Chief transformation officers usher in lasting changes within their organizations.
Equipped with strong problem-solving and leadership skills, these executives set the goals and direction for each impactful initiative. Some of these leaders concentrate on cultural shifts within their healthcare organizations, while others focus on enhancing the digital experience or restructuring care delivery models.
Note: Becker's Healthcare developed this list based on nominations and editorial research. This list is not exhaustive, nor is it an endorsement of included chief transformation officers, organizations or associated healthcare providers. Leaders cannot pay for inclusion on this list. Leaders are presented in alphabetical order. We extend a special thank you to Rhoda Weiss for her contributions to this list.
Contact Anna Falvey at afalvey@beckershealthcare.com with questions or comments.
Amy Adome, MD. Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical and Transformation Officer for Sharp HealthCare (San Diego). Sharp HealthCare named Dr. Adome to the newly established transformation office in fiscal year 2023. In her role as senior vice president and chief clinical and transformation officer, she is charged with improving care delivery, enhancing patient satisfaction, and implementing systemwide growth and cost reduction initiatives. During the first year of her tenure, Dr. Adome and her team deployed 11 workstreams with identified executive sponsors across the system, developed a tracker to monitor the weekly results of transformation projects, and launched a steering committee to identify opportunities for change. Thanks in large part to Dr. Adome's efforts, Sharp has exceeded cost reduction targets and had a cumulative impact of nearly $130 million.
Paul G. Alexander, MD. Executive Vice President, Chief Health Equity and Transformation Officer at RWJBarnabas Health (West Orange, N.J.). Dr. Alexander develops and drives the initiatives needed to transition RWJBarnabas Health, New Jersey's largest academic healthcare system, to value-based care. His role encompasses ACO management, the employee health plan, and other resources dedicated to building the infrastructure needed to advance the value creation agenda. He also oversees the system's social impact and community investment practice as well as health equity initiatives, including workforce development, transitional housing, sustainability and more. Under Dr. Alexander’s leadership, the system's "Buy Local, Hire Local, Invest Local" initiative has spent $55.48 million with small businesses, $39.66 million with woman-owned businesses, and $82.34 million with minority-owned businesses in the last four years.
Emily Allinder Scott. Senior Vice President, Chief Transformation Officer and Service Line 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. In 2023, she took on the additional role of service line officer. 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.
Amanda Bohleber, MD. Chief Transformation Officer for Deaconess Health System (Evansville, Ind.). As chief transformation officer for Deaconess Health System, Dr. Bohleber embraces new ideas and fosters a systemwide culture of creativity and innovation. She has greatly impacted practice transformation, successfully overhauling office workflows to enhance efficiency and patient experience. She also developed a successful access center and led the implementation of e-visits and expansion of e-consults, improving patient connectivity and streamlining healthcare delivery. In addition, she launched remote patient monitoring that maintains consistently low 30-day readmission rates and significantly reduces the total cost of care. Dr. Bohleber's current focus is on transforming ambulatory care practices to a team-based care delivery model that enhances clinician, employee and patient satisfaction.
Tammy Capretta, RN. Chief Transformation and Risk Officer at Keck Medicine of USC (Los Angeles). Ms. Capretta has supported the growth and development of Keck Medicine since joining the USC system in 1991. She currently oversees four offices, including the Office of Integrated Risk Management, the Office of Integrated Credentialing, the Care for the Caregiver Office and the Office of Healthcare Compliance. Due to her efforts, patients can receive top care at over 100 unique clinics across the state. One of her primary achievements is the creation and leadership of the Care for the Caregivers program, which soothes potential work environment stress for employees by providing housing, mental health services and other resources like financial assistance, an emotional support hotline, a peer support program, wellness activities and more. Ms. Capretta was named the "2023 Los Angeles Woman of Impact" by the American Heart Association.
