Health & Beauty | Top Doctors

Dr. Margaret McGovern
Stony Brook Long Island Children’s Hospital

For Long Island native Margaret McGovern, MD, PhD, her latest achievement—being named as Physician-in-Chief of Stony Brook Long Island Children’s Hospital—couldn’t be more pivotal. “Not only is this the culmination of more than 25 years in pediatrics, but it is also meaningful because I am helping to advance the level of pediatric care in the communities where I grew up.”

The path that brought Dr. McGovern home again was marked by success. Following her residency in pediatrics at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York, she pursued a fellowship in genetics and today holds dual board certifications in clinical molecular genetics and pediatrics. Dr. McGovern is an expert on Niemann-Pick disease, a rare and frequently lethal metabolic disorder in children, and has published widely on the topic. She is also part of an international research team that discovered and is evaluating a new drug to treat this genetic disorder.

However strong a researcher she may be, she never loses sight of why the research matters. “I care for some of the most severely ill children,” she says, “so I am acutely aware of the impact that disease has on children and their families. I approach each patient as if he or she were my own child.”

While this compassionate, family-focused perspective served her well as Professor and Chair of Stony Brook’s Department of Pediatrics, it has evolved into a mission after taking the reins of the children’s hospital in late 2010. “At Stony Brook Children’s, we don’t just treat a child, we care for the whole family,” Dr. McGovern explains. “Helping to create a hospital where children and families come first, while also giving families access to the latest research, technology and services, represents the best of children’s medicine—and I am proud to bring that to our community.”