I. Michael Leitman, MD

I. Michael Leitman, MD is an American surgeon and medical educator. He is Professor of Surgery and Medical Education, Dean for Graduate Medical Education and Dean for Affiliates at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He previously held the position of Site Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Mount Sinai Beth Israel in New York City.

A native of Philadelphia, Dr. Leitman received both his bachelor's degree and Medical Degree from Boston University. After medical school, Dr. Leitman moved to New York City to receive his training in General Surgery at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell and completed his fellowship in Surgical Critical Care at North Shore University Hospital-Weill Cornell. While at Cornell, Leitman was under the tutelage of American surgical pioneer G. Tom Shires. As a member of the faculty at North Shore University Hospital, he was appointed Director of Surgical Endoscopy, Physician-in-charge of Surgical Education, Program Director and Chief of Surgical Critical Care in 1995. He joined the Department of Surgery at Mount Sinai Beth Israel in 2005 where he is presently Vice Chairman of the Department of Surgery, and Chief of General Surgery. In 2007, he was appointed Associate Chief Medical Officer and in 2010 Chief of Graduate Medical Education. As an innovator of minimally invasive techniques for the treatment of abdominal conditions, Dr. Leitman is also known for his research on the outcomes following the surgical treatment of breast cancer, colon cancer, lower gastrointestinal hemorrhage, gallbladder disease and morbid obesity.  He is currently the President-Elect of the New York Surgical Society - one of the oldest surgical associations in the United States.

For more than 30 years, Dr. Leitman has served as a medical educator. In addition to his current role as Professor of Medical Education at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Dr. Leitman has also served as a Professor of Clinical Surgery at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York City. In 2017 Dr. Leitman was appointed Dean for Graduate Medical Education at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and is responsible for all of the GME programs in the Icahn School of Medicine of Mount Sinai Consortium, the largest program in the United States.

A fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, Dr. Leitman has been recognized as a Harold C. Case Scholar and Commonwealth Scholar. Dr. Leitman is also a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the Society of Surgical Oncology. He is a member of the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery, Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract where he serves as a member of the Continuing Education Committee. He is the author of more than 400 peer-reviewed scientific articles, book chapters and published abstracts. He is on the editorial board of 20 surgical journals.

In addition, Dr. Leitman was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Alpha honor societies and was the recipient of the 2008 Murry G. Fischer Distinguished Educator Award.  Since 2013, Dr. Leitman has been included in New York Magazine’s (Castle Connolly) lists of "Top Doctors."  In 2022, he was the recipient of the Mount Sinai Faculty Council Lifetime Achievement Award, and he received the Jacobi Medallion in 2023.  Dr. Leitman has been recognized by ACGME for his contibutions to graduate medical education with the Parker J. Palmer Courage to Lead Award.