NorthShore Announces $20 Million Fund In Honor Of Retiring Executive

NorthShore University HealthSystem has launched a $20 million Transformation Through Innovation Fund, in honor of its retiring retiring executive chairman of the board, long serving president and chief executive officer, Mark R. Neaman.

The fund will provide important seed funding for NorthShore’s personalized medicine and orthopedic and spine specialty care programs, according to a statement from the institution.

NorthShore also said the fund will support future growth opportunities to help improve clinical outcomes and health experiences for its patients.

Neaman honored at annual gala dinner

The institution said the Transformation Through Innovation Fund “is a multi-phase project with a goal of achieving in excess of $50 million by the end of 2021, to support key strategic growth priorities in NorthShore’s next generation plan.”

The fund was established through contributions from NorthShore directors, Neaman’s colleagues and friends, as well as a targeted institutional investment.

NorthShore President and CEO, J.P.  Gallagher said that with the fund, they will work towards exceeding patients’ expectations and the model Neaman set was the embodiment of that goal.

“As we invest in ways to identify new standards of care, elevate our quality and deliver exceptional patient experiences, it is fitting that we honor Mark Neaman in this way,” Gallagher said at the institution’s annual directors’ dinner.

In conjunction with the fund, NorthShore also announced it was renaming its Center for Personalized Medicine to be the Mark R. Neaman Center for Personalized Medicine, in recognition of its former executive chairman’s contributions to the institution.

“The Neaman Center for Personalized Medicine will continue to benefit patients seeking diagnosis and treatment based on their unique genetic characteristics and health history. Through personalized medicine, physicians are able to better predict, prevent and treat various diseases and conditions,” the institution said.

Neaman joined NorthShore in 1974 as an administrative assistant to the president of what was then Evanston Hospital. He was at the helm of the institution for almost 26 years. Last year Gallagher, who was previously NorthShore’s chief operating officer, succeeded him as CEO.

NorthShore challenged to continue growing, improving

When he stepped down as CEO last year, Neaman said the organization was doing well, with positive financial results, although he believed that in the coming years, “Northshore is going to have to go a bit deeper.”

It seems his successor has just done that, with NorthShore named one of the Watson Health 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals in the U.S.

“NorthShore is one of only two teaching hospitals in Illinois with a cardiovascular residency program to be recognized for demonstrating the highest performance in hospital cardiovascular services,” the institution said in a statement.

According to the statement, hospitals were put in three groups: teaching hospitals with cardiovascular residency programs, teaching hospitals without cardiovascular residency programs, and community hospitals, “with NorthShore being categorized as a teaching hospital with a cardiovascular residency program, one of just 15 hospitals nationwide to make the list.”

Hyde Russell, the co-director of the NorthShore Cardiovascular Institute, said the awards were a testament to the “hard-working and incredibly talented team of cardiovascular experts” at the institution. “We have a multidisciplinary team that includes cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, advanced practice nurses and physician assistants, all committed to providing our patients with the highest quality cardiovascular care,” Russell said.

In other news, NorthShore recently received A grades in new ratings by the Leapfrog Group on hospital safety standards.

The institution’s chief quality and transformation officer, Lakshmi Halasyamani, MD said NorthShore was “always striving to provide the highest quality care through an integrated, team-based approach, one that uses clinical analytics to support evidence-based medicine and important safety protocols.”

At the beginning of November, NorthShore was listed among a select group of hospitals nationwide to be recognized by the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) for achieving meritorious outcomes for surgical patient care.

In October, NorthShore, in collaboration with the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital and Advocate Children’s Hospital announced a new pediatric clinical collaboration, whose goal is to increase access to care for young patients in several specialties from childhood cancer and blood diseases, to cardiovascular and general surgery.

NorthShore was previously known as Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, before changing its name about a decade ago. NorthShore is based in Evanston, Illinois. It has hospital locations in Evanston, Highland Park, Glenview, and Skokie, Illinois.