The Mount Sinai Department of Health Education offers programming, training, content development, and capacity building services to our health system colleagues and community partners, centering our commitments to health equity and justice at the core of everything we do. For our health system colleagues, we provide expert internal consultation and support to ensure all aspects of the patient experience and care are infused with health literacy best practices. In partnership with the community, we also provide high-quality education and empowerment programming which addresses the inequities and disparities that are disproportionately impacting marginalized groups.

Internal Consultation for Our Mount Sinai Health System Colleagues
Leveraging our shared commitments to patient and community health, we work collaboratively and synergistically to enhance efforts across the hospital system for maximum impact on individual, family, and community health.

We apply our expertise in health literacy and communication to strengthen programming and improve health outcomes through:

• Health education needs assessments for departments, teams, and initiatives, incorporating collaborative approaches to identifying barriers and designing solutions, including but not limited to implementing and facilitating leadership steering committees, patient advisory panels, and community focus groups
• Developing print and digital patient-facing content which incorporates health literacy best practices and meets standards around accessibility, inclusivity, and branding (example: Coronavirus (COVID-19) Facts and Resources)
• Developing provider-facing tools and resources (examples: Speaking With Patients About COVID-19 Vaccination; Referring Patients to the Selikoff Centers for Occupational Health)
• Professional development training, ranging from Grand Rounds lectures to interactive workshops
• Strategic program planning through a patient-centered lens
• Contribution to initiatives which would benefit from our unique perspective and expertise

Learn more about our Health Communication Hub pilot with the Selikoff Centers for Occupational Health. We are actively recruiting our next partner in this work and encourage you to reach out if you believe your department would benefit from this effort.

Learn more about our effort to reach undocumented workers under the health system’s Road Map to Address Racism, Strategy 3.

Community-Based Programs
All of our community-based programming is designed, implemented, and evaluated in partnership with stakeholders so as to ensure we are consistently meeting the most pressing needs of our community through approaches that are relevant, empowering, and sustainable.  

The Public Health and Racial Justice Program: This award-winning education and empowerment program was designed by the department in the spring of 2020, in direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement, both of which illuminated the critical and insidious impact of racism on community health. This innovative program serves girls of color between the ages of 16-18 years, introducing participants to the expansive field of public health through a racial justice lens, with a focus on civic engagement and community advocacy. By the end of this program, participants have developed concrete skills to participate in discourse and action around issues of health, and to promote public health awareness across their communities. Learn more about this program’s recent growth through a partnership with the Mount Sinai Blavatnik Family Women’s Health Research Institute and the Helen Gurley Brown Foundation. 

Youth Mental Health Programming: The Mount Sinai Department of Health Education has developed a mental health program for youth of color in response to the changing social-emotional needs of adolescents since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and the broadening national conversation around racism. The goals of this program are to teach students about emotional health, build skills around mental health advocacy, and cultivate a sense of connection to one’s community. 

We would be honored to partner with you.
To learn more about the Mount Sinai Department of Health Education, please contact our Director, Alyssa Gale at alyssa.gale@mountsinai.org