Mount Sinai Launches Program to Increase Career Advancement Opportunities for Black Men

Newswise — (New York, NY – March 27, 2023) – The Mount Sinai Health System has announced the Growth in Operations, Administrations, and Leadership Society (GOALS), an initiative to increase the representation of Black men at the middle and upper levels of management by creating pathways for career advancement through networking, mentorship, and advancement opportunities. This initiative furthers Mount Sinai’s continuing commitment to growing a diverse workplace and providing equitable care for patients. 

“I had the pleasure of being a member of the first cohort of the Black Executive Acceleration Program (BEAP), and now I have the pleasure of ushering in the first cohort of the new GOALS initiative,” said Leroy Francis, MPH, Administrative Director of Cardiovascular Services at Mount Sinai Queens. “The BEAP is aimed at assisting African American men and women at the executive levels, and the GOALS initiative is focused on helping Black men, specifically, advance from lower and entry-level positions.”

The GOALS initiative will partner with executive leadership from Human Resources and Talent, Development, and Learning to grant cohort members exclusive interviews for career advancement. Also, if needed, Talent, Development, and Learning will provide slots in their certificate courses. The cohort candidates will be handpicked GOALS members, interviewed by the GOALS counsel, and introduced to Human Resources for opportunities at open internal positions at Mount Sinai. In addition to the cohort, the GOALS initiative will host quarterly meetings and social networking mixers. The first cohort will launch this spring.

“Our efforts will solidify the ‘goals’ for the initiative and the commitment from Mount Sinai to advance diversity and equity,” said Anthony Smalls, MBA, Program Manager for Shared Resources in Research Operations and Infrastructure in the Office of the Dean, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “The increase of Black men at the middle and upper levels will address the significant need for change and, hopefully, eliminate the classification of underrepresented groups.” 

GOALS held its first gathering of like-minded Black men in leadership from across the Health System in September 2022 to discuss shared professional journeys, obstacles, and a commitment to creating a support system for other Black men who join the Mount Sinai community. “As a Black man, you can feel alone, like nobody cares,” Mr. Smalls said. “Our gathering revealed that I was not the only one who felt alone. Thus, our initiative will find talented employees who have felt the same and put them in the opportunities vehicle for success.”

GOALS is one of many innovative programs under the Friends of ODysseus Mentoring Program (FOD) at Mount Sinai. Launched in 2017 by Reginald W. Miller, DVM, DACLAM, Dean for Research Operations and Infrastructure, Icahn Mount Sinai, FOD was created to support Black male medical students navigating Mount Sinai by providing mentoring in career advancement. FOD mentoring programs also include Scholars-athletes With Academic Goals (SWAG), which offers a financial literacy series, roundtable discussions, and a pipeline initiative for junior high, high school, and college students interested in science and medicine. The program has since expanded to include other underrepresented groups, including Latinx men and women, as well as staff and faculty throughout the Mount Sinai Health System.

GOALS will provide a safe space for discussions on structural racism and tools to overcome challenges to encourage and empower Black professionals in the program. It will also leverage existing programs and opportunities within Mount Sinai to provide networking opportunities and professional development offered by Talent, Development, and Learning.

“We hope this program will grow the numbers of Black men in mid- and upper-level positions in our Health System and will encourage other health care organizations to initiate programs of this kind that address the need for change in the workplace and eliminate the classification of underrepresented groups,” Mr. Smalls said.

Along with Messrs. Francis and Smalls, GOALS founding members and leadership team include Shawn Lee, Associate Director of Operations at Mount Sinai Health System; and Jacobie Ricard, Director of Construction at Mount Sinai Morningside. The initiative continues Mount Sinai’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and is the second mentorship program for Black professionals launched during the pandemic. In March 2021, the Office for Diversity and Inclusion launched Black Women Leaders Connect, an initiative focused on increasing the numbers of Black women in executive roles at the Health System and mentoring the next generation of leaders within the Mount Sinai community. 

To learn more about Growth in Operations, Administrations, and Leadership Society (GOALS), visit here.

About the Mount Sinai Health System

Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 43,000 employees working across eight hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, more than 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time — discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.

Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 7,400 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. We are consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals, receiving high “Honor Roll” status, and are highly ranked: No. 1 in Geriatrics and top 20 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Rehabilitation, and Urology. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 12 in Ophthalmology. U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals” ranks Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital among the country’s best in several pediatric specialties. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is ranked No. 14 nationwide in National Institutes of Health funding and in the 99th percentile in research dollars per investigator according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Newsweek’s “The World’s Best Smart Hospitals” ranks The Mount Sinai Hospital as No. 1 in New York and in the top five globally, and Mount Sinai Morningside in the top 20 globally.

For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.