Benjamin S. Abella, MD, MPhil, a national leader in the study of sudden cardiac arrest and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), has been appointed Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine for the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Mount Sinai Health System. Dr. Abella will lead and expand the Department of Emergency Medicine’s clinical and basic research enterprise and uphold the high quality of emergency services across the Health System.
“I am honored to join the Mount Sinai Health System, an institution with a proud history of clinical excellence, innovative scholarship, and educational leadership. I look forward to working with the stellar Emergency Medicine team at Mount Sinai to build upon the incredible success and growth of recent years,” says Dr. Abella.
“Dr. Abella will play an important role across our school and Health System to foster a strong academic environment for the education and training of students, residents, clinical fellows, and postdoctoral fellows and uphold Mount Sinai’s academic and clinical excellence,” said Dennis S. Charney, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of Icahn Mount Sinai and President for Academic Affairs of the Mount Sinai Health System. “We look forward to his expertise in promoting the equitable advancement of faculty through mentoring, educational programs, and appropriate support.”
Dr. Abella joins Mount Sinai from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where he has served as the William G. Baxt Professor of Emergency Medicine, Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Emergency Medicine, Director of the Center for Resuscitation Science, and Director of the Penn Acute Research Collaboration.
As one of the first investigators to develop quantitative methods to measure and assess CPR delivery, Dr. Abella 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-arrest care protocols. In Philadelphia, he has led a longstanding community-based CPR training program for disadvantaged communities, which has trained more than 10,000 people in CPR delivery.
“It is a real pleasure to welcome Dr. Abella into the Mount Sinai community. Ben is internationally recognized for his work to improve the care of patients with cardiac arrest. His reputation within the emergency medicine community is that of a leader dedicated to the clinical mission, serving the communities that trust us with their emergency care, and developing the next generation of caregivers,” says Brendan G. Carr, MD, MA, MS, Chief Executive Officer, and Professor and Kenneth L. Davis, MD, Distinguished Chair, of the Mount Sinai Health System. “I’d like to personally thank Jolion McGreevy, MD, MBE, MPH, for his partnership over the last five years and for his exceptional service to the Department and the institution as the acting chair over the last six months. The Department of Emergency Medicine is thriving as a result of his commitment and character.”
Dr. Abella received his MD from The John Hopkins University School of Medicine, earned a master’s degree in genetics from Cambridge University, and completed residencies in internal medicine and emergency medicine at the University of Chicago.
Dr. Abella will join Mount Sinai effective Sunday, September 1.
Source & Image Credit: Mount Sinai Health System
