Mount Sinai South Nassau Soirée Under the Stars Will Help Bring Open-Heart to the South Shore of Nassau County

Mount Sinai South Nassau Soirée Under the Stars Will Help Bring Open-Heart to the South Shore of Nassau County

Steven Gold, Longtime Board Member and Benefactor, named honoree; Aaron E. Glatt, MD, Chair of Medicine, and Nydia White, RN, Director of Nursing, also to be recognized

Mount Sinai South Nassau's 2026 "Soirée Under the Stars" will benefit "Bringing Heart Home," the campaign to support the expansion of the hospital's advanced cardiovascular services program, including open-heart surgery, for residents of the South Shore of Nassau County.

Hospital Advisory Board member, longtime benefactor, and Hewlett Harbor resident Steven Gold has been named the honoree of the gala. The Soirée will be held Saturday, November 7, at The Lannin in Eisenhower Park at 6:30 pm, featuring an extended cocktail hour, music, dancing, a mentalist and an opportunity to celebrate the hospital's expansion of patient services. Two News 12 personalities, Erin Colton and Joe Arena, have agreed to serve as Masters of Ceremonies.

Nydia White, RN, MSSN, CCRN, Director of Nursing, Department of Medicine, and Aaron E. Glatt, MD, Chair of the Department of Medicine, Chief of Infectious Diseases, and Hospital Epidemiologist, will also be honored. They will be presented with the hospital's Cupola and Mary Pearson Awards, respectively. A special posthumous award will be presented to the family of the late Wayne Lipton, a long-time Mount Sinai South Nassau board member who co-chaired the gala for many years.

"Steven Gold is one of our longest serving volunteer board members, and he has been a supporter of the hospital for decades. Anytime we need something, he is there. He embodies the South Nassau spirit," said Joshua Kugler, MD, Mount Sinai South Nassau's Interim President." Dr. Glatt's many years of service to his patients and to the hospital exemplifies a rare level of dedication. His leadership of the Department of Medicine

has helped us improve the quality of our patient care while expanding services. And Nydia is a nurse's nurse. When there is a job to do, she is the first one to raise her hand. Her leadership during COVID-19 helped us get through the toughest of times."

"Steve Gold has dedicated more than 15 years to the hospital's Board, serving as Development Committee Chair, and co-chairing the Soiree," said Tony Cancellieri, Co-Chair of Mount Sinai South Nassau's Advisory Board and a member of the Mount Sinai Health System Boards of Trustees. "His benevolence and generosity show a true commitment to advancing health care on the South Shore."

A prominent business leader and philanthropist, Mr. Gold is recognized primarily for his past leadership of Gold Pure Food Products (popularly known as Gold's Horseradish), the iconic brand that his grandparents founded in 1932 during the Great Depression. Though the company has its roots in Brooklyn, it flourished even more when he spearheaded the factory's move to Hempstead in 1994. Mr. Gold served as president of the company until its sale in 2015.

Throughout his career and even more so in retirement, Mr. Gold has been a steadfast champion of Mount Sinai South Nassau. His support has spanned multiple decades across key functions, offering executive leadership and corporate strategy as an advisory board member since 2011. For many years, he served as Co-Chair of the Soirée, which raises hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in support of expanding clinical facilities and services and upgrading medical technologies, and he is currently a SIBSPlace Board member. A key ambassador for Mount Sinai South Nassau, Mr. Gold has forged relationships with both business and civic leaders who have been vital to the hospital's mission to deliver essential health care services across the South Shore of Long Island. Mr. Gold and his wife, Terri, live in Hewlett Harbor and have two adult daughters, Fara and Melissa.

The Mary Pearson Award, named in honor of the hospital's founding administrator, is presented annually to an individual for extraordinary effort and individual contributions that significantly advance the hospital's commitment to the community. An internationally recognized infectious disease specialist, Dr. Glatt has served as the hospital's Chair of the Department of Medicine and Chief of Infectious Diseases since November 2015. As Chair of Medicine, Dr. Glatt leads the overall administrative, academic, and clinical activities of the Department of Medicine and works closely with the other clinical departments, nursing and pharmacy leadership, and directors. He also oversees the hospital's Infectious Diseases Society of America Designated Center of Excellence in Antimicrobial Stewardship.

Dr. Glatt was the hospital's lead expert throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. His well-respected and practical insight and expertise were vital to protecting residents across Long Island from severe cases of the disease. He also spearheaded hospital-based COVID-19 initiatives, from the exploratory use of monoclonal antibodies to treat the virus to the rollout of the vaccines and the launch of Mount Sinai South Nassau's Vaxmobile.

A Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Dr. Glatt was awarded the New York Chapter of the American College of Physicians Laureate Award, which honors Fellows and Masters of the College. The prestigious award recognizes physicians who have demonstrated, by their example and conduct, a commitment to excellence in medical care, education, or research through service to their community. He is also an ordained rabbi and is the Assistant to the Rabbi at the Young Israel of Woodmere synagogue.

