Chief digital officers are an emerging role for hospital IT teams and taking on increasing importance as systems dive deep into digital transformation.
Digital executives oversee technology use across the organization, both patient and staff-facing. The digital leaders are responsible for boosting the patient experience, access to care and innovation within the health system.
Note: This list was developed to highlight top physician executives from hospitals across the U.S. Contact Laura Dyrda at ldyrda@beckershealthcare.com with questions or comments. Click here to view nomination forms for future lists.
Naomi Diaz, Cailey Gleeson, Georgina Gonzalez, Riz Hatton, Marcus Robertson, Marissa Plescia and Ariana Portalatin contributed to the development of this list.
Tony Ambrozie. Senior Vice President and Chief Digital and Information Officer at Baptist Health South Florida (Coral Gables). Mr. Ambrozie oversees all the use of technology and data across Florida's largest health system, which includes 11 hospitals, more than 23,000 employees, 4,000 physicians, and 100 outpatient centers, urgent care facilities and physician practices across four counties. He was appointed to this inaugural role in October 2020 after serving as the senior vice president of technology and digital for the Walt Disney Co.
Michael Anderes. Chief Innovation and Digital Officer at Froedtert Health (Milwaukee). In addition to his current role, Mr. Anderes is the president of Inception Health, a company of Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin health network that works to power adoption of digital health technology and forge partnerships with innovative companies at the health network. He also has experience leading strategy and performance for health systems, previously doing so for Froedtert Health's orthopedic, neuroscience and spine service lines and serving as the director of strategy at Poudre Valley Health System in Fort Collins, Colo.
Ashish Atreja, MD. CIO and Chief Digital Officer of UC Davis Health (Sacramento, Calif.). Dr. Atreja is responsible for UC Davis Health's digital relationship expansion to connect with other hospitals and patients. He aims to bridge the gap between IT, academic research and innovation as the health system becomes a global hub for digital health. Dr. Atreja has previous experience as chief innovation officer for the department of medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, and he also spent time as associate program director for informatics fellowship at Cleveland Clinic.
Omer Awan. Chief Data and Digital Officer at Atrium Health (Charlotte, N.C.). Mr. Awan oversees data and digital innovation for a health system consisting of 70,000 employees, 40 hospitals and more than 1,400 care locations. He joined the health system in 2016 after serving as vice president and senior regional CIO for Northern Light Health in Brewer, Maine.
Kathy Azeez-Narain. Vice President and Chief Digital Officer at Hoag (Newport Beach, Calif.). Ms. Azeez-Narain oversees digital innovation for a health system made up of two hospitals, 14 urgent care centers, 1,700 physicians and 7,000 employees. She is seen as a digital product leader with more than a decade of experience in product development and marketing in the financial services industry, previously serving in leadership roles for American Express.
Sameer Badlani, MD. Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer at Fairview (Minneapolis). Dr. Badlani leads digital innovation for a system of 34,000 employees and 10 care facilities. He was previously the chief health information officer and system vice president of enterprise data management and analytics at Sutter Health in Sacramento, Calif. He was also chief health information officer at Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City and chief medical information officer at UChicago Medicine.
San Banerjee. Chief Digital Officer and Vice President of Digital Experience at Texas Health Resources (Arlington). As Texas Health Resources' chief digital officer, Mr. Banerjee leads the consumer digital and digital health experience for the health system, its subsidiaries and joint ventures. He has more than 20 years of experience in digital transformation and information systems delivery. Prior to Texas Health Resources, he served as Louisville, Ky.-based insurer Humana's head of consumer digital solutions. Mr. Banerjee has previously worked for Barclays Bank, SunGard Financial Systems, Infosys and Goldman Sachs.
Denise Basow, MD. Chief Digital Officer at Ochsner Health (New Orleans). Dr. Basow stepped into her current role with Ochsner Health in January. Before that, she served for more than six years as president and CEO of information services and publishing firm Wolters Kluwer. She served for more than 19 years in various leadership roles with clinical IT services and consulting company UpToDate and was a primary care internist at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Mass., from 1994-96.
Hank Capps, MD. Executive Vice President and Chief Information and Digital Officer at Wellstar Health System (Marietta, Ga.). In 2021, Dr. Capps led the launch of Wellstar's Catalyst center, a first-of-its-kind global digital health and innovation center created and operated within a health system to holistically address healthcare disruption. Dr. Capps joined Wellstar after more than 18 years with Novant Health in Winston-Salem, N.C., where he most recently served as senior vice president and chief digital health and engagement officer.
