Power Players in Health Care

Mario Schlosser is the CEO and co-founder of Oscar Health, a leading health insurer built to make health care easy. His background in technology and data have helped humanize and simplify the health care experience for more than 560,000 current members at Oscar. 

What is the most rewarding part of your job?
Making health care more affordable and accessible to all through leveraging technology to meet the specific needs of consumers.

What is your favorite form of exercise?
Running.

Do you have a favorite healthy meal?
Green salad with grilled chicken.

An experienced leader in health plan management and operations, Dr. Talya Schwartz was appointed president and CEO of MetroPlusHealth in 2019. Dr. Schwartz’s ongoing commitment to addressing the social determinants of health among New York’s most vulnerable communities is the pinnacle of her leadership — actively ensuring that MetroPlusHealth remains at the forefront of supporting its members through holistic, field-based care. Internally, she has prioritized and implemented a tech-first approach to streamlining company operations — transforming the remote workforce ability and launching telehealth and other virtual platforms.

Mr. Shapiro has served in his role as president and CEO since 2006, overseeing all strategic and operational aspects of HSS and fulfilling its mission: to advance the field of musculoskeletal medicine through world-class patient care, research and education. Under his leadership, HSS has experienced significant growth, expansion of facilities, and recognition as the world leader in its specialty areas of orthopedics and rheumatology. In 2020, he led an historic transformation of HSS to become a multispecialty hospital integral to the New York City community response to the original surge of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

What is the most rewarding part of your job?
At HSS, everyone is a leader, regardless of their role, which empowers individuals to step up and help our organization provide the best possible patient care. Watching this leadership in action is both humbling and rewarding.

What is your favorite form of exercise?
Running and golf.

Do you have a favorite healthy meal?
Salmon and kale salad prepared by my daughter!

OMH Commissioner Dr. Ann Sullivan oversees a multi-faceted mental health system that operates 25 psychiatric centers across the state and manages more than 4,500 community-based programs that serve over 800,000 individuals each year. She has guided the expansion of community-based treatment, reinvesting over $100 million into community services annually. She has implemented critical programs such as Zero Suicide, First Episode Psychosis Teams, crisis intervention services and school-based mental health clinics and has been guiding the integration of physical, mental health and substance use in care and treatment.

What is the most rewarding part of your job?
Working with dedicated employees and partners who share a commitment to helping vulnerable people make their way toward recovery, independence and a more meaningful life.

What is your favorite form of exercise?
Walking.

Do you have a favorite healthy meal?
Spinach salad with apples and goat cheese.

Dr. Ramon Tallaj is founder and chairman of SOMOS Community Care, a nonprofit, physician-led network of 2,500 health care providers, launched in 2015, serving close to one million Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries in New York City. As a board-certified internist, Dr. Tallaj and his staff have been on the frontlines fighting the COVID-19 pandemic in NYC and nationally. His collaboration with government entities and faith and community partners enabled SOMOS to establish 70 trilingual COVID-19 testing sites, feed 2 million New Yorkers, and provide COVID-19 vaccines to millions of New Yorkers. 

What is the most rewarding part of your job?
Witnessing every day how SOMOS transforms the health of our underserved communities through prevention and care by our primary care physicians.

What is your favorite form of exercise?
Exercise is excellent for our health. I practice my routine daily.

Do you have a favorite healthy meal?
I love healthy versions of my favorite Dominican foods.

President and CEO Gary Terrinoni has overseen a number of initiatives since joining the Brooklyn Hospital Center in 2015, including improved patient safety standards, a joint venture with Mount Sinai to provide cardiac care, and a Center for Critical Care Services. Mr. Terrinoni is committed to collaborating with other health institutions, community organizations, and elected officials in order to advance shared goals of safe, high-quality care for those in North Central Brooklyn and beyond.

Craig B. Thompson, M.D., is the president and chief executive officer of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Thompson has extensive research experience in cancer, immunology, and translational medicine. His current research focuses on the regulation of cellular metabolism during cell growth and on the role that metabolic changes play in the origin and progression of cancer. Dr. Thompson is a member of the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Association of American Physicians. He is also a Fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research Academy.

My Chi heads the Insurance Division at NYDFS, which oversees all life, property/casualty and health insurers in New York State. Before joining NYDFS in January 2020, My Chi was a partner in the restructuring group and global insurance practice of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP. She received an M.Phil. in politics from the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar, and civil and common law degrees from the University of Ottawa.

What is the most rewarding part of your job?
Working with a great team on complex, varied and important issues for millions of people and businesses throughout New York State.

What is your favorite form of exercise?
Pilates.

Do you have a favorite healthy meal?
No – all foods are healthy in moderation.

Dr. Miriam Vega has devoted her professional career to bringing quality and comprehensive health care services to those who need it the most. She is an experienced executive of nonprofit organizations, including AIDS service organizations, and she created the CHANGE model of capacity-building assistance, which helps to build culturally responsive programming, quality improvement and organizational infrastructure at community-based organizations across the nation. Before coming to Addabbo, Dr. Vega served as CEO and executive vice president of Total Health Care, a federally qualified health center in Baltimore, Maryland. 

What is the most rewarding part of your job?
I get great joy from serving the public. Health is the base of our society.

What is your favorite form of exercise?
Walking.

Do you have a favorite healthy meal?
I love Mediterranean food.