Oceanside, NY: Shahriyour Andaz, MD, Director of Thoracic Oncology, who has led the hospital’s efforts to combat lung cancer, will be presented with Mount Sinai South Nassau’s Mary Pearson Award at the hospital’s 2024 Soirée Under the Stars annual fundraising gala on Saturday, November 9, at The Lannin in Eisenhower Park.
Bethpage Federal Credit Union’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Linda Armyn, is the honoree and Shaeda Alloo, a veteran respiratory therapist who served during the COVID-19 pandemic, will be presented the hospital’s Cupola award.
The Soirée Under the Stars gala will raise funds to help advance the cancer programs at Mount Sinai South Nassau in Oceanside, as part of the hospital’s overall goal of improving services for residents of the South Shore.
“Bethpage and Ms. Armyn have been essential partners of Mount Sinai South Nassau’s public health education initiatives and projects, including the hospital’s ‘Truth in Medicine’ public health poll,” said Adhi Sharma, MD, Mount Sinai South Nassau’s President. “Dr. Andaz is the epitome of a compassionate, expert, skilled physician,” added Dr. Sharma. “And Ms. Alloo inspires others through her professionalism, enthusiasm, and dedication to the vision and mission of Mount Sinai South Nassau. They both exhibit deep concern, compassion, and the utmost respect for their patients. These honors were established for staff members like Dr. Andaz and Ms. Alloo.”
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.
Since joining Mount Sinai South Nassau in 2004, Dr. Andaz has been in the vanguard of prevention, early detection, and treatment of lung cancer in the communities served by the hospital. For example, in 2006, through his persistence, he brought IELCAP (International Early Lung Cancer Action Project) to Mount Sinai South Nassau, establishing a unique partnership between the hospital and a local PET/CT scan provider that agreed to provide free computed tomography (CT) scans to detect lung cancer in its early stages in high-risk patients. IELCAP research proved that lung cancers detected through screening CT scans have an estimated 80 percent cure rate, compared to a 10 percent cure rate for lung cancers detected in the clinical setting.
Dr. Andaz, who also serves as Mount Sinai South Nassau’s Director of Clinical Research, was the first surgeon on Long Island to perform robotic-assisted bi-lobectomy, a surgical procedure that removes two lobes from the lung, and robotic-assisted surgical removal of the thymus gland. A multiple winner of the Brooklyn and Long Island Chapter of the American College of Surgeons’ prestigious Murray Friedman Resident Competition (clinical research) Award, Dr. Andaz is a past recipient of the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer Outstanding Performance Award.
