Page 30 - Westchester County Economic Development Guide 2013

– is ready to supply services to high-tech
industries.
Dworkin also emphasizes Westchester’s
valuable proximity to world-class bio-
medical research centers and universities
in Manhattan such as Memorial Sloan-
Kettering, Rockefeller University,
Columbia University, New York University
and Mt. Sinai Hospital. “They provide
a tremendous pool of talent available to
Westchester companies,” he explains.
“Indeed, many of the people we hire are
local and newly minted Ph.D. and Master’s
degree holders. Often they come here for
their first job outside of academia.”
Another prominent company seeing
significant value in cross-industry
cooperation is Acorda Therapeutics, a
Hawthorne-based biopharmaceutical
company. As Senior Director of Corporate
Communications Jeff Macdonald puts it,
“We need access to the right scientific
minds and academic collaborators. We need
scientists who have expertise in clinical
studies, and also certain kinds of preclinical
tests that are needed before you even begin
to conduct human trials.”
In short, Macdonald understands that
biopharmaceutical companies need to be in
an area “with a critical mass of people with
the right skills.”
Healthcare
Cooperation within the industry is
also high among leading healthcare
organizations such as NewYork-
Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester
Division, which opened in 1894 and is one
of the world’s most advanced centers for
psychiatric care.
According to Dr. Stephen Ferrando,
Associate Medical Director, “We
enjoy a collaborative relationship with
White Plains Hospital – we provide
psychiatric consultation services to the
White Plains Hospital emergency room,
as well as to their in-patient medical
and surgical units. All of our psychiatric
patients requiring medical care are
transferred to White Plains Hospital for
initial evaluation and, if necessary, in-
patient or surgical treatment.”
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital has
been partnering with Con Edison for the
past 16 years on Con Edison’s Work-Home
Wellness program. This program provides
a broad range of counseling services,
workshops and classes to Con Edison’s
14,000 employees at 10 different locations
in the New York area.
According to Alissa Kosowsky, Public
and Community Affairs Manager, “We have
an extensive Speakers Bureau comprised
of our expert practitioners who can talk
on a wide variety of behavioral and mental
health topics. Our physicians, nurses,
social workers and rehabilitation therapists
also provide staff development training
to professional organizations and schools
throughout Westchester County and
beyond.”
Dr. Simeon Schwartz, President of
WestMed Medical Group and CEO of
WestMed Practice Partners, agrees that
working with other healthcare providers
is definitely a winning financial strategy.
“Health is the largest sector within the
Dr. Simeon Schwartz, WestMed Medical Group and WestMed Practice Partners
Photo by Bill Milne
28 | Westchester County Economic Development Guide