Theresa Soriano, MD, Recognized for Excellence in End-of-Life Care at The Mount Sinai Medical Center
Dr. Theresa Soriano received the Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Award for her efforts leading the Mount Sinai Visiting Doctors Program.
Theresa A. Soriano, MD, MPH, Director of the Mount Sinai Visiting Doctors Program, and Associate Professor of Medicine and Assistant Professor of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, has been honored with the prestigious Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Award for improving the care of patients near the end of life.
Dr. Soriano is one of only three early-career physicians in the country recognized for her commitment to the field and contribution through practical research and clinical work. She will receive the award in a ceremony at Mount Sinai.
Under Dr. Soriano's leadership, the Visiting Doctors Program at Mount Sinai—one of the nation's largest academic home-based primary and palliative care program—has created a safety net for more than 1,200 homebound patients and a comfortable in-home palliative care environment.
"The success of the Visiting Doctors Program in providing end-of-life and primary care in a challenging health care environment is the result of Dr. Soriano's advocacy, her passion for caring for the underserved, and her deep understanding of the importance of the person within the patient," said David Muller, MD, Chair of the Department of Medical Education, Dean for Medical Education, and Associate Professor of Medicine. "Whether it is for the patient at the bedside, the trainee struggling to make sense of caring for someone at the end of life, or lobbying in the state legislature, Dr. Soriano brings to bear her intellect, passion for justice, and keen interpersonal skills to get the job done."
Since 1995, the Mount Sinai Visiting Doctors Program has provided compassionate health care to elderly or ailing adults who are unable to leave their homes. The award-winning program grew out of the collaborative efforts of the Samuel L. Bronfman Department of Medicine and the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine. Throughout Manhattan, the Visiting Doctors team of physicians, nurses, social workers and administrative staff delivers comprehensive primary and palliative care to an underserved segment of the population—homebound adults, consisting of geriatric patients, as well as those with psychiatric, neurological, complex, and terminal illnesses. The team also reaches out to families and caregivers to offer emotional support and counseling.
"It has been so rewarding to see so many patients benefit from the primary and palliative care services that Visiting Doctors provides, and to expose students and housestaff to this work," said Dr. Soriano. "I am honored to be recognized by the Hastings Center and the Cunniff-Dixon Foundation for the difference we are making in the lives of these patients and families."
The Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Award is provided by the Cunniff-Dixon Foundation, whose mission is to enrich the doctor-patient relationship near the end of life, in partnership with The Hastings Center, a bioethics research institute that has done groundbreaking work on end-of-life decision-making. The nomination and selection process was administered by The Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life. The Cunniff-Dixon Foundation was founded in 2005 by Matthew A. Baxter in memory of his wife, Carley Cunniff, who died of breast cancer, and in recognition of her attending physician, Dr. Peter S. Dixon, who enabled her to die a peaceful death at home with her family and loved ones.
About The Mount Sinai Medical Center
The Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses both The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Established in 1968, Mount Sinai School of Medicine is one of the leading medical schools in the United States. The Medical School is noted for innovation in education, biomedical research, clinical care delivery, and local and global community service. It has more than 3,400 faculty in 32 departments and 14 research institutes, and ranks among the top 20 medical schools both in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding and by US News and World Report.
The Mount Sinai Hospital, founded in 1852, is a 1,171-bed tertiary- and quaternary-care teaching facility and one of the nation’s oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. In 2011, US News and World Report ranked The Mount Sinai Hospital 16th on its elite Honor Roll of the nation’s top hospitals based on reputation, safety, and other patient-care factors. Of the top 20 hospitals in the United States, Mount Sinai is one of 12 integrated academic medical centers whose medical school ranks among the top 20 in NIH funding and US News and World Report and whose hospital is on the US News and World Report Honor Roll. Nearly 60,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients last year, and approximately 560,000 outpatient visits took place.
For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org.
Find Mount Sinai on:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mountsinainyc
Twitter @mountsinainyc
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/mountsinainy
# # #
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.
For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.