Bensonhurst native new president of NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital

The new president of NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, Dr. Richard Liebowitz, is a Bensonhurst native who is delighted to shepherd the medical institution as it moves into the future, serving people across the borough.

“I want everybody to know that the care they can get at a hospital in Brooklyn is the same care they can get in Manhattan,” said Liebowitz, who joined NewYork-Presbyterian in 2006, and took over the reins of NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital on February 6, 2017. “Every hospital is never satisfied with quality of care; we’re always striving for more. I want to take a great hospital and make it better by expanding the care that we provide.”

The appointment made Liebowitz responsible for the leadership and oversight of the hospital, 506 Sixth Street, which serves approximately 42,000 patients every year.

Prior to his role as president, Liebowitz  — who replaced Mark Mundy, who retired in 2016 — served as vice president of medical affairs, associate chief medical officer and chief medical officer for NewYork-Presbyterian. In his past roles, Liebowitz was responsible for overseeing the institution’s service lines, clinical program development and physician recruitment.

Liebowitz credits the rest of the institution’s leadership team for aiding in his transition into his current position. Brooklyn Methodist Hospital merged with NewYork-Presbyterian in December, 2016.

“As chief medical officer, my area of concentration was 10 feet wide and one mile deep,” he said. “As president, it’s 100 miles wide and nowhere near as deep. It’s a lot skinnier in terms of the depth of knowledge but I am responsible for everything, so you become dependent on everyone you work with in the rest of the leadership team.

“It’s about having a great group and great leadership team for things that one person alone cannot do,” he stressed

Liebowitz credits the hospital’s work environment and wide scope of care as the reason behind his decision to continue with the administrative side of medical care.

“The most rewarding aspect is really getting to know a lot of the people who work here and seeing the real affection and dedication our employees have for the hospital,” Liebowitz said. “Seeing the impact that a hospital has on a patient’s life and how people can benefit from the work we are doing is why I gave up on being an individual practitioner and gravitated more toward the administrative end.”

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