The role of chief transformation officer is relatively new. As the digital landscape evolves, this position advances too. Healthcare transformation officers specialize in how health IT can impact the field, where to focus growth and how to better manage their health systems or hospitals.
Below is a list of 32 chief transformation officers who have made a positive impact on their organizations and have their sights set on future growth.
Contact Randi Haseman at rhaseman@beckershealthcare.com to recommend a leader for this list. To learn more about the information industry and engage in lively debate about the future, join us at Becker's 7th Annual Health IT and Revenue Cycle Management Conference in October - register here.
Paul Alexander, MD. Executive Vice President, Chief Health Equity and Transformation Officer of RWJBarnabas Health (West Orange, N.J.). Dr. Alexander became senior vice president and chief transformation officer in February 2020 and then was promoted to his current role in August 2021. He has previous experience as vice president and chief medical officer of government programs for Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. He also spent time as regional chief medical officer at UnitedHealthcare and executive director of external relations at AstraZeneca.
Emily Allinder Scott. Senior Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer of BayCare Health System (Clearwater, Fla.). BayCare named Ms. Allinder Scott senior vice president and chief transformation officer in October 2020, responsible for transformation across the system's 15 hospitals. She has previous experience as vice president for clinical integration at Baylor Scott & White Health in Dallas where she led efforts to reduce clinical variation and value-based care initiatives. Ms. Allinder Scott also has experience in behavioral health, clinical transformation and population health.
Karyn Baum, MD. Chief Transformation Officer at Essentia Health (Duluth, Minn.). Dr. Baum has worked in education, quality improvement, transformational change and healthcare administration for over 15 years. She presented and trained others on evidence-based teamwork curriculum designed to improve patient safety, traveling across the U.S. as well as Japan, Iceland and China.
Nina Beauchesne. Executive Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer of Memorial Healthcare System (Hollywood, Fla.). Ms. Beauchesne has more than 30 years of leadership experience, focused on providing vision, operational oversight and innovative direction at Memorial Healthcare System. She has spearheaded cultural transformation at the system to attract, develop and retain high quality professionals and has a background in talent acquisition, project management, physician relations, construction management and more.
Amanda Bohleber, MD. Chief Transformation Officer at Deaconess Health System (Evansville, Ind.). Dr. Bohleber is working to transform ambulatory care practices to a team-based care delivery model that improves clinician, employee and patient satisfaction. She began at Deaconess Health System in 2008 as a part-time family practice physician which she still continues presently.
Aimee Daily. Senior Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer of Memorial Health (Springfield, Ill.). Ms. Daily provides strategic leadership of integration, standardization and change for Memorial Health's structures, behaviors and processes. She aims to improve organizational performance, capacity and engagement in her role as chief transformation officer. She joined Memorial Health in 2000 as an educator at Springfield Memorial Hospital and worked her way up to become vice president of organization development and chief learning officer before becoming CTO.
Jennifer Dauer. Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (Columbus). Ms. Dauer became chief strategy and transformation officer at OSU Wexner Medical Center in July 2020 after spending time as executive in residence and managing director of CincyTech, a venture development firm. She also has experience as vice president for strategy and growth at Cincinnati Children's hospital Medical Center where she oversaw strategic planning and the center for technology commercialization. She also provided leadership for marketing and communications at the hospital.
Debra Fields. Executive Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer of City of Hope (Duarte, Calif.). Ms. Fields has been with City of Hope for more than 23 years, starting as the chief compliance officer. Prior to her roles at City of Hope, she worked in law in Washington D.C. Ms. Fields is committed to City of Hope's mission to deliver the cures of tomorrow to the people who need them today. City of Hope has grown into one of the largest cancer research and treatment organizations in the U.S. and one of the leading research centers for diabetes and other life-threatening illnesses.
Peter Fleischut, MD. Senior Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer of NewYork - Presbyterian (New York City). In his 12 years at NewYork - Presbyerian, Dr. Fleischut has served as the deputy quality patient safety officer, medical director of operating rooms, chief innovation officer and chief medical operating officer before his current role. Dr. Fleischut has a particular interest in artificial intelligence and capabilities in healthcare operations. He is also an associate professor at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City.
Arthur Gianelli. Chief Transformation Officer at Mount Sinai (New York City) and President at Mount Sinai Morningside (New York City). Mr. Gianelli transforms organizational culture, implements best practices and instills key behaviors to drive improvements in patient experience. He has earned multiple awards, including the Healthcare Leaders of New York's Award of Distinction, which recognizes sustained and outstanding contributions to the advancement of healthcare administration as a profession.
