15 Healthcare Executives to Follow on Twitter

Dr. Wyatt Decker has been the engine behind the launch of the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine with Arizona State University, which provides healthcare for 95,000 patients. As vice president of the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Decker directs research, education, and clinical operations in Arizona, Florida, and Minnesota. Dr. Decker has received the Maestros of Medicine Award from Phoenix Magazine, the Most Admired Leaders Award from the Phoenix Business Journal, and the Heroes of Emergency Medicine Award from the American College of Emergency Physicians, specifically for his work in Haiti following the 2009 earthquake.

Since 2015, Deborah DiSanzo has used her years of experience working at the intersection of healthcare and technology to help IBM Watson advance health on a global scale. She has helped grow the company, expand IBM’s Watson’s Health Cloud capability, and foster an ever-wider network of companies utilizing IBM’s cognitive computing platform. DiSanzo also helps vulnerable populations through her board membership in Project Hope, Embrace Innovations, and ReWalk Robotics. DiSanzo's work has received recognition from the Boston Globe and The Commonwealth Institute as they named IBM Watson Health one of the Top 100 Women-led Businesses in Massachusetts. DiSanzo was also named one of the Inspiring Fifty and received the American Heart Association’s Cor Vitae Award.

Dr. Atul Gawande is the founder, former executive director, and current chairman of Ariadne Labs—a joint venture between Brigham and Women’s Hospital in the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, which works to deliver scalable solutions for common failures in healthcare delivery. Dr. Gawande has recently been named CEO of a joint non-profit healthcare organization (name to be determined) funded by Amazon, JPMorgan Chase Bank, and Berkshire Hathaway to improve quality and reduce healthcare costs for the three companies. In addition to his executive roles, Dr. Gawande is a practicing surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School, a staff writer for The New Yorker, and a New York Times bestselling author.

Dr. Harrison has been the president and CEO of Intermountain Healthcare since 2016. He is continuing Intermountain’s mission of helping people live the healthiest lives possible through best practices in clinic and operations. As a long-time member of the Intermountain community, Dr. Harrison completed his medical residency and internship in pediatric critical care serving at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital. Dr. Harrison has been the chief of international business development for the Cleveland Clinic and CEO of Cleveland Clinic in Abu Dhabi. Dr. Harrison is currently championing a $12 million project at Interhealth that seeks to identify and remediate non-medical factors that impact health through greater collaboration between traditional health providers and community health centers.

Dr. Rod Hochman envisions a transformative future for healthcare at Providence St. Joseph’s Health (PSJH)—the faith-based, not-for-profit health social services system—through digital innovation, genomics and scientific wellness, population health, outreach to the poor and vulnerable, and community-based mental health. Dr. Hochman has many accolades to his name, including Press Ganey’s 2015 Innovator of the Year, as well as Modern Healthcare Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare and 50 Most Influential Physician Executives. He also received the 2017 Partners In Care Foundation Vision and Excellence in Health Care Leadership Award. In addition to his role at PSJH, Dr. Hochman is a board member of the American Hospital Association, vice chair for the Catholic Health Association, and a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Rheumatology.

Under Dr. Sachin Jain’s leadership, CareMore Health Systems is providing focused care coordination, patient education, and proactive disease management for high-risk Medicare and Medicaid populations. Before being named CEO at CareMore, Dr. Jain was CareMore’s chief medical officer (CMO) and chief operating officer (COO). He was also the chief medical information and innovation officer at Merck & Co. Notably, Dr. Jain is the co-founder and editor-in-chief for Healthcare: The Journal of Delivery Science & Innovation, a consulting professor of medicine at the Stanford School of Medicine, and a contributor at Forbes Magazine.

Joe Kiani created Masimo Corporation in 1989 as a “garage start-up,” which has since grown to become an innovative leader of non-invasive monitoring technologies, medical devices, and sensors. In addition to his work at Masimo, Kiani has been an advocate for patient safety and innovation in healthcare for decades. He is the founder of the Patient Safety Movement Foundation (PSMF), where he set the goal of reducing 200,000 preventable patient deaths in hospitals. At the most recent Patient Safety Science & Technology Summit, he launched a new goal of zero preventable patient deaths by 2020. Kiani is the recipient of many awards including the first Society of Critical Care Medicine Industry & Technology Critical Care Technology Excellence Achievement Award, as well as the Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur of the Year Life Sciences Award.

In her role as associate chief of staff at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Houston, Dr. SreyRam Kuy is tasked with improving healthcare quality, patient safety, and value-based care for veterans. Dr. Kuy was honored with the Woman of Worth award by L’Oreal Paris and the Points of Light Foundation for her work with vulnerable populations. She was also included in Business Report’s 40 Under 40 and Modern Healthcare Magazine’s Top 25 Minority Executives in Healthcare lists. As a survivor of the Cambodian genocide, Dr. Kuy was the first female Cambodian refugee to practice surgery in the United States. She is a published writer whose work has appeared in several news outlets and the author of an upcoming book titled “The Heart of a Tiger.”

