“There’s an old saying we have around hospitals, which is that you can love your hospital, but your hospital will never love you back,” said Dr. Teirstein’s son, Paul S. Teirstein, MD, MSSM ’80. “That's sort of emblematic of some of the conflict that doctors have with their administrators all the time. But I think that Mount Sinai did love my father back, and I think that he was as committed as you can imagine to Mount Sinai. He just loved the place.”
In recognition of his father’s deep and abiding dedication to Mount Sinai—and, in many ways, what Mount Sinai meant to his father—Dr. Paul Teirstein has made a generous gift to endow the Alvin S. Teirstein, MD, Professorship in Pulmonary Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
“Everybody loved him there,” Dr. Paul Teirstein, who is Chief of Cardiology and Director of Interventional Cardiology for Scripps Clinic and Director of the Scripps Prebys Cardiovascular Institute for Scripps Health in La Jolla, California, said of Mount Sinai.
“I would walk down the halls with him—I went to medical school there—and it seemed everybody was my dad's friend, and nearly everyone was his patient. He so enjoyed the camaraderie he had with his colleagues, the nurses, cafeteria staff, housekeeping, everyone. Mount Sinai was his second home."
A Father, Physician, and Pioneer
Dr. Alvin Teirstein came to Mount Sinai as a resident in 1953 and remained there for the entirety his career. During his tenure as Division Chief, he established the Medical Intensive Care Unit and the Respiratory Care Unit at The Mount Sinai Hospital, in addition to introducing the fiberoptic bronchoscopy program. He also advanced the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer, asthma, emphysema, and environmental and fibrosing lung disease. Additionally, he developed a vibrant teaching program for pulmonary disease that became a model for others around the world.
From 1977 to 2001, Dr. Alvin Teirstein was the Florette and Ernst Rosenfeld and Joseph Solomon Professor of Medicine. In 2001, when he stepped down as Division Chief, he became the Dr. George Baehr Professor of Clinical Medicine and Director of the Vivien Richenthal Institute for Pulmonary and Critical Care Research.
Dr. Alvin Teirstein received numerous honors for his excellence as a physician-scientist. In 1986, Mount Sinai presented him with the Jacobi Medallion, one of the institution’s highest awards. In 1993, the Committee of 1000 gave him the Outstanding Faculty Award. In 1996, the Department of Nursing named him Outstanding Physician of the Year. The Mount Sinai Hospital has also named its Sarcoidosis Support Group in his honor.
Thousands of grateful patients wrote letters and tributes to him. One of those patients was the late Henry Gaisman, whose late wife, Catherine “Kitty” Gaisman, had been a Mount Sinai Trustee for more than 30 years. In 2006, Catherine Gaisman dedicated an auditorium at the School in Dr. Alvin Teirstein’s honor, a moment that Dr. Paul Teirstein recalled fondly.
"I was there with Catherine Gaisman and my dad when the room was dedicated,” Dr. Paul Teirstein said. “Also, 48 years ago—where did the time go?—before it was remodeled and dedicated, I sat in that room for an entire year as a second year MSSM medical student!”
