Chief medical officers are the link between physicians and administrators at hospitals across the U.S. They bring an important clinical perspective to the hospital's decision-makers, and their role has grown over the last two years during the pandemic.
This list features chief medical officers and the top physicians and surgeons for hospitals and health systems in the U.S. The executives featured here oversee large teams of physicians and achieved success with quality and patient safety. Many of the chief medical officers are also an integral part of transitioning to value-based care and improving the patient experience.
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.
Joshua Adler, MD. Executive Vice President for Physician Services at UCSF Health (San Francisco). Dr. Adler oversees quality, physician management, safety and coordination of patient care throughout the UCSF Health system. In addition to his leadership at UCSF Health, he is also the vice dean for clinical affairs at UCSF School of Medicine.
Machelle Allen, MD. Senior Vice President and CMO of NYC Health + Hospitals (New York City). Dr. Allen became deputy CMO at NYC Health+Hospitals in 2013 before being promoted to senior vice president and CMO. She is an obstetrics and gynecology physician by training and served as associate medical director at the health system's Bellevue hospital before becoming a leader at the health system level. NYC Health + Hospitals has 70 locations, including 11 hospitals.
Nishant Anand, MD. Executive Vice President and CMO of BayCare (Tampa, Fla.). At BayCare, Mr. Anand leads the physician agenda and directs efforts improving quality, safety and efficiency within the 15-hospital health system. Mr. Anand also oversees BayCare Physician Partners, a clinically integrated network. Before joining BayCare, Dr. Anand was senior vice president, chief transformation officer and CMO of Adventist Health System where he oversaw population health, value-based care, clinical standardization and transformation.
Andy Anderson, M.D. Executive Vice President, Chief Medical and Quality Officer of RWJBarnabas Health (West Orange, N.J.). Dr. Anderson took on his role in 2022. He drives the health system’s clinical mission to advance and elevate care for the communities it serves, and oversees 38,000 employees, including 9,000 physicians who treat a service area covering more than five million people. Dr. Anderson has served RWJBarnabas Health since 2018 as Chief Executive Officer of the Combined Medical Group of RWJBarnabas Health and Rutgers Health, one of the largest provider consortia in the nation.
Michael Anderson, MD. Senior Vice President and CMO of Virginia Mason Franciscan Health (Tacoma, Wash.). Rear Adm. Dr. Anderson (Ret.) oversees quality and patient safety for Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, which includes 11 hospitals, nearly 5,000 physicians and 18,000 staff members. Dr. Anderson is responsible for clinical governance, service lines, medical staff affairs, medical informatics and clinical data science for Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, which is part of Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health. He also oversees the health system's NASA-style mission control command center, which uses artificial intelligence to track and coordinate patient care.
Alejandro Arroliga, MD. CMO of Baylor Scott & White Health (Dallas). Mr. Arroliga's leadership can be seen throughout Baylor Scott & White's 51 hospitals and its more than 800 patient care sites. The health system sees more than 7.8 million patient encounters annually.
Hoda Asmar, MD, Executive Vice President and CMO at Providence (Renton, Wash.) Dr. Asmar has 23 years of experience in healthcare leadership with various roles at health systems across the country. She was appointed chief medical officer at Providence in October 2021. Prior to her appointment, she served as chief clinical officer for Adventist Health in Roseville, Calif., for three years.
John Audett, MD. CMO of Overlook Medical Center (Summit, N.J.). Dr. Audett is the clinical leader of Overlook Medical Center, which includes more than 1,600 physicians and is part of Morristown, N.J.-based Atlantic Health System. He took on the CMO role in 2014 and has since led Overlook's efforts to become a High Reliability Organization, denoting a strong culture of safety. Dr. Audett also takes his role of growing the next generation of clinical leaders seriously by mentoring other physicians, succession planning and supporting new leaders across Atlantic Health System.
Anthony Avellino, MD. Assistant Vice President for Health Sciences, Chief Clinical and Medical Officer of MSU Health Care (East Lansing, Mich.). Mr. Avellino first joined Michigan State University in 2018 as the assistant provost for student health, wellness and safety, CMO and interim director of athletic medicine. He began his career as a pediatric neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins University Hospital as Ben Carson's surgical partner.
Marjorie Bessel, MD. Chief Clinical Officer of Banner Health (Phoenix, Ariz.). Dr. Bessel joined Banner 12 years ago. She served as CMO for several Banner hospitals before becoming chief clinical officer for the system. She has a background as a hospitalist and she has board certification and active staff privileges. One of Dr. Bessel's interests is the empowerment of patients through clinical information transparency.
