Robert T Yanagisawa, MD

Robert T. Yanagisawa, MD, is a Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and is the Co-Director of the Mount Sinai Global Health Program in Japan. Dr. Yanagisawa has also made significant contributions in advancing global medical partnerships as the President of the Japanese Medical Society of America. On 3/11/2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami triggered a nuclear power plant fallout involving evacuation of over 470,000 people.  He helped to mobilize a disaster response team from US in partnership with a Japanese DMAT.  Subsequently, he has partnered with a disaster psychiatrist, Dr. Craig Katz, to establish a new training site in Japan for Disaster Medical Sciences in Fukushima, through the Arnhold Global Health Institute Training Program at Mount Sinai. Students have raved their co-mentorship as “the highlight of our medical education” and several students have been awarded M.D. degrees with a distinction in research. Drs. Yanagisawa and Katz have introduced a new multidisciplinary approach with collaborations between disaster psychiatry and radiation biology for a long-term post disaster recovery in Japan. He leads 3/11 and 9/11 Survivor Exchange Program as a Global Health outreach project. The innovative efforts have been commended by former First Lady of Japan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Reconstruction Agency of Japan. It has been featured as one of the four “Innovative disaster responses in Japan that are worth emulating in future disasters around the world” by the Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE). In New York, under Dr. Yanagisawa’s leadership for quality improvements, the hospital Endocrinology clinic has earned the highest rating for Physician Communication Quality by the Cullman Institute for Patient Experience. With the COVID-19 pandemic, he was among the 1st faculty members to serve the Mount Sinai Health System COVID-19 Frontline Team and received a special recognition from the Ambassador of Japan and Japan Society for “making all the Japanese Americans very proud.”
 

In the News
Dr. Yanagisawa discusses weight loss in The Daily News feature The Daily Check Up.
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