NEW YORK (PRWEB) January 24, 2023
The Kimberly and Eric J. Waldman Department of Dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is delighted to announce a $5 million bequest promised by Kenneth L. Edelson, MD, Clinical Professor of Dermatology. This gift represents Dr. Edelson’s commitment to advancing dermatologic medicine and giving back to the Department and Mount Sinai, where he has served as a physician for the past 14 years.
Bequests and estate gifts, which fall under the umbrella of planned giving, have a lasting impact and help to sustain the mission of Mount Sinai and the Department. “Dr. Edelson’s gift will be extremely beneficial to the Waldman Department of Dermatology and its groundbreaking skin cancer research and treatments,” according to Emma Guttman-Yassky, MD, PhD, Waldman Professor and System Chair of Dermatology.
Dr. Edelson has long been associated with Mount Sinai. He received his medical degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine as a member of the first four-year graduating class, in 1972. Dr. Edelson credits his transformative medical school experience to the faculty, who “were just phenomenal, giants in their fields.” Fenton Shaffner, MD, Hans Popper, MD, Henry Janowitz, MD, Burrill Crohn, MD, Leon Ginzburg, MD, and Rosalyn Yalow, PhD, among others, inspired him to pursue a career in dermatology. This experience was the motivation to pay it forward to the next generation since his education had a huge impact on his life and career.
Dr. Edelson has taught monthly workshops for Mount Sinai’s dermatology resident physicians for which he has won numerous awards including Teacher of the Year. He is internationally recognized as one of the first to use the bolus technique of injecting calcium hydroxylapatite for hand rejuvenation and has published journal articles and textbook chapters on the subject.
Dr. Edelson’s legacy gift to the Waldman Department of Dermatology will fund an endowed professorship; a need-based medical student scholarship; a research fund for skin cancer research; annual lectureships in two specialties: cosmetic dermatologic surgery and psoriasis; and a dermatology exam room and a patient room at The Mount Sinai Hospital. “It's a way of giving back to what Mount Sinai has done for me, which is everything, and I hope others will follow my lead,” says Dr. Edelson.
Dr. Edelson has worn many hats throughout his career. In 2015, Dr. Edelson was sworn in as an Honorary Police Surgeon by the New York City Police Commissioner. This is the highest rank a civilian physician can achieve within the NYPD. Additionally, Dr. Edelson has enjoyed a second career as a comedic actor, and he has appeared in more than 20 films.
About the Mount Sinai Health System
Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 43,000 employees working across eight hospitals, over 400 outpatient practices, nearly 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time — discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.
Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 7,300 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. We are consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals, receiving high “Honor Roll” status, and are highly ranked: No. 1 in Geriatrics and top 20 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Rehabilitation, and Urology. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 12 in Ophthalmology. U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals” ranks Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital among the country’s best in several pediatric specialties. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is one of three medical schools that have earned distinction by multiple indicators: It is consistently ranked in the top 20 by U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Medical Schools,” aligned with a U.S. News & World Report “Honor Roll” Hospital, and top 20 in the nation for National Institutes of Health funding and top 5 in the nation for numerous basic and clinical research areas. Newsweek’s “World’s Best Smart Hospitals” ranks The Mount Sinai Hospital as No. 1 in New York City and in the top five globally, and Mount Sinai Morningside in the top 30 globally; Newsweek also ranks The Mount Sinai Hospital highly in 11 specialties in “World’s Best Specialized Hospitals,” and in “America’s Best Physical Rehabilitation Centers.”
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