Kavitha Bhatia, MD. CMO of Strategy at Prime Healthcare (Ontario, Calif.). Dr. Bhatia is also the president and chair of the Prime Healthcare Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity, which comprises Prime's nonprofit hospitals and philanthropic initiatives. In her role, she creates strategic initiatives to improve the long-term success of Prime. In addition, Dr. Bhatia is vice chair of the board of directors for the California University of Science and Medicine in San Bernardino County, California. She is a pediatrician and a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
Sunny Bhatia, MD. Regional CEO and Corporate CMO of Prime Healthcare (Ontario, Calif.). Dr. Bhatia oversees 17 of Prime Healthcare's hospitals in California and Nevada. He is also responsible for aligning medical staff members, improving performance metrics and quality of care, ensuring efficient resource use, and improving patient and physician engagement. Dr. Bhatia also leads Prime Healthcare's cost-containment strategies in multiple areas of the health system and led the system's partnership with Carbon Health to roll out a patient-centric app that resulted in downstream revenues of $14 million annually.
Andrew Bindman, MD, Executive Vice President and CMO at Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals (Oakland, Calif.). Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente, Dr. Bindman spent over 30 years teaching clinical medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. His research work has culminated in over 180 published articles. He has also held advisory and leadership roles for the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, HHS, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and other agencies.
Kent Bishop, MD. President of ProMedica Physicians and CMO of ProMedica Physicians and Acute Care (Toledo, Ohio). Dr. Bishop is the leader of the system's focus on patient experience. He joined ProMedica Physicians Group in 1994. His specialty is in robotic surgery, and he is a fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Jeremy Boal, MD. Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer of Mount Sinai Health System (New York City). Dr. Boal is also the president of Mount Sinai Beth Israel and Downtown in New York City. He was previously the executive vice president and CMO of Mount Sinai Health System. Dr. Boal came to the system as a resident at Mount Sinai Medical Center and is a board-certified internist.
William Bornstein, MD, PhD. CMO and Chief Quality and Patient Safety Officer of Emory Healthcare (Atlanta). Dr. Bornstein is also a professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. He was the leader in the creation of a quality and safety program. He also was in charge of the 2006 expansion of the Emory Healthcare quality program with the Emory Healthcare Office of Quality.
Mark Briesacher, MD. Senior Vice President and Chief Physician Executive at Intermountain Healthcare (Salt Lake City). Dr. Briesacher has 15 years of experience in general pediatrics and more than 20 years in leadership positions with medical groups and health systems. He provides leadership to the health system's 24 hospitals, 225 clinics, 3,000 employed physicians and advanced practice providers, and 42,000 caregivers.
Sandra E. Brooks, MD. Executive Vice President and Chief Community Health Equity Officer of Thomas Jefferson University and Chief Medical Officer of Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals (Philadelphia). Dr. Brooks spent time as the director of the division of gynecology and oncology at the University of Maryland in College Park and chief medical officer of St. Joseph's Women's and Children's Hospital in Tampa, Fla., before joining Jefferson Health just before the pandemic. Over the last two years, Dr. Brooks became engaged in quality and safety initiatives at Jefferson and the health system's COVID-19 promotional campaign.
Andrew Brotman, MD. Executive Vice President, Vice Dean for Clinical Affairs and Strategy and Chief Clinical Officer at NYU Langone Health (New York City). Dr. Brotman has been at NYU Langone Health since 1999, and before that he served as senior vice president and COO for physician practice management and network development at CareGroup, now part of Beth Israel Lahey Health, in Boston. Dr. Brotman was also the chief of psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He is on the editorial boards of several journals and has more than 80 publications to his credit.
Joseph Cacchione, MD. Executive Vice President of Clinical & Network Services at Ascension (St. Louis). Dr. Cacchione joined Ascension in 2017 and led Ascension Medical Group. Before that, he held several roles at Cleveland Clinic, where he helped create a specialty network of providers who contract with the system. He is board certified in internal medicine, cardiology and interventional cardiology.
Hijinio Carreon, DO. Chief Medical Executive at MercyOne System (Des Moines, Iowa). Dr. Carreon was appointed to his position in May 2021. He oversees patient care and medical operations for the health system's more than 420 care locations with more than 3.3 million total patient visits.
