Before joining the faculty at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Professor Goldstein-Elchanan served at the Mount Sinai Hospital, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, as the spinal cord injury specialist in the therapeutic recreation service. During her nine-year tenure at Mount Sinai, Prof. Goldstein designed and implemented advanced wheelchair sports programs for people with spinal cord injuries. One of Dr. Goldstein's former patients went on to become a national competitor in wheelchair tennis; another became a member of the U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey Team which won the World Cup in Sweden in the 1996 Paralympics. When distance learning was new at John Jay, Dr. Goldstein proved to be a true leader in online course development, and in 2002 was named recipient of a $5,000 CUNY award for her pioneering efforts in the advancement and curriculum development of online teaching. Additionally, she has served as John Jay's Distance Learning Coordinator and Faculty Trainer.

Dr. Goldstein enjoys teaching at John Jay because "...the students are bright and a pleasure to teach!"