Albert Chan, MD. Enterprise Vice President and Chief of Digital Health at Sutter Health (Sacramento, Calif.). Dr. Chan leads Sutter Health's efforts in web and mobile healthcare services transformation. He also heads the Sutter Health My Health Online initiative and continues to practice family medicine at the Palo Alto (Calif.) Medical Foundation. He has served in his current role at Sutter Health since August 2015.
Rohit Chandra, PhD. Chief Digital Officer at Cleveland Clinic (Cleveland). Dr. Chandra stepped into the chief digital officer role in 2022. He leads the information technology division and drives digital innovation across Cleveland Clinic's health system. Dr. Chandra has more than 25 years of experience in digital technology and engineering. He previously served as the vice president of engineering at technology startup Sunshine Products.
Suja Chandrasekaran. Senior Executive Vice president and Chief Information and Digital Officer of CommonSpirit (Chicago). Ms. Chandrasekaran was listed as one of Forbes' 50 innovative technology leaders in 2021. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, she built a data and analytics-driven COVID-19 integrated surveillance and insights system for 142 hospitals and 700 care centers.
Alistair Erskine, MD. Chief digital health officer of Mass General Brigham (Boston). Dr. Erskine oversees the integration of technology, data and informatics. He has experience leading Partners HealthCare's eCare division with over 400 applications and clinical staff. Prior to his role at Mass General Brigham, he was CIO of Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger.
Rémy Evard. Chief Digital Officer and Head of Technology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (New York City). Mr. Evard, who brings more than 30 years experience in technology leadership, oversees the design and execution of the center's digital strategy. He is also in charge of the digital informatics and technology solutions department, which includes more than 1,000 employees.
Jeffrey Ferranti, MD. Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer of Duke University Health System (Durham, N.C.). Prior to serving as chief digital officer, Mr. Ferranti was CIO, vice president for medical informatics and leader of Duke Health Technology Solutions. He also helped the health system roll out the enterprise deployment of Epic's EHR system and provided strategic oversight of the health system's technology.
Randall Gaboriault. Senior Vice President and Chief Digital and Information Officer of ChristianaCare (Wilmington, Del.). Mr. Gaboriault is responsible for leading digital technology and innovation initiatives. He also serves as chair of the Delaware Health Information Network, the first statewide health information exchange in the nation.
Deborah Gash. Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer of Saint Luke's Health System (Kansas City, Mo.). Ms. Gash has over 24 years of experience at Saint Luke's. She joined the system as a project manager in 1998 and served in a variety of leadership roles before being appointed to her current ones in 2018.
Mark Hulse. Chief Digital Officer of City of Hope (Duarte, Calif.). In his role as chief digital officer, Mr. Hulse solves key business challenges and leads a broad range of digital initiatives to support clinical, research, operations and administrative objectives. Prior to joining City of Hope, Mr. Hulse served as CEO of the THEO Executive Group. He also served as chief administrative officer and chief information officer at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla.
David Jaffray, PhD. Senior Vice President, Chief Technology and Digital Officer of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston). Dr. Jaffray is the MD Anderson Cancer Center's inaugural chief technology and digital officer, bringing more than two decades of scientific expertise to the role. After being recruited to the center in 2019, he also leads efforts to advance data integration, governance and security across MD Anderson’s Houston campuses and its national network.
Christopher Longhurst, MD. Chief Medical Officer, Chief Digital Officer of UC San Diego Health. In his dual role as chief medical and digital officer at UC San Diego Health, Dr. Longhurst provides leadership to the system's medical staff while ensuring measures are in place to provide the highest standard of care. Prior to his current role, Dr. Longhurst served as the system's chief information officer and associate chief medical officer for quality and safety.
Ben Maisano. Vice President and Chief Digital Officer at Atlantic Health System (Morristown, N.J.). As vice president and chief digital officer, Mr. Maisano oversees digital strategy at Atlantic Health System, where he works with and aligns leaders to build integrated solutions for Atlantic's patients. He also leads the system’s venture studio, which evaluates and builds partnerships and investments with the startup community, vendors and other collaborators.
Novlet Mattis. Senior Vice President and Chief Digital and Information Officer at Orlando (Fla.) Health. Ms. Mattis provides leadership in information technology, clinical engineering and digital innovation. She oversees a budget of more than $300 million and a team of nearly 740 staff members. She also led the implementation of Epic's EHR platform at Orlando Health.
Nader Mherabi. Executive Vice President, Vice Dean and Chief Digital and Information Officer of NYU Langone Health (New York City). Mr. Mherabi is responsible for all of NYU Langone's information technology activities and development. He also leads the organization's digital transformation initiative. He has more than 30 years in the information technology field.
Aaron Miri. Senior Vice President and Chief Digital and Information Officer of Baptist Health (Jacksonville, Fla.). In addition to his role at Baptist Health, Mr. Miri is the co-chair of Health and Human Services, federal Health IT Advisory Committee. He is also an adviser to the National Academy of Medicine.
