Meet Our Team

Our team is dedicated to enhancing the well-being and resilience of all members of the Mount Sinai Health System. This includes medical and graduate students, graduate medical trainees, post-doctoral trainees, and faculty. We firmly believe that your professional fulfillment, personal well-being, and the meaning you derive from your work and education are essential. They enable us to provide the highest quality care, conduct world-class research, and train tomorrow’s health care leaders.  

Jonathan Ripp Headshot

Jonathan Ripp, MD, MPH
Dean for Well-Being and Resilience
Chief Wellness Officer

 



 

 

Allison Smith Headshot

Allison Smith, MA
Director, Office of Well-Being and Resilience

 

 

 

 

 

Lauren Peccoralo Headshot

Lauren Peccoralo, MD, MPH
Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Well-Being and Development

 

 

 

 

 

Saadia Akhtar Headshot

Saadia Akhtar, MD
Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education Well-Being and Resilience

 

 

 

 

 

Alicia Hurtado Headshot

Alicia Hurtado, MD
Associate Dean for Medical Student Wellness and Student Affairs

 

 

 

 

 

Basil Hanss Headshot

Basil Hanss, PhD
Associate Dean for Graduate School Well-Being and Resilience

 

 

 

 

 

Chi Chan Headshot

Chi Chan, PhD
Mental Health Advisor, Office of Well-Being and Resilience
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry

 



 

 

Jacqueline Hargrove Headshot

Jacqueline Hargrove, PhD
PEERS Faculty Advisor, Office of Well-Being and Resilience
Assistant Director, Complex Trauma Program at the Center for Child Trauma and Resilience

 



 

 

Sharissa Rivera Headshot

Sharissa Rivera
Program Coordinator, Office of Well-Being and Resilience

 

 

 

 

 

Sabrina Kaplan Headshot

Sabrina Kaplan
Clinical Research Coordinator, Office of Well-Being and Resilience

 

 

 

 

 

Samantha Gordon
Administrative Assistant, Office of Well-Being and Resilience

A Message from the Chief Wellness Officer

Our Office of Well-Being and Resilience is dedicated to the health and well-being of students, graduate medical trainees, researchers, and faculty across the Mount Sinai Health System. Additionally, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, our work increasingly extended to reach other staff across the system and we continue to partner beyond the School of Medicine. It is a privilege for our team to be charged with this important work. Though challenges are many, we are heartened by the potential of our collaborations across Mount Sinai. In partnership with many other groups within the Mount Sinai Health System, we will continue to address a variety of new and ongoing efforts to meet your needs.

We want to hear from you in order to learn what is needed to enhance professional fulfillment and meaning in work. To ensure that your voice is heard, one of our main responsibilities is to distribute online well-being surveys on an ongoing basis and meet regularly with Mount Sinai students, trainees, faculty, and staff. Your confidential survey responses help us understand levels and drivers of well-being across the system. The surveys help us gauge our strengths, recognize our shortcomings and enable the identification of opportunities to improve resources and create new initiatives.

Within the model that we have adopted based on what we believe to be the major components or contributors to your professional fulfillment, you will note that the elements are differentially sized to reflect what we believe to be the relative impact of these “drivers” on our ability to optimize fulfillment.

One important feature of our model is the recognition that it is not incumbent on you as an individual to “get yourself well.” While we do encourage the development of your own individual resilience skills, we also recognize that much of what drives your well-being is located at the system-level. To help accomplish this, we have a growing cohort of well-being champions across the system who function as “local change agents,” utilizing the data we gather and the guidance we provide to amplify their effectiveness in advancing the well-being priorities within their own settings.

While our focus is on the system, we serve an important role in raising awareness, de-stigmatizing, and connecting you with the necessary support services to meet your well-being and mental health needs. We are invested not only in your professional growth but also in your mental and physical health. We hope to help you feel empowered not only to dedicate yourself to your work but also to take good care of your minds, bodies, and spirits. Well-being is a shared responsibility—we will continue to advocate for a system that enables you to flourish and feel invigorated, engaged, and excited about your work at Mount Sinai. We are here to help you along the way.