Amy Higgins. Chief Transformation and Experience Officer at UNC Health (Morrisville, N.C.). In her role as chief transformation and experience officer at UNC Health, Ms. Higgins is responsible for strategic planning, strategy execution, customer and consumer experience, corporate development, innovation and venture investments. The health system has 14 hospitals and 18 hospital campuses across North Carolina.
Penelope Iannelli. Chief Transformation Officer at UMass Memorial Health (Worcester, Mass.). Ms. Iannelli has been at UMass Memorial for seven years, spending time as the associate vice president of IT value delivery and vice president of process engineering and analytics before becoming chief transformation officer in 2019. She describes herself as "people-centric" and has a focus on change management. She spent 15 years at Intel before entering healthcare.
H. Takaji Kittaka, MD. Chief Transformation Officer of Adena Health System (Chillicothe, Ohio). Dr. Kittaka directs and coordinates the employed medical group for necessary changes in healthcare models required to transform and integrate care delivery. Adena includes four hospitals in Ohio and more than 25 regional clinics.
Joseph Lamantia. Executive Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer of Catholic Health (Buffalo, N.Y.). Mr. Lamantia was named chief transformation officer of Catholic Health in March after spending time as the senior vice president for the eastern region of Northwell Health, based in New Hyde Park, N.Y. He is Catholic Health's first CTO and is tasked with the administrative oversight of clinical service lines, ambulatory centers, population health initiatives, shared risk relationships and business development.
Jeffrey Lawrence, MD. Senior Vice President, Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer, and Physician-in-Chief for Primary Care and Urgent Care at Southcoast Health System (New Bedford, Mass.). Dr. Lawrence has been in the healthcare field for 12 years and focusing on transformation in healthcare for two years. During his residency at Worcester, Mass.-based UMass Memorial Medical Center, Dr. Lawrence received the Bob Thomas Teaching Award in Pediatrics in 2013 and 2014, which made him the only resident to ever receive this award twice during residency.
Jodie Lesh. Chief Transformation Officer at Kaiser Permanente (Oakland, Calif.). In 2003, Ms. Lesh began as the senior vice president of strategic planning for Kaiser Permanente and has since built her career around healthcare innovation. She has also served as board chair for Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times and the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation. In her current role as chief transformation officer, Ms. Lesh is a cross-functional orchestrator of complex, disruptive initiatives for Kaiser Permanente's member organizations.
Christian Lindmark. Chief Technology Officer at Stanford (Calif.) Health Care. Mr. Lindmark has been essential for Stanford's digital technology infrastructure since he began in this role in 2017. He leads strategy for Stanford Health Care and Stanford University School of Medicine's digital technology infrastructure, customer and user experience as well as clinical and biomedical engineering. He helped lead the design and implementation of Stanford Health Care's hospital which opened in November 2019. Mr. Lindmark also implemented innovative solutions to support employees and patients during the past two years, advanced the organization's technology resiliency through multi-cloud and data center consolidation initiatives and supports new transformational digital-first activities.
Helen Macfie, PharmD. Chief Transformation Officer at MemorialCare Health System (Fountain Valley, Calif.). Dr. Macfie has been in the healthcare field for almost 40 years. Since 2005, she has overseen performance improvement, strategic planning and complex project deployment as well served as Executive Administrator for MemorialCare's Clinically Integrated Network. She serves as faculty for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and as a member of the Board for California Healthcare Compare. Previously, Dr. Macfie has been named in Becker's Top 50 Patient Safety Experts Leading the Field.
Christopher McAlpine. Senior Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer at Parrish Medical Center (Titusville, Fla.). Mr. McAlpine has been senior vice president and chief transformation officer of Parrish Medical Center since 2000. In his role, Mr. McAlpine's responsibilities include serving as administration of the Florida Health exclusive provider network, community health partnership, strategic planning, business development, sales strategy, brand development, clinical alignment and integration, preventative and health risk assessments, and enterprise risk management.
Patrick McGill, MD. Executive Vice President and Chief Transformation OFficer of Community Health Network (Indianapolis). Dr. McGill oversees population health management, value-based care, and data-enabled strategies in his role as chief transformation officer at Community Health Network. He joined the health system in 2010 as a family medicine physician and then became vice president of clinical transformation and clinical strategies before being named to his current role in 2021. Dr. McGill also has experience in informatics and leads the health system's efforts to use analytics to drive transformation.
James Merlino, MD. Chief Clinical Transformation Officer of Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Merlino focuses on improving patient safety, quality and experience at Cleveland Clinic. He has more than 30 years of healthcare experience, including time as president, chief medical officer and chief transformation officer of Press Ganey. He has led C-suite strategic sessions with more than 70 of the largest healthcare organizations in the U.S.
