Meet the Great-Great-Grandson of Lillian Wald’s Original Benefactor—and VNSNY’s New Board Chair—Dr. Andrew “Drew” Schiff

Last month, the position of VNSNY Board Chair officially passed from John Rafferty to Andrew Schiff, MD. “Drew,” as he is known to his friends and colleagues, is a longtime VNSNY Board Member and the great-great-grandson of Jacob Schiff, a close friend and the main early benefactor of VNSNY’s founder, Lillian Wald. Frontline spoke with Drew about his family ties to VNSNY and how he sees the organization’s future.

Q: Growing up, were you aware of your strong family connection to VNSNY and its founder, Lillian Wald?

Absolutely! It was instilled in me from an early age that our family was very proud to have had an ancestor who was such an active participant in our community. Through his partnership with Lillian Wald, my great-great-grandfather Jacob Schiff was supporting someone who he felt had a true vision for tackling the public health issues of that day. The subsequent generations of our family have continued that involvement. I’ve been a VNSNY Board member for many years, and my mother and my grandfather were both VNSNY Board Members before me. I’m honored to be extending this family tradition that originated over 125 years ago, and to be part of this great institution and its mission.

Q: How would you say VNSNY’s mission has changed since Lillian Wald’s day?

Let me start by saying what hasn’t changed. What hasn’t changed at all is that we’re still deeply committed to providing care to New Yorkers who might not otherwise have access to services. Our community benefit and charitable care programs continue to be a critical component of VNSNY’s mission—including our Nurse-Family Partnership, our Maternity, Newborn and Pediatrics program, and our activities around LGBT outreach and mental health services. While these support programs are different from those VNSNY has had in the past, they share the same innovative approach to how we deliver care. I’m also very proud of our overall leadership in home-based health and hospice care, as well as our role in providing health insurance to vulnerable populations through VNSNY CHOICE. I don’t think anyone disputes that today, access to health insurance is just as important as access to health care. I believe that if Lillian Wald were alive now, she would enthusiastically support the growth of this portion of our business.

Q: As a physician, how do you see VNSNY evolving in the future?

Medical care is becoming increasingly specialized, including how we care for patients with various chronic illnesses. This means that the touch points between VNSNY and the patients and plan members we serve are also becoming more specialized. VNSNY’s new Care Management Organization, in which we’re partnering with insurers to provide customized support to their highest-risk health plan members, is a good example of this. I think we’re up to the challenge, but it’s going to require a good deal of organization and collaboration and a strong IT infrastructure, including advanced systems for remote patient monitoring. I also believe that artificial intelligence will have an increasingly large role in our business—both as a way for our patients to update us on what’s going on with them, and as a source of analytical and clinical support for our staff around the care being delivered to specific patients.

Q: In your view, what is VNSNY doing to meet these challenges?

We’re doing quite a lot. VNSNY has increasingly become a learning organization. We’re becoming more and more flexible and able to adjust quickly, employing the most up-to-date medical evidence along with new algorithms and other tools for diagnosing conditions and making disease-specific determinations to help prevent re-hospitalizations. I’m very impressed by the awareness of VNSNY’s senior management regarding these challenges—led by our enormously capable President and CEO, Marki Flannery, and the strong leadership team she’s assembled. They’ve demonstrated a great ability to wrap their arms around the demands of care delivery going forward, and to tackle the strategies that will enable VNSNY to continue evolving over the next five to ten years.

Q: What most excites you about serving as VNSNY’s new Board Chair?

I’m excited at the opportunity to work with VNSNY’s Board, our management team and our phenomenal staff to help determine the strategies that will take us forward for the next 125 years. I believe the future of VNSNY is bright. Health care in our country and around the world is increasingly shifting from the inpatient setting to the outpatient setting, including both home-based and community-based care. Here at VNSNY, we’re all lucky to be involved in an institution that seeks to be an important part of this evolving dynamic. Another dynamic that I hope will go on for a very long time is the increasing longevity of our population. Our ability to meet the needs of elderly individuals as they age in place is an important part of what VNSNY does, and it’s an increasingly important part of what health care will be doing in the future. I think we’re well positioned to meet these tasks: We have the experience, we have the knowledge, and we have the expertise to deliver great care for our patients, and to grow and thrive for many years to come.