We didn't start by building a hospital. We started by trying to fix a moment — and everything that followed came from that conviction.
Our Founder
In 2009, Dr. Elena Vasquez's father — a retired schoolteacher from the Bronx — was admitted to a large New York hospital with a cardiac event. He survived. But in the weeks that followed, Dr. Vasquez watched him navigate a maze of disconnected specialists, conflicting instructions, and phone calls that went unanswered.
A man who had spent thirty years teaching children how to ask questions found himself unable to get a straight answer about his own heart.
After fifteen years in clinical practice and health systems research, Dr. Vasquez founded Meridian Health New York in 2015 with a single conviction: that every New Yorker — regardless of borough, language, or insurance status — deserves a healthcare experience where someone is genuinely looking out for them. Not a system. A person. A team. A hospital that calls you back.
Book Your First Appointment Read Patient StoriesSame-week appointments available. We accept most major insurance plans.
Why We Exist
To ensure that every New Yorker — regardless of borough, background, or language — receives coordinated, compassionate care with a real person in their corner at every step.
We translate every diagnosis, treatment plan, and next step into plain language — because a patient who understands their care is a patient who can participate in it.
We assign every complex patient a dedicated care navigator who stays with them from first appointment through final follow-up, so no one falls through the gaps between providers.
We treat every patient — regardless of insurance, income, language, or neighbourhood — with the same attention, patience, and respect we would give a member of our own family.
We have built our systems — from ER triage to specialist referrals — around one belief: unnecessary waiting is a form of harm, and we will always work to eliminate it.
We tell patients what we know, what we don't know, and what we are doing to find out — because trust is built in the moments when the truth is hard to deliver.
The People Behind Your Care
These are the physicians and patient advocates who built Meridian — and who show up, every day, to deliver on what we promise.
Founder & Chief Medical Officer
Board-certified cardiologist with 15 years in clinical practice and health systems research. Graduate of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Her father's experience as a cardiac patient in a fragmented hospital system is the reason Meridian exists.
Chief of Emergency Medicine
Former trauma surgeon with New York-Presbyterian, 18 years in emergency medicine. Known for cutting Meridian's average ER wait time from 54 minutes to 28 minutes within his first year. Teaches EM residents at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.
Director of Patient Navigation & Language Services
Fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, and Haitian Creole. Built Meridian's 34-language care navigation programme from the ground up. Former community health worker in the South Bronx who joined Meridian because she had seen, firsthand, what coordinated care can change.
Chief of Oncology
Harvard-trained oncologist, nationally recognised for her work in personalised cancer care. Author of over 40 peer-reviewed publications. Chose to build her practice at Meridian rather than an academic centre because she believes exceptional cancer care belongs in the community.
Our History
Nine years. Five boroughs. Millions of patients treated with the dignity and coordination they deserve. Here is how we got here.
2015
Dr. Vasquez opens the first Meridian clinic in Midtown Manhattan with a team of 12 physicians and a single care navigation programme — built around the conviction that every patient deserves someone in their corner.
2017
Meridian receives Level I Trauma Centre status — one of only five hospitals in New York City to hold this designation, confirming our readiness to treat the most critical injuries and conditions in the region.
2019
Rosa Medina's multilingual patient navigation programme expands to serve patients in 34 languages — the most comprehensive programme of its kind in New York City, ensuring no patient is left behind because of a language barrier.
2021
Meridian extends care beyond Manhattan, opening outpatient facilities in Brooklyn and Queens to serve the outer boroughs — because exceptional healthcare should never require a long commute.
2022
US News & World Report names Meridian among New York's Best Hospitals for Cardiology, Oncology, and Neurology — the first of what has become an annual recognition.
2024
Meridian's HCAHPS patient satisfaction score reaches 94% — nearly three times the national benchmark for hospitals of comparable size. A number that reflects not a programme, but a culture.