Nassar Nizami. Executive Vice President and Chief Information and Digital Officer at Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health (Philadelphia). Mr. Nizami oversees Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health's information technology plan, digital transformation, cybersecurity and enterprise data analytics. He prioritizes advancing healthcare, research and education using technology.
Nick Patel, MD. Chief Digital Officer at Prisma Health (Columbia, S.C.). Dr. Patel's goal as chief digital officer is to provide healthcare that's second to none in the office, hospital and home settings utilizing healthcare technology. In 2021, the system conducted more than 400,000 virtual care appointments. Dr. Patel has been at Prisma Health for 16 years and he has held the title of chief digital officer for three and a half years.
Kash Patel, MD. Executive Vice President, Chief Information and Digital Engagement Officer at Hackensack Meridian Health (Edison, N.J.). At Hackensack Meridian Health, Dr. Patel has spearheaded a series of projects, including deploying artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions to assist in screening and disease detection as well as providing digital platforms that allow patients to engage in their health. Before joining the system in August 2021, he served as vice president and chief digital technology officer at Philadelphia based-Penn Medicine for three years.
Shafiq Rab, MD. Chief Digital Officer and CIO of Tufts Medicine (Burlington, Mass.). Dr. Rab leads Tuft's digital transformation efforts, overseeing the systemwide digital and IT organization that supports care. He is an expert on interoperability, FHIR, cloud strategy, use of apps, APIs, AI and digital healthcare economy. Prior to joining Tufts in November 2020, he served as senior vice president and CIO at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
Nick Reddy. Chief Digital Officer and Senior Vice President of Information Services at Baylor Scott & White Health (Dallas). In his role, Mr. Reddy aims to take the information known about each patient and use it to help that person achieve good outcomes. For instance, his team asked 10,000 customers about what convenience meant to them and used that information to make a highly rated app available in the Apple App Store and on Google Play. Mr. Reddy has been with Baylor Scott & White Health for over 10 years.
Craig Richardville. Senior Vice President and Chief Information and Digital Officer of SCL Health (Broomfield, Colo.). Mr. Richardville joined SCL Health as senior vice president and CIO in 2019 to oversee the system's IT strategy and operations. He is responsible for information security, core infrastructure and leading SCL Health's digital transformation and information automation. Mr. Richardville spent time as vice president and chief information and analytics officer at Carolinas HealthCare System in Charlotte, N.C., prior to joining SCL Health. He was named the John E. Gall, Jr. CIO of the Year by the Colleague of Healthcare Information Management Executives and Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society in 2015.
Edmondo Robinson, MD. Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer of Moffitt Cancer Center (Tampa, Fla.). In his role, Dr. Robinson leads the center for digital health, which creates and tests new services, programs, partnerships and technologies that leverage digital innovations. He is also an associate professor at University of South Florida's Morsani College of Medicine in Tampa and an adjunct senior fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Prior to his role at Moffitt, Dr. Robinson was the chief transformation officer and senior vice president of consumerism at ChristianaCare.
Jeff Sturman. Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer of Memorial Healthcare System (Hollywood, Fla.). Mr. Sturman has been with Memorial for more than three years and an integral part of the health system's digital transformation. He was promoted from CIO to chief digital officer in October 2021 as the health system aims to expand its digital innovation and consumerism approaches. He now oversees IT, clinical engineering and biomed and spearheads solutions to fix healthcare access issues in the community.
Jason Szczuka. Chief Digital Officer of Bon Secours Mercy Health (Cincinnati). Mr. Szczuka came to the 50-hospital system in July 2021. He was previously the chief digital officer at Cigna for two years. Before holding that position, he was vice president of digital transformation at Cigna.
Prat Vemana. Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer of Kaiser Permanente (Oakland, Calif.). Mr. Vemana leads the system's development and execution of digital vision and strategy. He came to Kaiser Permanente in 2019, previously serving as chief product and experience officer at the Home Depot. He also worked in leadership roles at Staples and Informed Clinical Sciences Corporation.
Patrick Woodard, MD. Vice President and Chief Digital Officer of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare (Memphis). Dr. Woodard joined Methodist in 2021, where he creates and implements digital health strategies for the system. He previously served as vice president and chief medical information officer for Renown Health in Reno, Nev.
Angela Yochem. Executive Vice President and Chief Transformation and Digital Officer of Novant Health (Charlotte, N.C.). Ms. Yochem joined Novant in 2018, originally as executive vice president and chief digital and technology officer. She took her current position in 2020. Ms. Yochem also serves as COO of Novant Health Enterprises, Novant's business division. Before coming to Novant, she was executive vice president and CIO of Rent-A-Center.