Eric Wei, MD will serve as interim CEO at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst; Dean Mihaltses, R.Ph MPA. will serve as interim CEO at NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens
Eric Wei, MD will serve as interim CEO at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst;
Dean Mihaltses, R.Ph MPA. will serve as interim CEO at NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens
Oct 26, 2020
NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO Mitchell Katz, MD today announced the appointment of two health system senior executives who will serve as interim CEOs for the public hospitals in Queens.
NYC Health + Hospitals Chief Quality Officer Eric Wei, MD, MBA, will serve as interim CEO at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst and Dean Mihaltses, R.Ph., MPA, who has served as Chief Operating Officer at NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens for the past five years, will take on the interim CEO role for the hospital. They will replace outgoing CEO Israel Rocha who served as CEO for both hospitals and has been tapped as the new chief of the Cook County Health in Chicago.
Wei and Mihaltses will retain their current positions. Mihaltses will assume his new role effective immediately and Wei will start in mid-November. NYC Health + Hospitals will conduct a national search to fill the executive positions for both hospitals.
“I’m pleased to have such skilled and committed in-house staff like Dr. Wei and Dean Mihaltses who are able to seamlessly transition into additional leadership roles to support our patients and staff,” Dr. Katz said. “Both hospitals have an exceptional history of service and commitment to the community and I’m certain we’ll have many talented internal and external candidates to consider for the permanent CEO positions.”
“We are sincerely grateful to Israel Rocha for his heroic leadership through the COVID pandemic and for the vital contributions he made to the transformation of NYC Health + Hospitals over the last few years. We wish him well and know he’ll be very successful running the third largest public health care system in the country,” said Dr. Katz.
“I am thrilled to join the brave health care heroes of NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst. I’ve seen firsthand their amazing skill and dedication, particularly though this horrific pandemic. It will be an honor to help them continue serving the community with excellence and a commitment to preserve our mission to care for all, without exception,” said Dr. Eric Wei.
“It is a privilege to carry on Israel’s great work as CEO. I am excited to work alongside our amazing staff in this new role and continue to extend quality, compassionate care, provide an exceptional patient experience, and expand access to the preventive health services our patients and families need and deserve to help them live healthier lives,” said Dean Mihaltses.
Executive Bios
Konstantinos E. (Dean) Mihaltses, R.Ph. MPA has served as Chief Operating Officer of NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens for the past five years, overseeing hospital operations, including both clinical and support service areas. Dean has been integral in the development of a service line practice model, the creation and implementation of a management development training program, and has supervised major capital construction and equipment projects. He was actively involved in the hospital’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, responsible for daily support activities such as command center oversight, supply chain, staff logistics and communication at all levels. Prior to this, he served as Director of Pharmacy Services and Associate Executive Director for Support Services and Operations at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst. Dean began his 25-year career with the public health care system in 1980 as a staff pharmacist at NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists, the National Association of Public Hospitals (now America’s Essential Hospitals) and the Advisory Board Company. Dean is a graduate with honors of the St. John’s University, College of Pharmacy and holds a Masters in Public Administration from Long Island University.
Eric Wei, MD, MBA is the health system senior vice president and Chief Quality Officer in charge of clinical quality, patient safety, high value care, data governance and analytics, emergency management, hospital police and security, and Arts in Medicine. Dr. Wei is also an Emergency Medicine specialist who rotates through the 11 emergency departments across the system. He launched and directs the system’s Helping Healers Heal program that provides emotional and psychological support and resources to health care workers who suffer as ‘second victims’ of trauma. He recently led the health system’s emergency department COVID-19 response and staff COVID-19 fundraising efforts that led to more than $30 million in donations to support a wide range of employee wellness and support programs – including free meals, transportation, childcare, new respite rooms, and more. He is the fellowship director for the NYC Health + Hospitals Clinical Leadership Fellowship. Dr. Wei serves on the Board of Directors and chairs the Quality Assurance Performance Improvement Committee for MetroPlusHealth Health Plan. He is a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians. Dr. Wei received his bachelor’s degree in molecular, cell, and developmental biology at University of California, Los Angeles, and completed a combined MD and MBA program at University of California, Irvine. He completed his Emergency Medicine training at the University of Michigan.