VALHALLA, NY –– After nearly 20 years as president/CEO of Westchester Medical Center and the Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMC Health), Michael Israel will retire at the end of 2025. 

The board has launched a nationwide search for his replacement.

“After almost two decades in this role, this is the right time to move on to my next phase, and for a new leader to come in and build upon all that we have accomplished to improve health care across the Hudson Valley region,” Israel said. 

Israel and his team steered a financial turnaround for Westchester Medical Center. The network now includes nine hospitals and nearly 1,800 inpatient beds across eight counties. With $3 billion in annual revenue, the network today has a total economic community impact of $896 million.

A hospital spokesperson listed some of Israel’s achievements:

• Strategic affiliations with two health systems, HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley and Bon Secours Charity Health System—as well as an independent hospital, St. Francis Hospital (now MidHudson Regional Hospital) in Poughkeepsie. This formed WMC Health.
• The renovation and upgrading of the network’s hospitals. 
• The construction of the eight-story, 260,000-square-foot Ambulatory Care Pavilion at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla. The $230 million project was the region’s largest health care construction project in decades at the time of its construction.
• Delivering, with New York State, a $113 million expansion and enhancement of HealthAlliance Hospital in Kingston.
• The $24 million upgrade and expansion of Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis.
• Developing and securing financing for a new critical care tower at Westchester Medical Center. This five-story, 262,000-square-foot tower will provide the most advanced care possible for critically injured and ill patients and strengthen the teaching and training ecosystem for medical students, residents and fellows, the spokesperson said.

As the mid-Hudson’s only academic medical center, Westchester Medical Center and the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital are affiliated with New York Medical College, training over 500 residents and fellows each year.

The WCHCC Board of Directors has hired Russell Reynolds Associates to conduct a nationwide search.

Learn more about WMC Health at https://www.wmchealth.org.