Laura Forese ’83
Franklin Lakes, NJ

Region 1 Candidate

Laura Forese ’83 is currently Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer and Chief Operating Officer of New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York, a 1000+ bed medical center with 10,000 employees, 2,500 physicians and a $1.5 billion operating budget. A Civil Engineering major at Princeton who became an orthopaedic surgeon and then a healthcare executive, Forese credits her Princeton education with preparing her for an “unorthodox” career path. It “gave me a frame work to solve problems in many different situations,” she says.

Forese arrived at Princeton already convinced that she wanted to become a doctor. But “knowing that I’d have many years to learn medicine and wanting to take advantage of the breadth of the University, I studied systems engineering and operations research,” she explains. After graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton, she earned her MD Alpha Omega Alpha from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1987. She completed both her general surgery internship and her orthopaedic surgery residency at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center.

In 1993 Forese joined the Helen Hayes Hospital in West Haverstraw, NY, where she was appointed Chief of Surgery and Anesthesia Services. It was during this period that a mentor suggested that she complete formal management training to complement her undergraduate education, she recalls; so in 1995 Forese earned her MPH in Health Services Management from the Columbia School of Public Health. “Ultimately, my Masters in health care policy and management gave me the opportunity to blend my education and skills with real world experience in medicine,” she says. “As a surgeon I had to learn to make high quality decisions without having all the information and that translated well into management.”

With MPH in hand, Forese rose through the ranks of healthcare management, first as Executive Officer for Departmental Affairs and Vice Chair of Columbia University’s Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. From there she went to New York Presbyterian Hospital where since 2003 she has risen from Vice President of Medical Affairs to her current position. “We have a tri-partite mission of research, teaching, and patient care,” says Forese of her hospital, which was ranked #6 by USNews and #1 in New York. “I’ve had experience with major building projects, significant operating budgets, and implementation of complicated technology, but the most satisfying work has been guiding and supporting multidisciplinary teams.”

Forese is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the New York Academy of Medicine, the American College of Physician Executives, and the Ruth Jackson Society (for women in orthopaedic surgery). She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) and both founded and served as Editor-in-Chief of Orthopaedic Medicolegal Advisor, an AAOS-sponsored quarterly publication. She has also lectured and published on one of her many areas of expertise: physician-patient communication. Her volunteer work includes chairing the Medical Advisory Committee for the Matthew Larson Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation.

A member of the Steering Committee of the Women in Leadership Initiative at Princeton, Forese also sits on the Leadership Council for the School of Engineering and Applied Science and has served as a regional chair for the Alumni Schools Committee. “My particular interests in both education and healthcare were fostered at Princeton and have formed the basis for much of the volunteer work that I’ve enjoyed,” she says. “Looking back, I realize what a profound influence Princeton has had on me in my professional and personal lives.”