"Our patients' lives outside the hospital and clinic are not neatly tucked away. Patients often do not have job security or adequate access to health care; many do not have family to advocate for them or the educational background and English-language skills needed to help them understand everything that’s happening and all that they need to do."
David Muller, MD, Dean for Medical Education
An Education Rooted in Community
One of the most extraordinary aspects of education at Mount Sinai stems from the fact that we serve residents of widely disparate communities, all of them within walking distance of our Medical Center. Go from the campus in one direction and you land directly to East Harlem, one of the most culturally diverse yet economically disadvantaged communities in the United States. A walk across campus in the opposite direction leads you to the Upper East Side, one of the most affluent neighborhoods in the country.
Service to our neighbors has always been a core value of the medical school, and Mount Sinai has a long history of community outreach. Starting in their first year, Mount Sinai medical students can interact with patients in all of our adjoining communities and work with physician-mentors through activities like the Longitudinal Clinical Experience (LCE).
In addition, our Visiting Doctors Program, the largest physician home visiting program in the United States, takes every Mount Sinai medical student to the homes of people with complex and serious illness throughout Manhattan. Another Mount Sinai community outreach program, the East Harlem Health Outreach Partnership (EHHOP) is one of the most successful student-run free clinics in the nation. Begun in 2000 by a group of Mount Sinai medical students, it allows our students the opportunity to deliver longitudinal care to chronically ill patients as well as trains then to be lifelong advocates and leaders in health care for the poor and underserved.