Sanford M. Garfunkel, FACHE

Network Director

Sanford Garfunkel became the Network Director for the VA Capitol Health Care Network on April 29, 2007.

Prior to his appointment as Network Director, Mr. Garfunkel served as the Director of the VA Medical Center in Washington, DC, beginning April 16, 1995. As the Director, he was responsible for managing a $284 million budget and for overseeing the operations and administration of a 167-bed tertiary care facility with specialized services in medicine, surgery, neurology, and psychiatry, a 120-bed Comprehensive Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, a Research Facility, and a 30-bed compensated work therapy residential unit.

Mr. Garfunkel was born in 1947 in New York City. He received his undergraduate degree from Baruch College, City College of New York, and his masters in health care administration from the Baruch College and the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, City University of New York.

He joined VA in 1971 as a management analyst at the Bronx VA Medical Center, and has held positions at VA Medical Centers in Manhattan, East Orange, N.J., and Brooklyn. He also has been assigned to the VA Central Office in Washington, D.C.

In 1986, Mr. Garfunkel was selected as Federal Manager of the Year by New York City Metropolitan Federal Executive Board. In 1990, he became a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. In 1991, he became the first VA executive to win the Executive Excellence Award of the Senior Executives Association. Mr. Garfunkel also won the Meritorious Presidential Rank Award in 1991, 2000, and 2006, and he won the Distinguished Presidential Rank Award in 1994.