Orthopedic surgeon Laura L. Forese, MD, MPH, took over as president of the NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System in 2013. Under her leadership, the hospital has expanded its reach with the acquisitions of two community hospitals in Westchester: NewYork-Presbyterian/Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville and NewYork-Presbyterian/Hudson Valley Hospital in Cortlandt.
For Dr. Forese, the acquisitions are all about patient care. “We have to put the patient in the center of everything we do,” she says. “What do patients need? They need great service in a convenient setting.”
In addition to caring about patients, Dr. Forese has a history of caring about her employees; she’s acted as a role model and mentor to many young physicians and administrators throughout her career. She also works with the Health Management Academy, a national healthcare education company, to help facilitate the training and mentoring of high-potential executives in the country’s largest health systems.
Her mission in Westchester is to help NewYork-Presbyterian open additional outpatient facilities so that patients won’t always have to travel into Manhattan to see a specialist. A cancer patient, for example, might undergo complex surgery in the city but follow up with radiation in Westchester. But she says she won’t let NewYork-Presbyterian’s expansion dilute its quality of care. “We exist for the public good,” says Dr. Forese. “I always try to come back to the question of: ‘What’s the right thing to do?’ That’s what feels true to me.”