Dr. Beverly Malone is credited with bringing the core values of caring, diversity, integrity, and excellence to the center of the mission of the National League of Nurses (NLN)—a professional organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education that serves 40,000 individuals and 1,200 institutions. She is a heavily awarded professional, with honors including the Florence Nightingale Award, induction into the Home Care & Hospice Hall of Fame, and the Fellowship Ad Eundem of the Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery from the Royal College of Surgeons. Modern Healthcare Magazine has consistently included her in its lists of influential healthcare professionals, including the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare, the Top 25 Minority Healthcare Executives, and the Top 25 Women in Healthcare.

Dr. Randy Oostra is the head of the not-for-profit, mission-based, integrated health healthcare organization ProMedica. Dr. Oostra has been ranked in many top influential people in healthcare lists, including those of Modern Healthcare Magazine and Becker’s Healthcare. He also received the Pulse of Toledo award from the American Heart Association in 2018. Dr. Oostra is on the board for the Local Initiatives and Support Corporation, the American Hospital Association, the Health Research and Educational Trust, the Root Cause Coalition, Northwestern College, Regional Growth Partnership, the Toledo Museum of Art, and the Downtown Development Corporation. He also serves as board chairman for the Toledo Symphony.

Anna Roth was named the director of Contra Costa Health Services (CCHS) in early 2018. Roth is responsible for the largest department in the Contra Costa County government; she manages more than 4,400 employees and a $1.8 billion annual budget. Before her appointment to director, Roth served as CEO for the Contra Costa Regional Medical Center and Health Centers for nine years. Ross has been on the board and served as chair for the Essential Hospitals Institute and the California Health Care Safety Net Institute. She is also a lecturer at the University of California Berkeley’s School of Public Health.

Dr. Bruce Siegel’s leadership at America’s Essential Hospitals (AEH) has empowered member organizations to transform into integrated delivery systems, become leaders in access and quality, and work to provide the care that uninsured and vulnerable patient populations deserve. Through the Essential Hospital’s Institute (AEH’s research arm), Dr. Siegel has led the launch of the Transformation Center, an endeavor focused on improving quality and safety through innovative change. As an influencer in healthcare, he has been ranked by Modern Healthcare magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare three times, and one of the 50 Most Influential Physician Executives four years in a row. Dr. Siegel also currently serves as chair of the National Advisory Council for Healthcare Research and Quality and is a member of the National Quality Forum Board.

Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong’s standing as CEO of NantWorks, NantHealth, and NantKwest has put him at the center of transformation and innovation in global health information, next-gen pharmaceutical development, immunotherapy, biomolecular medicine, and transcendent bioinformatics. Dr. Soon-Shiong developed Abraxane, an FDA-approved treatment for metastatic breast cancer, lung cancer, and advanced pancreatic cancer. It is the only drug of its kind to be approved as first-line therapy in the U.S. and E.U. Dr. Soon-Shiong is currently chairman of the Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation and the Chan-Soon Shiong Institute of Molecular Medicine, as well as the co-chair of the Council for Health and Innovation at the Bipartisan Policy Center. He is also executive director of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Wireless Health Institute and holds various levels of professorship at UCLA, the Imperial College of London, and the California NanoSystems Institute of UCLA.

CEO since 2013 and chairman since 2014, Bernard J. Tyson is responsible for the vision impacting a healthcare organization with 12 million patients, 200,000 employees, and 20,000 providers. Under Tyson’s leadership, Kaiser has been leading the way in providing customized, technologically advanced, affordable, and accessible healthcare. In addition to his role at Kaiser, Tyson is on the board for the American Heart Association and Salesforce. He is also chair of America’s Health Insurance Plans, the International Federation of Health Plans, and the Bay Area Council. He has been named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World and was included on Fast Company’s list of most creative people. Modern Healthcare Magazine has ranked him amongst the 100 Most Influential Healthcare Executives four years in a row.

Chris Van Gorder is currently leading the healthcare system Scripps toward alignment with the new landscape of health reform. In 1999, Van Gorder, through his transparent, co-management style, overcame Scripps’ $15 million per year deficit by streamlining business operations, hiring an award-winning executive team, overturning internal inefficiencies, and improving physician relations and workplace culture. In 2010, Van Gorder introduced a horizontally matrixed management structure which reduced unnecessary variation in patient and healthcare at Scripps and led to $400 million in performance improvements over the subsequent four years. In addition to his work at Scripps, Van Gorder is a published author, a reserve assistant sheriff for the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, a licensed EMT, and an instructor for the American Red Cross.