“Our program highly emphasizes and encourages near-peer teaching and developing clinician-educators, and it ensures we have the support/mentorship, expertise, and opportunities to develop curriculum, lead teaching sessions, and serve as mentors to medical students and co-residents,” says Dr. Loebel. “I am in the medical education track of our residency, and our leaders, and my mentor, Dr. Laura Stein, have opened up a world of opportunity for me, locally, regionally, and within the national neurology societies, such as the American Academy of Neurology.”
Laura K. Stein, MD, MPH, is Associate Professor of Neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “It is hard to convey just how much work Emma has put in to educating others that is so far beyond what one would ever expect from a resident or even junior faculty member,” says Dr. Stein. “She has developed, assessed, and published multiple curricula for students and residents and is leading a national study of stroke education among internal medicine program directors and practicing physicians. Emma is truly a role model not just for her peers and students, but faculty as well.”
After she completes her residency, Dr. Loebel will do a vascular neurology fellowship at NYU Langone.
Says Michelle T. Fabian, MD, Associate Professor of Neurology and Director of The Mount Sinai Hospital Neurology Residency Program: “Dr. Loebel possesses all the qualities we seek in a Neurology resident. She excels as a clinician, educator, and scholar. I know she will continue to make a meaningful impact in neurology education and vascular neurology throughout her career.”
From left: Michelle T. Fabian, MD; Emma Loebel, MD; and Laura K. Stein, MD, MPH.
Read more about Dr. Loebel’s experiences and achievements in The Mount Sinai Hospital Neurology Residency Program in the following Q&A.
What are some of the strongest features of Mount Sinai’s residency program?
We train at three very distinct health care systems within one residency program across New York City. This allows us to see an exceptionally diverse patient population, learn to practice within different resource settings, and understand the inner workings of different health care systems.
The Mount Sinai Hospital is a leading academic tertiary care center uniquely situated within New York City, devoted to caring for all persons, and has top-of-the-line subspecialty care. NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst is a public city hospital that serves one of the most diverse zip codes in the nation, is located in a more resource-limited setting, but is known for top thrombectomy and other neurology care. At the James J. Peters Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center, we are training in a government system at a much smaller hospital. We have learned adaptability, resilience, and, at times, creativity to provide top expert patient care.
You have an extraordinary commitment to medical education. What are your leading achievements?
I developed a virtual five-week elective course on the basics of stroke, called “Stroke, Thrombectomy, and Revascularization (STaR)” that is open to medical students across the world. I started it as a senior medical student with Dr. Stein, have continued to lead it throughout the four years of residency, and we just finished the fifth year of the course.
The course covers the basics of stroke management and introduces learners from around the world to faculty involved in stroke care. Mount Sinai faculty volunteer to help lead these sessions. The course has allowed future neurologists in training to meet and network with each other. Some have come to do rotations at Mount Sinai. One even joined our residency. Interim results throughout the years were presented at conferences.
I am also first author on a peer-reviewed publication in Neurology: Education, and helped mentor four trainees who completed the STaR course and published a post on their perspectives on the Neurology: Education blog. I additionally helped develop a neuro ophthalmology didactic curriculum for medical students I continue to help lead, and am first author on this peer-reviewed publication in Neurology: Education.
How did your mentors help you succeed?
Our neurology faculty go above and beyond to ensure we are meeting and exceeding our academic milestones and feel accomplished and fulfilled as physicians in training, acknowledging both our personal and professional lives. Dr. Stein has role modeled total excellence and outstanding achievements in clinical care, research, and medical education. With her support, I also had several important personal accomplishments during residency—such as getting married and attending other friend and family life events, running half marathons, traveling, and more. Dr. Stein always reminds me: life doesn't end when you start residency, it starts.
Our program director, Dr. Fabian, had a significant role in many of my professional and personal accomplishments. She always makes each one of us feel important, empowered, and acknowledged. Dr. Fabian is a reassuring force, always working to improve our service-to-education balance, listening and advocating, and tirelessly assisting each resident, helping all to achieve their unique goals.