Mount Sinai Receives $4.5 Million NIH Award to Launch a Pioneering Women’s Environmental Health Research Training Program
First of Its Kind in New York State and First to Integrate the Field of Exposomics
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has received a prestigious $4.5 million, five-year K12 award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish a pioneering program that will train the next generation of leaders in women’s health research.
The program, called the Mount Sinai Life-course Exposomics Analytic Program (LEAP) in Women’s Health, is led by Rosalind J. Wright, MD, MPH, Dean for Public Health and Chair of the Department of Public Health at the Icahn School of Medicine. LEAP is part of the NIH’s Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health initiative. LEAP is currently the initiative’s only active and funded program in New York State and the first nationally to integrate exposomics in women’s health research training.
LEAP will focus on the emerging field of exposomics—the study of how health is affected by the totality of environmental exposures across a person’s life, from conception onward. The program will provide support for three junior faculty scholars each year, giving them advanced training, mentorship, and resources to build independent research careers in women’s health.
“Advancing personalized medicine requires a deeper understanding of women’s health across the lifespan,” Dr. Wright said. “This includes conditions unique to women, such as reproductive outcomes, endometriosis, menopause, and gynecologic cancers, as well as disorders that affect women differently than men, including heart disease, lung disease, metabolic disorders, and mental health conditions. LEAP will allow us to accelerate training for early-career scientists and prepare them to lead innovative research that improves health outcomes for women everywhere.”
The program will provide scholars with a strong foundation in life-course theory, exposure science, epidemiology, and data science—essential tools for studying how environmental, social, nutritional, and chemical exposures influence women’s health across the lifespan. LEAP scholars will work closely with experts across disciplines including environmental medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, geriatrics, psychiatry, oncology, genomics, artificial intelligence, biomedical engineering, public health, and others.
“This new initiative builds upon Mount Sinai’s long-standing commitment to women’s health and environmental health research,” said Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD, Interim Dean, Nash Family Professor of Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine, and Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of the Mount Sinai Health System. “Our institution has pioneered studies in how environmental exposures shape disease risk, and we are now uniquely positioned to integrate that expertise with women’s health research. LEAP will create a powerful training environment that not only prepares future leaders, but also generates discoveries with the potential to transform care for women across their lives.”
About the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is internationally renowned for its outstanding research, educational, and clinical care programs. It is the sole academic partner for the seven member hospitals* of the Mount Sinai Health System, one of the largest academic health systems in the United States, providing care to New York City’s large and diverse patient population.
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai offers highly competitive MD, PhD, MD-PhD, and master’s degree programs, with enrollment of more than 1,200 students. It has the largest graduate medical education program in the country, with more than 2,600 clinical residents and fellows training throughout the Health System. Its Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences offers 13 degree-granting programs, conducts innovative basic and translational research, and trains more than 560 postdoctoral research fellows.
Ranked 11th nationwide in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is among the 99th percentile in research dollars per investigator according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. More than 4,500 scientists, educators, and clinicians work within and across dozens of academic departments and multidisciplinary institutes with an emphasis on translational research and therapeutics. Through Mount Sinai Innovation Partners (MSIP), the Health System facilitates the real-world application and commercialization of medical breakthroughs made at Mount Sinai.
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* Mount Sinai Health System member hospitals: The Mount Sinai Hospital; Mount Sinai Brooklyn; Mount Sinai Morningside; Mount Sinai Queens; Mount Sinai South Nassau; Mount Sinai West; and New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai
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 seven 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 10 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 2025-2026.
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