ORIENTATION LEADERS
Erin Duggan
Erin Duggan is a first year in the MD program. She graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology last May with a BS and MS in Chemical Biology. Here at Sinai she has been involved with Health Education Initiative-an outreach program that teaches elementary school children in Harlem about nutrition and diabetes, tutoring, and was the course representative for the Structures Course. This summer she will be at Sinai helping to design a curriculum for an intro to internship course specifically for residents entering surgery here, and working on other General Surgery research projects. In her free time she likes to travel to visit friends at other grad schools across the country while stopping at any local breweries or wineries along the way! Sinai is a very unique environment and there is much to do outside of school in our neighborhood and beyond. She is extremely excited to meet you and looks forward to introducing you to all that Sinai has to offer! Feel free to reach out to her at erin.duggan@mssm.edu.
Neil Patel
Neil was born and raised in New York and graduated from Harvard in 2013 where he studied Human Evolutionary Biology and Global Health. At Sinai, Neil serves as Treasurer on Student Council, has been part of the leadership team of the Community Health Fair and MedStart, and took part in a spring break service trip to Nogales, Arizona with other first-year students. Neil has been conducting research implementing bioinformatics to study the genetic basis of Congenital Heart Disease. In his free time Neil enjoys listening to 80s music, reading non-fiction, watching too much sci-fi, and pretending to cook. Feel free to reach out to him at neil.patel@mssm.edu.
ORIENTATION COMMITTEE
Daniel Alicea
Daniel took a year off working as a lab tech before starting medical school. He currently works in an atherosclerosis lab while balancing school and occasional salsa dancing on the side. Don’t hesitate to contact him if you have any questions about school, NYC, or life! daniel.alicea@mssm.edu.
Maureen Byrne
Moe Byrne is a first year in the PORTAL MD/MSCR program at Sinai. Before coming here she majored in Neuroscience and played Lacrosse at Vassar College. She took two years off after college to work in a neurodevelopment lab studying autism genetics at Weill Cornell. Here at Sinai she is the Alumni and Events coordinator for EHHOP (the student run free clinic), Class of 2017 Social Chair, and she helps lead Mount Sinai’s Chapter of Medical Students for Haiti and The Mount Sinai History of Medicine Society. This summer she is conducting tumor immunology research in Dr. Joshua Brody’s lab. In her spare time she likes to paint/draw, do anything active, and plays in a post collegiate lacrosse league downtown. Welcome to Mount Sinai!! Feel free to reach out to her at maureen.byrne@mssm.edu.
Christienne Damatac
Christienne is currently in her first year in Sinai’s MSBS program. She took a year off after undergrad and worked for a nonprofit mental health and social service agency based in Harlem, while training and performing with a modern dance company throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan. She’s now a member of Paula Croxson’s lab, working with macaque monkeys, studying structural and functional network changes associated with cognitive training in memory. Though originally from New Jersey, she’s been living in New York City since 2008. Any questions on life in NYC or the MSBS program? Feel free to email her at christienne.damatac@mssm.edu.
Aslihan Dincer
Aslihan Dincer, MSc, is a Seaver Graduate Fellow and a PhD student in the Department of Genetics and Genomics Sciences at Mount Sinai. She graduated from Bogazici (Bosphorous) University in Istanbul, Turkey with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and a Master of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering. Since joining Mount Sinai, she has been working under the supervision of Dr. Schahram Akbarian, focusing on epigenomics and genetic risk architecture of neurodevelopmental disorders. She has been involved with Mount Sinai Neuroscience Outreach Program as well as couple brain workshops in the Sackler Educational Laboratory at the American Museum of Natural History. In her free time Aslihan enjoys listening to opera and music, walking in the park, sailing in Hudson River. Welcome to Mount Sinai 🙂 Feel free to reach out to her at aslihan.dincer@mssm.edu.
Nick Heitman
Nick is a first year in the MD/PhD program. He is from Wisconsin, but has been living in New York for the past three years. Nick graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 2011 and received a Master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences from ISMMS in 2013. He has been involved with MedStart, EHHOP, and the Community Health Fair. He enjoys watching and playing sports, music, movies, and of course research. If you have questions, you can reach out to him at nicholas.heitman@mssm.edu.
