LIJ's new leader, Dr. Michael Gitman, has deep ties to New Hyde Park hospital

Long Island Jewish Medical Center has been a part of Dr. Michael Gitman’s life from his very first moments.

He was born at the New Hyde Park hospital, and as a child he volunteered there at the side of his father, Paul, who was an internal medicine doctor and eventually medical director there.

Now, Michael Gitman has taken on the top job at the 583-bed facility, appointed by Northwell Health to be executive director starting this week.

"Growing up, my father used to bring us in to volunteer," Gitman, 52, recalled in an interview Tuesday. "I remember serving food, I remember helping him in his office. ... The hospital has always been part of our family and very dear to us."

The new leadership role is "incredibly exciting," Gitman said. Gitman is taking over from Michael Goldberg, who is pursuing opportunities outside Northwell, according to the health system.

"Michael Gitman has a rich family legacy of service to the region," Michael Dowling, president and CEO at New Hyde Park-based Northwell Health, said in a statement, "and to Long Island Jewish Medical Center in particular."

Gitman said his plans include continuing to develop the hospital’s programs in cancer, women’s health and other specialties.

Gitman has served since 2014 as medical director at North Shore University Hospital, where he led the hospital’s clinical response to COVID-19 and helped develop its transplantation program. The hospital performed Long Island’s first heart transplant in 2018 and the region’s first liver transplant last year, Northwell said.

He is an associate professor at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and a faculty member of the American College of Healthcare Executives. A fellow of the American College of Physicians and member of the American Society of Nephrology, Gitman received a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and medical degree from SUNY Health Science Center at Syracuse. He completed his residency and chief residency in internal medicine and a nephrology fellowship at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan.

He lives in Port Washington with his wife, Dr. Cindy Baskin, an internal medicine doctor, and their two children, an 18-year-old daughter who is in high school and a 20-year-old son who is in college. Gitman’s father, 80, has retired and now works as a consultant, Gitman said.

At Long Island Jewish, he said, "It's our belief that no one should have to leave their community to get world class care, and we're going to make sure that we continue to build the programs to provide that care."

By Maura McDermott

maura.mcdermott@newsday.commauramcdermott

Maura McDermott is a reporter on the investigations desk. Since starting at Newsday in 2012, she has also covered real estate and the business of health care.