A Place of Innovation
Because Jewish doctors were largely excluded from prominent positions at research hospitals in the United States, Sinai Hospital served as an incubator for the best Jewish minds and became a center for groundbreaking research, innovation, and treatments rarely found in other community hospitals.
Kidney Revascularization
In 1957, Sinai’s Chief of Urology, Dr. Benjamin Abeshouse, developed a new operation for revascularization, restoring blood-flow through the circulatory system of the kidney. Dr. Abeshouse’s procedure used a portion of the intestine to substitute for blood vessels within the kidney. Dr. Robert Goldstein and Dr. George Abeshouse, residents at Sinai Hospital, assisted in the research for this breakthrough.
Automatic Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator
In 1980 Drs. Michel Mirowski and Morton Mower co-developed the Automatic Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator (AICD). It automatically senses the potentially deadly erratic beating called ventricular fibrillation and shocks the heart back to its normal rhythm. The AICD performs the same function as the bulky defibrillator with paddles used in emergency rooms. After the Food and Drug Administration approved its use, the AICD was adopted world-wide.
Community Health
Sinai Hospital has strived to develop comprehensive methods to meet the needs of the diverse community of Northwest Baltimore. This includes free eye clinics, mobile programs to combat childhood obesity, and telemedicine options. In 1961 Dr. Frank Furstenberg, director of Sinai Hospital's Outpatient Department, created Maryland's first home health care program. The goals of these community programs have been to increase awareness and access to health care.
Limb Lengthening
The International Center for Limb Lengthening, which opened in 2001 as part of the Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics, is recognized around the world for its innovative treatments for Perthes disease, clubfoot, congenital femoral deficiency, fibular hemimelia, bone infection, brachymetatarsia, bunions and deformities associated with achondroplasia. The center uses cutting-edge technology and the latest proven techniques to treat patients’ complex orthopedic conditions. As an example, Sinai doctors John Herzenberg and Shawn Standard helped co-develop the Precice internal limb-lengthening nail, which has revolutionized limb lengthening. Previously, doctors lengthened limbs by passing external pins and wires through bone, skin, and muscles.
Histochemistry
Chief of Surgery and Chief of Research Oncology and Cell Biology Dr. Arnold Seligman is known internationally as the father of histochemistry, for which he earned a Nobel Prize nomination. Histochemistry is the branch of chemistry that analyzes the composition of cells and tissue within the body. Dr. Seligman conducted his research on chemotherapeutic agents as well as co-developed a technique for treating congenital biliary atresia that expanded the bile ducts of the liver. He was the first surgeon named by the American Cancer Society as a lifetime professor of research oncology and cell biology.
