Denise Driscoll, Assistant Vice President of Behavioral Health at Northwell’s Mather Hospital, has received the distinguished 2025 Nurse of Excellence Award from the Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Council.
“This accolade is a testament to Denise’s extraordinary contributions to the field of nursing and her remarkable impact on mental health care within our community,” said Tara Matz, MSN, RN, CNO/Vice President for Nursing at Mather Hospital. “Denise’s leadership and innovative spirit have been pivotal in advancing our behavioral health services. Her initiatives have significantly enhanced patient care and highlighted the essential role of mental health support. We are extremely proud of Denise’s achievements and fortunate to have her leadership and dedication within our team.”
“I am so humbled by this recognition,” Ms. Driscoll said. “It is a culmination of my life’s work, passion, and commitment to break down barriers and create hope for those living with mental illness and substance abuse.”
The Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Council, which represents the not-for-profit and public hospitals on Long Island, noted that Ms. Driscoll “has established herself as a change agent by helping to develop and implement a wide range of successful ongoing programs at her hospital, including crisis intervention programs and innovative mental health services such as a tele-mental health service, an Outpatient Rapid Access Mental Health Center, and Esketamine therapy in the Outpatient Infusion Center.”
Ms. Driscoll joined Mather Hospital in 1987 as a registered nurse working on the inpatient psychiatric units. In 1995 she became the first psychiatric nurse practitioner at Mather, working in the Partial Hospital program. She was named Director of Adult
Partial Hospitalization in 2001, Director of Inpatient Psychiatry in 2015, and Assistant Vice President in 2016. She also received the prestigious Advocacy Award from the American Nurses Association in 2021.
About Mather Hospital
Mather Hospital is an accredited 249-bed, non-profit community teaching hospital dedicated to providing a wide spectrum of high-quality healthcare services to Suffolk County residents, showing compassion, respect and treating each patient in the manner
we would wish for our loved ones. Mather received its third top five-star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for outcomes, patient experience and process and the prestigious Magnet® recognition three times from the American Nurses Credentialing Center for quality patient care, nursing excellence and innovations in professional nursing practice. The hospital was rated high performing by U.S. News & World Report 2025-2026 Best Hospitals rankings in two medical specialties of gastroenterology and GI surgery and pulmonology and lung surgery, and for congestive heart failure, kidney failure, and pneumonia. Mather also was named one of America’s 250 best hospitals for 2023, 2024 and 2025 by Healthgrades and in 2025 received Healthgrades’ Outstanding Patient Experience Award™ for the fifth consecutive year. The Leapfrog Group awarded Mather its 22nd top A grade for patient safety in the spring 2025 ratings. Our Graduate Medical Education program prepares physicians for future careers through Internal Medicine, Transitional Year, Diagnostic Radiology, Interventional Radiology, Psychiatry and Pharmacy residency programs and gastroenterology and hematology/oncology fellowships. For information about Mather Hospital, visit matherhospital.org or follow us @MatherHospital on Facebook.
About Northwell Health
Northwell is the largest not-for-profit health system in the Northeast, serving residents of New York and Connecticut with 28 hospitals, more than 1,000 outpatient facilities, 22,000 nurses and over 20,000 physicians. Northwell cares for more than three million people annually in the New York metro area, including Long Island, the Hudson Valley, western Connecticut and beyond, thanks to philanthropic support from our communities. Northwell is New York State’s largest private employer with over 104,000 employees – including members of Northwell Health Physician Partners and Nuvance Health Medical Practices – who are working to change health care for the better. Northwell, named a TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2025, is making breakthroughs in medicine at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. Northwell is training the next generation of medical professionals at the visionary Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. For information on our more than 100 medical specialties, visit Northwell.edu and follow us @NorthwellHealth on Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn.