After 39 years, hospital chairman says farewell
Sep 15, 2005
For decades, everyone who has received medical treatment at Staten Island University Hospital has felt the impact of Dr. Thomas G. McGinn.
A soft-spoken, small-framed man who has devoted countless hours to academic reading, Dr. McGinn is thought of as the borough’s most influential physician after almost 40 years of molding University Hospital’s staff. Today, Dr. McGinn’s colleagues, students and friends celebrate his legacy with a farewell fete.
At the end of the month, he will step down as the hospital’s first and only chairman of medicine, leaving the institution to reshape itself.
The physician’s departure comes as the hospital examines its rapid growth and begins
adapting to a new era—one in which it settles into its identity as a major institution
and collaborates more closely with North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health Care System.
Dr. McGinn was first hired by the struggling Staten Island Hospital in 1966. “When
we hired him, the hospital was on the verge of bankruptcy,” said Irving R. (Rick)
Boody Jr., who has served on University Hospital’s board of trustees for 51 years.
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About SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University
Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn is one of four academic health centers (AMCs) in The State University of New York (SUNY) 64-campus system and the only SUNY AMC in New York City dedicated to health education, research, and patient care for the borough’s 2.7 million residents. Its flagship hospital, University Hospital at Downstate (UHD), is a teaching hospital and benefits from the expertise of Downstate’s exceptional medical school and world-class academic center research facilities. With a staff of over 800 physicians representing 53 specialties and subspecialties, Downstate offers comprehensive healthcare services to the community.
UHD provides high-risk neonatal and infant services, pediatric nephrology, and dialysis for kidney diseases and is the only kidney transplantation program in Brooklyn. Beyond its clinical expertise, Downstate houses a range of esteemed educational institutions, including its College of Medicine, College of Nursing, School of Health Professions, School of Graduate Studies, and School of Public Health. Downstate fosters innovation through its multifaceted biotechnology initiative, the Biotechnology Incubator and BioBAT, which support early-stage and more mature biotech companies.