Grand Marshal for 2017, Michael Dowling.
By Irish Echo Staff
Limerick native Michael Dowling is the Grand Marshal for the 2017 New York St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
Dowling, president and chief executive officer of Long Island-based Northwell Health will succeed 2016 grand marshal and former U.S. senator, George Mitchell.
St. Patrick’s Day Parade Board Chairman, John Lahey, announced Dowling’s name following a board meeting Thursday evening.
Dowling is believed to be the first head of a hospital to lead the 255-year-old parade, said a release from the board.
St. Patrick’s Day next year falls on a Friday.
Said the release in part: “Mr. Dowling had a long and distinguished career in education and public service before joining Northwell Health in 1995.
“He was a professor of social policy and assistant dean at the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Services, and director of the Fordham campus in Westchester County.
“His 12 years of service in New York State government included 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 is chair of the Healthcare Institute, a member of the North American Board of the Smurfit School of Business at University College, Dublin, Ireland, and a former member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences.”
Mr. Dowling grew up in Limerick.
He earned his undergraduate degree from University College Cork and his master’s degree from Fordham University.
He also has honorary doctorates from University College Dublin, and Hofstra University.
Said the release: “Since becoming president & CEO in 2002, Mr. Dowling has built Northwell Health into a regional clinical, academic and research enterprise that now has a presence throughout the metropolitan area.
“Northwell is the largest integrated healthcare system in New York State with a total workforce of more than 61,000 employees – the state’s largest private employer.
“With 21 hospitals, 6,675 hospital and long-term care beds, more than 500 outpatient physician practices and a full complement of long-term care services, Northwell is one of the nation’s largest health systems, with $9.5 billion in annual revenue.
“In collaboration with Hofstra University, Northwell also has its own medical and nursing schools, as well as a research branch (Feinstein Institute) and an insurance company (CareConnect).
“Mr. Dowling has been honored with many awards over the years, including the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.”
Mr. Dowling and his wife, Kathleen, have two children, Brian, an administrator with Northwell, and Elizabeth, an oncology nurse with Northwell.
“As a native son of a small country village in western Limerick, I am greatly privileged and humbled by this extraordinary honor and recognition,” Mr. Dowling said.
“I am proud to follow in the footsteps of so many remarkable luminaries as we again celebrate the very best of Irish and Irish-American history, culture and heritage.”
“Michael Dowling is the true embodiment of the values we celebrate on St. Patrick’s Day, a leader in a noble healing profession, an educator, a public servant, an Irish-American who has made enormous contributions to his adopted country and who has made us all proud to be Irish,” said parade board chairman Lahey.