Peter Chang, MD. Senior Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer of Tampa (Fla.) General Hospital. As senior vice president and chief transformation officer, Dr. Chang designs and implements strategies that reduce cost of care while improving clinical quality, efficiency and care coordination. One of his work’s highlights is the development of TGH’s Hospital at Home platform, which provides acute care to patients from their homes and has achieved reduced readmission rates of 4-5%, as compared to 17-18% for the brick-and-mortar facility. He also developed an accompanying specialized command center that monitors census, quality and outcomes for the TGH at Home program. Dr. Chang’s efforts and dedication to advancing care coordination have solidified Tampa General’s status as an innovator and leader in academics and healthcare.
Molly Clark. Chief Performance and Care Model Transformation Officer and Vice President of Quality, Safety and Accreditation of Allina Health (Minneapolis). Ms. Clark has been instrumental in advancing Allina Health's mission to achieve zero preventable harm and establish itself as a High Reliability Organization. Her dedication to this work is evident in her collaborative efforts with Healthcare Performance Improvement, an organization partnered with over 1,700 healthcare organizations to reduce preventable harm. She also rengages with families affected by preventable harm to ensure that their experiences inform Allina’s safety initiatives. A champion of High Reliability principles, Ms. Clark's support has contributed to the training of more than 90% of Allina Health in universal high reliability skills.
Amy Cohn, PhD. Chief Transformation Officer for Michigan Medicine (Ann Arbor). Ms. Cohn identifies institutional challenges that span the University of Michigan Health and U-M Medical School. She was appointed to the position in 2021 by Michigan Medicine, academic medical center of the University of Michigan. During the pandemic, her work at the intersection of healthcare and engineering laid a foundation for collaborative connections between University of Michigan’s engineering college and health system. Ms. Cohn is the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Industrial and Operations Engineering and faculty director of the Center for Healthcare Engineering and Patient Safety. This dual role utilizes her expertise in engineering techniques to improve operations and problem solving in healthcare.
Sunil Dadlani. Executive Vice President and Chief Information and Digital Transformation Officer of Atlantic Health System (Morristown, N.J.). Mr. Dadlani leverages technological innovation at Atlantic Health System to implement complex global information strategies and processes for providing high quality patient care. After being named CIO in 2020, he worked alongside leadership to embrace and develop digital patient and consumer experiences for two years, and was named to his current position as executive vice president and chief information and digital transformation officer. One of Mr. Dadlani's current focuses is the expansion and diversification of artificial intelligence throughout Atlantic Health. Under his leadership, the organization was named a 2023 CIO Winner by CIO for its use of automation tools in streamlining prior authorization processes.
Jennifer Dauer. Chief Strategy and Transformation of OSU Wexner Medical Center (Columbus, Ohio). Ms. Dauer has served as a key leader at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, playing a pivotal role in advancing new care delivery models, expanding the hospital’s network and accelerating technological developments. In 2023, she led strategic planning initiatives that enabled the organization to meet and exceed its financial, operational and clinical goals. With her team, she successfully commercialized the organization’s medical services, partnering the medical center with Granville, Ohio-based Denison University to increase the Denison community’s access to care. Ms. Dauer’s leadership was critical to co-developing a hospital at home program and implementing a partnership with tech company Siemens to enhance imaging and treatment technologies.
David Donovan. Vice President of the Office of Transformation Management for Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center (Buffalo, N.Y.). Mr. Donovan leads strategic planning and project management for major projects at one of western New York state’s largest and most operationally complex employers. He applies insights on business development, healthcare network-building, supply chain management, revenue cycle, payer relations and marketing to help conceptualize and lead new initiatives as well as support existing objectives for growth and transformation. Known for his generosity toward philanthropic causes, Mr. Donovan was critical to the successful development of Roswell Park Care Network, which enables comprehensive cancer services to patients at 15 sites statewide and helped secure a sustainable and visionary path forward for the prestigious 125-year-old cancer center.
Debra Fields. Executive Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer of City of Hope (Duarte, Calif.). Ms. Fields began her career at City of Hope as a chief compliance officer and has since spent more than 25 years in various leadership positions. She has been pivotal to the organization’s expansion from a regional cancer research and treatment enterprise to a national system serving over 144,000 patients annually. Since 2016, Ms. Fields has led a wide range of functions to transform the healthcare landscape for cancer patients by focusing on organizational design and culture, geographic and infrastructure expansion, and talent strategy. From her leadership efforts, the organization has cultivated a strong internal culture of diversity, equity and inclusion and is positioned to address disparities across the cancer care continuum.
