Scott Scheinin, MD, FACS, has joined Mount Sinai Health System as the Director of Lung Transplantation. The world-renowned surgeon will launch Mount Sinai's new Lung Failure and Transplant Program, giving patients new options for life-saving lung procedures. Mount Sinai is one of only a few sites in New York City to offer lung transplants. The new program has unique aspects including: treating all types of lung failure; collaboration with Mount Sinai's Department of Pulmonary Medicine and Critical Care; and access to resources from Recanati/Miller Transplant Institute at Mount Sinai, which is one of the largest and most comprehensive transplantation centers in the country; and involves the Mount Sinai – National Jewish Health Respiratory Institute, a national leader in expertise and diagnosing all forms of respiratory illness and lung disease.
"I am excited for the unique opportunity to establish a comprehensive program for pulmonary failure and transplantation at Mount Sinai to address the underserved regional needs of an increasing patient demographic," says Dr. Scheinin. "I bring decades of experience caring for critically ill patients and provide a unique clinical and research-based approach to treating their diseases."
"We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Scheinin and launch this important transplant program, expanding our life-saving work to patients across the tri-state area," says David Reich, MD, President of The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai Queens. "Dr. Scheinin brings a unique and outstanding skillset to Mount Sini and his expertise and his direction of this new program further demonstrates our commitment to exceptional patient care."
Dr. Scheinin has performed approximately one thousand lung transplants, among the most in the United States. He is one of only a few surgeons in the world dedicated to performing lung transplants without blood transfusions. This highly specialized technique can lead to quicker recovery, and helps reduce the chance of lung injury, and lessens the risk of infection, heart attack and stroke after surgery. Bloodless transplants were developed to care for certain religious groups whose beliefs do not allow for blood transfusions, but this technique is now applied to nearly all patients.
Mount Sinai's first double lung transplant took place on Thursday, March 3, and was led by Dr. Scheinin. The lung transplant recipient is a 58-year-old professional chef from Whitestone, New York with lung disease due to silicosis. His lung disease is related to exposure at the World Trade Center during 9/11 where he was handing out meals at Ground Zero to the first responders. Prior to becoming ill, the patient was a contestant on Iron Chef America.
Dr. Scheinin also brings vast experience in multi-organ transplants to Mount Sinai, performing combined heart-lung, lung-liver, and lung-kidney transplants. This makes Mount Sinai one of the only centers in New York City to offer these complex procedures. Dr. Scheinin is also one of the few surgeons in the country with experience in lung transplantation for HIV-positive patients.
Dr. Scheinin has a broad experience as both a cardiac and thoracic surgeon, joining both Mount Sinai's Departments of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery. This expertise is important considering many lung transplant patients present with additional cardiac pathologies, including coronary artery disease, valvular abnormalities or intracardiac shunts. His broad training and experience allows him to address these coexisting problems either before or concomitantly at the time of transplantation.
Dr. Scheinin comes to Mount Sinai after spending more than 30 years at Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas, formerly affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine, where he served as surgical director of the lung and heart transplant programs. He was most recently the director of thoracic surgery and the lung transplant program at Montefiore Health System.
Dr. Scheinin also brings his dedicated pulmonary team to Mount Sinai that he has worked with for more two decades on complex cases. His long-term colleague, Harish Seethamraju, MD, joins him as the Medical Director of the Lung Failure and Transplantation program. They have combined experience of caring for more than one-thousand pulmonary transplant patients.
"Dr. Scheinin is not only an experienced lung transplant surgeon, but he also brings with him a wealth of experience in lung transplantation and is joined by his medical partner and a an experienced transplant pulmonologist, Dr Harish Seethamraju," says Sander S. Florman, MD, Director of the Recanati/Miller Transplantation Institute at Mount Sinai. "His recruitment gives Mount Sinai the ability to offer life-saving lung transplantation as an option to our patients in need. We are excited to add the lung program to the comprehensive transplantation services here."
