Continued Growth Amidst Crisis

Michael Dowling, GSS ’74, president and CEO of Northwell Health, was at the epicenter of the pandemic when New York state was hit hard last spring. Dowling said that despite the economic fallout, Northwell continues to occupy nearly 20 million square feet of real estate in the state. He added that the institution expects to continue to expand as it has for the past decade, which is at about $1 billion a year.

“Every month we expand and just to give you an idea, we hire between 150 and 200 employees every single week,” he said. “We have a very, very large footprint.”

Dowling said that regardless of the economic sector, the pandemic has accelerated changes that were already underway, mostly due to advances in technology.

“One of the issues for us right now is to figure out how many of our employees will forever be working remotely, will be part-time, or will be full-time,” he said.

He added that even with so many of its employees on the front line, more than 10,000 Northwell staffers continue to work remotely, which has actually increased productivity.

“Those people seem to be happier and the productivity has been enhanced,” said Dowling, who also served as a professor of social policy and assistant dean at the Graduate School of Social Service after he earned his degree. “That raises the question of what does that mean for the real estate side of my business.”

Manage for Today, Lead for Tomorrow

Dowling said though many employees will continue to work from home, it doesn’t mean he will pull back from constructing or leasing space. Rather, he said, the pandemic has provided him an opportunity to replace existing spaces with other functions, consider infrastructure upgrades, and, “obviously,” technology enhancements.

He said Northwell’s overall vision for new construction projects remains the same.

“It’s a temporary blip. You know, it was difficult and I don’t want to minimize it,” he said of the deadly pandemic. “But we will recover from this, … I don’t think it will be the same exactly. But I do think we will come back strong and I think New York will continue to be the city of dreams.”

He added that he expects to rent in Hudson Yards soon, which he described as temporarily “dormant” due to the crisis, though he predicted the site to be “flush” in three to five years.

“I’m always thinking five years away, seven years away,” he said. “You manage for today which will lead for tomorrow.”

Built-In Health Tech

He also predicted that consumers will come to expect certain technological advances they’ve become accustomed to during the pandemic, such as telemedicine, and new construction must accommodate that. They will also expect to be kept safe.

“We also have to build now to make sure that we’re completely adaptable for infection control, safety mechanisms—and that’s not just hospitals, by the way, that’s for all construction,” he said.

Jeffrey Levin, founder and chairman of Douglaston Development/Levine Builders/Clinton Management, reminded viewers that at the beginning of the pandemic people were concerned about touching contaminated surfaces. This led him to consider building projects with an eye toward utilizing technologies so that residents don’t necessarily have to push buttons or open doors.

“You can use your iPhone to call the elevator or open your apartment,” he said. “We’ve already moved over to electronic latches into apartments because people initially wanted that for the ease, but now it’s more for the concept of hygiene.”

Dowling said housing is part of health care.

“Good housing promotes good health,” he said. “I think you’re going to see more and more of an integration between health care delivery systems and housing development.”

Getting Back to the Office

Jennifer Stewart, global head of real estate for BNY Mellon, said that from a workforce perspective the past year was a major test of at-home technological capacity.

“The biggest beta test ever for the technology was when we all had to leave our offices and go work from home,” she said. “It was a tremendous effort, but you know what? We passed the test … And if there’s anything we’ve learned from using this technology, is that it’s made us all more forward-thinking.”

Yet, Stewart said that with vaccines making headway, she senses “a pent-up demand and energy” to get back to work in person, albeit with caution, “once the kids are back in school,” and safety at the office is assured.

“Being able to work in a hybrid way or virtually is an added bonus, it gives people flexibility, and it adds to wellness,” she said. “But at the same time, we’re social beings, so this idea of you can just work from home forever, well I don’t think that any industry, in any way, shape, or form believes that.”

James Nelson, principal and head of Tri-State Investment Sales Group at Avison Young, moderated the discussion that also included industry experts Chris Mills, president and CEO of Plaza Construction, and Marc Zuluaga, CEO at Steven Winter Associates.

The two organizations signed a memorandum of understanding that commits to initiating several new programs.

“The partnership between Fordham and Northwell Health will be a boon for the University’s students and academic departments and a terrific resource for Northwell employees and researchers,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham.

“We believe the partnership will offer significant intellectual and policy cross-pollination between Northwell’s Center for Learning and Innovation, Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service, the Gabelli School, and other schools and programs across the University, thus expanding Fordham’s curricular and programmatic breadth.”

The agreement will provide several benefits to both organizations. Northwell will lend its resources toward the development of Fordham curriculum, and in turn, the University will extend education opportunities to Northwell employees.