Paul Casey, MD. CMO of Rush University Medical Center (Chicago). Dr. Casey is in charge of design, implementation and oversight of the medical center's clinical quality, patient safety and performance improvement initiatives. He's also a practicing emergency medicine physician and an associate professor and vice chairperson of operations in the Rush department of emergency medicine.
Teri Caulin-Glaser, MD. Chief Clinical Officer and Senior Vice President of OhioHealth (Columbus). Dr. Caulin-Glaser is leader of the OhioHealth system strategy for clinical program development and delivery, including the OhioHealth Physician Group, OhioHealth hospitals, ambulatory centers and service lines. In her role, she oversees clinical strategy, growth, capital and facility expansion, program development and transformational care redesign.
Joseph Chang, MD. Senior Vice President and CMO of Parkland Health (Dallas). Dr. Chang oversees the hospital and ambulatory clinical care operations for Parkland Health. He also leads the medical staff office operations and graduate medical education program for the health system. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Dr. Chang has supported Parkland's clinical team and provided community education through several hundred virtual events and presentations. He leads population health teams and earned the 2021 Gage Award for COVID-19 Innovations from the National Hospital Association.
Michael Cuffe, MD, Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer at HCA Healthcare (Nashville, Tenn.). Dr. Cuffe joined HCA Healthcare in 2010 as president and chief executive officer of physician services. After serving in this role for 10 years, he was appointed chief clinical officer in January 2022.He now oversees clinical agendas for the system's 13,000 employed physicians.
C. Brian Delashmitt, DO. Executive Vice President and CMO of Hamilton Health Care System (Dalton, Ga.). Dr. Delashmitt took his position in 2020. He previously served as the medical director of Hamilton's hospitalist program since 2019. Before coming to Hamilton, he worked as a utilization review physician at Silverback Care Management.
John Dorsey, MD. CMO, Vice President of Physician Services and Designated Institutional Official at Mercyhealth (Rockford, Ill.). Dr. Dorsey's leadership can be seen throughout Mercyhealth's seven hospitals and 85 primary and specialty care locations. MercyHealth offers more than 125 specialty and subspecialty services.
Peggy Duggan, MD. Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer. Tampa (Fla.) General Hospital. Dr. Duggan oversees clinical operations for a top-ranking hospital according to U.S. News and World Report with 1,041 beds and more than 8,000 team members. She previously spent more than 15 years with the Somerville, Mass.-based Mass General Brigham Health System, during which she practiced as a breast surgeon and was medical director of the system's breast center before becoming chief medical officer for the Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital in Boston.
Clay Dunagan, MD. Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer at BJC HealthCare (St. Louis). Dr. Dunagan works closely with the health system's affiliated clinicians and Washington University Physicians on the development of comprehensive, evidence-based approaches to care. He directs the BJC Center for Clinical Excellence and is a national speaker on quality assessment and improvement.
Daniel del Portal, MD. Senior Vice President of Medical Operations and Chief Clinical Officer at Temple University Health System (Philadelphia). Dr. del Portal is the immediate past president of the Temple University Hospital medical staff. He is the recipient of Temple University's Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award and the Excellence in Emergency Medicine Award from the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.
Harris Frankel, MD. CMO and Chief Compliance Officer at Nebraska Medicine (Omaha). Dr. Frankel joined the department of neurological sciences at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha after working for 21 years in private practice. He served as medical director for the UNMC Physicians Clinical Neurosciences Center from 2011 to 2015. He joined the executive leadership team at Nebraska Medicine in 2014.
Ernest Franklin, MD. Chief Medical Operations Officer at Tenet Healthcare (Dallas). Dr. Franklin joined Tenet Healthcare in 2019 after eight years at Baylor Scott & White Health, where he spent time as senior vice president of clinical value and integration. Dr. Franklin also oversaw surgical and ancillary services for Baylor Scott & White Health and previously served as a consultant with McKinsey & Company for six years.
Richard Freeman, MD. Regional Chief Clinical Officer at Loyola Medicine (Maywood, Ill.). Dr. Freeman was named regional chief clinical officer at Loyola Medicine in September 2019. He is also a professor of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.
Alan Friedman, MD. CMO of Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health. Mr. Friedman has been part of Yale New Haven Health's medical staff since 1994. In addition to his dedicated service at the health system, he also has a clinical practice at the Yale New Haven Children's Hospital.
