Michael J. Dowling

Michael Dowling is one of the health care industry’s most highly respected voices, achieving the No. 1 ranking in Modern Healthcare magazine’s 2022 list of the “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare.” As a health care executive over the past three decades, he has been a no-excuses advocate for reforms that have helped the industry become more patient-focused and committed to quality and safety. His willingness to take a stand on societal issues such as gun violence and immigration has earned widespread praise and recognition from peers and the news media.

As president and CEO of Northwell Health for over 20 years, he he has demonstrated invaluable leadership in overseeing a rapidly expanding clinical, research and academic enterprise with annual revenue of $18 billion. With a workforce of more than 85,000, Northwell is the largest health care provider and private employer in New York State, caring for more than two million people annually through a vast network of 21 hospitals, more than 900 outpatient facilities -- including 220 primary care practices and 50-plus urgent care centers -- along with home care, rehabilitation and end-of-life services.

Hailing from Ireland, Dowling bridges brings a global perspective to health care. In 2020, he received the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad, which recognized his contributions to Ireland and to Irish communities abroad, presented by the President of Ireland. He also received an honorary fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and is a board member of the Foreign Policy Association. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science, and the North American Board of the Smurfit School of Business at University College in Dublin, Ireland. He also earned his bachelor’s degree from University College Cork, and went on to receive honorary doctorates from Queens University Belfast and University College Dublin. Dowling was the Grand Marshal of New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade in 2017, when he was also inducted into the Irish America Hall of Fame.​

Dowling has invested heavily in Northwell’s research arm, the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, home to 50 research labs, 3,000 clinical research trials, and 5,000 scientists and staff who are transforming the treatment of conditions like lupus, arthritis, sepsis, cancer, psychiatric illness and Alzheimer’s disease. Feinstein has gained stature as the global headquarters of bioelectronic medicine research, where physician scientists are tapping neural pathways that signal the body to heal itself, reducing reliance on prescription drugs.

Under Dowling’s leadership, Northwell has also pursued a visionary approach to medical education, developing innovative curricula at its Zucker School of Medicine and the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. Northwell’s graduate medical education programs have become one of the nation’s largest, training more than 1,900 medical residents and fellows annually. Further underscoring his commitment to education, Dowling’s first act when becoming Northwell’s CEO in 2002 was creating a corporate university, the Center for Learning & Innovation, which has helped instill a culture of lifelong learning among employees at all levels of the organization.

Dowling’s highly visible leadership style enabled the health system to successfully navigate the intense challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, most notably in 2020 when the New York metropolitan area was at the epicenter of the epidemic’s first wave. He detailed his and Northwell’s experiences in a book titled "Leading Through a Pandemic: The Inside Story of Humanity, Innovation, and Lessons Learned During the COVID-19 Crisis."

Dowling is also the co-author of a 2020 memoir titled "After the Roof Caved In: An Immigrant’s Journey from Ireland to America," which chronicles his poverty-stricken childhood, his years as a social policy expert in academia and in New York State government, and his ascent to becoming one of the health care industry’s preeminent leaders. He is also the co-author of the 2018 book, "Health Care Reboot: Megatrends Energizing American Medicine," about the trends that are driving the nation’s health care system toward greater quality, safety, access and affordability.

Prior to becoming CEO of Northwell, Dowling was the health system’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, playing a key role in initiating mergers and acquisitions that enabled it to become New York’s largest integrated health system. Previously, he had been a senior vice president at Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield and served in New York State government for 12 years, including seven years as state director of Health, Education and Human Services and deputy secretary to the governor. He was also commissioner of the New York State Department of Social Services. He initiated numerous innovative programs aimed at expanding primary care access to the medically underserved and uninsured, and helping the state to combat the crack cocaine epidemic at that time.​

Before his public service career, Dowling was a professor of social policy and assistant dean at the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Services, and director of the Fordham Westchester campus. He was also a former instructor at the Harvard School of Public Health Center for Continuing Professional Education.