Peter Fleischut, MD. Senior Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer of NewYork-Presbyterian (New York City). In his 12 years at NewYork - Presbyterian, 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.
Regina Foley, PhD, RN. Executive Vice President, Chief Nursing Executive and Chief Transformation Officer of Hackensack (N.J.) Meridian Health. As chief nursing executive and chief transformation officer, Dr. Foley leverages her clinical and executive experience to drive transformative improvements across all facets of the health network. She is responsible for a portfolio of over 500 projects that endeavor to optimize workforce resources, enhance care delivery models and promote financial growth. Dr. Foley’s collaborative spirit enabled the health system to open Bergen County’s Covid-19 Vaccination Mega Site in collaboration with the New Jersey Department of Health. By strategically aligning financial and human resources, Dr. Foley ensures that HMH not only remains financially robust but also delivers meaningful, community-centered improvements in patient care and operational efficiency.
Arthur Gianelli. Chief Transformation Officer at Mount Sinai (New York City) and President at Mount Sinai Morningside (New York City). Working with Mount Sinai since 2014, Mr. Gianelli partners with leaders systemwide to transform organizational culture, implement best practices and instill key behaviors to drive improvements in patient experience. His efforts include launching a series of learning academies and spreading utilization of lean process improvement methodologies. During his tenure as president of Mount Sinai Morningside, he led the hospital’s pandemic response; introduced a lean daily management system to drive significant improvements in patient experience, quality and safety measures; shepherded a transformative capital improvement plan; and worked with School of Medicine leadership to grow several clinical programs.
Taylor Hamilton. Chief Consumer Officer of Ballad Health (Johnson City, Tenn.). Ms. Hamilton drives innovative change for the improvement of patient care across Ballad Health in her role as chief consumer officer. Her responsibilities include digital transformation, consumer relations, community and business outreach, marketing, communications, patient experience and user interface. Ms. Hamilton's work within the organization has included large-scale initiatives to increase care access in rural communities, reduce care delivery disparities and improve digital experience. Her leadership has earned her team multiple awards, including the Silver Awards for Best Structure and Navigation and Best Homepage in the 2022 w3 Awards, as well as Gold, Silver, Bronze and Merit Awards from The Mature Market Resource Center. Ms. Hamilton has also been recognized in Business Journal's "40 Under 40" list for the tri-cities. Prior to joining Ballad Health in 2018, Ms. Hamilton served as vice president of marketing and communications at Johnson City, Tenn.-based Mountain States Health Alliance.
Melinda Hancock. Executive Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer of Sentara Health (Hampton Roads, Va.). Ms. Hancock served Sentara Health as chief administrative officer before assuming the role of chief transformation officer in 2023. In this position, she creates a seamless consumer experience by aligning Sentara’s care delivery with health plan services. Under her leadership, the transformation office has launched more than 1,300 initiatives, including efforts to develop new care delivery models and simplify patient financial experiences, which have had a gross impact of $946 million. She is responsible for the consolidation of the system’s enterprise project management office and creation of the enterprise portfolio management office to support transformation work. Within Sentara Health’s 12 hospitals and 1 million health plan members, Ms. Hancock plays a key role in fostering collaboration among leaders, promoting transparency and accountability, and reducing administrative burdens by investing in foundational capacities to serve consumers.
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.
Desert Horse Grant. Chief Transformation Officer for Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at University of Miami. Ms. Horse Grant is a powerful advocate for transforming and empowering underrepresented minorities at the intersection of science and medicine. She leads innovation and strategy, emphasizing diversity of clinical trials throughout multiple sites in Africa and the Caribbean. She advises key aspects of a new $260 million cancer research building, which will double Sylvester’s research footprint. Previously she was chief transformation officer at UCLA Health, facilitating translation of discoveries from the lab to the clinical environment. She was also a director at Fred Hutch in Seattle, leading a team whose pioneering work to develop a novel biotool for tissue microstructure was recognized with a social impact award. Early in her career at New York City-based Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, she created the Physical Sciences-Oncology Center for researchers at the intersection of computational medicine and cancer biology.