Jonathan Gleason, MD. Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer of Prisma Health (Greenville, S.C.). Dr. Gleason stepped into his role in January 2022. He is responsible for the enterprise leadership of the medical group, clinical quality, patient safety, clinical integration and optimization, and the academic enterprise. Prior to joining Prisma, Dr. Gleason was executive vice president and chief clinical officer, endowed James D. and Mary Jo Danella chief quality officer, and chair of JeffCare Network board at Jefferson Health in Philadelphia.
David Gonzales, MD. CMO of Christus St. Vincent (Sante Fe, N.M.). Before his current role, Dr. Gonzales served as vice president of clinical affairs for Presbyterian Medical Services in Santa Fe. Now, he oversees the delivery of patient care at all Christus St. Vincent facilities.
Keith Gray, MD. CMO at University of Tennessee Medical Center (Knoxville). In addition to his role as CMO, Dr. Gray serves as the chief of UT Medical Center's surgical oncology division. He was unanimously nominated for the Outstanding Physician Leader Award from his physician executive MBA class at the University of Tennessee in 2014.
Jay Grider, DO, PhD, Chief Physician Executive at UK HealthCare (Lexington, Ky.). Dr. Grider first joined UK HealthCare in 2015 and was appointed chief physician executive in May 2019. He has also served as a professor at the University of Kentucky for the last 21 years.
Lakshmi Halasyamani, MD. System Chief Clinical Officer of NorthShore — Edward-Elmhurst Health (Evanston, Ill.). Dr. Halasyamani is responsible for developing clinical quality and patient safety strategy for NorthShore — Edward-Elmhurst Health's nine hospitals and 300-location multispecialty group practice. She leads the system's health equity strategy focused on providing consumer-centric care and boosting access to care. When the pandemic began, Dr. Halasyamani spearheaded partnerships with community members, educators and faith leaders to develop interactive programs that combated misinformation and connected people with needed resources.
Gene Hong, MD. Chief Physician Executive MUSC Health (Charleston, S.C.). Dr. Hong is a leading authority on concussions, cardiac issues in athletes, overuse injuries and sports-injury prevention. He previously served at Drexel University in Philadelphia as an endowed chair and professor in the department of family, community and preventive medicine. Dr. Hong also served as chief of the division of primary care sports medicine, chair of the Drexel University Physician Board and associate dean for primary care and community health at the university.
Jonathan Huntington, MD, PhD. Chief Medical Officer of Dartmouth-Hitchcock (Lebanon, N.H.). Since beginning his role in February 2021, Dr. Huntington is responsible for clinical and physician-related responsibilities specific to the academic medical center at the system that serves 1.9 million people. He is also an assistant professor of medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H., and works clinically as a hospitalist.
David Ingram, MD. Executive Vice President and CMO at Indiana University Health (Indianapolis). Dr. Ingram has been a part of the IU Health team for more than two decades, most recently serving as president of IU Health Physicians. He previously served as director of neonatal-perinatal medicine from 2009 to 2014. Dr. Ingram has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters.
Michael Jablonover, MD. Senior Vice President and CMO at University of Maryland Medical Center (Baltimore). Dr. Jablonover has served in his current role since 2015. Previously, he was president and CEO of the University of Maryland Rehabilitation and Orthopaedic Institute from 2010-14, and its CMO and vice president of medical affairs from 2005-10. He has served in leadership roles with the University of Maryland for 28 years.
Amir Jaffer, MD. Chief Medical Officer of NewYork-Presbyterian Queens (Flushing, N.Y.). Dr. Jaffer oversees the medical team at NewYork-Presbyterian Queens, a 535-bed tertiary care facility with a network of affiliated physician practices. He focuses on providing quality care, effective resource use and finding cost savings. Under his leadership, the hospital went from having a one to a four star CMS rating and grew eight healthcare service lines.
Brian Kelly, MD. Surgeon-in-Chief and Medical Director at Hospital for Special Surgery (New York City). Dr. Kelly specializes in sports medicine and serves several sports teams, including the New York Rangers, the New York Giants and the New York Red Bulls Major League Soccer team. He has authored over 140 articles and scientific publications and also holds faculty appointments at Weill Cornell Medical College and medical staff appointments at HSS and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
J. Douglas Kirk, MD. Chief Medical Officer of UC Davis Medical Center (Sacramento, Calif.). Dr. Kirk leads and directs the professional portion of the 646-bed acute care teaching hospital's clinic delivery system and serves as a liaison between the hospital, school of medicine and the self-governed medical staff. He also is the medical center's senior officer for patient safety and quality.