Enhancing Education Opportunities

As part of the agreement, staff at Northwell’s Center for Learning and Innovation (CLI), which functions as the health system’s in-house corporate university and serves as a teaching resource for the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, will work to enhance curriculum in Fordham programs.

Staff from CLI will work with faculty at Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service (GSS) to develop course content for Fordham’s Master of Social Work (MSW) degree.

And in keeping with the patient safety simulation training and career development provided at Northwell’s CLI, the two organizations will create simulation-based training models for both GSS and Gabelli School of Business programs, including the University’s nonprofit leadership master’s program.

In exchange, Fordham and Northwell will explore the possibility of the health system’s employees earning certificates from GSS and other Fordham schools at Northwell facilities.

Defining the ‘Real Role’ of Social Work

For Northwell President and CEO Michael Dowling, GSS ’74, the partnership represents an opportunity for Northwell to expand the skills of caregivers in growing areas of the health care field. For instance, one of the industry’s needs, he said, is to provide additional training to social workers in managing the care of patients with complex needs.

“The partnership will help us define the real role of social work inside a health care system. We’ll be redefining the role of social workers, what functions they should take part in, and what leadership roles they should play,” he said.

“In many ways, it’s creating the talent for an evolving field of health care that is changing dramatically. You can’t have education moving one way and practitioners in the field moving in a different direction. You’ve got to be both moving in the same direction all the time.”

The connections between Dowling, Fordham, and Northwell go back four decades. After graduating from GSS, Dowling served as a professor of social policy and assistant dean there. In 2016, Dowling delivered the commencement address for the institute’s International Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance. He received a doctor of humane letters from Fordham in 2017, and this year, he joined the University’s Board of Trustees.

Strengthening Current Ties

Debra M. McPhee, Ph.D., dean of the Graduate School of Social Service, said the formal partnership represents a strengthening of an association that already exists. Students from GSS have done field placement work at Northwell facilities for several years.

“Michael Dowling is truly one of the most innovative guys I’ve ever met. He brings a social work perspective to his work in that he cares a great deal about relationships and focuses a great deal on investing in his people,” she said.

“As a result, he has created an incredible organization that is innovative in almost every part of its functions, from its medical school to its resources to its staff.”

In particular, McPhee said, she expects the MSW students in the graduate school’s Palliative Care Fellowship Program to benefit from the partnership. Graduates from that and other GSS programs have a firm grasp on the benefits of integrated health, which emphasizes the relationship between physical and psychological, or mental health, she said.

“One of the things that MSWs do well is interdisciplinary work. So as the health field changes, integrating more mental health and physical health, it’s a great place for social workers to bring their expertise to the table,” she said.

McPhee said GSS students will benefit from the partnership with Northwell because the faculty at the Center for Learning and Innovation has the ability to take a task and turn it on its head conceptually. For example, instead of traditional curriculum, she said, medicine there is reorganized into life stages, from infancy through death.

“The center is about engaged learning, hands-on applied learning through simulation, and observation, rather than through lecture. The folks running that center will talk in very different conceptual ways than say, a traditional academic institution, or other ways we teach,” she said.

Looking Ahead

As part of the agreement, Fordham and Northwell have also committed to exploring new initiatives in the future. The two will work to place more Fordham students in internships and fellowships at or through Northwell, and Northwell will also participate in Fordham’s annual STEM career fair. For Northwell employees, the University will explore the possibility of dedicated admissions services they can use to facilitate early applications both at the undergraduate and graduate level.

Benefits for faculty research will be discussed as well, with Northwell potentially sharing insights into health care-related topics with researchers such as those involved in the Palliative Care program and the Gabelli School of Business’ Global Healthcare Innovation Management Center. Discussions are also planned for possibly connecting Northwell employees to Fordham’s Master’s in Health Administration program, which is jointly administered by GSS, the Gabelli School, and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Dowling said he’s looking forward to future discussions that will reveal areas of cooperation that aren’t apparent right now, especially with other graduate schools such as Fordham Law.

“Health care is such a broad area, especially in an organization as big as ours. If you want to be in the finance business, we are a $13.4 billion organization with an enormous economic impact on the communities we serve. If you want to be in the IT business, we invest hundreds of millions of dollars annually in technology. If you want to be in the data information business, we’re responsible for storing, managing, and integrating millions of patient records,” he said.

“Fordham has all these programs on the academic side, and we’ve got all these programs on the ground level. So we want to examine how each of us can change so that we can help each other going forward.”