In this interview, Dr. Pierson discusses his family and their tradition of graduating from Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, the development of his professional career, his changing interests from internal medicine to the obesity research. He includes some details on his own family and hobbies. Significant names mentioned include: Ted Van Itallie, Xavier Pi-Sunyer, Don Berwick, and Johnny Schillinger, Nutrition Research Center, and the Emeritus Professors in Columbia group.

Dr. Bernstein discusses his early training and developing interest in endocrinology, which was fostered by his Vietnam War service spent in NIH, where he worked in the endocrinology division. Following a fellowship year studying endocrinology he was recruited to St. Luke’s Hospital by Theodore B. Van Itallie, the former Chief of Medicine, who established first metabolic research lab in the country, to be the clinical director. He discusses various experiences and changes in medical practice; mentions his outside hobbies and interests and those of his family’s.

In this interview, Bronx native Robert Della Rocca talks about his youth and educational experiences, his time serving in the Vietnam War, which interrupted his medical training, his various training experiences in oculoplastic and orbital surgery afterwards, and his experiences working at St. Luke’s Hospital (now Mount Sinai Morningside) as well as New York Eye and Ear Infirmary. He highlights his family habit of volunteering, with his nursing-trained wife accompanying him as he operated in 15 countries through Latin America, the Dominion Republic, and the Middle East and training over 90 international fellows in his sub-specialty of reconstructive surgery in some of those places in over 22 years of volunteering. Dr. Della Rocca mentions his children, several of whom are following in his medical and volunteering footsteps, and his grandchildren, and touches on the reasons he is so fond of St. Luke’s Hospital.

In this interview, Dr. Newman discusses his recruitment to Beth Israel by his predecessor Ray Trussell, MD; his relationship with the Board of Trustees; BI’s role in the AIDS crisis and addiction treatment; the acquisition of Doctors Hospital and Kings Highway Hospital; the establishment of a Japanese-language medical practice; the affiliation with St. Luke’s-Roosevelt and creation of Continuum Health Partners. Individuals discussed include: Ray Trussell, MD; Charles Silver; Harold Fierman; Milton Petrie; Donna Mildvan; Harold Trigg, MD; Vincent Dole, MD and Marie Nyswander, PhD; Morton Hyman.

In this interview, Dr. Lombardo talks about fulfilling his father’s dream of becoming a doctor, and his interest in being a clinician and a researcher. He shares memories of being influenced by several professors at New York Medical College and St. Luke’s into studying gastroenterology, and shares stories about practicing at St. Luke’s, but also learning points of cardiology from Dr. Miles Schwartz, with whom he shared private practice space. He talks about his family, and his decision to retire, and what keeps him occupied post-retirement. He and Dr. Braun commiserate on their opinion of the state of medical education and training today. Significant names mentioned include Drs. Jersey Glass, Peter du Ray, Mike Grieco, Miles Schwartz, Richard McCray, Peter Holt, William Athos, and Robert Beakman. Dr. Jeanne Baer is also in attendance and speaks up near the end of the interview.

In this interview, Dr. Thayaparan relates information about her childhood family and schooling in Sri Lanka, the stories of Dr. Tom Dooley, a medical volunteer in Africa, that were the inspiration for her to be a doctor, her reasons for immigrating to the U.S. and the development of her career here, and what led her focus on pathology. She also mentions information about her own family and dealing with childcare issues while working at the Hospital, and some of her post-retirement activities.

Dr. Sami Hashim discusses his education and career development, his research on lipid metabolism and its derivatives, the ketogenic diet, the development of MCT (Medium Chain Triglycerides) which today has in many nutritional and medicinal applications and his collaboration with Dr. Theodore VanItallie which produced cholestyramine, the first cholesterol lowering medication. Dr. Hashim remarks on his family life and children, his hobbies, and his acquaintances with the Royal family in Kuwait and meeting the former President of Algeria, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt, Nobel Laureate Linus Pawling, IRA member Bobby Sands, and Arctic Explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson.

Dr. Klein discusses his early days as an intern/resident in the late 1920s, early 1930s, presenting an interesting picture of what training was like then and then compares it with his residents at the time of this interview (late 1960s), noting the changes in practice. He also relates stories about his Army experiences, the difference surgical services, adding a little on how that has changed over time, and mentions what he knows about the “ileitis story” (Crohn’s disease), and adds some personal information about himself, his schooling, marriages, etc.

Some names mentioned include: Leon Ginzburg, Gordon Oppenheimer, John Garloc, Allan Kark, A.A. Berg.

Nephrologist Dr. Stanley Cortell relates stories of his life and career, his early years, his educational goals, changes in clinical focus, and his career at St. Luke's Hospital.

Dr. Stephan Lynn was founding Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the former Roosevelt Hospital (now Mount Sinai West) and in this engaging interview relates information about his youth and medical training, how he came to the Hospital, and how the Department of Emergency Medicine was established. He provides an "insider's view" of life in a hospital, and an overview of the development of emergency medicine as a field. He also relates many of the events which took place, most significantly, the hours after John Lennon's death at Roosevelt Hospital and the following media events.