Joshua Kooistra, DO. Senior Vice President and CMO of Hospital Care at Spectrum Health (Grand Rapids, Mich.). Dr. Kooistra has served as Spectrum Health's senior vice president and CMO of hospital care since January 2019. He previously served as the system's vice president and department chief of acute health and continuing care. Before his time with Spectrum, he was an attending physician at Emergency Care Specialists in Grand Rapids, Mich., for 11 years.
Helen Koselka, MD. CMO at TriHealth (Cincinnati). Before being named CMO in a unanimous 2021 vote, Dr. Koselka was the system's interim CMO. Previously, she was regional CMO for TriHealth's Good Samaritan Region beginning in 2017. She has been with TriHealth for more than 26 years.
Deepa Kumaraiah, MD. Senior Vice President and CMO at NewYork-Presbyterian (New York City). Dr. Kumaraiah joined the hospital in 2012 and previously served as the senior vice president of service line integration and chief physician of NewYork-Presbyterian Medical Groups. Previously, she served as vice president and associate CMO of service lines and clinical strategy. She is an assistant clinical professor of medicine at New York City-based Columbia University Irving Medical Center, where she continues to practice in the cardiac intensive care unit.
O. Scott Lauter, MD. CMO of Atlantic Medical Group (Morristown, N.J.). Dr. Lauter oversees clinical affairs for Atlantic Medical Group, which includes 1,200 clinicians and 400 offices in 14 counties. Under his leadership, Atlantic Medical Group became more responsive to community needs, creating five regional councils for 30 work groups within the organization. He has also been on the forefront of making sure the medical group remained operational since the pandemic began and played a part in the organization joining the American Medical Association's Advancing Equity Through Quality and Safety Peer Network.
Whitney Limm, MD. Executive Vice President, Clinical Integration and Chief Physician Executive of the Queen's Health Systems (Honolulu). Dr. Limm leads the physician enterprise for Queen's Health Systems, including Queen's University Medical Group, graduate education and the system's clinically integrated physician network. Under his leadership, Queen's formed a collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for advanced patient safety and quality. When the pandemic began, Dr. Limm developed COVID-19 protocols to preserve resources and stop community spread of the virus.
Dennis Lund, MD. CMO of Stanford Children's Health and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford (Palo Alto, Calif.). After establishing himself as a trauma, transplant and general pediatric surgeon at Boston Children's in the 1990s, Dr. Lund held elevating titles including surgeon-in-chief of the University of Wisconsin Children's Hospital in Madison and Phoenix Children's Hospital, until he joined Stanford Children's in March 2015 as CMO. Dr. Lund also serves as the associate dean of faculty for pediatrics and obstetrics at Stanford University, and held a nearly year-long appointment as the health system's interim president and CEO. Dr. Lund is heavily involved in healthcare advocacy, holding fellow status with the American Surgical Association, American College of Surgeons and American Academy of Pediatrics.
David McAneny, MD, Senior Vice President and CMO at Boston Medical Center. Dr. McAneny was appointed Boston Medical Center's senior vice president and chief medical officer in 2022. Prior to this role, he served in various leadership roles at the center, including chief surgical officer and chief of the division of general surgery. Dr. McAneny also oversaw the American College of Surgeons' national surgical quality improvement program.
Sonia Mehta, MD. Regional CEO, Corporate CMO and Chief Academic Officer of Prime Healthcare (Ontario, Calif.). Dr. Mehta is a member of the Prime Healthcare executive leadership team, and she oversees operations at seven hospitals. She is also responsible for the system's graduate medical education programs on the East Coast. She joined Prime in 2018 and has since turned around the system's hospitals in the greater Philadelphia area, which are now listed among the top 5 percent of hospitals in the nation for patient safety excellence by Healthgrades.
David Miller, MD. President of University of Michigan Health System and Executive Vice Dean for Clinical Affairs at University of Michigan Medical School (Ann Arbor). Dr. Miller took on his role in 2021. He previously served as chief clinical officer for University Hospital and the Frankel Cardiovascular Center from 2018-20, both in Ann Arbor. Additionally, he is a professor in the department of urology.
John Misa, MD. Vice President and System Clinical Officer of Allina Health (Minneapolis). Dr. Misa joined Allina Health in 2019. He is in charge of primary care, surgical and procedural services, women's health, and specialty services. Dr. Misa was senior medical director of primary care at Park Nicollet Health Services and vice president of medical operations for Allina Health Group.
