• Press Release

Mount Sinai Ushers In A New Era Of Innovation With SinaInnovations Conference On November 12-14, 2012

The three-day program will examine the teaching and promotion of Innovation.

  • New York
  • (October 02, 2012)

A unique three-day conference at The Mount Sinai Medical Center will examine ways to foster innovation and accelerate drug and biotechnology discoveries at academic medical centers. The conference – entitled SINAInnovations – will be held Monday, November 12 through Wednesday, November 14.

SINAInnovations will feature prominent speakers from academia, the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, the investment community, and global media. The speakers will include two leaders in communications: David Zaslav, President and Chief Executive Officer of Discovery Communications, and Ivan Seidenberg, Retired Chairman and CEO of Verizon Communications.  Renowned faculty members from Mount Sinai School of Medicine will make presentations along with thought leaders and researchers from Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Stanford University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School.

"As a medical school that is fully integrated with a hospital, Mount Sinai has ideal conditions for collaboration among our scientists and physicians," said Dennis S. Charney, MD, the Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs of The Mount Sinai Medical Center.  "We are poised to accelerate therapeutic discovery, identifying molecules that can be commercialized through collaboration with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.  Our goal for the conference is to help determine the ideal environment for fostering innovation and to study successful models of innovation both within and outside traditional biomedical research institutions. Ultimately, this focus will result in better treatments and diagnosis for patients with conditions like cancer, Alzheimer's and cardiovascular disease."

Scott L. Friedman, MD, Dean for Therapeutic Discovery at The Mount Sinai Medical Center cited the institution's long history of translating clinical observations and scientific discoveries into effective diagnostics and treatments for patients.  "We are committed to redefining how academic medical centers contribute to innovation and improve therapies for all patients," said Dr. Friedman, who is also the Fishberg Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Liver Diseases.

SINAInnovations will create a dynamic and unique forum for investors and innovators from science, medicine, and industry. The conference also complements several developments at Mount Sinai, including the establishment of the new Center for Technology, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship that is directed by venture capitalist Geoffrey W. Smith. Mr. Smith is a Co-founder and General Partner of Ascent Biomedical Ventures, a venture capital firm that focuses on the life sciences. He also serves as a Professor in Mount Sinai School of Medicine's Department of Health Evidence and Policy.

SINAInnovations Agenda

Monday, November 12, 8:15 am to 2 pm

8:45 - 9:15 am: Keynote Address by Ivan Seidenberg, Retired Chairman and CEO, Verizon Communications Inc.

9:20 - 10:30 am:  Panel Discussion: "Blueprints for Innovation in Academia," including panelists June Lee, Program Analyst, UCSF, T1 Catalyst Program; Daria Mochly-Rosen, Director, Stanford School of Medicine Spark Program; John Collins, COO, MIT, CIMIT Program

11 - 12:30 am: Keynote Address by Elazer R. Edelman, Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Professor, Health Sciences and Technology, MIT, and Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

11:35 - 11:30 am: Panel Discussion: "Enabling Innovation Through Education," including panelists Nicholas Jones, Dean of the Whiting School at Johns Hopkins University; Geoffrey W. Smith, Mount Sinai School of Medicine; and Elazer R. Edelman, MIT/Harvard Medical School

1 - 2 pm: Breakout Sessions on "Innovation Resources at Mount Sinai School of Medicine:" "Experimental Therapeutics;" "Imaging Resources and SRFs;" "Large Scale Genomics;" "Systems Pathology;" "How Do You Teach Innovation;" and "Innovation in Clinical Trials"

Tuesday, November 13, 8:30 am to 2:30 pm

8:30 - 9 am: Keynote Address by David Zaslav, President & CEO, Discovery Communications

9:05 - 10:15 am: Panel Discussion: "Mount Sinai Innovation in Drug Discovery" with Mount Sinai School of Medicine panelists Premkumar Reddy, Robert Desnick, Ross Cagan, Roger Hajjar, Ravi Iyengar  

11am  - 12:15 pm:  Panel Discussion: "Biotech: From Academia to Commercialization" with panelists Colin Goddard, Chairman & CEO of Coferon, James McCullough, CEO of Exosome Diagnostics,  George D. Yancopoulos, President & CEO, Regeneron Laboratories, Geoffrey W. Smith, Mount Sinai School of Medicine

12:15 - 1 pm: Panel Discussion: "Funding Innovation" with panelists Daniel Behr, Senior Vice President, Access BridgeGap Ventures; Martin Vogelbaum, Partner, Rho Ventures; Barbara Dalton, Vice President, Pfizer Ventures; Jai Ranganathan, Co-founder, SciFund Challenge.

1:30 - 2:30 pm: Breakout Sessions on "Innovation and Commercialization:" "Invention Disclosure, Licensing and Intellectual Property;" "Start-ups;" and "Venture Capital"

Wednesday, November 14, 8:30 am to 12:30 pm

8:30 - 9 am: Keynote Address by Jeffrey Hammerbacher, Founder and Chief Scientist, Cloudera, Assistant Professor, Mount Sinai School of Medicine

9:05 - 10:15 am:  Panel Discussion: "The Pharma Perspective," with panelists John Sninsky, Vice President, Celera; Uwe Schoenbeck, CSO, Pfizer; Paul Stoffels, Chairman, Johnson & Johnson; Muzammil M. Mansuri, Senior Vice President, Research and Development Strategy, Gilead Pharmaceutical Labs

10:45 am - 12:15 pm: Panel Discussion: "Mount Sinai Innovation in Devices, Diagnostics & Clinical Trials," with Mount Sinai panelists: Michael Marin, Eric Genden, Erwin Bottinger, Philip Landrigan, Carlos Cordon-Cardo and Michael Parides.  
 
12:15 - 12:30 pm: Closing Remarks: Mount Sinai Will Change the Paradigm

More information is available online at www.mssm.edu/sinainnovations.

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 U.S. News & 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 2012, U.S. News & World Report ranked The Mount Sinai Hospital 14th on its elite Honor Roll of the nation's top hospitals based on reputation, safety, and other patient-care factors. Mount Sinai is one of 12 integrated academic medical centers whose medical school ranks among the top 20 in NIH funding and by  U.S. News & World Report and whose hospital is on the U.S. News & 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
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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 48,000 employees working across eight hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, more than 600 research and clinical 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 9,000 primary and specialty care physicians and 11 free-standing joint-venture centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida. Hospitals within the System are consistently ranked by Newsweek’s® “The World’s Best Smart Hospitals, Best in State Hospitals, World Best Hospitals and Best Specialty Hospitals” and by U.S. News & World Report's® “Best Hospitals” and “Best Children’s Hospitals.” The Mount Sinai Hospital is on the U.S. News & World Report® “Best Hospitals” Honor Roll for 2024-2025.

For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on FacebookTwitter and YouTube.