Shradha Khadge
Shradha Khadge is a rising 2nd year medical student. Originally from Nepal, Shradha grew up on Long Island, and did her undergrad in Behavioral Neuroscience at Northeastern University in Boston, MA. She took a year off to do neuro research before coming to Sinai. This past year she has been involved with Sinai tours, Sinai Neuro Outreach Program (SNOP), EHHOP, MedStart, the flu drive, and the Community Health Fair. This summer she will be doing research on Alzheimer’s disease & metabolism at Sinai in the Medical Student Training in Aging Research (MSTAR) program. She’s currently on the leadership board for Sinai Students for Students and will be assigning you to your awesome peer mentors 🙂 If you have any questions about Sinai or just want to reach out, feel free to email her at shradha.khadge@mssm.edu.
Nina Kogekar
Nina Kogekar is a first-year MD student. Originally from Connecticut, she studied Biology at Swarthmore College. In her spare time, she enjoys singing, cooking, hiking, and exploring the city. You can reach her at nina.kogekar@mssm.edu.
Blake Le Grand
Blake is a first year MD student from New York, NY and graduated from Fordham University, Rose Hill Campus. Blake is the Latino Medical Students Association Northeast Regional Membership Chair, and is the Icahn School of Medicine LMSA Co-President. Additionally, he is involved in the Vascular Surgery Interest Group, a mentor with MedStart, and a mentor with MedDocs. He is involved with research in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery and research in the Department of Vascular Surgery. Blake’s hobbies include playing competitive sports, watching movies, trying new cuisines, exploring all that New York has to offer. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to him at blake.legrand@mssm.edu.
Vinay Patel
Vinay Patel is about to start his second year here in the MD program. He was born in London and grew up in the Midwest, where he majored in microbiology at the University of Michigan (Go Blue!). At Sinai, he is involved in tutoring, First Generation Scholars, Student Council, EHHOP, and the Wellness Committee. Feel free to email with questions (vinay.patel@mssm.edu) – He looks forward to meeting all of you!
Julia Sann
Julia Sann is a first year MD student at Mount Sinai. She graduated from Georgetown where she double majored in Biology of Global Health and Theatre. At Sinai she works with the Admissions Office as one of the Tour Guide Coordinators, co-leads the Pediatric Interest Group, does research in the Pediatric Allergy Department, co-leads the Sexual Health Elective and Club, and serves on the board of the American Medical Women’s Association. She is excited to be able to continue her theatre interest at Sinai by participating in the Vagina Monologues and will serve as one of the producers next year. Feel free to email her at julia.sann@mssm.edu.
Nancy Yang
Nancy is from Greensboro, NC and majored in Public Policy Studies at Duke University. During her gap year, she completed research at Duke and The George Institute, Beijing. She also tried to learn how to cook and travelled throughout E. Asia. At Sinai, she is an EHHOP Clinic Manager, and participates in MedStart, Medical Mandarin, Doctors for America, IM soccer, and finding all the free food events. For research, she is interested in exploring the association between symptom burden and health care utilization in the Mount Sinai Visiting Doctors Program and exploring obesity associated loci that have protective effects on cardiometabolic health. Her other interests include watching Duke basketball, health policy and global health, free things / events in NYC
Feel free to reach out with any questions (nancy.yang@mssm.edu) and welcome to Sinai!
Cindi Yim
Cindi is in the MD program and one of the Wellness Committee and CHIP co-chairs. She lived in Taipei, Taiwan from ages 8 to 18, and before that was in the Bay Area of California. She finally made it to the East Coast and experienced actual seasons when she attended Princeton, where she majored in Chemistry and graduated in 2012. She loves reading, running, baking, and exploring new cities by foot. She is excited to show the incoming ISSMS class why Sinai and New York are so great! She can answer any of your questions – cindi.yim@mssm.edu.
James Yoon
James Yoon is a rising second year MD student. Originally from Seoul, he grew up in New Jersey, and graduated from Columbia in 2013. He enjoys learning about health delivery in resource-poor settings, running in the park, and taking the MTA to go places. For questions, you can email him at james.yoon@mssm.edu.