• Press Release

David Muller, MD, Dean for Medical Education, Receives National Award from American Medical Association Foundation

The AMA Foundation’s Pride in the Profession Award recognizes the contributions of physicians who work in underserved areas and sacrifice their time for volunteer and public service efforts.

  • New York, NY
  • (March 12, 2009)

David Muller, M.D., the Dean for Medical Education at Mount Sinai School of Medicine was one of only four physicians in the United States to receive The Pride in the Profession Award from the American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation. The award recognizes the contributions of physicians who work in underserved areas and who sacrifice their time for volunteer and public service efforts.

Dr. Muller, who is also an Associate Professor of Medicine and Medical Education, co-founded and directed the Mount Sinai Visiting Doctors Program after completing his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Mount Sinai. Visiting Doctors brings high-quality medical care to men and women with complex and serious illnesses who have difficulty leaving their homes. Founded in 1995, Visiting Doctors is now the largest academic physician home visiting program in the country. Dr. Muller has been Dean for Medical Education since 2005.

We are all honored to have Dr. Muller’s work and contributions to Mount Sinai and medicine be recognized in this important way, said Dennis Charney, M.D., Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at The Mount Sinai Medical Center. "He is a true asset to Mount Sinai and it is a privilege to work with him."

The AMA Foundation recognizes physicians who represent the highest ideals of medical service in providing care to patients, and who demonstrate altruism, compassion, leadership, excellence, integrity and high ethical standards. The awards were presented during the seventh annual Excellence in Medicine Awards dinner on March 9, 2009 preceding the AMA Foundation’s National Advocacy Conference in Washington D.C.

In addition, two Mount Sinai School of Medicine students, Mr. Robert Accordino and Mr. Nicholas Meo, received Leadership Awards. The awards are presented to medical students, residents/fellows and early-career physicians in recognition of strong, nonclinical leadership skills in advocacy, community service, public health and education. While at Mount Sinai, Mr. Accordino founded and has served as the executive director of Music for Autism, an organization that aims to improve the quality of life, education and clinical care of individuals with autism, particularly those in underserved areas. Mr. Meo serves as director of the East Harlem Health Outreach Partnership, a free health clinic for the uninsured.

The awards ceremony was an inspiring event, said Dr. Muller. "It not only highlighted the good work being done by students and physicians from around the country, it reinforced Mount Sinai's superb reputation in service and leadership. We were the best represented school there, with two medical students and one faculty member receiving leadership awards."

About The Mount Sinai Medical Center
The Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The Mount Sinai Hospital is one of the nation’s oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. Founded in 1852, Mount Sinai today is a 1,171-bed tertiary-care teaching facility that is internationally acclaimed for excellence in clinical care. Last year, nearly 50,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients, and there were nearly 450,000 outpatient visits to the Medical Center.

Mount Sinai School of Medicine is internationally recognized as a leader in groundbreaking clinical and basic-science research, as well as having an innovative approach to medical education. With a faculty of more than 3,400 in 38 clinical and basic science departments and centers, Mount Sinai ranks among the top 20 medical schools in receipt of National Institute of Health (NIH) grants.


About the Mount Sinai Health System

Mount Sinai Health System is one of the nation’s leading integrated academic health systems and one of the largest in the New York metropolitan area. Its comprehensive system includes seven hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, over 600 research and clinical laboratories, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and the Mount Sinai Phillips School of Nursing. Together, the Health System comprises approximately 48,000 employees, more than 9,000 physicians, and 8,600 nurses.

As a leading learning health system, Mount Sinai combines clinical expertise with scientific discovery to improve patient care while training the next generation of health care and biomedical leaders. The Health System provides care across every stage of life, from prenatal care through geriatrics, while advancing personalized medicine through artificial intelligence, data science, and biomedical research.

Mount Sinai is consistently recognized among the nation’s leading academic health systems for patient care, research, and education. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 1 in New York by Newsweek and No. 5 on the magazine’s World’s Best Hospitals list. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai ranks No. 11 among U.S. medical schools and No. 1 among freestanding medical schools for National Institutes of Health funding, reflecting the strength of its scientific enterprise and leadership in biomedical research.