David Moorhead, MD. Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer of AdventHealth (Altamonte Springs, Fla.). Dr. Moorhead previously served as senior vice president and CMO of Orlando-based Florida Hospital (now known as AdventHealth Orlando). Before that, he was CEO of Loma Linda (Calif.) University Medical Center and helped create the Loma Linda University Children's Hospital.
Mark Olszyk, MD. CMO, Vice President of Medical Affairs, Vice President of Quality and Chief Patient Experience Officer of Carroll Hospital (Westminster, Md.). Dr. Olszyk is responsible for 14 clinical direct reports, 49 providers, 200 employees and a combined $50 million budget. He serves on the hospital president's executive leadership team and oversees the physician credentialing and compliance process. Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Dr. Olszyk has hosted video town halls for medical staff, supported telehealth visits and contributed to local media outlets.
Paryus Patel, MD. Corporate CMO of Prime Healthcare (Ontario, Calif.). Dr. Patel is the Chief Medical Officer of Prime Healthcare’s Region III-VI hospitals and Corporate Chief Medical Officer for Prime Healthcare. Region III-VI includes Prime Healthcare's 20 acute care, community hospitals located in Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Michigan, Florida, Indiana, Ohio, and Rhode Island. Dr. Patel is a triple board certified physician in the fields of critical care medicine, internal medicine and pulmonology. Dr. Patel has many accomplishments throughout his nearly 30-year career in medicine, including implementing new accountable care organization programs, expanding Prime's hospitalist and surgical nursing facility programs, and implementing three disease management programs.
Robert Payton, MD. Vice President and CMO of Edward Hospital (Naperville, Ill.). Dr. Payton is the liaison between the medical staff physicians and administration, and he has direct oversight of all hospital medical directors. Dr. Payton is also responsible for regulatory compliance and physician quality and patient safety. He has spent time as the president of the Edward Hospital medical staff and served on the Plainfield (Ill.) Surgery Center board.
Eric Perez, MD. CMO of Chilton Medical Center (Pompton Plains, N.J.). Dr. Perez joined Atlantic Health System's Chilton Medical Center in 2014, and since then he has focused on physician engagement, quality, patient safety and palliative care. Under his leadership, the hospital has achieved multiple awards from The Leapfrog Group and U.S. News & World Report. He also transitioned three service lines to hospital-employed groups and was instrumental in leading the hospital's command center during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Robert Phillips, MD, PhD. Executive Vice President, Chief Physician Executive and Specialty Physician Group CEO at Houston Methodist. In addition to his numerous roles at Houston Methodist, Dr. Phillips is an internationally recognized board-certified cardiologist who has served as principal or co-principal investigator on more than 60 clinical trials in cardiovascular disease and has published over 170 peer-reviewed and invited papers, books and book chapters. He is also a professor of medicine at Weill Cornell College of Medicine in New York City. He previously served as senior vice president and director of the Heart and Vascular Center of Excellence at Worcester, Mass.-based UMass Chan Medical School.
George Ralls, MD. Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Orlando Health (Fla.). In addition to overseeing clinical care delivery and quality, Dr. Ralls provides leadership for the health system's graduate medical education, organizational performance improvement, medical staff services and clinical research. He also has been credited as an essential asset to the organization's COVID-19 response.
Tony Reed, MD, PhD. Executive Vice President and CMO for Temple University Hospital and Temple University Health System (Philadelphia). Dr. Reed is accountable for Temple's care delivery transformation and integration. He oversees population health and developing data-driven care models to improve patient safety and outcomes. Dr. Reed is also building comprehensive team models on medical and surgical floors. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Reed has been the health system's incident commander and leads Temple's preparation, response and recovery efforts.
Christopher Rehm, MD. Senior Vice President and CMO at LifePoint Health (Brentwood, Tenn.). Before serving in his current role, Dr. Rehm was LifePoint Health's senior vice president and chief medical informatics officer. Prior to joining LifePoint, he was CMO and vice president of business development for medical software company Aionex. He previously served as COO for UnitedHealth subsidiary Cogent Healthcare's northeast region.
Margaret Reidy, MD. CMO at UCHealth (Aurora, Colo.). In her role, Dr. Reidy acts as a liaison between providers and system administration and leads efforts to develop innovative, high-quality and cost-effective treatments across the system boasting more than 24,000 employees. Before UCHealth, she held leadership roles at Pittsburgh-based UPMC.
Richard Riggs, MD. Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs and CMO of Cedars-Sinai (Los Angeles). During his 25-year career, Dr. Riggs has spearheaded initiatives that have significantly improved patient care. In his role, he oversees the clinical quality, medical standards, efficiency and effective use of clinical resources at the system that serves 1 million people a year.