Patty Nedved, RN, MSN. Chief Transformation Officer and Associate Vice President at Rush University Medical Center (Chicago). Ms. Nedved joined Rush in 2007 and held a variety of clinical leadership roles before being promoted to chief transformation officer in 2018. She is responsible for the design, build and operational functionality of a 480,000-square feet, 10-story ambulatory cancer and neurosciences building. She has 33 years of experience in the healthcare field, beginning in nursing.
Cheryl O'Malley, MSN. Chief Transformation Officer and Vice President of Population Health at Southwest General Health Center (Middleburg Heights, Ohio). Ms. O'Malley has over 40 years of nursing experience, holds a DNP and is board certified as a nurse executive. She also has a bachelor's degree in psychology. In her role as vice president and chief transformation officer of population health at Southwest General Health Center, Ms. O'Malley is responsible for improving patient outcomes, better managing chronic conditions, closing care gaps and decreasing costs for providers.
Kellie Olmstead. Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer at Nemours Children's Health (Orlando). Ms. Olmstead helped develop her role in 2021 at Nemours Children's Health to execute and deploy the system's strategy. She joined the health system in 2013 to focus on continuous improvement through coaching, teaching and applying Lean principles. She expanded her role six years later and then became chief transformation officer in 2021.
Peter J. Pronovost, MD. Chief Quality & Clinical Transformation Officer at University Hospitals (Cleveland). Dr. Pronovost began at University Hospitals in 2018. He has published over 800 peer-reviewed reports. One prolific report leveraged checklists to reduce catheter-related bloodstream infections which has saved thousands of lives and has been implemented across the U.S.
Emily Scott. Senior Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer at BayCare Health System (Clearwater, Fla.). Ms. Scott has been in healthcare since 2005 and with BayCare Health System since 2020. She works to reduce clinical variation, innovate clinical care delivery models, oversee value-based care and execute the system's population health agenda.
Jeff Short. Chief Transformation Officer and Chief Executive of the Faculty Practice Physician Group at Montefiore Health System (Bronx, N.Y.). Mr. Short has expertise in enterprisewide strategic and operational transformation as well as digital health and telemedicine. His faculty practice group has 2,000 physicians and 5,000 employees. He has over 15 years of experience.
Jason Siegert. Chief Transformation Officer of Bon Secours Mercy Health (Cincinnati). Mr. Siegert is responsible for improving performance across clinical operations, shared services, care delivery innovation and growth. He is also driving efforts to transform the health system's culture to become more agile and innovative. He joined Bon Secours Mercy Health in 2018 as the system's first chief analytics officer after spending time as CEO of Angel MedFlight Worldwide Air Ambulance Service.
Michael Thomas. Executive Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer at John Muir Health (Concord, Calif.). Mr. Thomas develops care management infrastructure, information technology and risk analytics capabilities as executive vice president and chief transformation officer at John Muir. He also serves as chair of John Muir Health's Executive Operations Council.
Michael Torgan. Chief Transformation Officer at Mission Community Hospital (Panorama City, Calif.). Mr. Torgan has over 30 years of executive experience in post-acute and healthcare delivery services. He has a background in healthcare innovation and strategic planning, and has extensive knowledge of CMS. Prior to becoming chief transformation officer at Mission Community Hospital, he was vice president of operations at Prestige Healthcare Management.
Jeff Weiss, JD. Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer of Mass General Brigham (Boston). Mr. Weiss oversees strategy, system transformation, clinical mergers and acquisitions and strategic partnership functions for Mass General Brigham. He has more than 30 years of leadership experience, including time as president of Lesley University and partner and co-founder of IT and healthcare firm Vantage partners. He has a focus on driving innovation, strategy implementation, negotiating complex agreements, board governance and more.
James Whitfill, MD. Senior Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer of HonorHealth (Scottsdale, Ariz.). Dr. Whitfill focuses on building organizational culture, IT and promoting consumer-centric experiences at HonorHealth as the chief transformation officer. He focuses on business areas to find the right digital tools to improve the patient journey and make the health system more patient-friendly. He has previous experience as chief medical officer for Innovation Care Partners, a Phoenix-based clinically integrated network. Dr. Whitfill built H2Go, a consumer digital healthcare platform for patients, which achieved top quartile results in patient engagement.
Lucy Xenophon, MD. Chief Transformation Officer at Mount Sinai Morningside (New York City). Dr. Xenophon's objectives are to establish and sustain a culture of continuous improvement at all organizational levels. She has almost 30 years of experience in healthcare, beginning her career as a diagnostic radiologist.
Michael Zaroukian, MD. Vice President, Chief Medical Information Officer and Chief Transformation Officer at Sparrow Health System (Lansing, Mich.). Dr. Zaroukian provides clinical informatics and physician leadership with a key understanding of health information technology and clinical transformation at Sparrow Health System. He is also the co-chair of the Health Information Technology Commission for the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services.