Long Island Jewish Valley Stream hospital names new medical director

Long Island Jewish Valley Stream hospital has a new medical director, whose career in medicine was inspired by the years she spent in the African nation of Malawi as a child.

Dr. Hsiang-chi "Angel" Meng joined the hospital’s staff this month, after serving as associate medical director, physician adviser and hospitalist at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan. At Lenox Hill she worked on the hospital’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and oversaw programs aimed at reducing readmissions and improving patients’ safety, among other initiatives. Both hospitals are part of the New Hyde Park-based Northwell Health system.

Meng "has extensive experience leading clinical teams in their pursuit of clinical and service excellence," David Seligman, executive director of the hospital, said in a statement.

As medical director, Meng oversees LIJ Valley Stream’s clinical, advanced care practitioner, case management and social work employees.

Meng said her goals include understanding the needs of those who seek care at the hospital, including the challenges they face in obtaining care and the best ways to serve them in the hospital and once they return to their communities. "I really look forward to working with this amazing team," Meng, 42, said in an interview.

Meng grew up in Taiwan. As an elementary school student she spent four years living in Malawi when her father was stationed there as a government diplomat. A single doctor cared for most of the embassy workers along with many local residents, and when Meng’s mother had kidney stones, she had to be flown to a hospital in South Africa for treatment, Meng recalled.

That childhood experience was, she said in an interview, "my first experience of understanding how important health care is."

Meng’s family moved to New York City when she was a teenager. After graduating from Rutgers University with a degree in biochemistry, she worked as a research assistant at Northwell Health’s Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. She went on to graduate from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine and did her residency at Lenox Hill.

Meng lives in Garden City with her husband, Anthony Liew, a research associate at the Feinstein Institutes, and their 10-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son.

Her aim at LIJ Valley Stream, she said, is to work with her new colleagues to "continue to come up with great clinical programs, and really strive for clinical excellence and just serve our patients and our community."

By Maura McDermott

maura.mcdermott@newsday.commauramcdermott

Maura McDermott covers health care and other business news on Long Island.