Penelope Iannelli. Senior Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer of UMass Memorial Health (Worcester). Ms. Iannelli leads UMass Memorial Health’s Center for Innovation and Transformational Change, managing a portfolio of over 100 projects that aim to ensure the health system achieves its goals. A skilled project manager, Ms. Iannelli has also directed efforts to add hospital beds during Covid-19 and reform the emergency department for the University Campus. She is currently overseeing an expansion project for a 72-bed acute care facility. She drives the organization’s pursuit of innovation through a people-centered and team-based approach.
Pamela Johnson, MD. Vice President of Care Transformation at Johns Hopkins Health System (Baltimore). As vice president of care transformation for the Johns Hopkins Health System, Dr. Johnson directs clinical performance improvement programs to increase the effectiveness, efficiency, consistency and affordability of health care. Guided by a comprehensive framework and programmatic strategy, the office of care transformation engages front line healthcare providers to implement initiatives that refine care in accordance with evidence-based practice and harmonize best practice standards. Accomplishments include measurable reductions in low value health care resource utilization, dissemination of systemwide care pathways, and implementation of high reliability resources to optimize care delivery and coordination across a range of diseases. In 2017, Dr. Johnson established the High Value Practice Alliance, a national organization of large and small teaching hospitals collaborating to deliver large scale improvements in health care quality and affordability.
Shela Kaneshiro. Chief Clinical Transformation Officer for MemorialCare (Fountain Valley, Calif.). Ms. Kaneshiro is responsible for executive oversight as well as planning, developing and implementing clinical transformation strategies across MemorialCare in collaboration with chief medical officers and other leaders. She oversees performance improvement, risk and patient safety, clinical and reputational data, patient experience and customer excellence, and quality and value initiatives. She aims to create a culture of belonging and inclusivity by investing in the workforce to attract and retain diverse, talented and engaged teams. She oversees the 2,257-member Physician Society, a national leader since 1996 in driving MemorialCare’s clinical outcomes and advancing strategic goals for physician practice.
Rebecca Kaul, PhD. Senior Vice President and Chief of Digital Innovation and Transformation at Northwell Health (New Hyde Park, N.Y.). Dr. Kaul is senior vice president and chief of digital innovation and transformation at Northwell Health, where she drives collaboration, communication and strategy in order to enable successful transformation. Her responsibilities include the creation and management of strategic relationships, product development and the Innovation Center. Before she joined Northwell in 2022, she served as the inaugural chief innovation officer at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Dr. Kaul also has prior experience as CIO of Pittsburgh-based UPMC.
Omkar Kulkarni. Chief Transformation Officer and Chief Digital Officer of Children's Hospital Los Angeles. As chief transformation officer and chief digital officer of Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Mr. Kulkarni designs and implements practical, innovative solutions to high-impact problems. He has helped to establish the hospital's digital front door, optimize the remote workforce, improve business systems, digitally engage patients throughout the patient journey, enhance data management, expand virtual care offerings and deliver an elevated patient experience. Mr. Kulkarni built the hospital's innovation studio and spurred the hospital into becoming the first in the nation to deploy Moxi, robot helpers designed to securely deliver essential pharmaceutical items 24/7 along various routes throughout the hospital. Also under his leadership, the hospital became the first children’s hospital in the country to deploy a virtual rooming experience for patient families. He also oversaw the launch of a virtual nursing program and spearheaded a first-of-its-kind partnership between the hospital and the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Joseph Lamantia. Executive Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer of Catholic Health (Rockville Centre, N.Y.). Mr. Lamantia was named chief transformation officer of Catholic Health in March 2022 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.
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.
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.
