There isn’t enough room here to list all of Sahar Malek’s responsibilities. In six years, the 29-year-old Eastchester resident has worked her way up from intern to director by demonstrating what her supervisor, Elissa Chessari, calls “unnerving competence” at organizing hundreds of complex tasks.
Malek’s lengthy job description includes supporting Westchester Medical Center’s Brain and Spine Institute, where she helps with development and implementation of approved programmatic strategies — a role she considers an honor. “Knowing that the residents of the Hudson Valley have access to world-renowned neurosurgeons right here is a true representation of WMC’s vital mission, vision, and values,” Malek says. She also oversees the food-and-nutrition-services contract for the WMC Health Network (which includes, among other things, ensuring that regulatory and patient-safety standards are met); presides over WMC’s space-planning functions (one recent project was completing a master space plan for the entire Valhalla campus); and manages mobile-device requests, usage, and procurement for WMC. She even makes time for fun tasks, like ensuring that the massive fish tank in the lobby of Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital is cared for. “I wear a different hat every hour of the day,” Malek says.
“When Sahar came to us, we knew we had something special,” Chessari explains. “She is willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done.”
And Malek plans to keep doing just that. “I have learned so much in my six years at WMC and look forward to my continued growth and development under the guidance of those I like to call my WMC family,” she says.
