Northwell Health has appointed Dr. Jonathan Berkowitz, widely recognized for innovative process improvements for transferring and transporting critically ill patients, as medical director of the health system’s Center for Emergency Medical Services.
In his role, Berkowitz provides medical oversight for the Center for Emergency Medical Services, which cares for more than 120,000 patients each year throughout the five New York City boroughs and Long Island.
Based in Syosset, the Center for Emergency Medical Services is the largest hospital-based ambulance service in the New York metropolitan area and one of the largest in the country. The center also manages SkyHealth, the New York area’s only hospital-based, emergency helicopter service that transports critically ill or injured patients to and from any medical facility in the Northeast.
Prior to joining Northwell, Berkowitz was medical director of both the Westchester Medical Center Health Transfer Center and its Health Regional Emergency Services since 2013. In that role, he led multiple innovations that improved transfer response times and integrated multiple receiving facilities into the Westchester Medical Center Health Transfer Center.
Berkowitz also led a hospital-wide implementation of a secure texting application that created multiple efficiencies, significant cost and time savings and improved physician satisfaction. Directing regional emergency services, he oversaw the medical transport of more than 2,500 of the most critical cardiac, neonatal, pediatric, trauma and neurosurgical patients in the Hudson Valley annually.
Berkowitz was also the medical director for two rotor wing medivac bases in the Hudson Valley. From 2007-2018, he was an attending physician in the Westchester Medical Center’s 47-bed, emergency department, which is a Level 1 trauma center. He began his medical career as an attending physician in the emergency department at Long Beach Memorial in Calif.
“Dr. Berkowitz is a recognized leader in emergency medical services and will be a tremendous asset to our CEMS staff and the patients we serve,” said Dr. John D’Angelo, executive director and senior vice president of the emergency medicine service line at Northwell Health. “With his exceptional clinical, research and innovation skills, Dr. Berkowitz will help us enhance operations while making a significant impact in the health of our communities and the region.”
Berkowitz received his medical degree from the State University of New York Downstate in Brooklyn and completed his residency in emergency medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
A fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians, Berkowitz is a member of the New York State Emergency Medical Advisory Committee, the Northeast Cerebrovascular Consortium Stroke Physicians Workgroup, and a member of the Hudson Valley Regional Trauma Advisory Committee. He was awarded the 2017 Physician of Excellence by the Westchester Regional Emergency Medical Council.