Raina Merchant, MD. Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer at Penn Medicine (Philadelphia). With more than 17 years of achievements in innovation and transformation, Dr. Merchant is an emergency medicine professor at University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and leads the Center for Digital Health. Her initiatives focus on redesigning care, achieving efficiency using AI and automation tools, finding creative ways to enhance workforce experience, advancing health equity, and translating research to optimize health system operations. She is continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health and conducts projects evaluating health behaviors and communication on social media platforms. Dr. Merchant has more than 150 peer-reviewed publications, has been featured in Wired, Economist and The Wall Street Journal, and has been identified by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as one of 10 young investigators likely to have a significant impact on the future of health and healthcare.
Kristen Murtos. Chief Innovation and Transformation Officer for Endeavor Health (Evanston, Ill.). Ms. Murtos is Endeavor Health's chief innovation and transformation officer, a role that entails spurring the organization towards sustainable growth, differentiation, peak performance and transformative patient care. In her role, she oversees system strategy, innovation, community impact and engagement, and government relations. She has been with Endeavor for 23 years, holding leadership roles of progressive responsibility and building her skillset in transformation, strategy and operations. Ms. Murtos was responsible for establishing the system’s first Transformation Management Office, which has been critical in enabling Endeavor to deliver on its quality, financial, growth and people strategies. In addition, she has been at the forefront of the system's leadership as the nation’s largest primary care embedded clinical genomics program, the creation of the Endeavor Health Community Investment Fund, and the system’s use of data, technology and AI to transform the care experience.
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.
Rick Newell, MD. Chief Transformation Officer for Vituity (Emeryville, Calif.). Dr. Newell brings a blend of clinical expertise and leadership skills to his role as chief transformation officer at Vituity. He embraces new technologies and methodologies to streamline processes, reduce costs and improve efficiency. He also works to develop and execute comprehensive plans to ensure sustainable growth and improvement. Some of his standout achievements include expanding telehealth services, modernizing operational processes, reducing wastes and costs, increasing speed and quality of patient care, and implementing integrated care models. Dr. Newell has also published numerous studies in prestigious medical journals. In addition, he serves as CEO of Inflect Health, Vituity’s innovation hub.
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.
Misha Palecek. Chief Transformation Officer at DaVita (Denver). Mr. Palecek is passionate about innovating kidney care to prevent negative patient outcomes and address the impact of chronic kidney disease on the larger healthcare industry. He has spent nearly 20 years at DaVita, driving progress in care delivery, outcomes and quality of life for chronically ill patients. He transformed DaVita's dialysis provider to a holistic kidney care provider. He also integrated value-based care into the system's new integrated kidney care model. He works with physicians, payers, hospital systems and administrators throughout the industry to defragment patient care and provide a seat at the table for physicians. He is committed to optimizing care for DaVita's 70,000 kidney care patients. He also prioritized the system's expansion and participation in government models, partnerships and private payers.
John Phipps, MD. Chief Transformation Officer at Inova Health (Falls Church, Va.). Dr. Phipps serves as chief transformation officer at Inova, where he guides enterprise initiatives spanning several service lines. He assumed his current position in October of 2021. In his role, he directs efforts in health system quality, safety, patient experience, care design, informatics and care management. One crucial initiative championed by Dr. Phipps was the implementation of enterprise screening for depression, which impacts behavioral health, primary care and beyond.
Peter Pronovost, MD. Chief Quality and Clinical Transformation Officer at University Hospitals (Cleveland). Dr. Pronovost is a patient safety champion, prolific researcher with over 1,000 peer-reviewed publications to his name, and a thought leader in the national and global health policy space. In his role as chief quality and clinical transformation officer at University Hospitals, he ideates and implements new protocols to enhance care quality, develops new frameworks for population health management to benefit the system's 1 million patients, and manages the UH ACO. He developed the "Living and Leading with Love" scalable model of transformation, which has been rolled out over four years. This approach has helped reduce the annual cost of care for Medicare patients by 33% over three years, improve quality, and increase shared savings in the ACO from $4 million four years ago to $50 million in 2023 and $175 million over the last five years. Dr. Pronovost also serves as the Veale Distinguished Chair in Leadership and Clinical Transformation and leads the newly established Veale Initiative for Health Care Innovation at University Hospitals.
