NYC Health + Hospitals (NYC H+H) announced the appointment of David Silvestri, MD, MBA, MHS as the new, systemwide assistant vice president of emergency management for the City’s public hospital system on Thursday, Dec. 9. In his new role, Silvestri will be responsible for planning, coordinating, and executing emergency and disaster responses systemwide, including the ongoing COVID-19 efforts.

 

NYC H+H officials said Silvestri played a leading role in the system’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including advancing personal protective equipment policies, surge response and level-loading operations, and system surveillance strategy.

 

In the context of the announcement, NYC Health + Hospitals president and CEO, Mitchell Katz, MD, said, “Dr. Silvestri has proven his capabilities and commitment to our public health system through the COVID-19 pandemic, earning his new role as emergency management director.” Katz said Silvestri had been a key player in the hospital system’s pandemic response, using his expertise and passion which, Katz said, he will surely carry into his new role, strengthening and preparing the system for other threats, from weather-related disasters to other dangerous pathogens. 

 

According to NYC Health + Hospitals officials, Silvestri has served in numerous leadership capacities since joining New York City’s public hospital system in 2019. Under the office of quality & safety, and the office of ambulatory care, they said Silvestri led several systemwide initiatives, strengthening transitional care and access in relation to follow-up care, after emergency department treatment and hospital discharge. They said he has also served as the system’s medical director for utilization management, overseeing utilization management strategy and improvement activities for the system.

 

Silvestri was also commended for his efforts to date by NYC Health + Hospitals senior vice president and chief quality officer, Eric Wei MD, MBA, who said the new assistant vice president of emergency management embodied the mission-driven, clinical leader who works tirelessly to make a difference for the hospital system’s 1.2 million patients. “He has embraced every challenge thrown at him – from working clinically in a number of our emergency departments during the COVID-19 pandemic, to streamlining transitions of care, to optimizing utilization management,” Wei said. “I’m confident Dave’s leadership will steer our system through the rest of this pandemic and prepare us for whatever might come next.”

 

 

According to officials, Silvestri graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, completed his Doctor of Medicine and Masters in Business Administration at Vanderbilt University, completed his residency at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency, and his post-doctoral health services and policy research fellowship training at Yale University in the National Clinician Scholars Program. Officials said he is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Omega Alpha, and Beta Gamma Sigma National Honor Societies, and has authored over two-dozen peer-reviewed academic publications.

 

For his part, Silvestri said the COVID-19 pandemic has proven that a system’s ability to respond to a threat is only as strong as its preparedness. “Our public health system is fortunate to have incredible public health, emergency management, and special pathogens experts that worked together far before the pandemic reached NYC, which in turn helped save thousands of lives,” he said. “I look forward to working more closely with these experts at every level of our resilient health system,” he added, before promising continuity of high-quality care to all New Yorkers, even through any future, challenging disasters or threats the city might face.

 

In addition to this new role, Silvestri will continue to practice regularly as an emergency physician at NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln. In his new role, he replaces Dr. Laura Iavicoli who is transitioning as deputy chief medical officer at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst in Queens.