Sandra Sneed, MBA, FACHE Appointed CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull, Marking Her Return to the Health System
Woodhull Hospital CEO Gregory Calliste will retire after 33 years with the health system Sneed was born at NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens and began her career at Bellevue and Kings County Hospitals
Feb 26, 2025
NYC Health + Hospitals today announced that Sandra Sneed, MBA, FACHE has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull. She brings more than 20 years of senior leadership experience overseeing operations for hospitals across the country, and she has a strong record of expanding access to services while reducing wait times for patients. Her new position marks a return to NYC Health + Hospitals. She was born at NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens, and she began her career as an occupational therapist at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County. Sneed becomes CEO of Woodhull Hospital effective March 24. Woodhull Hospital’s current CEO Gregory Calliste will step down after over 9 years leading Woodhull Hospital and 33 years of service to the health system.
“We are grateful to Gregory Calliste for his many tremendous years of service to the health care system, both at Woodhull Hospital and his earlier roles at North Central Bronx and Kings County Hospitals, and I want to extend a warm welcome to Sandra Sneed as she joins NYC Health + Hospitals,” said NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO Mitchell Katz, MD. “As someone who was born in our system and has worked in our system, she truly understands our mission to serve every New Yorker, no exceptions.”
“It has been an incredible privilege to lead NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull,” said NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull CEO Gregory Calliste MBA, MPH, FACHE. “The Woodhull team works tirelessly to provide good quality care to our patients in pursuit of our vision of being a model hospital and hospital of choice for North Brooklyn. The strength and dedication of our staff and trust and loyalty of our patients have continually inspired me. As I step into the next chapter of my life, I carry with me immense pride in what we’ve accomplished. I am also deeply grateful for the opportunity to have worked at NYC Health + Hospitals for over thirty-three years at several facilities serving many different communities.”
“I’m passionate about patient care, and everyone in the hospital contributes to providing high quality patient care – some directly and some indirectly,” said incoming NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull CEO Sandra Sneed, MBA, FACHE. “I feel privileged and very fortunate to have been selected to lead Woodhull and serve the community of Brooklyn.”
Sneed most recently served as the Chief Operating Officer of Memorial Regional Hospital in South Florida, a 700-bed level 1 trauma center. She collaborated with physician, nursing, and imaging leadership across that hospital to achieve Maternal Levels of Care – Level (4) Certification, the highest possible level, by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. She oversaw an initiative to improve patient flow through the hospital, which reduced the time patients spent waiting in the Emergency Department for an inpatient bed by 46% in just over a year while also improving the rate of patient discharges and decreasing patients’ average length of stay. She also oversaw efforts to expand surgeries, leading to a 7% increase in case volume over one year.
Sneed’s prior roles include Vice President of Operations and Support Services Officer at Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital (Texas), Interim Chief Operating Officer at Howard University Hospital (Washington, DC), and Vice President of Operations at Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center (Ohio). She received her bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy at Utica College of Syracuse University and her master’s degree in business administration with a focus in health administration at Oakland University, Rochester Hills in Michigan. She is married to William Sneed, they have three daughters, and she loves dogs.
Located in North Brooklyn, Woodhull Hospital has over 360 inpatient beds and receives close to 300,000 ambulatory care visits and close to 100,000 emergency room visits each year. Last year, the hospital received a 2024 IPRO Quality Award for reducing the use of urinary catheters and central line catheters and achieving six consecutive quarters free of central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs). In addition, Woodhull Hospital’s bariatric surgery program was recently recognized by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery for providing high quality bariatric care, and it was recognized by US News and World Report for being high performing in care for diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Calliste has served as a healthcare executive for over 30 years. During his tenure as CEO at Woodhull Hospital, he oversaw significant infrastructure upgrades to the hospital, including expansion and renovation of the emergency room, façade repair, roof replacement, and renovation of the behavioral health units. The hospital expanded the medical specialties it offers, including bariatrics, robotic surgery, interventional radiology, and mohs surgery for skin cancer. Calliste shepherded Woodhull Hospital through several challenges, including the Covid-19 pandemic and a neighborhood power failure in 2023 that required an evacuation of all 116 patients and a one-week closure of the facility. He worked to improve the rate of inpatient discharges and increase the number of ambulatory visits and managed care members. He also worked with clinical leadership to add a new behavioral health residency program and ensure that Woodhull Hospital gained full accreditation status for all medical residency programs, including pediatrics, dentistry, and oral surgery.
Before his current role, Calliste was the CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals/North Central Bronx, Chief Administrative Officer and Senior Vice President at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital/Continuum Health Partners/Mount Sinai Health System, President and Chief Executive Officer of Juan F. Luis Hospital & Medical Center in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Chief Executive Officer of New Orleans General Hospital, Network Deputy Executive Director at NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County, and Director of Administrative and Support Services at Kingsboro Psychiatric Center.
For over fifteen years, Calliste was also an Adjunct Professor and instructor at several graduate and undergraduate institutions, including St. Joseph’s College, College of New Rochelle, and State University of New York/Downstate, where he taught classes in business and health administration. Calliste received a Master of Business Administration from New York Institute of Technology and a Master in Public Health from Columbia University. He is also a Certified Healthcare Executive and Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE).
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About NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull
NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull, part of the NYC Health + Hospitals health care system, is the major tertiary care provider in the borough of Brooklyn. It is a premiere health care organization for key specialties, including surgery, cardiology, women’s health, pediatrics, rehabilitation medicine, renal services, and behavioral health services. Last year, the hospital received close to 300,000 ambulatory care visits and close to 100,000 emergency room visits. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org/woodhull.
About NYC Health + Hospitals
NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest municipal health care system in the nation, serving more than a million New Yorkers annually in more than 70 patient care locations across the city’s five boroughs. A robust network of outpatient, neighborhood-based primary and specialty care centers anchors care coordination with the system’s trauma centers, nursing homes, post-acute care centers, home care agency, and MetroPlus health plan—all supported by 11 essential hospitals. Its diverse workforce of more than 43,000 employees is uniquely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest life possible. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org and stay connected on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
