WITH DEEP COMMUNITY TIES, A STEADFAST COMMITMENT TO ADVANCING PATIENT CARE, AND A PROVEN TRACK RECORD OF DELIVERING ON TRANSFORMATIVE PROJECTS, MEAGAN SILLS WAS RECENTLY APPOINTED PRESIDENT OF STATEN ISLAND UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL. INDUSTRY SAT DOWN WITH THE BORN-AND-RAISED STATEN ISLANDER TO DISCUSS HER VISION FOR THE FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE IN THE BOROUGH

BY AMANDA McCOY PHOTOS BY AMESSE PHOTOGRAPHY

For the nearly 500,000 people who call Staten Island home, Staten Island University Hospital is a cornerstone of the community. As one of the largest medical institutions in the New York metropolitan area, the two-campus, 659-bed teaching hospital offers more than 40 specialties and subspecialties and has been the recipient of several national awards and recognitions for clinical excellence. In the last two years alone, fueled by a passionate leadership team and support from the greater Northwell

Health network, SIUH celebrated the grand openings of new state-of-the-art specialty centers that significantly raise the bar for care on the island, including the 40,000-square-foot Florina Cancer Center and the 50,000-square-foot Gruppuso Family Women and Newborn Center. It’s an exciting time for both the hospital and Staten Island community, a testament to SIUH’s long-term vision and commitment to keep world-class care close to home. With continued growth on the horizon, SIUH recently announced a new era in leadership: Brahim Ardolic, MD, who led the hospital since 2018, is transitioning to a new role within Northwell’s Metro Market, passing the torch to Meagan Sills, a born-and-raised Staten Islander who’s been one of the key drivers behind SIUH’s transformative projects over her 16-year tenure.

Sills has deep ties to the Staten Island community. Raised in West Brighton, she attended Sacred Heart Elementary School and Saint Joseph Hill Academy. She went on to receive her BS from St. John’s University and later earned her MBA from Wagner College. Though initially drawn to law enforcement (following her father and brother, both NYPD), Sills encountered an opportunity at SIUH while working for a local attorney’s office. In 2009, she took her first hospital role as a graduate medical education coordinator, overseeing the physician-in-training programs, and continued to rise through the ranks with director and VP roles before she was appointed deputy hospital president in 2021.

“What drew me to Northwell was the investment in the development of leadership through programs, mentorship, and internal/external networking opportunities with downstream positive impact on the community,” she said. “I’ve had many great mentors along the way, including Dr. Ardolic, who’s been more than a boss; he’s truly fostered my growth.”

Over the last 15 years, Sills has steered several high-impact transformation initiatives, including securing $100 million for critical infrastructure upgrades in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. One of her proudest achievements thus far, she noted, has been the expansion of access to specialty services and the enhancement of the patient experience, which can be seen through initiatives like a new MRI at the Prince’s Bay campus and a modern, state-of-the art cardiovascular care unit at the North campus. “These were massive undertakings,” she said. “Thanks to the incredible generosity of our donors, the significant investment in these spaces was made possible. Their unwavering support allowed us to gain the traction needed to implement these vital investments in Staten Island, which has been truly transformative for our community.”

SIUH recently marked significant milestones, proudly celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Florina Cancer Center opening in March and the Gruppuso Family Women and Newborn Center’s opening in May. Looking ahead, Sills aims to expand upon the services provided by the institution. This overarching institutional commitment to continuous improvement and advanced care was also powerfully demonstrated by the recent major renovation and expansion of the Lois & Richard Nicotra Heart Institute, which transformed the facility to reflect the exceptional level of care already delivered, further solidifying SIUH’s standing as a regional leader in heart health. “At SIUH, we strive to be the first to use a new device, the first to provide a service to our community,” she added. SIUH has marked several firsts this year alone, including its first robotic minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass, which involves taking a healthy blood vessel from elsewhere in the body and attaching it to the artery beyond a blockage to create a detour for blood flow. The hospital also performed the first U.S. surgery using the new BioHealx implant to treat anal fistula and became the first hospital in the Northeast to place the InspireMD CGuard carotid stent.

Sills is also shepherding a significant investment in the hospital’s behavioral health services, an area of medicine that she said has been historically under served in the country’s healthcare landscape. Several initiatives are already in the works, including the Hotspotting the Overdose Epidemic Program in partnership with the social services organization SIPPS, which achieved an incredible 77% reduction in fatal overdoses in its second year. SIUH was recently awarded over $9 million in funding from managed care organizations to expand inpatient mental health capacity, enhance intensive care management services, and improve outpatient access to care, along with a $3.7 million MISSION grant to support suicide prevention with the Staten Island Borough President’s Office and NYC DOE.

“Following COVID, there was a true realization of the gap in mental health services, along with a recognition of the importance of having those services available when people need them most,” explained Sills. “In the future, I envision a landscape where behavioral health is seamlessly integrated into primary clinical care.”

Though recognized as a national and regional leader in several areas of clinical practice, SIUH still demonstrates its profound dedication to the community by remaining deeply embedded and engaged in the borough. It partners with schools, nonprofit organizations, and local government agencies to improve the health and happiness of its Staten Island neighbors. Most recently, Borough President Vito Fossella invested $1.3 million in lifesaving medical equipment for SIUH, significantly enhancing cardiac surgery, radiology, sleep medicine, and critical care for Staten Island residents. This commitment builds on earlier support, including City Council members Kamillah Hanks and David Carr’s funding that secured SIUH’s new cardiac bypass system. These investments in the borough are particularly meaningful to Sills, because as a lifelong Staten Islander (she noted she has lived on every shore in the borough but the West), the community holds special meaning for the mother of two.

“As hospital president, the decisions you make have a downstream impact; you are investing in and helping shape the future of healthcare on the island,” said Sills. “For me, home has always been Staten Island, so I am taking care of my neighbors, family, and friends within the community.”

Staten Island University Hospital

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