Daniel Roth, MD. Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer at Trinity Health (Livonia, Mich.). Dr. Roth has served as Trinity Health's executive vice president and chief clinical officer since 2017. He joined Trinity Health in 2015 as CMO and COO of Trinity Health Partners. Prior to joining Trinity Health, he served as CMO for Mercy Health in Cincinnati. During his eight years there, he served in several physician leadership roles, including president of Mercy Health Physicians and chief medical information officer with Catholic Health Partners.
Lewis Rubinson, MD. CMO of Morristown (N.J.) Medical Center. Dr. Rubinson became CMO of Morristown Medical Center, part of Atlantic Health System, in January 2020. He focuses on promoting patient safety, improving complex clinical operations and expansion of the 735-bed nonprofit teaching hospital. When the pandemic began, Dr. Rubinson established protocols for COVID-19 to limit staff exposure and deliver care without putting care teams at risk. NJBIZ named Dr. Rubinson Physician of the Year in 2020 as part of the publication's Health Care Heroes Awards.
James Schuster, MD. CMO of UPMC Health Plan (Pittsburgh). Dr. Schuster has clinical leadership over UPMC's insurance services division, including Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, commercial insurer and employer offerings. He supports partnerships for value-based payment models and works with his team to develop innovative service delivery models for high-need populations. Dr. Schuster also oversees the health system's center for high-value healthcare, which has earned awards from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.
Niraj Sehgal, MD. CMO of Stanford (Calif.) Health Care. As well as serving as CMO, Dr. Sehgal is also a professor of medicine and senior associate dean for clinical affairs at Stanford University School of Medicine. In his role, Dr. Sehgal emphasizes interprofessional teamwork, building multidisciplinary partnerships and advocating for health equity. Before rejoining Stanford in 2020, Dr. Sehgal spent 16 years at University of California San Francisco, where he held several leadership roles, including inaugural chief quality officer.
Tom Sequist, MD. CMO at Mass General Brigham (Somerville, Mass.). Dr. Sequist was appointed CMO of Mass General Brigham in December, where he previously served as chief patient experience and equity officer. Dr. Sequist is also a practicing general internist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and is a professor of medicine and healthcare policy at Harvard Medical School.
Gulshan Sharma, MD. Vice President, Chief Medical and Clinical Innovation Officer of UTMB Health (Galveston, Texas). Dr. Sharma has worked for UTMB Health for 11 years. The health system went from earning three to five star rankings on Vizient's quality and accountability study under Dr. Sharma's leadership. Prior to his current roles, Dr. Sharma served as director, division of pulmonary and critical care and sleep medicine for UTMB.
Steven Sheris, MD. Executive Vice President and Chief Physician Executive of Atlantic Health System (Morristown, N.J.). Dr. Sheris oversees and leads the more than 1,000 physicians and advanced practice providers in the Atlantic Health System. He has also served as a co-investigator in clinical trials at Summit, N.J.-based Overlook Medical Center and is actively involved in teaching programs. Prior to his current role, Dr. Sheris was the lead cardiologist at Atlantic Health System's Associates in Cardiovascular Disease and was a physician in the United States Navy for 13 years.
Lawrence Smith, MD. Executive Vice President and Physician-in-Chief of Northwell Health (New Hyde Park, N.Y.). Dr. Smith serves as Northwell Health's senior physician for all clinical issues. He is also the founding dean of the Zucker School of Medicine in Hempstead, N.Y. Dr. Smith joined Northwell as chief academic officer and senior vice president of academic affairs in May 2005 after serving as dean and chair of the department of medical education at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and as founder and director of the school's Institute for Medical Education.
Gary Stuck, DO. CMO of Advocate Aurora Health (Downers Grove, Ill.). In his role, Dr. Stuck oversees safety, health outcomes, population health, medical staff services and credentialing, and insurance and risk management. He also provides co-executive leadership of the Advocate Aurora Health Equity Council.
Erik Summers, MD. Chief Medical Officer at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center (Winston-Salem, N.C.). Dr. Summers has been with Wake Forest Baptist for almost 13 years. He was named CMO in June 2010 after only five months. Atrium Wake Forest Baptist Health boasts a physician force of more than 2,700. Dr. Summers earned his medical degree from the University of Alabama School of Medicine in 1997.
