics, and Director, Center for AIDS Research, Emory University School of Medicine, whose keynote will focus on Disruptive Discoveries for HIV, HCV & HBV Infections

Tom Maniatis, Scientific Director/CEO, New York Genome Center, and Professor of Biochemistry, Columbia University, whose keynote will focus on How the Clustered Protocadherins Provide a Single-Cell Identity Code Required for Neural Circuit Assembly


Wednesday, October 24:

Eric Dishman, Director, All of Us Research Program, National Institutes of Health, whose keynote will focus on Accelerating Precision Health for All: The All of Us Research Program

Sri Madabushi, Business Development Director, Google AI Healthcare, whose keynote will focus on Data Driven Innovation that is Transforming Medicine

David Blumenthal, President, The Commonwealth Fund, whose keynote will focus on "Caring for the Community Through the Lifespan"

Kelly J. Kelleher, Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics, Psychiatry and Public Health, Nationwide Children's Hospital, whose keynote will focus on Caring For or Caring By the Healthy Community


About Mount Sinai Health System
The Mount Sinai Health System is New York City's largest integrated delivery system encompassing seven hospital campuses, a leading medical school, and a vast network of ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. Mount Sinai's vision is to produce the safest care, the highest quality, the highest satisfaction, the best access and the best value of any health system in the nation. The System includes approximately 6,600 primary and specialty care physicians; 10 joint-venture ambulatory surgery centers; more than 140 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and 31 affiliated community health centers. The Icahn School of Medicine is one of three medical schools that have earned distinction by multiple indicators: ranked in the top 20 by U.S. News & World Report's "Best Medical Schools", aligned with a U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" Hospital, it is ranked as a leading medical school for National Institutes of Health funding, and among the top 10 most innovative research institutions as ranked by the journal Nature in its Nature Innovation Index. This reflects a special level of excellence in education, clinical practice, and research. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 18 on U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" of top U.S. hospitals; it is one of the nation's top 20 hospitals in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Geriatrics, Nephrology, and Neurology/Neurosurgery, and in the top 50 in six other specialties in the 2018-2019 "Best Hospitals" issue. Mount Sinai's Kravis Children's Hospital also is ranked nationally in five out of ten pediatric specialties by U.S. News & World Report. The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked 11th nationally for Ophthalmology and 44th for Ear, Nose, and Throat, while Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai St. Luke's and Mount Sinai West are ranked regionally. For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org/, or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.