New leadership at PBMC: Amy Loeb succeeds Andrew Mitchell at the helm

Peconic Bay Medical Center has a new leader at the helm.

Amy Loeb, who has served as deputy executive director for the past two years, was named executive director of the Riverhead hospital effective Feb. 1. In her new post, Loeb is responsible for all strategic initiatives and operations of PBMC and Peconic Bay Medical Group.

After 20 years of daily operational responsibility, Andrew Mitchell has transitioned his role to focus on development matters and going forward will continue his work with the PBMC Foundation, including major gifts and large real estate projects.

Loeb, 41, of Lake Grove, is the first woman to hold the top post at the Riverhead hospital, which marked its 70th anniversary last week.

“I’m thrilled,” Loeb said in a phone interview today. “There’s so much great work to continue.”

Loeb began her career at Northwell 16 years ago as a registered nurse at Huntington Hospital, where she went on to serve as vice president for allied health. Loeb was tapped for the position of PBMC’s chief nursing officer in 2015.

Loeb was was pivotal in guiding the PBMC transition to join Northwell Health, according to a letter to the hospital community from Northwell’s executive leadership that was circulated to staff on Friday.

Mitchell, 62, joined the former Central Suffolk Hospital in 2001 at a time when the hospital was in deep financial distress. He guided the struggling hospital to stability and oversaw an era of unprecedented growth.

“Over the last two decades, Andy transformed PBMC into the leading healthcare facility in eastern Suffolk County by significantly expanding the size and clinical scope of the organization,” Northwell president and CEO Michael Dowling, executive vice president Mark Solazzo and senior vice president Steve Bellone wrote in the letter to PBMC staff.

Mitchell said today he is proud of PBMC’s evolution, accomplished as a result of the joint efforts of a succession of visionary boards of directors, the hospital’s dedicated and hard-working staff and the support of the East End community.

“Peconic Bay is in great hands” under Loeb’s leadership, Mitchell said.

“She is taking up the torch at a time when the organization is poised for growth in bringing a wider range of vitally needed services to the community,” he said. “She is the perfect person at the perfect time to lead this effort.”

Loeb said she and the other members of PBMC’s leadership team are “thinking a lot about the gaps that still exist out here,” such as women’s health services and cancer care. She will focus on wellness and prevention, she said, as well as care for caregivers, building on the establishment at PBMC in 2018 of the first caregiver’s center on Long Island.

“My immediate focus,” Loeb said, “is on our employees and their wellness, making sure they are feeling supported — especially after what haas been the toughest year in modern health care.” The hospital has treated hundreds of COVID-19 patients since the outbreak of the pandemic last spring.

“I am absolutely committed to maintaining the culture and what is special about this hospital — that family feel, how we take care of the community and how the community takes care of us,” Loeb said.