Board of Directors

Garnet Health Board of Directors

Meet the members of our Garnet Health Board of Directors:

Phillip L. Massengill, MD, FACS - Chair

Phillip Massengill, MD joined the Medical Staff at Garnet Health Medical Center's Horton Campus in 2006. He is a partner at ENT and Allergy Associates, LLP in Middletown, New York. Dr. Massengill attended Medical School at Boston University School of Medicine, performed his Surgical Internship at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC and completed his Residency in a combined training program with Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington and the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. He also served as Chief Resident at the Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington. After completing his residency, Dr. Massengill was assigned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina and subsequently deployed as the Battalion Surgeon for the 3/504 Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Dr. Massengill is Board-certified in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and is a Fellow of both the American Academy of Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery and the American College of Surgeons. He is a Board member of the New York State Society of Otolaryngologists and is a member of the Medical Society of Orange County, New York. Dr. Massengill has several published works, honors and military awards. He has served in several medical staff leadership positions which include Chair, EENT Department and Vice-President and President of the Medical Staff at Garnet Health Medical Center. He was the recipient of the 2016 Physician Recognition Leadership Award.

Frederick A. Watson – Vice Chair

Frederick A. Watson is the founder of Three Cities Management LLC and Watson Services, Inc. He has more than 35 years of highly diversified and successful food service management experience with a wide range of clients including the United States Military Academy, Cadet Mess at West Point, the Army National Guard Professional Education Center at Camp Joseph T. Robinson, North Little Rock, AR and the United States Coast Guard, Fort Macon/Atlantic Beach, NC.

Mr. Watson received his Master’s degree in Food Service Administration from New York University and his Bachelor’s degree in Dietetics and Institutional Management from Virginia State University. He is a graduate of the Advanced Minority Business Executive Program and the Minority Business Executive Program from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College and served as an Adjunct Professor at Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus, where he taught Food Service Management II to Dietetic Students.

Mr. Watson currently serves as the Chairman of the Board for the Orange County Community College Board of Trustees; a Voting Member of New York Community College Trustees and as a Member of the Board of Directors for the Boys and Girls Club of Newburgh, Inc.

Heidi Hahn-Schroeder – Secretary

Heidi Hahn-Schroeder DNP, RN is Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs at Columbia University School of Nursing. In addition to serving as Assistant Dean, Dr. Hahn-Schroeder is an Assistant Professor of Nursing and Director of the Masters Direct Entry and Advanced Clinical Management and Leadership programs.  

Dr. Hahn-Schroeder has been a registered nurse since 1992, working at a major academic institution in New York City, as well as community hospitals and home care.  Dr. Hahn-Schroeder is the first nurse serving as a board member for Garnet Health Medical Center.  She earned a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from Sacred Heart University.  She holds an AS-Nursing from Rockland Community College, earned her BSN from SUNY Delhi, and her MSN Ed. Norwich University. 

Bonnie J. Orr, CPA – Treasurer

Bonnie J. Orr, CPA is a shareholder of Judelson, Giordano & Siegel CPA, P.C. and began her career in public accounting in 1981. Ms. Orr specializes in the area of estates and trusts and provides expert tax and accounting advice to a wide range of closely held businesses. Working closely with clients and their attorneys, she delivers estate and personal tax planning strategies which maximize the transfer of wealth to future generations and provides for a long and comfortable retirement without losing sight of a client’s current financial needs.

Ms. Orr has worked extensively in the complex areas of the generation skipping tax, living trusts, life insurance trusts, personal residence trusts, charitable remainder trusts, special needs trusts and family limited partnerships.

Currently serving as an officer and board member of several local charities, Ms. Orr is also a past president of the Hudson Valley Estate Planning Council.

Ms. Orr has a Bachelor of Science degree from LeMoyne College and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants. 

Jerry Dunlavey - Ex Officio

Jerry Dunlavey serves as Interim President and CEO of Garnet Health, a three-hospital healthcare delivery system located in New York’s mid-Hudson Valley, and Interim Chief Operating Officer of Garnet Health Medical Center, the main Middletown campus in Orange County. As Chief Operating Officer of Garnet Health Medical Center - Catskills, Jerry is responsible for the daily operations of GHMC-Catskills’ two Sullivan County campuses located in Harris and Callicoon. Mr. Dunlavey has over 23 years of healthcare leadership experience with the most recent years spent working within an integrated health system. Prior to his current role, Mr. Dunlavey was Vice-President of Operations for Garnet Health.

