Ridgewood-based Valley Health System, in partnership with Mount Sinai Children’s Hospital, recently announced the appointment of Dr. Lewis Kass as medical director of Pediatric Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine for Valley Medical Group.
Kass succeeds Dr. Steven Kanengiser, who has retired after 17 years of service at Valley. He will see patients at Valley’s new pediatric pulmonary clinic located at 140 E. Ridgewood Ave. in Paramus.
Kass brings more than 27 years of experience in pediatric pulmonary medicine and prior leadership expertise to Valley. He is board certified in pediatric pulmonology and sleep medicine.
In his previous role, Kass served as pediatric sleep director for the Norwalk Hospital Sleep Disorders Center in Norwalk, Connecticut, and, prior to this, he was the director of the Sleep Center at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in the Bronx.
Kass has special interests in narcolepsy, functional breathing disorders, pediatric sleep disorders, wheezing that is not a direct result of asthma, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome and clinical hypnosis, which he has been practicing for 17 years.
“Sleep has such an impact on the lives of children, teens and young adults. Having the opportunity to improve sleep quality can have major impacts on the lives of our patients,” Kass said. “I am coming to Valley after over 19 years in a solo, private practice, where I knew the magic ingredient for taking care of patients to the best of one’s ability is time. Time builds rapport. Rapport breeds openness and honesty. Time and honesty allow for enough questions to get to the truth. Truth leads to diagnosis. Diagnosis and treatment lead to healing. It is all about time.”
