By Howard Koplowitz
Scheinerman, 50, is the new associate chairman of cardiothoracic surgery at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, where he is in charge of that department.”The buck stops here,” Scheinerman said Monday. His first day on the job was Nov. 13.Born in Brooklyn, Scheinerman grew up in Sheepshead Bay and Long Island, where he attended Hewlett High School. He went to New York University for his undergraduate degree, medical school and residency in cardiothoracic surgery.He comes to LIJ from St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, Conn., where he was the chief of cardiothoracic surgery.”I'm from New York originally. I wanted to come back to New York,” Scheinerman said.He said he was recruited to LIJ by the current chairman and associate chairman of North Shore University Hospital Ð an LIJ affiliate – both of whom he knew from medical school. It was in junior high school, when Scheinerman read an article about the first heart transplant performed in South Africa in 1967, that he became fascinated with heart surgery.”It piqued my interest and from that point on I wanted to be a heart surgeon,” he said.While at St. Francis, Scheinerman said he admitted more surgical patients to that hospital than any other surgeon working there and his “results were among the best in the state.”The child of Holocaust survivors who came to the United States in 1950, Scheinerman said his parents have had an impact on how he treats his patients.In Connecticut, Scheinerman said he would help Russian Jews with health care Ð and his father was involved.”Many of them didn't speak English so I'd get my father on the phone and he would translate,” he said.Scheinerman said it will be exciting to be at LIJ since the hospital is committing $375 million over the next five years to improve patient care. Some of the funds will be used on a brand new emergency room, surgical and medical intensive care units, including a new ICU for open heart surgery.”We've got an excellent program here. I feel real fortunate to be part of such a great team,” he said, noting that he is hoping to expand awareness of LIJ's cardiothoracic surgery department into areas in Queens beyond the Nassau border. Of the borough's residents, he said, “I want them to know that they have a great hospital right here.”Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 173.
