- Email: [email protected]
Mark Warren Babyatsky, MD (June 29, 1959–August 25, 2014)
IN MEMORIAM Mark Warren Babyatsky, MD (June 29, 1959– August 25, 2014)
W
e are deeply saddened by the unexpected passing of our dear friend and colleague, Dr Mark W. Babyatsky, at the age of 55. Mark is survived by his wife, Dr Elizabeth Greenstein Babyatsky; his 3 children, Amanda, Grant, and Joshua; his sister and brother-in-law, Linda and Craig Meltzer; and their children, Tyler and Alexandra. He is predeceased by his mother, Gloria, a holocaust survivor, and his father, Morris. Raised in a working class family in the Bronx, Mark attended the Bronx High School of Science then earned his BA from Columbia College. He went on to receive his MD degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1984, graduating as a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honors Society. Over the ensuing 4 years, Mark completed his internal medicine residency and chief residency at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. Mark’s impressive performance in residency was recognized by Drs Kurt Isselbacher and Daniel Podolsky who recruited Mark to the GI fellowship program in the Gastrointestinal Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital where he continued on as a junior faculty member. Training in the “Gastrin Lab” of Dr Stephen J. Brand at Harvard Medical School, Mark helped elucidate
Mark Warren Babyatsky, MD
the basic cellular and molecular pathogenesis underlying epithelial restitution and wound healing of peptic ulcers. As the recipient of a Glaxo Institute of Digestive Health Basic Research Award, Mark explored antral G-cell specific gene expression, the role of trefoil factors in mucosal protection from injury, and the role of transforming growth factors alpha and beta in mucosal injury and inflammatory bowel disease. Part of this work was reflected by 3 manuscripts he published with Drs Brand and Podolsky in Gastroenterology in 1994 and 1996. In 1994, Mark returned to the Division of Gastroenterology at Mount Sinai to continue his studies on mechanisms of mucosal repair and inflammatory bowel disease. His academic promise was immediately recognized by being awarded a Lucille Markey Foundation Scholarship, followed by a Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America First Award, and National Cancer Institute funding. Mark played key leadership roles as the CoDirector of the Molecular Medicine Seminar Series, Dean’s Lecture Series, and steering committee member of the Medical Scientist Training Program, all while serving as Director of Gastrointestinal Research from 1999–2004. Mark simultaneously developed a remarkable gift for teaching, and became one of Mount Sinai’s most cherished and distinguished educators. Winning numerous teaching awards at all levels of the medical school, and known for mentoring medical students, residents, fellows, and postdoctoral scientists, in 2002 Mark became the Director of Internal Medicine Residency Program, Co-Program Director of the Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Residency, and Vice Chairman for Education. For the following 8 years, “Babs” nurtured and promoted the careers of over 400 residents and fellows, the vast majority of whom attribute their success to Mark’s personal touch in their lives. His teaching rounds, known affectionately as “Babyatsky Rounds” were the highlight of the week for all interns and residents who knew they would walk away with clinical pearls and newfound insights into all types of
disease. Not surprisingly, Mark was selected on more than one occasion to be the Grand Marshal of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine’s commencement ceremonies—a distinct honor among the entire faculty. He earned national recognition among internal medicine program directors, becoming Founder and Director of the Education Research Consortium of Program Directors, and working with the American College of Physicians as a member of the In-Training Examination and Education Research Committee and as an ACP representative to the NIH/ NHGRI Genomics Consensus Conference on “Developing a Blueprint for Primary Care Physician Education in Genomic Medicine.” Indeed, in 2013, Mark published a textbook, “Clinical Genomics: Practical Applications in Adult Patient Care” to educate physicians and trainees on how to understand and apply the enormous wealth of information of genetics-era science to real-world medicine. In 2010, Mark became Chair of the Samuel Bronfman Department of Medicine and Professor of Medicine at Mount Sinai. In this capacity, and in anticipation of the major changes related to health care reforms, he made an impact on the educational and research missions of the department, as well as on patient safety and quality improvement programs, community and multi-cultural affairs, and faculty practice operations. In early 2014, he assumed new challenges as the Chair of Medicine at Monmouth Medical Center and Saint Barnabas Medical Group South Region to develop systems for providing high quality and cost effective care. What distinguished Mark from so many other gifted scholars and educators in medicine was his caring, compassionate personality, and his genuine interest in every person he met, from student, resident or fellow, to patient, family or friend. Everyone who knew Mark felt as though they had a unique and close personal connection to him; he made everyone feel valued and important. Upon meeting him in the hall, he was famous for asking “And how are You?”— though often heard, this was never less Gastroenterology 2014;147:1189–1190
