(Press-News.org) New York, NY (October 15, 2025) – The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has received a prestigious $4.5 million, five-year K12 award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish a pioneering program that will train the next generation of leaders in women’s health research.
The program, called the Mount Sinai Life-course Exposomics Analytic Program (LEAP) in Women’s Health, is led by Rosalind J. Wright, MD, MPH, Dean for Public Health and Chair of the Department of Public Health at the Icahn School of Medicine. LEAP is part of the NIH’s Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health initiative. LEAP is currently the initiative’s only active and funded program in New York State and the first nationally to integrate exposomics in women’s health research training.
LEAP will focus on the emerging field of exposomics—the study of how health is affected by the totality of environmental exposures across a person’s life, from conception onward. The program will provide support for three junior faculty scholars each year, giving them advanced training, mentorship, and resources to build independent research careers in women’s health.
“Advancing personalized medicine requires a deeper understanding of women’s health across the lifespan,” Dr. Wright said. “This includes conditions unique to women, such as reproductive outcomes, endometriosis, menopause, and gynecologic cancers, as well as disorders that affect women differently than men, including heart disease, lung disease, metabolic disorders, and mental health conditions. LEAP will allow us to accelerate training for early-career scientists and prepare them to lead innovative research that improves health outcomes for women everywhere.”
The program will provide scholars with a strong foundation in life-course theory, exposure science, epidemiology, and data science—essential tools for studying how environmental, social, nutritional, and chemical exposures influence women’s health across the lifespan. LEAP scholars will work closely with experts across disciplines including environmental medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, geriatrics, psychiatry, oncology, genomics, artificial intelligence, biomedical engineering, public health, and others.
“This new initiative builds upon Mount Sinai’s long-standing commitment to women’s health and environmental health research,” said Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD, Interim Dean, Nash Family Professor of Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine, and Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of the Mount Sinai Health System. “Our institution has pioneered studies in how environmental exposures shape disease risk, and we are now uniquely positioned to integrate that expertise with women’s health research. LEAP will create a powerful training environment that not only prepares future leaders, but also generates discoveries with the potential to transform care for women across their lives.”
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About the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is internationally renowned for its outstanding research, educational, and clinical care programs. It is the sole academic partner for the seven member hospitals* of the Mount Sinai Health System, one of the largest academic health systems in the United States, providing care to New York City’s large and diverse patient population.
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai offers highly competitive MD, PhD, MD-PhD, and master’s degree programs, with enrollment of more than 1,200 students. It has the largest graduate medical education program in the country, with more than 2,700 clinical residents and fellows training throughout the Health System. Its Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences offers 13 degree-granting programs, conducts innovative basic and translational research, and trains more than 560 postdoctoral research fellows.
Ranked 11th nationwide in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is among the 99th percentile in research dollars per investigator according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. More than 4,500 scientists, educators, and clinicians work within and across dozens of academic departments and multidisciplinary institutes with an emphasis on translational research and therapeutics. Through Mount Sinai Innovation Partners (MSIP), the Health System facilitates the real-world application and commercialization of medical breakthroughs made at Mount Sinai.
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* Mount Sinai Health System member hospitals: The Mount Sinai Hospital; Mount Sinai Brooklyn; Mount Sinai Morningside; Mount Sinai Queens; Mount Sinai South Nassau; Mount Sinai West; and New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai.
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