Steven L. Strongwater Assumes post as the New Chief Executive Officer of the Stony Brook Medical Center

.STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Dr. Steven L. Strongwater, M.D., former Director and Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at John Dempsey Hospital, University of Connecticut, assumes his new post as CEO of Stony Brook University Medical Center on January 1. Stony Brook University President Shirley Strum Kenny and Richard N. Fine, M.D., Dean of the School of Medicine made the announcement on his appointment on November 20, 2006.

“Dr. Strongwater has the depth of experience in academic medicine and the strong administrative skills we sought,” Kenny said.

During his tenure at the University of Connecticut, Dr. Strongwater developed a patient safety center and a Collaborative Center for Clinical Care Improvement, ran the faculty practice plan and served on numerous local and national boards. In addition, the University’s Health Center was selected from among more than 6,000 acute and specialty hospitals as a “Top 100 Hospitals® Performance Improvement Leader”. The award was given by Solucient, a healthcare information and data analysis software company, based on statistical analysis and a comparison of rates of improvement over five years.

Prior to his appointment at the University of Connecticut, Dr. Strongwater was Medical Director at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester and Professor of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology and Immunology. He earned his M.D. with honors at the SUNY Upstate Medical Center in 1978 and graduated with a degree in biology in 1974 from the University of Rochester magna cum laude.

In his new position, Dr. Strongwater will head a facility that treats more than 400,000 patients annually, has 504 adult beds, a full-time medical staff faculty of 450, 4,800 full time employees, and an annual operating budget of $827 million. Meanwhile, Interim CEO Fred Sganga, who guided the hospital during the search process, will return to his position as Executive Director of the Long Island State Veterans Home.

Dr. Strongwater’s appointment comes a week after Stony Brook received a Gold Seal of Approval™, signifying “full accreditation” from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), and nearly two months after named a 2006/07 “Consumer Choice Award” recipient for the Long Island metropolitan area by the National Research Corporation (NRC). The medical center is also undergoing significant transformation and growth through a $300 million Major Modernization Project which Dr. Strongwater will oversee.

Beginning early in his new role, Dr. Strongwater, M.D. announced on December 5th, a plan to establish a Patient Safety & Quality Council that will monitor, evaluate and recommend patient safety programs and standards. The objectives of the council will also include the enhancement of patient satisfaction, improvement of medical outcomes and identification of new initiatives to restore compassion to medicine. It will include local and national quality experts, together with invited participation from community residents, physicians, and a range of health care professionals meeting two to four times a year.

“Part of my job is to continue Stony Brook’s forward progress on its journey to becoming a ‘highly reliable system,' and the Patient Safety & Quality Council will greatly contribute to that process,” said Dr. Strongwater.