Peter Slavin, MD, will become president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai Health System, both in Los Angeles, in October, and he brings a wealth of experience to the role.
Dr. Slavin served as president of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston from 2003 to 2021 before leaving to pursue his interests in healthcare investment, advising and consulting.
In his new role, he will succeed Thomas Priselac, who is retiring after 30 years as president and CEO and 45 years total with Cedars-Sinai.
Dr. Slavin told Becker's he is excited about joining Cedars-Sinai, which includes more than 40 locations, including its flagship, 889-bed Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
"This is a new adventure for myself as well as my family," he said. "As I got involved in the process for Cedars to pick a new leader, I became quite enamored with the organization and quite enamored with the notion of living in Los Angeles."
Here, Dr. Slavin discusses taking over for a "giant" in the field and his approach to balancing Cedars-Sinai's care and academic missions.
Question: What are your immediate priorities as you step into the role of CEO at Cedars-Sinai?
Dr. Peter Slavin: I'm succeeding a giant in the field and a giant at Cedars, Tom Priselac, who has been there for 30 years. And I've been admiring what he and the team have been doing there from a distance over that period of time. One thing that I learned about Cedars during this process that I was very attracted to was the culture of the organization. How patient focused it is. How collaborative it is. And how much people who work there love the institution, love being there. Certainly one of my priorities will be to do whatever I can to strengthen, sustain that type of culture. It can not only lead to an environment that people love being part of, but it leads to better patient care.
I would also say that over the last 20 or 30 years, Cedars has been on an incredible journey transforming itself from a community hospital to now a world-class academic medical center and health system. I want to keep it on that roll. I think there's a lot more upside potential for it and many more opportunities for it to affect the lives of people in the Los Angeles area more broadly.
Q: How do you plan to build on the legacy of outgoing CEO Thomas Priselac?
PS: One part of the legacy is effective execution or implementation of initiatives within the organization. It seems like an organization that is really able to get things done and make decisions in relatively short order. I think that's a very admirable quality. As I said before, I think the culture of the organization is very special, and I want to maintain and find ways to strengthen it even further. And I think Tom and I both believe it's possible to be a great clinical facility and deliver excellent and highly personalized clinical care while at the same time being an academic powerhouse and conducting a formidable research program and educating the next generation of health professionals. I think some places view those objectives at odds with one another. I view them as synergistic with one another.
Q: What strategies will you employ to address the current challenges facing healthcare systems, particularly in a post-pandemic world?
PS: The organization about a year or so ago did come up with a strategic plan. It's quite comprehensive. Seems to be rolling out well. One of the things I'll do in the next year or so is get a sense as to whether any parts of it need to be modified or prioritized. I view that as an important objective over the next six to 12 months, to settle on a strategy. It may be identical to the one the organization is already moving along, or it may need to be adjusted.
Q: How do you plan to leverage your experience and successes from leading Massachusetts General Hospital to address the unique challenges and opportunities at Cedars-Sinai?
PS: One thing I'm not planning on doing is trying to turn Cedars into Massachusetts General Hospital. They are two great organizations that can learn a lot from each other. But I've seen over the years people come from one organization, and all they talk about is how things were done at their previous employer, and I don't think that's particularly helpful in the long term. My plan is to work with the team out there and try to figure out what steps can be taken to make Cedars as outstanding an organization as possible.
To read Becker's interview with Mr. Priselac, click here.