Mount Sinai’s Emergency Medicine Chair Receives Prestigious Honor From the European Resuscitation Council
Significant honor recognizes exceptional contributions to the field of resuscitative care
Benjamin Abella, MD, MPhil, Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine for the Mount Sinai Health System receives the “Honorary Membership” during the European Resuscitation Council Congress
The European Resuscitation Council (ERC) has awarded Benjamin Abella, MD, MPhil, Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine for the Mount Sinai Health System, with a prestigious “Honorary Membership” recognizing his lifetime achievements, commitment, and leadership in the field of resuscitative care. He received this honor during the closing ceremony of the annual European Resuscitation Council Congress in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on Saturday, October 25.
“I am deeply honored to receive this award from the European Resuscitation Council,” says Dr. Abella, who is also a Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “Caring for cardiac arrest patients and advancing the science of cardiac arrest has been a lifelong passion, and collaboration with the ERC has been an important part of that.”
This significant achievement highlights Dr. Abella’s international leadership and expertise in the science of sudden cardiac arrest and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). His work embodies the ERC’s goals of saving lives through science, education, and implementation, and he serves as a worldwide mentor to the resuscitation community.
Dr. Abella has been a strong supporter and advocate of the ERC’s work for two decades. He previously was awarded an esteemed Fellowship of the ERC to recognize his sustained leadership and dedication to the organization and the field of medicine. Dr. Abella continually helps promote the work of many ERC members, young investigators, and ERC programs such as “Kids Save Lives,” which emphasizes the importance of yearly CPR training in schools worldwide for students starting at age 12. Dr. Abella also serves as an Editorial Board member of the ERC’s journal, Resuscitation, using this role to mentor colleagues on how to review scientific manuscripts and support this publication.
Additionally, Dr. Abella was one of the first researchers to develop quantitative methods to measure and assess CPR delivery, and has played a key role in helping to advance defibrillator technology to improve CPR performance. He has led numerous clinical studies on cardiac arrest and post-arrest care and has authored more than 280 published studies in leading medical journals.
Dr. Abella has served as Chair of the American Heart Association (AHA) national 3CPR Council and has created international guidelines for resuscitation care through his work with the AHA. He is the emergency care and CPR consultant to the National Basketball Association, and has worked with the United States Air Force in the development of post-cardiac arrest care protocols. He has also led a longstanding community-based CPR training program for disadvantaged communities, which has trained more than 10,000 people in CPR delivery.
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.
For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and YouTube.