About the Center for Multicultural and Community Affairs

The Center for Multicultural and Community Affairs (CMCA) provides an environment which nurtures students, faculty, and trainees from groups underrepresented in the medical and biomedical research workforces at The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Student and faculty alike see the Center as a haven where camaraderie and education go hand in hand. In the classroom, the laboratory, and within the Center, each is encouraged to succeed and given tools to succeed. The high school experience in the summer science programs has opened the way for many who consider medicine as a career option. Those who select to study medicine at Mount Sinai are embraced by the faculty of CMCA and guided through their medical school and residency experiences. Faculty are able to serve as much needed mentors while, they themselves are given protected time to embark on research that impacts health care disparities. The testimonials from students and physicians alike confirm what is unique about this program.

Engaging Underrepresented Youth in the Sciences

Through various strategic partnerships, the CMCA reaches out to students from groups underrepresented in medicine (URM), by engaging them in a summer or academic year-around science experience that gives them a chance to see that a career in medicine is not only exciting but actually attainable. These youngsters wear lab coats and shadow physicians involved in research participating in the work that their mentors are doing. For many of these students, this is the first time they have been invited into a school of medicine to experience firsthand what it is like to be a physician. The impact of this experience is immeasurable. A well-known alumnus of the pipeline program is Angela Diaz, MD, who is now a full professor at MSSM and is the Director of The Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center, which provides confidential comprehensive medical, mental health, family planning, and health education services to young people between the ages of 10-21.

A Focus on Career Development of URM Faculty

A core activity of the CMCA is to support the career development of URM faculty and trainees. By equipping clinical and basic science URM junior faculty and trainees with the tools to be successful in academic medicine we are able to impact the level diversity in the clinical and biomedical research workforce and address health disparities issues with rigorous and innovative research approaches. Further, having a diverse workforce in academic medicine allows for additional opportunities for role models with a shared background and experience to mentor URM students in the education pipeline and in medical and graduate school.

The clinical and biomedical research that URM faculty perform has led to several nationally recognized scientific achievements that have provided public policy experts with key information regarding the health care delivery of underrepresented minority groups.

Some of our key URM faculty researchers include:

• Yasmine Hurd, PhD
• Daniel Caplivsky, MD
• Helen Fernandez, MD, MPH
• Angela Diaz, MD MPH
• Desiree Byrd, PhD
• Monica Rivera-Mindt, PhD
• Valentin Fuster, MD
• Kirk Campbell, MD
• Stephanie Hernandez, MD, MSc
• Gallane Abraham, MD, MSc
• Lynne Richardson, MD
• Jessica Reid Adam, MD
• Alicia Hurtado, MD
• Camille Napier, MD MPH
• Rafael de la Hoz, MD

CMCA Community Partners

The extraordinary partnerships Center for Multicultural and Community Affairs (CMCA) has developed span every aspect of the community from businesses, schools, social service agencies to faith-based organizations. These relationships have served an integral part of the CMCA enabling it to leverage its ability to provide a dynamic environment where synergies are created and community oriented medical care and research takes place. Key community partners, such as Boriken Neighborhood Health Center, Settlement Health Center, and Children's Aid Society, include a diverse network of community based organizations, community health and other health provider organizations, and public health and academic institutions located in East Harlem.

CMCA's Success Milestones Training Diverse Healthcare Workforce

Since 1998, CMCA has worked towards advancing diversity at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, which has resulted in several key milestones in exposing URM youth to science education and health care professions and in URM medical student, house staff, and faculty recruitment, some of these include:

• Over past 40 years, the CMCA has engaged more than 10,000 youth from disadvantaged backgrounds to obtain early exposure and advance towards careers in health and science
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• URM medical students have consistently comprised 17% to 20% of the incoming class over the past decade
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• Increase in URM residents in Mount Sinai training programs from 5% to over 11% from 1998 to present
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• Since 2001, when the CMCA was established, underrepresented minority faculty has grown from 4% to more than 7%
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• The CMCA has engaged more nearly 40 junior faculty and trainees in formal research training and academic development programs and supported nearly 100 pre-doctoral students in mentored research over the past ten years