Mr. Dunlavey was also the founding executive for Garnet Health Doctors, the health system’s employed medical group.  In this role, he worked collaboratively with multiple health system leaders to establish the corporate and operational structure necessary to support the growth and development of a fully integrated health system physician group.  This included partnerships with several key health system support departments including Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology, Risk / Legal, Marketing, and Clinical Support Services.  This framework supported the clinical integration between Garnet Health Doctors and Garnet Health clinical service lines including Hospital Medicine, Critical Care, Neurology, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Palliative Care and Trauma / Acute Surgery.  Garnet Health Doctors has since grown to more than 25 different clinical specialties and over 185 clinical providers.

As part of his role with Garnet Health Doctors, Mr. Dunlavey served as the senior executive responsible for the development and accreditation of seven ACGME accredited Residency Programs including Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Transitional Year, Psychiatry, General Surgery, Emergency Medicine and Neurology.  In addition to hosting more than 100 Residents annually, the department provides another 100 medical students with robust third and fourth year clinical rotations.

Prior to his role as Vice President / Executive Director of Garnet Health Doctors, Mr. Dunlavey was Vice President of Clinical Program Development and Operations at Garnet Health.  In this capacity, he was responsible for the growth, development, and operations of several hospital based clinical service lines including cardiology, orthopedics, oncology, neuroscience and medical rehabilitation.  He led numerous business and clinical development initiatives including the growth of the orthopedic department’s Total Joint Program, the development of a Level 2 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, implementation of Primary Coronary Intervention, and the development of a Pediatric Emergency Department.

Mr. Dunlavey earned a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and a Master of Business Administration degree from Iona College in New Rochelle, NY.  He also holds a Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, IA.

Dory H. Alport

Dory H. Alport is the President of A. Alport & Son, Inc in Fallsburg, NY. There she leads daily operations including business development, sales, marketing, inventory management, delivery schedules, and customer service, as well as managing her staff of 20 employees. She received her Masters of Business Administration at the University of New Hampshire, and holds organizational affiliations as Secretary and Board of Director, Member of Executive Committee, Chair of the Trade Show Committee at the Builders Association of the Hudson Valley.

Rafik Elsabrout, MD, PhD, MBA, FACS, FRCPS(G)

Dr. Rafik Elsabrout is a general surgeon with Garnet Health Doctors. He is Chief of Surgery, Chief of the Surgical Services Committee, Vice President of Medical Staff and a member of the Medical Executive Committee at Garnet Health Medical Center-Catskills.

He earned his Master’s degree and Doctorate degree in surgery, from Cairo University in Egypt and his Masters of Business Administration degree in Healthcare Management from Capella University. Dr. Elsabrout is also an educator, having taught as an Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery at both New York Medical College in Valhalla, New York, and Cairo University.

Dr. Elsabrout is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, United Kingdom. He is also a Member of the American College of Healthcare Executives. Dr. Elsabrout held the position of Director of Renal Transplantation Program at Westchester Medical Center and has published extensively in the field of transplantation and immunology.

Dr. Elsabrout’s memberships and committee appointments have included: the Physician Advisory Committee at Westchester Medical Center; the Kidney Pancreas subcommittee of the New York Organ Donor Network; American Society of Transplant Surgeons; International Pediatric Transplantation Association; Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons; The Surgical Society of The New York Medical College and American Society of Transplantation.

Ronald Israelski, MD

Ronald Israelski, MD is a board-certified orthopedic/hand microvascular surgeon. He is a graduate of New York Medical College in New York City, where he also completed his orthopedic surgical residency. Dr. Israelski completed a hand microvascular fellowship at the Hospital for Joint Disease/NYU where he served as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at NYU, and is currently Clinical Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at TouroCOM. 
 
After his fellowship, Dr. Israelski partnered with Orange Regional Medical Center (now Garnet Health) to build the first Bone and Joint Center between New York City and Albany and served as its first Medical Director. In addition, he was Chairman of the Department of Orthopedics for over a decade and helped to set the standard for orthopedics of specialty care in the Hudson Valley. 
 