James Valin, MD. Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer at SCL Health (Broomfield, Colo.). Dr. Valin joined SCL Health in 2016 as president of medical group and provider services. He was appointed to his current position in 2018. He is credited with aligning and overseeing all the health system's clinical programs. He is the recipient of several awards, including the Clinician Experience Project’s CEO Award of Excellence, Pandemic Heroism recognition from the Leapfrog Group and Huron's What’s Right in Health Care Hero Award.
Daniel Varga, MD. Chief Physician Executive of Hackensack (N.J.) Meridian Health. Dr. Varga is in charge of Hackensack Meridian Health's physician enterprise, care transformation services and medical management of the clinically integrated network. Prior to his current role, Dr. Varga served as senior executive vice president and chief clinical officer of Arlington-based Texas Health Resources, a nonprofit health system.
Amit Vashist, MD. Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer of Ballad Health (Johnson City, Tenn.). Dr. Vashist oversees clinical quality, safety and value-based care initiatives at Ballad Health. He is responsible for enterprisewide care delivery, medical staff affairs and the health system's physician partnerships. Throughout his career, Dr. Vashist has worked to improve outcomes, reduce mortality in sepsis patients and promote a zero-harm culture to reduce hospital-acquired infections.
Conrad Vial, MD. Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer at Sutter Health (Sacramento, Calif.). Dr. Vial oversees the clinical operations, quality and safety, digital patient engagement and patient experience for the 68,000-employee system. He also is a practicing cardiothoracic surgeon and has held leadership roles in multispecialty medical group practice.
Patrice Weiss, MD. Chief Medical Officer at Carilion Clinic (Roanoke, Va.). Dr. Weiss oversees operations of the hospital's multispecialty physicians' group, which includes more than 700 physicians and 300 nurse practitioners and physician assistants across 60 medical specialties. She also provides care in the hospital's obstetrics and gynecology department. She has served on the Committee on Clinical Leadership for the American Hospital Association and serves on the patient safety council for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Mark Welton, MD. CMO of Fairview (Minneapolis). Dr. Welton is board- certified in general surgery and colon and rectal surgery. Prior to his position at Fairview, Dr. Welton served as chief of colon and rectal surgery at California--based Stanford University School of Medicine and chief of staff for Stanford Hospital and Clinics.
David Wessel, MD. Executive Vice President, CMO and Physician-in-Chief of Children's National Hospital (Washington, D.C.). Dr. Wessel has administrative responsibility for 900 employed physicians and accountability for another 2,000 hospital employees. He also oversees six clinical centers of excellence, five institutes, a clinically integrated network and other partnerships within the system. Over the past two years, Dr. Wessel co-chaired the hospital's COVID-19 response and was instrumental in organizing international webinars on COVID-19 in children. Under his leadership, U.S. News & World Report ranked the hospital No. 7 in the nation for pediatric care.
Donald Whiting, MD, CMO at Allegheny Health Network (Pittsburgh). Dr. Whiting has served in various leadership positions with Allegheny Health Network for two decades, where he now oversees clinical operations. He is also president of the system's physician organization, the Allegheny Clinic, which employs more than 1,400 physicians.
Robert Wiebe, MD. CMO of CommonSpirit Health (Chicago). Dr. Wiebe is in charge of quality, patient safety, clinical service lines, physician engagement, academic medicine, clinical research, medical informatics and clinical data science. He previously served as senior executive at Washington, D.C.-based Veterans Health Administration.
Robert Wyllie, MD. Chief of Medical Operations at Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Wyllie has served in his position since 2011 after serving as chief of the hospital's pediatric institute and the physician-in-chief of its children's hospital. He provides gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition care to pediatric patients for the health system. He also oversees service line performance management for the Cleveland Clinic, which includes decreasing the cost of healthcare while improving quality and the patient experience.
Geralda Xavier, MD. CMO of Hackettstown (N.J.) Medical Center and Newton (N.J.) Medical Center. Dr. Xavier oversees the medical staff at two Atlantic health System hospitals: Hackettstown and Newton medical centers. She is responsible for patient safety initiatives and has more than 15 years of experience leading medical staff. She is a safety, quality, informatics and leadership fellow at Boston-based Harvard Medical School, an Institute for Healthcare Improvement adviser and a certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt.
Donald Yealy, MD. Senior Vice President and CMO of UPMC (Pittsburgh). Dr. Yealy is in charge of supervising advanced practice providers and physician wellness initiatives. In 2009, he received the Outstanding Contribution in Research Award from the American College of Emergency Physicians for his contributions to research on clinical decision-making and the early care of many life-threatening conditions.