IN MEMORIAM than a heartfelt expression of his concern. His patients knew they were among the privileged few who had such a wise, insightful and compassionate doctor who respected and listened to each. Throughout his life, but especially during the last decade, Mark devoted considerable effort to training future physicians in the ethics of medicine and the ethical conduct of human research. He was particularly concerned about how medicine, and particularly genetics, has been misused by physicians, for example, to create and apply the pseudoscience of eugenics (ie, the philosophy that promotes enhancing human genetic traits via reproduction of individuals with desired traits). As the son of a holocaust survivor, Mark developed programs to educate medical students and physicians about the atrocities of that era. Since 2004, he served on the Board of Directors of The Blue Card, an organization whose mission is to provide funds to needy holocaust survivors. A coincidental encounter occurred when Mark was a junior attending physician at Mount Sinai. A woman presented to the Emergency Department with hematemesis, however, she refused to be touched by a doctor and in fact, had not been to a doctor in over 5 decades. The housestaff learned that she had survived the holocaust because, as a twin, she
1190
was kept alive by the infamous Josef Mengele, who had performed medical experiments on her and her brother. She had been so traumatized that she was now refusing potentially lifesaving endoscopy. An astute GI fellow, knowing Mark’s background and his remarkable doctoring skills, called upon Mark to talk to the patient. Mark immediately gained her trust; she saw immediately what a special doctor and man he was. She allowed him to perform an urgent endoscopy where he diagnosed and treated a bleeding stomach ulcer that saved her life. Little did she know that she was also dealing with one of the nation’s experts in peptic ulcer disease! On a personal level, Mark had a photographic memory and an encyclopedic knowledge of medicine, arts, theatre, science, and politics. If you asked him about a particular movie, he not only had seen it, he could recount everything about the director, producer, and actors, and already read the book. Curiously, just after college, Mark made a foray as an actor, performing live theatre. His decision to enter medicine was Broadway’s loss, but medicine’s gain. Mark embodied the keenest doctoring skills, an innate ability to mentor and guide trainees, an effortless talent for teaching, and an enviable and incredibly accessible body of knowledge for medicine and life.
Above all, Mark demonstrated a true zest for living and a remarkable humanity. Those who knew Mark are the better for it. We take consolation in knowing that his legacy will live on in the hundreds of physicians and patients he touched. Mark appreciated the enormous power of medical science, but understood the importance of insuring that the power was constrained by both the highest ethical framework and human sensitivity, and that made him a great clinician, educator, and role model. —Barry S. Coller, MD, Chair, Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, (1993–2001) STEVEN H. ITZKOWITZ BRUCE E. SANDS THOMAS A. ULLMAN Dr. Henry D. Janowitz Division of Gastroenterology Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York, New York ANIL K. RUSTGI Division of Gastroenterology University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
http://dx.doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2014.10.030
W
e are deeply saddened by the unexpected passing of our dear friend and colleague, Dr Mark W. Babyatsky, at the age of 55. Mark is survived by his wife, Dr Elizabeth Greenstein Babyatsky; his 3 children, Amanda, Grant, and Joshua; his sister and brother-in-law, Linda and Craig Meltzer; and their children, Tyler and Alexandra. He is predeceased by his mother, Gloria, a holocaust survivor, and his father, Morris. Raised in a working class family in the Bronx, Mark attended the Bronx High School of Science then earned his BA from Columbia College. He went on to receive his MD degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1984, graduating as a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honors Society. Over the ensuing 4 years, Mark completed his internal medicine residency and chief residency at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. Mark’s impressive performance in residency was recognized by Drs Kurt Isselbacher and Daniel Podolsky who recruited Mark to the GI fellowship program in the Gastrointestinal Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital where he continued on as a junior faculty member. Training in the “Gastrin Lab” of Dr Stephen J. Brand at Harvard Medical School, Mark helped elucidate
Mark Warren Babyatsky, MD
the basic cellular and molecular pathogenesis underlying epithelial restitution and wound healing of peptic ulcers. As the recipient of a Glaxo Institute of Digestive Health Basic Research Award, Mark explored antral G-cell specific gene expression, the role of trefoil factors in mucosal protection from injury, and the role of transforming growth factors alpha and beta in mucosal injury and inflammatory bowel disease. Part of this work was reflected by 3 manuscripts he published with Drs Brand and Podolsky in Gastroenterology in 1994 and 1996. In 1994, Mark returned to the Division of Gastroenterology at Mount Sinai to continue his studies on mechanisms of mucosal repair and inflammatory bowel disease. His academic promise was immediately recognized by being awarded a Lucille Markey Foundation Scholarship, followed by a Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America First Award, and National Cancer Institute funding. Mark played key leadership roles as the CoDirector of the Molecular Medicine Seminar Series, Dean’s Lecture Series, and steering committee member of the Medical Scientist Training Program, all while serving as Director of Gastrointestinal Research from 1999–2004. Mark simultaneously developed a remarkable gift for teaching, and became one of Mount Sinai’s most cherished and distinguished educators. Winning numerous teaching awards at all levels of the medical school, and known for mentoring medical students, residents, fellows, and postdoctoral scientists, in 2002 Mark became the Director of Internal Medicine Residency Program, Co-Program Director of the Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Residency, and Vice Chairman for Education. For the following 8 years, “Babs” nurtured and promoted the careers of over 400 residents and fellows, the vast majority of whom attribute their success to Mark’s personal touch in their lives. His teaching rounds, known affectionately as “Babyatsky Rounds” were the highlight of the week for all interns and residents who knew they would walk away with clinical pearls and newfound insights into all types of