Passionate about teaching, Dr. Israelski was the driving-force to bring the Touro medical school to the Hudson Valley. He was also the key player in developing Garnet Health’s Graduate Medical Education program, which has grown to seven residency programs including internal medicine, family medicine, emergency medicine, general surgery, psychiatry, neurology and a transitional rotating internship. He also initiated an education foundation which raised $750,000 to support residents and attendings, and was the chairman of the medical staff capital campaign to build a new medical center.
 
Dr. Israelski founded the 501c3 not for profit ‘Orthopaedic Relief Services International’(ORSI) with a goal to provide clinical, educational, and infrastructural support to the Haitian state hospital system. He is currently the President and Surgical Team Leader of ORSI. His current focus is disaster responsiveness in the Ukraine war where he recently travelled to start a program manufacturing 14,000 tourniquets to be sent to the front lines. 
 
A recipient of numerous local and national academic, clinical, community and humanitarian awards, much of Dr. Israelski’s expertise, knowledge, skill and talent is devoted to medical education, humanitarian work and clinical practice which she still maintains in Goshen, New York. 
 
He is married to his wife Mary and has three adult children.
 

Timothy McCausland

Timothy McCausland is a Managing Director with Sterling National Bank in Middletown. Prior to joining Sterling, Mr. McCausland spent over a decade in various senior roles at Orange Bank & Trust Company, ending his tenure there as Managing Director of Private Banking. Prior to his time at Orange Bank & Trust, he was President & CEO of the Sullivan County Partnership for Economic Development in Monticello, New York.

Mr. McCausland is an attorney. He obtained his Juris Doctor degree from St. John’s University School of Law and his Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University’s School of Industrial & Labor Relations. Additionally, Mr. McCausland is a graduate of the American Bankers Association Graduate School of Banking at the Wharton School.

Susan Murray-Tetz

Susan Murray-Tetz worked as the Orange-Ulster BOCES Activation Coordinator for the Orange-Ulster BOCES Countywide Mental Health Crisis Team. Previously, she was the Coordinator of Mental Health for Orange-Ulster BOCES in Goshen, New York, overseeing the departments of: Speech, Physical Therapy, Counseling and Occupational Therapy for students in Special Education and the delivery of related services. Prior to her career, Susan Murray-Tetz earned a Master’s degree in Social Work at Fordham University. She also holds a Certificate in Advanced Study in Educational Administration from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

Susan Murray-Tetz currently holds professional affiliations as a Member of the Orange County Youth Board, as Chair of Allocations Committee since 1977, and as Chair of Luncheon/Dinner Awards Committee since 1982. In 2000, Susan received NYS Office of Children and Families’ Outstanding Community-Based Board Member recognition, as well as the New York State Senate: Woman of Distinction Award in 2004, among many other awards and recognitions throughout her career.

Virginia Rizzo

Mrs. Rizzo is the owner and president of Eclat, a management and human resources consulting firm. She is also Vice President of Rizzo, Inc.; a commercial moving company. She serves as a Director for Orange Bank and Trust Company. Mrs. Rizzo works on a volunteer basis with various Orange County non-profits, including Leadership Orange, Cornell Cooperative Extension and Women of Achievement, supporting the Girl Scouts of America and the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA).

She previously served as Chairwoman of the Board for Garnet Health Medical Center and Garnet Health from 2008-2010 and was Chairwoman when Garnet Health Medical Center, formerly known as Orange Regional Medical Center, broke ground for the new hospital.

Mrs. Rizzo spent 24 years with International Paper’s Corporate Research Center in Tuxedo, NY, a Fortune 50 corporation and the world’s largest paper company. During those years, she advanced from a research and development scientist to a number of managerial positions in training, development and human resources and retired as Laboratory Director, overseeing the research center.

Bhargav A. Vyas, Ed.D.

Bhargav A. Vyas is an Assistant Superintendent for Compliance and Information Systems at Monroe-Woodbury Central School District. Mr. Vyas provides leadership for the continued development of an innovative, robust, and secure information technology environment throughout the school district. He has been a pioneer educational technology leader for over 20 years. His expertise in the field of network infrastructure, cyber security, district leadership and supporting students and staff has showcased through his progressive career.

Prior to joining Monroe-Woodbury Central School District, Mr. Vyas was a director of technology for Orange-Ulster BOCES supporting network infrastructure for 25 school districts. He  recently completed his doctorate in educational leadership at Fordham University. He holds a  Master of Science degrees in Educational Leadership and Administration, Education, Computer Engineering, Environmental Engineering and a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering.