The Institute for Family Health and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Alfred and Gail Engelberg Department of Family Medicine and Community Health

New York, NY (June 29, 2022) This month marks the 10th Anniversary of the Alfred and Gail Engelberg Department of Family Medicine and Community Health. The department is a unique collaboration between the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) and the Institute for Family Health, a federally-qualified health center network that works to promote health equity and community health through patient care, training and research.

Since its inception in 2012, the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health has developed a suite of programs that foster outstanding primary care education, clinical care and research within both the Mount Sinai health system and the Institute’s community health center network. These programs include:

• Patient care provided at Mount Sinai Hospital and the Family Health Center of Harlem
• Three family medicine residency programs, located in Harlem, Lower Manhattan and the Mid-Hudson Valley
• The Primary Care Scholars Program, which trains medical students in equity-focused primary care
• Physician fellowship programs in integrative medicine, addiction medicine, reproductive health and research
• An extensive array of collaborative research projects, which have resulted in over 1,500 published articles in scientific journals

To date, the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health has graduated over 250 family physicians; prepared over 60 ISMMS medical students to match to family medicine residency programs; and credentialed over 400 family physicians to provide direct patient care services.

“The Institute has been the perfect partner for the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, both in training our medical students and residents and in conducting research in the essential field of family medicine,” said Dr. Dennis S. Charney, the Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and President for Academic Affairs for the Mount Sinai Health System. “Together we have built a dynamic and collaborative environment dedicated to improving primary care and community health. The partnership works because the Institute and our school share the same values and priorities that are becoming increasingly important to the future of medicine.”

Dr. Neil Calman, President and CEO of the Institute, and Chair of the Department, said, “The partnership between the Institute and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai embodies the spirit of collaboration that is such a vital part of family medicine. Through this collaboration, we have combined the resources of a cutting-edge, prestigious hospital system with the Institute’s decades of experience and expertise addressing the primary health needs of historically neglected New York communities. Most importantly, we are training the next generation of family physicians to take care of people in low income, medically underserved communities. Since we joined forces, more than 60 Mount Sinai students have chosen careers in family medicine.”

The Institute and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai are poised to continue this work of promoting health equity in the coming decades. The partnership will grow through additional research and unique training opportunities that continue to build bridges with communities and work toward improved health for all.

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The Institute for Family Health (www.institute.org) is a federally qualified health center network that operates 30 practices in New York State serving roughly 100,000 patients annually. Services are available to people of all ages, regardless of ability to pay. The Institute also operates three residency training programs for family physicians and a family nurse practitioner residency. It also runs seven school based health centers and six sites that care for people who are homeless, as well as a number of health promotion programs, including Bronx Health REACH.