Alma Ratcliffe, MD. Vice President and Chief Clinical Transformation Officer at Saint Peter's Healthcare System (New Brunswick, N.J.). Dr. Ratcliffe serves as vice president and chief clinical transformation officer for Saint Peter's Healthcare System, overseeing all initiatives related to clinical integration, clinical effectiveness and documentation, and care management. Her main focus is on reducing length of stay and resource utilization, while still enhancing quality care. Serving as the champion of the $12 million expansion and modernization of Saint Peter’s Family Health Center, completed in March 2024, Dr. Ratcliffe is committed to reducing the impact of social determinants of health on patients. Thanks to the newly expanded facility, the center's capacity increased from 60,000 annual visits to 100,000. Dr. Ratcliffe's efforts have also led to partnerships with ride-share programs to help patients with transportation needs, education about available assistance and benefits, connections with community resources, and the launch of the onsite Market at Saint Peter’s to provide food, hygiene products and baby care products. Dr. Ratcliffe was named NJBIZ's "2023 Healthcare Hero for Public Health" for her work.
Jason Row, MD. Chief Value Transformation Officer of Parkview Health (Fort Wayne, Ind.). As chief value transformation officer of Parkview Health, Dr. Row oversees efforts aimed at optimizing operations, reducing waste and improving affordability of healthcare services to patients. His primary focus is on creating a more efficient pipeline between primary and specialty care, undertaking initiatives such as developing care compacts and solidifying approaches to chronic condition management. He also searches for ways to lower the cost of care via appropriate utilization of services. Before stepping into this new position at Parkview, Dr. Row served as chief medical officer for Parkview Physicians Group, during which he contributed to the significant growth of the health network’s physician and facility counts.
Jesse Souweine. Senior Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer for Boston Medical Center Health System. Ms. Souweine joined Boston Medical Center Health system as its first ever chief transformation officer in September of 2023. Her role entails leading the ideation, implementation and sustainability of key strategic initiatives that synergize the work at the hospital, health plan and other system entities. Prior to taking on the role at BMC Health System, she served as executive vice president and COO at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in Cambridge, Mass., where she played a crucial role in administration, finance and operations. There, she helped establish and supervise scientific centers and initiatives, managed the response to the Covid-19 pandemic and workplace testing program, and launched an institutional risk management program.
Tom Sullivan. Chief Restructuring and Transformation Officer of Heywood Healthcare (Garnder, Mass.). Mr. Sullivan stepped into the role of chief restructuring and transformation officer of Heywood Healthcare in February 2024 after serving as the organization’s CFO and co-CEO. In the face of significant financial obstacles, Mr. Sullivan prioritized balancing fiscal responsibilities with the need to improve healthcare access and quality for the community. His leadership efforts in times of complex operational and financial hardship reflect his dedication to making tangible differences in the lives of patients.
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. Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer of Mass General Brigham (Boston). Mr. Weiss oversees the strategy, system transformation, clinical partnerships and diversified business functions that are helping to achieve Mass General Brigham’s commitment to serving the community. Mass General Brigham is devoted to enhancing patient care, teaching and research and taking a leadership role as an integrated healthcare system. Previously president of Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass., Mr. Weiss is widely published and a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review as well as the author of the HBR Guide to Negotiating. He was a co-founder and co-director of West Point Negotiation Project and continues annual lectures at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa.
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.
Eyal Zimlichman, MD. Chief Transformation and Chief Innovation Officer at Sheba Medical Center (Tel HaShomer, Israel). Professor Zimlichman is the driving force of transformation efforts at Sheba Medical Center. The hospital is Israel’s largest and has been recognized as a top hospital by Newsweek for five consecutive years. In 2019, Professor Zimlichman founded Sheba's ARC Innovation Center, an open global innovation platform that aims to redesign healthcare through digital health solutions by 2030. Under his leadership, Sheba and ARC have actualized the transformative potential of many novel health tech solutions, including remote care, AI, precision medicine and medical devices, in dozens of facilities around the world.