A Message From the Chair

In 2024, the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai continued to deliver superior care to patients throughout the New York metropolitan area. As the Department’s chair, it is my duty to help ensure collaboration across the Mount Sinai Health System—a network of eight hospitals—and combine our talents and resources to ensure our patients receive the best care possible, while striving to achieve clinical, educational, and research excellence.

With our 2025 specialty report, we share our latest advancements in sports medicine, shoulder surgery, and more. In the realm of sports medicine, Elizabeth R. Dennis, MD, MS, is involved in a major multicenter study that could lead to more effective treatments for patellofemoral instability, a common condition affecting young female athletes; and Robert L. Parisien, MD, is performing minimally invasive hip preservation through hip arthroscopy on patients with femoroacetabular impingement, with promising results for preventing early arthritis. Additionally, Mount Sinai served for its 12th consecutive year as official medical services provider to the US Open Tennis Championships, with a focus on protecting players, crews, and fans from heat and associated hyperthermia injuries.

In the subspecialty of shoulder surgery, Woojin Han, PhD, is leading efforts to develop a new treatment to help patients with rotator cuff injuries. Funded by the Department of Defense, the injectable protein-releasing hydrogel patch developed by Dr. Han may prevent, and possibly reverse, rotator cuff muscle degeneration. The treatment has the potential to help those at high risk for rotator cuff injuries, including active-duty service members.

We are also proud to share that several Mount Sinai orthopedists were granted prominent awards and fellowships last year. Michael R. Hausman, MD, received the prestigious A. Lee Osterman Excellence in Education Award from the American Society for Surgery of the Hand; and Paul J. Cagle Jr., MD, and Meghan Kelly, MD, PhD, received highly selective traveling fellowships from the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons and the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society, respectively. Also in 2024, we welcomed three talented physicians to our Department: Yunsoo A. Lee, MD; Martin Pico, MD; and Chirag D. Shah, MD, JD.

In 2025, we continue to strive to improve our patients’ lives through our restorative treatments, and to combine medical care with meaningful research in both clinical and basic science areas. As part of the Mount Sinai Health System, with the ability to gather data and information from one of the largest patient populations in New York City, we will strive to conduct outcomes research that has a significant impact on the practice of orthopedics. Additionally, we continue to expand our Orthopedic Research Laboratories at Mount Sinai to translate medical research into treatments that save and improve lives. In addition to enhancing patient care, we aim to encourage the academic goals of our faculty, residents, fellows, and students.

I hope you will consider supporting us again this year and invite you to learn more about our programs, our faculty, and our commitment to being the best in medical education, patient care, and scientific research.