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NewYork-Presbyterian has named Dr. Katherine L. Heilpern senior vice president and chief operating officer of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, effective in August. She joins from the Emory University School of Medicine and Emory Healthcare, where she served as chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine and held several other key leadership roles.

“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Heilpern to NewYork-Presbyterian,” said Dr. Steven J. Corwin, president and CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian. “Dr. Heilpern is a renowned leader and respected researcher with a deep commitment to patients and their families and to nurturing the next generation of physicians and advanced practice providers. We look forward to her leadership at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and her work advancing its exceptional care.”

“Dr. Heilpern has had remarkable success leading teams dedicated to excellence in clinical care, research and education, and expanding access to high-quality care,” said Dr. Laura L. Forese, executive vice president and chief operating officer of NewYork-Presbyterian. “Her experience and vision will be a tremendous asset to NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and to the patients we serve.”

As senior vice president and chief operating officer, Dr. Heilpern will manage and direct daily operations including the cost, quality and delivery of services for NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. She will also be responsible for the development and fiscal management of service lines and other strategic initiatives. NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center offers high-quality, innovative care across nearly every area of medicine, provided by physicians from Weill Cornell Medicine.

“I am thrilled to be joining NewYork-Presbyterian, an organization whose values I greatly admire,” said Dr. Heilpern. “I am excited to become a part of this talented team’s mission of providing compassionate and world-class care to patients and their families in moments of need, and advancing innovative, patient-centric care at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.”

Dr. Heilpern has more than 25 years of experience in emergency medicine and academic healthcare and held several leadership roles since returning to Emory School of Medicine, where she earned her medical degree, including executive associate dean for Faculty Affairs and interim chair of the Emory Department of Family and Preventive Medicine. In 2007, she was appointed the Ada Lee and Pete Correll Professor and Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine, overseeing five metro Atlanta emergency departments with more than 350,000 patient visits per year. Dr. Heilpern has been actively involved in the clinical care of acutely ill and injured emergency department patients, and healthcare advocacy for vulnerable populations, and her scholarship focuses on the interface between emergency medicine and infectious diseases. Prior to joining Emory, she served as a medical officer with the Indian Health Service, stationed at Fort Defiance on the Navajo reservation.

Board certified in internal medicine and then emergency medicine, Dr. Heilpern completed her postgraduate training at Temple School of Medicine. She served as a member the National Academy of Sciences Standing Committee for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Strategic National Stockpile, and two terms as a board member of the National Academy of Sciences Board on the Health of Select Populations. She served as president of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM), and is the recipient of many awards, including the American College of Emergency Physicians’ National Faculty teaching award and the SAEM Award for the Advancement of Women in Academic Emergency Medicine.

NewYork-Presbyterian

NewYork-Presbyterian is one of the nation’s most comprehensive, integrated academic healthcare delivery systems, whose organizations are dedicated to providing the highest quality, most compassionate care and service to patients in the New York metropolitan area, nationally, and throughout the globe. In collaboration with two renowned medical schools, Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, NewYork-Presbyterian is consistently recognized as a leader in medical education, groundbreaking research and innovative, patient-centered clinical care.

NewYork-Presbyterian has four major divisions:

• NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is ranked #1 in the New York metropolitan area by U.S. News and World Report and repeatedly named to the Honor Roll of “America’s Best Hospitals.”
• NewYork-Presbyterian Regional Hospital Network comprises hospitals and other facilities in the New York metropolitan region.
• NewYork-Presbyterian Physician Services, which connects medical experts with patients in their communities.
• NewYork-Presbyterian Community and Population Health, encompassing ambulatory care network sites and community healthcare initiatives, including NewYork Quality Care, the Accountable Care Organization jointly established by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia.

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