Oral history collection for "Teaching Tomorrow's Medicine Today" book

Barbara Niss was the Director of Archives and Records Management at Mount Sinai from 1986 until her retirement in 2021.

Arthur H. Aufses, Jr. (1926-2019) was born in New York City. His father, Arthur Sr. was a well-known thoracic surgeon on the staff of the Mount Sinai and Montefiore hospitals. A graduate of Union College, Dr. Aufses received his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, where he was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha. He received his surgical training at the Presbyterian Hospital and The Mount Sinai Hospital. He remained on the staff of Mount Sinai throughout the 1960s and was involved in the creation of Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
From 1971-1974, Dr. Aufses served as Chairman of the Department of Surgery at The Long Island Jewish Medical Center and was Professor of Surgery at the State University of New York, Stony Brook School of Medicine. In 1974, Aufses returned to Mount Sinai and was named Chairman of the Department of Surgery, as well as Professor of Surgery. On September 1, 1996, he retired from the Chairmanship of the Department, a position he had held for 22 years. He then became Professor of Surgery and Professor of Health Evidence and Policy in the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Dr. Aufses was a Member and Fellow of numerous medical organizations and held leadership roles in many of them. A member of the New York State Transplant Council since its inception in 1991, he also served as a Trustee of the New York Academy of Medicine (1991-1999). He was a President of the American College of Gastroenterology, the Association of Program Directors in Surgery, and the New York Surgical Society. He served as a Governor and Vice-President of the American College of Surgeons, and as a Vice-President of the American Surgical Association and the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the 92nd Street Y for over thirty-five years, and also served on the Board of Directors of the Medicare Rights Center (2006-2009) and the New York Alliance for Donation (2006-2009.)
Dr. Aufses received many honors from Mount Sinai including the Jacobi Medallion of the Alumni Association (1979), the Alexander Richman Award for Humanism in Medicine (1992), the Committee of 1000 Achievement Award (1992), and he was the holder of Mount Sinai's Gold Headed Cane (1982-1996). He served on the Board of Directors of the Lambda Chapter (ISMMS) of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society for more than 20 years and was its Councilor from 1995 to 2002. He received excellence in teaching awards from medical students and from his residents, and he also received a Special Recognition Award from the Department of Nursing. During his 22 years as Chairman of the Department of Surgery, he was selected by the graduating students to administer either the Hippocratic Oath or the Oath of Maimonides on 17 occasions and was chosen as the Commencement Grand Marshal on three occasions. In May, 2003, Dr. Aufses delivered the Commencement Address at the graduation exercises of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by the School.
Dr. Aufses practiced General Surgery for more than forty years in New York City. He published more than 250 papers and book chapters and was an invited guest lecturer in the United States and abroad. His major clinical and research interests were in inflammatory bowel disease and surgical education.
In 2002, he and Ms. Barbara Niss, Mount Sinai's Archivist, published This House of Noble Deeds: The Mount Sinai Hospital, 1852-2002, (New York University Press, New York, 2002), a history of The Mount Sinai Hospital, focusing on the accomplishments of the staff since its origin as The Jews' Hospital. A companion volume, Teaching Tomorrow's Medicine Today: The Mount Sinai School of Medicine, 1963-2003, was published in January 2005. It details the formation and development of the School during its first forty years.