Northwell Health Celebrates Newly Installed Professors/Chairs as Part of Billion-Dollar Campaign

$140 million raised to accelerate academic, research and clinical innovation

Northwell Health installed five chairs and professorships representing diverse specialty areas across the organization at its 2nd annual Celebration of Excellence event.

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Northwell's senior vice president and chief development officer Brian Lally hosts an impact conversation with benefactor Susan Karches and Kevin J. Tracey, MD, president and CEO of Northwell's Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. (Photo: Business Wire)

The virtual event brought together philanthropists, physician-scientists and educators to recognize the partnership between Northwell's benefactors and the clinical experts who are shaping the future of health care through excellence in academic medicine. The evening also featured an impact conversation with benefactor Susan Karches and Kevin J. Tracey, MD, president and CEO of Northwell's Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research and the Karches Family Distinguished Chair in Medical Research.

Endowment support is an integral part of Northwell's Outpacing the Impossible campaign, an ambitious $1 billion, seven-year comprehensive fundraising effort to fuel innovations to advance health care and support Northwell's promise to the people it serves. The campaign was publicly launched in October 2018 and to date, has raised more than $714 million with $140 million raised in support of endowment.

Why endowments are important to Northwell's future

Endowed gifts enable Northwell to recognize outstanding faculty accomplishments, support groundbreaking research, and recruit renowned clinicians and researchers to the organization. They provide financial stability in perpetuity, which allows Northwell to make strategic investments to propel new research and advance medicine in areas where it's needed most. Endowed professorships and chairs carry significant prestige in the scientific, academic and medical fields.

"A gift to build endowment, particularly to endow a position, is a profound gift," said Brian T. Lally, Northwell's senior vice president and chief development officer. "By its very nature, it is a powerful statement of belief in Northwell, in our mission, and in the people who are delivering that mission."

"Endowed professorships are incredibly important to our talent pipeline and Northwell's future in academic medicine and research," said Lawrence Smith, MD, executive vice president and physician-in-chief for Northwell Health and dean of the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. "We are grateful to our generous donors who recognize the importance of this investment so we can take better care of more people who rely on us."

Introducing Northwell's newly installed professors/chairs and the benefactors who support them

Edward and Carole Miller established the Edward and Carole Miller Distinguished Chair in Cancer. Richard Barakat, MD, MBA, physician-in-chief and director of the Northwell Health Cancer Institute will serve as the inaugural Miller Distinguished Chair. Dr. Barakat oversees cancer research at Northwell and leads all cancer services for more than 19,000 new patients each year. An internationally recognized surgeon and clinical investigator, he has authored/co-authored more than 340 peer-reviewed articles and numerous textbook chapters and serves as a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell.

Ruth and Harold (now deceased) Nelkin and their family established the Les Nelkin Professor of Pediatric Oncology, which was conferred to Lionel Blanc, PhD. Dr. Blanc joined Northwell's Department of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology in 2012 and established the Laboratory of Developmental Erythropoiesis. He teaches a portion of the hematology course for first-year students at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine and is the recipient of the 2014 Allied World Career Development Award from the St. Baldrick's Foundation to study osteogenic sarcoma development in children with Diamond Blackfan Anemia.

Karen A. Friedman, MD, MS, is the newly installed Lawrence Scherr, MD, Professor of Medical Education. As the vice chair for Education and director of the residency program for Northwell's Department of Medicine, Dr. Friedman guides 12 fellowship programs, two clerkship programs and leads faculty development. Renowned for her medical education insights, Dr. Friedman guides the department's oversight of more than 130 residents in internal medicine, 100 fellows and 280 additional medical students in clerkship, sub-internship and visiting-student programs.

Lorinda and Vincent (deceased) de Roulet have made advancing healthcare a family tradition for more than 60 years. Created to ensure excellence in cardiac care, the Linda and Vincent de Roulet Professor of Medicine was conferred to Jeffrey T. Kuvin, MD, Northwell's senior vice president of Cardiology, co-director of the Sandra Atlas Bass Heart Hospital, chair of Cardiology at North Shore University Hospital and Long Island Jewish Medical Center and professor and chair of Cardiology at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine. Dr. Kuvin is widely published, has lectured extensively and was recently selected as a member of the American College of Cardiology Board of Trustees.

The North American Partners in Anesthesia (NAPA) established the Peter F.R. Walker, MD, Chair in Anesthesiology in honor of Dr. Peter Walker, who is credited with co-founding the group in 1986 with his colleagues at North Shore University Hospital. Sheldon B. Newman, MD, chair of Anesthesiology for North Shore University Hospital and Long Island Jewish Medical Center, and an assistant professor of Anesthesiology at the Zucker School of Medicine, has been conferred to this chair.

Additionally, earlier this year, the Simons Foundation established the Simons Distinguished Chair in Clinical Research, which when conferred, will ensure clinical research continues to grow across Northwell Health.

"Continual improvement is in Northwell's DNA and so is philanthropic support," said Michael Dowling, Northwell's president and chief executive officer. "[Our donor's] support of and belief in our researchers, clinicians and educators accelerates new and potential cures, and trains the next generation of healthcare leaders and caregivers. Together, we are helping our patients live their healthiest lives possible."

To experience the impact conversation and/or to learn more about endowment support and Northwell's Outpacing the Impossible campaign, visit https://give.northwell.edu/endowment.

About Northwell Health

Northwell Health is New York State's largest health care provider and private employer, with 23 hospitals, nearly 800 outpatient facilities and more than 14,200 affiliated physicians. We care for over two million people annually in the New York metro area and beyond, thanks to philanthropic support from our communities. Our 74,000 employees – 18,500 nurses and 4,500 employed doctors, including members of Northwell Health Physician Partners – are working to change health care for the better. We're making breakthroughs in medicine at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. We're training the next generation of medical professionals at the visionary Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. For information on our more than 100 medical specialties, visit Northwell.edu and follow us @NorthwellHealth on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

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