Northwell Health President and CEO Michael J. Dowling has been named to Modern Healthcare magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare,” ranking second overall.
The top spot went to frontline workers, including the nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists, environmental service workers and administrators who are battling the Covid-19 epidemic.
Dowling was cited for innovation, leadership and strong stance on social issues such as gun violence as a public health crisis as well as immigration and the opioid epidemic. He was named to the list for the 14th straight year.
The list includes the nation’s most prominent health care CEOs, elected officials and government administrators. President Donald Trump was ranked 28th, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, secretary of health and human services 46th and Jerome Adams, U.S. surgeon general, 50th.
“This year has shown us how vulnerable we are to the various pandemics facing health care,” Dowling said. “COVID-19 devastated us. Gun violence continues to cripple us. And there are numerous other issues that are keeping our communities from thriving. It is our responsibility to partner with them to finally move the needle in the right direction.”
To date, across Northwell’s network, the health system has treated 101,000 COVID-19 patients, including 16,000 who were hospitalized, more than any other hospital system in the country.
Dowling wrote about the lessons Northwell learned, as well as a prescription to avoid the spread of future viral illnesses in his latest book, “Leading Through a Pandemic: The Inside Story of Humanity, Innovation, and Lessons Learned During the COVID-19 Crisis.”
Northwell Health is New York State’s largest health system with 23 hospitals, approximately 800 ambulatory and physician practices, and $13.5 billion in annual revenue.
Health care leaders ranked among the top 10 in Modern Healthcare’s 2020 list were Marc Harrison, MD, president and CEO of Intermountain Healthcare (third) and Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (ninth).