Dr. Sandra Lindsay is the recipeint of the GSNC 2024 Legacy Award.
Sandra Lindsay is Northwell’s ambassador to raise health locally, nationally and globally. She leads the health system in expanding knowledge of issues that affect community health, public policy and other aspects of health care.
With more than 28 years of nursing experience, Dr. Lindsay previously served as director of patient care services in critical care at Northwell Health's Long Island Jewish Medical Center. On December 14, 2020, she became the first person in the United States to receive the COVID-19 vaccine outside of a clinical trial.
Since her historic COVID-19 vaccination, Dr. Lindsay has become an advocate for vaccinations and dispelling misinformation, and a supporter of medical research and global health equity. President Joseph Biden has recognized Dr. Lindsay at the White House as an Outstanding American by Choice for her outstanding achievements as a naturalized U.S. citizen, civic participation, professional achievement, responsible citizenship commitment to this country and common civic values. In July 2022, President Biden awarded her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given to a U.S. citizen.
Dr. Lindsay also has met with the President of the United Nations, the Prime Minister of Jamaica, and, in July 2021, served as Grand Marshall in New York’s Hometown Heroes Parade. Dr. Lindsay will receive the Order of Distinction in the Commander Class from her birthplace, Jamaica, in late 2022.
Numerous organizations have recognized Dr. Lindsay for her work, including the Caribbean Heritage Organization, which awarded her with the 2021 Robert Nesta Marley Humanitarian Award. She also has received the Mary Seacole Award, the Jamaica Cultural Alliance and Glenmuir High School Trailblazer Award, the Herbert Lehman College Alumni and Leadership Award, the Borough of Manhattan Community College President’s Award, the American Nursing Association President’s Award, and the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce’s Black History Legends Award. The Little Flower Children and Family Services of New York has recognized Dr. Lindsay as a Corporate Ambassador of Hope and the Aspen Ideas Festival invited her to join them as a thought leader in 2022 to discuss issues that shape the world and challenge our times. She will return to the Institute in November 2022 to discuss the role of hospitals in the post-COVID world.
Dr. Lindsay's educational accomplishments include a baccalaureate degree in nursing from St. Joseph's College and a master’s degree in nursing from Herbert Lehman College, where she returned to deliver the college’s 2022 commencement address. She also earned a master’s degree in business administration from Hofstra University and, in May 2021, completed a doctorate in health sciences with a concentration in global health and leadership and organization behavior from A.T. Still University. In June 2022, Dr. Lindsay published a paper in Nursing Management titled, “Authentic Leadership: Does It Relate to Job Satisfaction and Engagement?”
Dr. Lindsay received her nursing degree at Borough of Manhattan Community College in 1993, where she graduated as valedictorian. In 1994, she joined Northwell Health’s Lenox Hill Hospital as an oncology nurse. Three years later, Dr. Lindsay became a critical care nurse before taking on leadership roles. She served as nurse manager for the adult medical intensive care unit at Lenox Hill Hospital for more than seven years before becoming its director.
Raised in Jamaica by their grandparents, Dr. Lindsay and her siblings moved to the United States in 1986.
When Dr. Lindsay is not pursuing her studies or working, she enjoys adventurous traveling, visiting Jamaica, reading leadership books and articles and gardening.