Alumnus Found a Path to Health-Care Success at St. John’s

Mr. Blenderman, hired in February 2025 as President of Greenwich (CT) Hospital and Executive Vice President of Yale New Haven Health, has spent more than two decades in health-care services. A graduate of the Physician Assistant program in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (CPHS), he arrived at Greenwich Hospital after serving in administrative positions in the NewYork-Presbyterian health-care system and at Northwell Health and White Plains (NY) Hospital.        

A member of the CPHS Dean’s Advisory Board and a 2019 CPHS Gala alumni honoree, he maintains a close relationship with his alma mater, which he said prepared him for the expected and unanticipated challenges of a career in health care.

“St. John’s gives you this amazing stature of a program that is well-known in this area and beyond,” Mr. Blenderman said. “You have resources. That, along with the dedication and success St. John’s has had in the pharmacy and allied health fields, including the PA program, makes it a great choice.  I wave the St. John’s flag whenever I hear of someone trying to discover where to go to college.”

Raised in Middle Village, not far from St. John’s Queens campus, Mr. Blenderman was drawn to the health-care sector from a young age. He looked into several physician assistant programs, but soon was convinced St. John’s was the ideal destination.

“It was close to home, and I knew the faculty was amazing and would guide us,” he said.

Mr. Blenderman spent more than a decade as a physician assistant in hospital cardiothoracic and critical care settings while pursuing a Master of Business Administration degree from Hofstra University. In 2008, he took his first administrative position—as Senior Administrative Director of Cardiovascular Surgery at North Shore University Hospital and Long Island Jewish Medical Center, parts of the Northwell network.

A series of administrative promotions followed, including two Chief Operating Officer positions in the NewYork-Presbyterian system, before he was named Senior Vice President of White Plains Hospital, a 300-bed facility in Westchester County, NY, that is ranked among the world’s best hospitals by Newsweek.

Mr. Blenderman called the pivot from clinical practice to hospital administration “challenging,” but also affirming.

“Being a physician assistant was a part of my DNA,” he said. “When you go into administration, it is quite easy to disconnect yourself from why we are all here. You might not take care of patients daily, and it is quite easy to forget the patient-centric side. You must constantly remind yourself that this is a people-driven industry and not disconnect yourself from the patients.”

Two-plus decades into a rewarding career, Mr. Blenderman said mentorship is one of the keys to success in the health-care field. At St. John’s, he encountered faculty genuinely interested in his intellectual and personal development and who were always on the leading edge of student preparation.

“Mentors come in all shapes and sizes, and sometimes the most unassuming of mentors can become the most influential,” Mr. Blenderman said. “I was blessed with faculty who could connect with students. Health care is not always a straight road, and having a university such as St. John’s that is nimble enough to adapt to that turbulence is essential.”