Mount Sinai Beth Israel president resigns as new hospital project begins

Amid a $500 million overhaul of Mount Sinai Health System in New York, the president of Beth Israel Hospital, Susan Somerville, has decided to step down.

Somerville has been in the role since 2014 and will stay until a replacement is chosen.

“Susan has provided amazing leadership during several challenging years as President of Beth Israel, and I truly cannot say enough good things about the job she’s done,” Mount Sinai Health System President Kenneth Davis said in a statement. “We are incredibly lucky to have had her as part of our team and very sad to see her go, but we understand her desire to make this transition and wish her all the best.”

The news was included near the bottom of a long press release explaining the system’s plans for downsizing Beth Israel and shifting its services to other facilities as part of its “Mount Sinai Downtown” network.

Mount Sinai said the first step will be upgrading the former Phillips Ambulatory Care Center, now to be known as Mount Sinai Downtown Union Square. The facility’s new lobby will open first, with a new urgent care center, procedure rooms and new services such as endoscopy and a respiratory institute to follow in later renovations.

Construction is almost complete on renovating its cancer center, including a brand new women’s cancer facility, but the work on Beth Israel is in its very early stages.

Work on the site for the new, smaller version of the hospital, currently occupied by the system’s eye and ear infirmary, is expected to begin in 2017, with construction expected to be complete by 2020. As part of the transition, several of Beth Israel’s services, like joint replacement, neurosurgery, surgical oncology and cardiac surgery, will be transferred to other Mount Sinai facilities. Beth Israel will still be able to provide emergency treatment to stroke and heart attack patients.

“Our more than $500 million investment marks an exciting time, not only for Mount Sinai’s employees and patients, but also the entire Downtown community, as we truly transform how patients access and receive the healthcare services they need,” Davis said.