Dr. David B. Skinner
Dr. David B. Skinner, who guided the successful merger of The New York Hospital and The Presbyterian Hospital to form NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, died on January 24 at NewYork Weill Cornell Medical Center, one day after suffering a massive stroke. He was 67.
Dr. Skinner, a renowned thoracic surgeon and former chairman of surgery at the University of Chicago Hospitals, was appointed president and chief executive officer of The New York Hospital in 1987, at a time when the hospital, like many others, was beset with huge operating deficits due to radical changes in federal reimbursement. The hospital was losing a million dollars a week when he arrived, he said.
At the time of his appointment as president of The New York Hospital, Dr. Skinner was also appointed professor of surgery at Cornell University Medical College and later professor of cardiothoracic surgery when that department was established in 1993.
With New York Hospital's then board chairman, Maurice R. Greenberg, Dr. Skinner led an impressive financial turnaround that became a model for other hospitals in the region and the country. With the hospital again on sound financial footing, Dr. Skinner began a strategic initiative to bring together New York City's first major "network" of health-care institutions, which would be better able to meet the growing economic challenges from managed health care and declining reimbursement rates from Medicare and Medicaid.
Under Dr. Skinner's leadership, The New York Hospital achieved a long-sought goal of replacing its outdated inpatient facilities. In 1997, the hospital opened its new Maurice R. and Corinne P. Greenberg Pavilion, built over the F.D.R. Drive.
One of Dr. Skinner's greatest achievements came at the end of 1997, when he presided over the completion of the merger of The New York Hospital and The Presbyterian Hospital, the two leading hospitals in New York City, each partnered with a top-ranked medical school. The merger of the two hospitals has engendered closer collaboration between Weill Cornell and Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, with all three institutions forming a kind of "super" academic medical center.
While other mergers involving academic medical centers in New York City and the nation have faltered and been dissolved, the collaboration among both hospital centers of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell and Columbia P&S has solidified, achieving a high level of integration across many clinical departments. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is the largest hospital in New York City, with 2,369 beds, and one of the largest in the U.S. The NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System, which includes some 31 hospitals in the metropolitan area, is the largest private employer in New York City.
Dr. Skinner continued to lead the merged hospital and its health-care system until 1999, when he retired as president emeritus.
He was an internationally recognized expert in surgery of the esophagus. One of his patients, Oscar-winning composer John Barry, mentioned Dr. Skinner in the list of people he thanked after winning the award for Best Original Score ("Dances with Wolves") in 1991.
Dr. Skinner contributed as both editor and author to more than 150 medical books and more than 200 original science articles. He held more than 60 visiting professorships. His accomplishments earned him many awards and honors (see partial listing below).
Highly respected, trusted and beloved by hospital staff at all levels, Dr. Skinner gave a series of annual reports to hospital employees on the "State of the Hospital," which he repeated several times over several days at various times and locations so that all employees would have an opportunity to listen to the presentation. An employee survey conducted in 1996 rated Dr. Skinner as one of the highest "credible sources of information" provided to hospital employees.
A native of the Midwest, Dr. Skinner was born on April 28, 1935, in Joliet, Ill. He graduated in 1952 from Franklin High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and then moved east to attend the University of Rochester, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts with high distinction in 1958. One year later, he earned his M.D., cum laude, from Yale University School of Medicine.
He served his internship and surgical residency at Massachusetts General Hospital. After completing a surgical fellowship at Harvard Medical School, he obtained his first academic appointment, as clinical assistant professor of surgery, in 1966 at the University of Texas Medical School in San Antonio. He left Texas in 1968 to join Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he rose from assistant professor to full professor in four years. In 1972, he went to the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine, where he was appointed the Dallas B. Phemister Professor of Surgery and chairman of the department of surgery at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics; at age 37, he was among the youngest chairmen to be appointed at the medical school.
Dr. Skinner remained at the University of Chicago for 15 years before he was tapped by The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in 1987 for the newly created position of president and C.E.O. at The New York Hospital.
He is survived by his wife of 46 years, May Elinor ("Ellie") Skinner (nee Tischer), and their four daughters, Linda, Kristin, Carise, and Margaret, and four grandchildren. Also among Dr. Skinner's many accomplishments was his contribution to women in medicine. Three of his four daughters, Linda, Kristin and Margaret, are physicians. Margaret received her M.D. degree from Weill Cornell Medical College in May 2002.
Editorial Appointments (partial listing)
Current Topics in Surgery (editor, 1969-1971)
Journal of Surgical Research (editor, 1972-1982)
Surgical Practice Illustrated (editor, 1984-1995)
Annals of Surgery (editorial board, 1975-2000)
Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (editorial board, 1977-1985)
Surgical Gastroenterology (editorial board, 1981-1985)
Hepato-Gastroenterology (editorial board, 1995-2000)
Presidencies of Professional Societies
American Society for Artificial Internal Organs (1976)
Society of University Surgeons (1978)
Society of Surgical Chairmen (1980-1982)
Chicago Surgical Society (1985)
Society of Clinical Surgery (1986-1988)
Hospital Administrators Club of New York (1991-1993)
International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus (1992-1995)
Greater New York Hospital Association (Chairman, 1994-1995)
American Association for Thoracic Surgery (1996-1997)
International Surgical Group (1997-1998)
Honors and Awards (partial listing)
Eagle Scout
Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences
Officier (Chevalier), dans l'Ordre National du Merite (from France)
3 honorary degrees (University of Rochester; University of Lund, Sweden; Technical University of Munich, Germany)
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