In a memo sent to staff Wednesday, Mount Sinai Health System in New York City announced that its executive vice president and chief medical officer, Dr. Jeremy Boal, has been named president of Mount Sinai Downtown, the network of doctors' offices and treatment centers the health system is spending $500 million to develop below 34th Street.
In his new role, Boal will also take over leadership of Mount Sinai Beth Israel in the East Village as the aging medical center is dismantled and its services and thousands of staff are redistributed throughout the health system. Boal will eventually oversee a smaller Beth Israel with an emergency department and a fraction of the beds, which the health system plans to construct on 14th Street and Second Avenue, a short walk from the hospital's current location.
Boal's appointment comes just two weeks after Susan Somerville said she would resign as president of Beth Israel as soon as Mount Sinai could find someone to replace her. Somerville said she wanted to spend more time with her retired husband on Long Island and to "pursue new opportunities out East."
"I am grateful to Susan Somerville, R.N., for her expert leadership during several challenging years as President of MSBI," Dr. Kenneth Davis, president and chief executive of Mount Sinai Health System, wrote in the memo to employees. He continued, "Ms. Somerville was integral in the planning of the Mount Sinai Downtown transformation."
Somerville took the helm of Beth Israel in 2014, shortly after it was acquired by Mount Sinai as part of a merger with Continuum Health Partners. With patient visits on the decline, Beth Israel and its affiliates have been on continuous life support, losing $90.7 million in 2014 and another $114.9 million in 2015, according to financial statements. About half of the hospital's certified beds are occupied on a typical day, a Mount Sinai spokeswoman said.
In addition to serving as president of Mount Sinai Downtown, Boal will be promoted to executive vice president and chief clinical officer of Mount Sinai Health System, officially assuming both positions in January 2017.
Before joining Mount Sinai in June 2013, Boal was chief medical officer of another large health system, Northwell Health on Long Island. He began his medical career as a resident at Mount Sinai in 1994.
