Michael Dowling has been with Northwell Health (formerly North Shore-LIJ Health System) since 1995, first serving for two years as senior vice president, Hospital Services, then for five years as the system’s executive vice president and COO, and now has served at the system’s helm as president and CEO since 2002. Since becoming president and CEO, Dowling has helped Northwell grow from a modest health system with just a handful of hospitals, to become one of the largest non-profit secular healthcare systems in the nation.
Michael Dowling rose from very humble beginnings in his native Ireland to become one of the most influential healthcare leaders in America. He has been named by Modern Healthcare Magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare” every year since 2007.
Dowling’s humble Irish roots go all the way back to the tiny mud-floor, thatched-roof cottage in County Limerick, Ireland, where he was raised as the eldest of five children—without electricity, running water, or an indoor bathroom. Dowling’s hardworking father instilled in him a strong work ethic from a very young age, and his mother nurtured in him a love for reading and a passionate inner drive to succeed.
Dowling says the best advice he ever received was from his mother, who frequently reminded him to “Never let your circumstances limit your potential.” No matter what, Dowling’s mother believed in his potential and ability to overcome the steely trap of poverty. Unlike his optimistic parents, a well-to-do neighbor from a local farm once commented to young Dowling, “Isn’t it too bad somebody like you will never go to college?” That one off-hand remark cut to Dowling’s core, stirring-up in him the stubborn conviction that he would someday prove the man wrong—he would go to college. And he did.
Around the age of seventeen Dowling left Europe for the promise of better opportunity in America. Working eighteen-hour days seven-days-a-week on the docks of west Manhattan, young Dowling toiled tirelessly in order to save money for his family and for his dream of going to college. By working half the year in America and returning to Ireland for the other half of the year—over the course of several years—Dowling was able to prove that skeptical neighbor wrong. He attended and graduated from University College Cork (UCC) in Ireland with a Bachelor of Arts Degree.
“I never let my circumstance ever stand in the way. I don’t ever look at obstacles. I hate anybody talking about obstacles, saying ‘you can’t do something.’ Don’t ever say you can’t in my house. It’s a matter of you can.”
Eventually Dowling made America his permanent home, attending graduate school and teaching courses on social policy at Fordham University. He received his Master of Social Work from Fordham and began pursuing his doctorate, but his plans for a PhD were interrupted by an unexpected call from the office of the newly elected New York Governor, Mario Cuomo, offering him a position. It was an opportunity he couldn’t ignore, so Dowling put aside his dissertation in the trunk of his car and moved to Albany.
For the next twelve years Dowling served in various government positions, focused on improving state health and human services, and he worked directly with the governor for more than half of those years. He says of that time, “It was a phenomenal experience. I enjoyed working with the governor; I think government experience—at the level I was at, especially—was an unbelievable experience.” After Governor Cuomo’s three terms in office came to an end, Dowling left government work and in 1995 found himself at Northwell, where over the last two decades he has discovered his true passion: leading an organization dedicated to providing quality healthcare to all people.
When asked if he would do anything differently had he the opportunity to go back and start over, Dowling wryly responded, “If I was starting all over and knew what I know now, I’d probably do… a lot better!” But in all seriousness, Dowling does not think he would choose a different career path.
“I think that there is a special benefit in working in those areas where you can see the results in terms of how literally you can affect the wellbeing of people. And you have to do something that you have passion about, which I have, so I don’t think I would do something different.”
When asked to pinpoint what he feels is the greatest accomplishment during his time so far at Northwell, Dowling didn’t hesitate to point to the undeniable people-focus of the organization: “I think the focus on the people investment would probably be the one that I hope would be the greatest; because at the end of the day, it’s all about that.”
As for leaving a personal and professional legacy at Northwell, Dowling hopes he will be respected for his integrity and that he will be remembered for “not only trying to do things right, but always trying to do the right things.” With no set plans for retirement yet, Dowling just says he wants to be ready and willing to do something different when the time comes that he may be losing his edge. “I’m very cognizant of the fact that you do get to a point when you may think you have it all, but you don’t have it anymore. You’ve got to know then how to step out and do something else.”
Whenever retirement may come for him, Dowling knows he will never retire in the usual sense of the term. While he looks forward to having the freedom to do some other things, he genuinely loves to work and knows he’ll stay busy; “I don’t have hobbies, basically. I like to work all the time.” There is no question that Dowling’s love for what he does is evident in the organization he has helped build into one of the largest non-profit, secular healthcare systems in the nation!