disease. Not surprisingly, Mark was selected on more than one occasion to be the Grand Marshal of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine’s commencement ceremonies—a distinct honor among the entire faculty. He earned national recognition among internal medicine program directors, becoming Founder and Director of the Education Research Consortium of Program Directors, and working with the American College of Physicians as a member of the In-Training Examination and Education Research Committee and as an ACP representative to the NIH/ NHGRI Genomics Consensus Conference on “Developing a Blueprint for Primary Care Physician Education in Genomic Medicine.” Indeed, in 2013, Mark published a textbook, “Clinical Genomics: Practical Applications in Adult Patient Care” to educate physicians and trainees on how to understand and apply the enormous wealth of information of genetics-era science to real-world medicine. In 2010, Mark became Chair of the Samuel Bronfman Department of Medicine and Professor of Medicine at Mount Sinai. In this capacity, and in anticipation of the major changes related to health care reforms, he made an impact on the educational and research missions of the department, as well as on patient safety and quality improvement programs, community and multi-cultural affairs, and faculty practice operations. In early 2014, he assumed new challenges as the Chair of Medicine at Monmouth Medical Center and Saint Barnabas Medical Group South Region to develop systems for providing high quality and cost effective care. What distinguished Mark from so many other gifted scholars and educators in medicine was his caring, compassionate personality, and his genuine interest in every person he met, from student, resident or fellow, to patient, family or friend. Everyone who knew Mark felt as though they had a unique and close personal connection to him; he made everyone feel valued and important. Upon meeting him in the hall, he was famous for asking “And how are You?”— though often heard, this was never less Gastroenterology 2014;147:1189–1190
IN MEMORIAM than a heartfelt expression of his concern. His patients knew they were among the privileged few who had such a wise, insightful and compassionate doctor who respected and listened to each. Throughout his life, but especially during the last decade, Mark devoted considerable effort to training future physicians in the ethics of medicine and the ethical conduct of human research. He was particularly concerned about how medicine, and particularly genetics, has been misused by physicians, for example, to create and apply the pseudoscience of eugenics (ie, the philosophy that promotes enhancing human genetic traits via reproduction of individuals with desired traits). As the son of a holocaust survivor, Mark developed programs to educate medical students and physicians about the atrocities of that era. Since 2004, he served on the Board of Directors of The Blue Card, an organization whose mission is to provide funds to needy holocaust survivors. A coincidental encounter occurred when Mark was a junior attending physician at Mount Sinai. A woman presented to the Emergency Department with hematemesis, however, she refused to be touched by a doctor and in fact, had not been to a doctor in over 5 decades. The housestaff learned that she had survived the holocaust because, as a twin, she
1190
was kept alive by the infamous Josef Mengele, who had performed medical experiments on her and her brother. She had been so traumatized that she was now refusing potentially lifesaving endoscopy. An astute GI fellow, knowing Mark’s background and his remarkable doctoring skills, called upon Mark to talk to the patient. Mark immediately gained her trust; she saw immediately what a special doctor and man he was. She allowed him to perform an urgent endoscopy where he diagnosed and treated a bleeding stomach ulcer that saved her life. Little did she know that she was also dealing with one of the nation’s experts in peptic ulcer disease! On a personal level, Mark had a photographic memory and an encyclopedic knowledge of medicine, arts, theatre, science, and politics. If you asked him about a particular movie, he not only had seen it, he could recount everything about the director, producer, and actors, and already read the book. Curiously, just after college, Mark made a foray as an actor, performing live theatre. His decision to enter medicine was Broadway’s loss, but medicine’s gain. Mark embodied the keenest doctoring skills, an innate ability to mentor and guide trainees, an effortless talent for teaching, and an enviable and incredibly accessible body of knowledge for medicine and life.
Above all, Mark demonstrated a true zest for living and a remarkable humanity. Those who knew Mark are the better for it. We take consolation in knowing that his legacy will live on in the hundreds of physicians and patients he touched. Mark appreciated the enormous power of medical science, but understood the importance of insuring that the power was constrained by both the highest ethical framework and human sensitivity, and that made him a great clinician, educator, and role model. —Barry S. Coller, MD, Chair, Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, (1993–2001) STEVEN H. ITZKOWITZ BRUCE E. SANDS THOMAS A. ULLMAN Dr. Henry D. Janowitz Division of Gastroenterology Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York, New York ANIL K. RUSTGI Division of Gastroenterology University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
http://dx.doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2014.10.030