Jersey City, NJ - Jersey City Medical Center (JCMC), an affiliate of RWJBarnabas Health, the leading academic health system in New Jersey, welcomes Carlos Lejnieks, the CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Essex, Hudson & Union Counties, as the hospital’s new board chair.Lejnieks has served on the JCMC board since 2011. From 2014 to 2017, he was chair of the medical center’s Quality Assessment & Risk Management Committee. Lejnieks is the first person of Latinx heritage to serve as the Chair of the Jersey City Medical Center Board of Trustees.
“Carlos is deeply committed to our local community and to ensuring that the very best health care is available to residents of Hudson County. His leadership, vision and insight as board chair will be key to the Medical Center’s growth in the near future,” said Michael Prilutsky, President and Chief Executive Officer, Jersey City Medical Center.
Aligned with JCMC’s commitment to healing, enhancing, and investing in Hudson County, Lejnieks also has extensive ties to the local community. He serves on the New Jersey City University (NJCU) board, where he is a member of its executive committee. He has also been on the Board of Regents for Saint Peter’s University since 2011.
“I’m honored to be named as Jersey City Medical Center’s new board chair. I see my new role as an extension of my mentoring mission: to empower others to see what a difference they can make and what they can accomplish,” said Lejnieks. “We will continue to make a difference in health outcomes for Hudson County residents.”
Lejnieks has taken his grassroots experience to inform policy. He currently serves on Governor Murphy’s “Third Sector Advisory Council,” tasked with policy recommendations for the 1.2M “ALICE” (Asset Limited Income Constrained and Employed) families most affected by the pandemic and, in 2018, he was appointed to the New Jersey Real Estate Commission. He also has also served on former President Obama’s Regional Finance Committee, and Transition Teams for Governor Phil Murphy, Governor Chris Christie and former Newark Mayor Cory Booker.
Lejnieks’ career highlights include co-founding the Democracy Prep Public Schools, a network of schools serving over 7,000 youth based in Harlem. He is also chair emeritus of the New Jersey Charter Schools Association, the statewide organization tasked with representing all students in New Jersey charter schools.
Active with his alma mater, Lejnieks is president of the Brown University Alumni Association Board of Governors, representing over 100,000 alumni globally. He is the first Latinx person to hold that post in the university’s history. He also serves on Brown’s finance and budget committee. Lejnieks earned a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a Master of Science from London School of Economics. In 2011, he earned an honorary doctorate from Saint Peter’s University.
About Jersey City Medical Center
Jersey City Medical Center (JCMC), an RWJBarnabas Health facility, is Healing, Enhancing, and Investing in Hudson County. It is a comprehensive full-service acute and sub-acute care 348-bed teaching hospital. A not-for-profit hospital, JCMC is a state-designated Level II Regional Trauma Center with close to 16,000 admissions and over 80,000 Emergency Department visits annually. The hospital specialty services include maternity, orthopedics, heart and vascular care, and behavioral health. JCMC is the only full-service heart hospital in Hudson County, offering access to outstanding cardiologists and sophisticated and advanced treatments, such as cardiac surgery and Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacements (TAVR). RWJBarnabas Health and Jersey City Medical Center are in partnership with Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey - the state’s only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. JCMC is also a state designated stroke center, a regional comprehensive cardiac center, a perinatal intensive care center, a regional level 3 neonatal intensive care unit for critically ill newborns, and home to the most advanced robotic-assisted surgical program in Hudson County. JCMC, a provider of Advanced Life Support for Hudson County, runs 911 Medical Call Screening for Hudson County and operates one of the state’s busiest EMS systems.