Stephanie Ramos describes her experiences, both personal and business related, during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This interview starts with personal details of Manheim’s family and personal interests and ends with hobbies. The body of the interview discusses his early surgical interests, and how he came to his career in proctology. He spends a good deal of time discussing the issue of fee splitting and doctor’s fees and salaries. He reviews a list of surgeons and gives his impression of them as people and as surgeons, which is often negative. Manheim also elaborates on his opinion of building the medical school, of which he is not in favor, and on his dislike of the anesthesia department, and criticisms of the nursing staff.

Names mentioned: Mark Ravitch; A.A. Berg; A.V Moschcowitz; Howard Lilienthal; Edwin Beer; Eddie Blier; Walter Brickner; John Gerster; Abraham O. Wilensky; Isadore Friesner; Robert Turell; Abraham Hyman; Ralph Colp.

This is a recording of the oral history of Terry Krulwich, PhD conducted by Albert S. Lyons, MD and Florence Daniels on February 9th, 1999. Some of the significant topics represented in this oral history include: the beginning of her career at Mount Sinai; the composition and number of students, budget, requirements, and length of the biochemistry MD/PhD program; the Mount Sinai School of Medicine of New York University; comments on student mental health in the program; her salary; her area of interest and research in biochemistry; a summer undergraduate science program she began; and her parents.

Theodore B. VanItallie, MD spent the bulk of his medical career as Chief of Medicine at St. Luke’s Hospital Center (1957 to 1975). Dr. VanItallie discusses his early life and influences, his medical interests and mentors; his time as Chief of Medicine and his work towards bringing St. Luke’s up to full university hospital status and a research center affiliated with Columbia University, and how these plans were thwarted, in his opinion, by Hospital administration; his opinions on the merger of St. Luke’s and Roosevelt hospitals and the more recent merger of SL-R with Mount Sinai Medical Center; and conflicts between senior and junior Attendings. During his interview Dr. VanItallie mentions John H. Keating, Sr., MD, Sami A. Hashim, MD, Henry B. Guthrie, W. Henry Sebrell, Jr., MD, F. Xavier Pi-Sunyer, MD, Gerard M. Turino, MD, Solomon A. Berson, MD, Rosalyn Yalow, PhD, Nancy Kemeny, MD. Includes extended footage of informal conversation in VanItallie's home and Drs. Braun, VanItallie, and Hashim in the garden.

This interview covers the years leading up to Dr. Chalmers accepting a position of President of The Mount Sinai Medical Center and Dean of the School of Medicine, but includes a bit of the story behind that. He begins by discussing his upbringing in Forest Hills, NY, schooling from Kew Forest School, Phillips Exeter Academy, then three years at Yale leading to medical school at Columbia's P&S. He goes into details about his family background, how he worked his way through school, failed his Army physical because of serum bilirubin issues, (later he was diagnosed with Gilbert’s syndrome) and thus took military service at Goldwater Memorial Hospital, conducting research. He continues to describe his work at various hospitals up to the time he came to Mount Sinai, the story of which will continue on another interview. (see AA107.INT032)

Tomi Jun, MD, a hematology/oncology fellow, discusses his experiences redeployed to take care of the COVID patients at the Mount Sinai Hospital during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in spring 2020.

Victoria Adams, PharmD relates her experience working in the Pharmacy Department while interfacing with the Infectious Diseases Division at the Mount Sinai Hospital during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in spring 2020. She describes her daily work responsibilities, what the City was like during that time, and how she coped in her personal life.

Dr. Kanick relates stories of her life from childhood in the South to educational and training choices at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons to her work at St. Luke's Hospital Center, mentioning her involvement, as the first woman president of the hospital's Medical Board, in the merger of St. Luke's and Roosevelt Hospitals in 1979.

At the time of this interview, Dr. Xavier Pi-Sunyer was a Professor of Medicine at Columbia University and Co-Director of the Nutritional Obesity Research Center. Dr. Pi-Sunyer discusses his formative years in Spain, France, Mexico, and finally the US. He highlights his internship/residency at the former St. Luke’s Hospital; introduction to endocrinology at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, England, continued training in public health at Harvard University and his return to St. Luke’s, via Nigeria and Boston, where he became acquainted with Dr. Theodore Van Itallie. Dr. Van Itallie drew him back to New York to help establish the Endocrine Division and research laboratories for nutrition and metabolic research where the team carried out various grant-funded research projects. The most significant the discovery out of which is the hormone leptin. Dr. Pi-Sunyer also provides information on his own family, hobbies and interests, and comments on the mergers of St. Luke’s with Roosevelt Hospital and later the Continuum Health Partners.

1 digital file of replies to questions posed to Dr. Chynn.