Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1292368
NORTHSHOREMAG.COM 56 OCTOBER 2020 At 8 a.m. on a September morning, David Longworth, MD, had already been on a conference call about COVID-19. At 8:30, he had a scheduled meeting with 20 senior staff via Zoom. In the half-hour between, Dr. Longworth took time to chat about his life and his dual work roles— chair of Beth Israel Lahey Health Primar y Care and president of Lahey Hospital & Medical Center—which add up to a workweek of 70-75 hours. The native of Akron, Ohio, also takes time to relish the other side of life— relaxing with his family, reading, and taking frequent walks in his Burlington neighborhood . His enormous work goals and accomplishments don't run on brittle, high-octane stress; Dr. Longworth is supremely down to earth, speaking modestly and thoughtfully about his vital work in the North Shore community. Balancing his two positions starts with carefully building his teams, he says: "For me, it's all about the team. My main role is to build and balance teams of great leaders, teams that help get the work done and drive the work. Without them I certainly couldn't do these two very large jobs." Before joining the staff of his parent company, Beth Israel Lahey Health, Dr. Longworth spent 16 years practicing medicine in the Department of Infectious Diseases at the Cleveland Clinic, including a stint as department chair. Near the beginning of his career, in the 1980s, he treated one of the first AIDS patients, as a senior resident at a San Francisco hospital. Now, anoth er frig ht enin g n e w di sease, C OVID-19, i s takin g much of hi s att ention . Chan ges cam e quickly at L ah ey l at e l ast w int er : in pati ent care, carin g for caregiv- ers, and al lo cation of res ources, amon g oth er i ssu es. A s i s th e case w ith mo st of th e c ountr y 's h ealthcare institutions, op eratin g ami d th e pand emic—hi s tw o institutions have a c ombin ed budget of just over $5.6 bi l lion—has b een "a major f inanci al stretch ." At the heart of it, Dr. Longworth says, is delivering the highest quality care for patients amid the pandemic. "Quality and safety are our north star. We will not lose sight of that in the coming year." Dr. David Longworth is the chair of Beth Isreal Lahey Health Primary Care and president of Lahey Hospital. I N - D E P T H PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF LAHEY HOSPITAL & MEDICAL CENTER "It takes time to show vaccines are effective, and time to ramp up production and convince the population that the vaccines are safe. We're remaining very vigilant." — David Longworth, MD