"Dr. Glatt's clinical acumen has been key to Mount Sinai South Nassau's advancements in patient safety, quality, infection prevention, and antibiotic administration and the multiple awards the hospital has received for patient safety and the quality of care," said Alan Wong, DO, Chief Medical Officer. "We are grateful for his leadership."

The Cupola Award, established in 2015, honors a deserving hospital employee who goes beyond their duties and lives by the hospital mission to promote excellence in health care.

Ms. White has spent her entire 22-year nursing career at Mount Sinai South Nassau, most of it in critical care services, providing operational, clinical, and strategic leadership for a high-acuity environment. During the early intense waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms. White served as a calming influence and pillar of clinical advancement for the hospital's team of critical care nurses. She worked side by side with her team to manage critical care responses and patient care under extraordinary pressure.

For her work in helping the hospital and local patients and their loved ones through the pandemic, New York State Assemblywoman Judy Griffin named Ms. White a "Warrior for Wellness," which acknowledges and expresses gratitude to health care workers, first responders, and essential workers at the front lines of the pandemic.

As Director of Nursing of the Surgical and Intensive Care Units, Ms. White ensures that Mount Sinai South Nassau continues to lead the way in the delivery of patient-centered intensive and critical care while fostering a culture of excellence, accountability, and professional development. Throughout her tenure, she has been a driving force for quality and performance improvement initiatives and collaboration between physicians, nursing leadership, and interdisciplinary teams.

"As the hospital launches its advanced cardiac surgery program, we will rely on Ms. White's leadership in critical care so that our patients achieve optimal outcomes," said Margaret Pfeiffer, RN, Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer. "We are grateful that she has been a member of our team for more than 20 years and are so proud of her work."

Funds raised by the Soirée will support Mount Sinai South Nassau's expansion of its cardiovascular services. This includes the introduction of advanced cardiac surgical services, including adult open-heart surgery, as well as the expansion of its Interventional Cardiology program to add a Cardiac Catheterization and Electrophysiology Lab and a new CT-Angiography Lab.

Expected to launch later this year, the advanced cardiac and open-heart surgery program will be overseen by surgeons and clinical leaders from the top-rated Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital in Manhattan. Surgeons from Manhattan will be on site at Oceanside to perform the advanced cardiac procedures. The Mount Sinai Hospital's Cardiology, Heart, and Vascular Surgery program is ranked No. 5 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for 2026-27. The U.S. News rankings are based on objective data like patient outcomes and survival rates.

When providing balloon angioplasty in an emergency, Mount Sinai South Nassau consistently completes the procedure in under an hour, averaging 58 minutes, which is 32 minutes faster than the national standard door-to-balloon-time benchmark of 90 minutes. (Door-to-balloon time is the time measured in minutes from the moment the patient enters the hospital to the point where the artery in the heart is reopened with a stent procedure.) Mount Sinai South Nassau's Cardiac Catheterization Lab is a recipient of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses gold-level Beacon Award for Excellence.

This year's Soiree includes an extended cocktail hour (no formal sit-down dinner) with a choice selection of fine wines and spirits, a spread of delectable hors d'oeuvres, premium seafoods, prime cuts of beef as well as an assortment of international dishes (and a kosher food station). The entertainment lineup includes a live DJ, dancing, and a mentalist, along with opportunities to mingle with hospital supporters, staff, board leadership, and administration.
For more information about the Soirée, to purchase tickets, or support the event as a sponsor, call Mount Sinai South Nassau's Development Office at 516-377-5360, or visit www.southnassaulifesaver.org.

About Mount Sinai South Nassau
The Long Island flagship hospital of the Mount Sinai Health System, Mount Sinai South Nassau is designated a Magnet® hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) for outstanding nursing care. Mount Sinai South Nassau is one of the region's largest hospitals, with 455 beds, more than 900 physicians and 3,500 employees. Located in Oceanside, New York, the hospital is an acute-care, not-for-profit teaching hospital that provides state-of-the-art care in cardiac, oncologic, orthopedic, bariatric, pain management, mental health, and emergency services and operates the only Trauma Center on the South Shore of Nassau County, along with Long Island's only free-standing Emergency Department in Long Beach.

In addition to its extensive outpatient specialty centers, Mount Sinai South Nassau provides emergency and elective angioplasty, and offers Novalis Tx™ and Gamma Knife® radiosurgery technologies. Mount Sinai South Nassau operates the only Trauma Center on the South Shore of Nassau County verified by the American College of Surgeons as well as Long Island's only free-standing, 9-1-1 receiving Emergency Department in Long Beach. Mount Sinai South Nassau also is a designated Stroke Center by the New York State Department of Health and Comprehensive Community Cancer Center by the American College of Surgeons; is an accredited center of the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Association and Quality Improvement Program; and an Infectious Diseases Society of America Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence. For more information, go to www.mountsinai.org/southnassau.