AHA honors two Mount Sinai Health System experts as "Heart and Stroke Lifesavers"

The American Heart Association has honored two Mount Sinai Health System experts as "Heart and Stroke Lifesavers" for going above and beyond the call of duty in support of the AHA's mission to build lives free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke.

The honorees are Stephan A. Mayer, MD, FCCM, Director of the Institute for Critical Care Medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Beth Oliver, DNP, RN, Vice President of Cardiac Services for the Mount Sinai Health System.

Dr. Mayer and Ms. Oliver were named Heart & Stroke Lifesavers on June 26 at the annual 2014 AHA New York City Heart Ball hosted at Chelsea Piers' Pier Sixty.

More than 700 people from the New York medical and business communities gather at the Heart Ball each year to honor those making a difference and raise funds needed to support the AHA's lifesaving research, education, and community-based initiatives. This year's event helped to raise $2 million in support of those goals.

"It is an honor to be recognized by the American Heart Association and my peers in New York City who together have been fighting to reduce the burdens placed on patients and our communities by heart attacks and strokes," says Dr. Mayer. "We are all lifesavers each and everyday."

Dr. Mayer joined Mount Sinai in February 2014 as Director of its Institute for Critical Care Medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He is an internationally renowned neurointensivist renowned for his scientific, clinical, and educational achievements. He developed innovative resuscitation paradigms for patients who suffer massive severe brain injury related to stroke and cardiac arrest. In addition, he has pioneered therapeutic hypothermia and informatics for severe brain injury, and has led clinical trials focusing on therapy for subarachnoid and intracerebral hemorrhage. In 2009, in collaboration with the Greater New York Hospital Association and the Fire Department of New York City, he led a citywide initiative to regionalize cardiac arrest care to centers capable of providing therapeutic hypothermia.

Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Mayer served for 20 years as Director of the Neurological Intensive Care Unit at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Mayer is a graduate of Brown University and received his medical degree from Weill Cornell Medical College. He completed his medical internship, neurology residency, and neurocritical care fellowship training at Columbia University Medical Center.

"Cardiovascular diseases are still the number one killer of New Yorkers and people across the globe," says Ms. Oliver. "I thank the American Heart Association for this special recognition as a Lifesaver, and applaud the AHA for being a leading national lifesaving organization with a steadfast commitment to the promotion of prevention and cardiovascular health."

Ms. Oliver was appointed Vice President of Cardiac Services at the Mount Sinai Health System in February 2014. Since 2012 Ms. Oliver served as Vice President of Clinical Operations at Mount Sinai Heart. In that role she developed a 23-bed cardiac unit to increase patient volume, and greatly reduced costs. She also worked with the Visiting Nurse Service of New York to develop a seamless transition from hospital to home for cardiac surgery patients. Additionally, she has driven change to achieve benchmarks in heart failure readmission rates, discharge time, and patient satisfaction. Under Ms. Oliver's leadership, Mount Sinai's CCU received a Beacon Award for Excellence from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses in December 2013.

Ms. Oliver is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts School of Nursing and received her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree at Case Western Reserve University. She holds an MS degree and a post-masters certificate as a Nurse Practitioner from Columbia University School of Nursing.

SOURCE Mount Sinai Health System