North Merrick’s Megan Ryan takes on dual role at Nassau Health Care Corporation

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A long-serving employee of the Nassau Health Care Corporation, which provides health care services to thousands of medically underserved residents, was recently promoted to serve a dual role within the organization. Megan Ryan, Esq., of North Merrick — who serves as the top lawyer, executive vice president and chief compliance, privacy and ethics officer at NHCC — was appointed by the Board of Directors to serve as Chief Operating Officer, as well.

Ryan, 41, has been a practicing attorney for the past 15 years. She joined NHCC in 2015 and was promoted to serve as general counsel a year later. She oversees all legal, corporate governance, privacy and ethics functions at Nassau University Medical Center, the A. Holly Patterson Extended Care facility in Uniondale and the corporation’s federally qualified health centers.

She expressed her gratefulness to the board for promoting her as COO. “It’s not a huge transition since I interact with all the departments already,” Ryan said, “but since we haven’t had a COO in two years, I’ll be working on getting the resources we need and supporting the CEO in a larger capacity.”

NHCC’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anthony Boutin, of East Meadow, was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of the corporation alongside Ryan.

In addition to her tireless efforts at NHCC, Ryan also serves as president of the North Merrick School District Board of Education. This summer, she used the many hats she wears to improve the health and safety of students and staff returning to school buildings amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Ryan contacted her colleague Dr. Bobby Kalotee, the chairman of Friends for Good Health, a Hicksville-based organization at which she performs pro-bono work, after they donated temperature-screening kiosks to NUMC. Thanks to Ryan, Friends for Good Health also donated four kiosks to the district.

While serving on the district’s re-entry task force, Ryan “worked diligently and collaboratively with her fellow trustees, the superintendent and central administration to put children first, front and center,” said Superintendent Dr. Cynthia Seniuk. “Ms. Ryan always recognizes the collective effort of the faculty, staff, PTA, parents and community, which ensures North Merrick is a district of excellence and inclusion.”

Ryan was well-prepared to develop reopening plans for the schools after working at NUMC during the height of the pandemic. “We were living at the hospital trying to keep up with all of the policies, government mandates and reporting requirements,” she said. “The legal department does a lot with little resources.”

Ryan was instrumental in coordinating meal donations from community groups who turned out in droves to feed the hospital’s health care workers. Using money raised through a GoFundMe page, her department purchased meals from local restaurants that were struggling amid the shutdowns.

“It was important for us to be a leader at a time of uncertainty,” she said. “We were motivated to get things done and make [the situation] better for our hospital staff.”

The mission at NHCC, she said, is to “serve the underserved.” When she lost her mother-in-law to Covid-19 on Easter Sunday, Ryan’s active involvement with patients became more personal. “We were organizing FaceTimes so family members could see their loved ones,” she explained. “I treat the patients like they’re my family because they deserve that — it’s the right thing to do.”

This month, Ryan will be recognized with an award at the 2020 Women, Influence & Power in Law summit.