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West Penn Allegheny Health System Appoints New President and CEO

Posted on: Tuesday, 15 January 2008, 15:01 CST

PITTSBURGH, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Officials at West Penn Allegheny Health System (WPAHS) today announced the appointment of Christopher T. Olivia, M.D., as its new President and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Olivia, 45, is expected to assume his new role in March.

"We believe Dr. Olivia is uniquely qualified to lead West Penn Allegheny at this important time in our system's evolution," said Keith Smith, who is serving presently as President and CEO for WPAHS. "He brings a wealth of skill and experience to his new role and has demonstrated success in organizational growth, restructuring and integration."

Dr. Olivia currently serves as President and CEO for The Cooper Health System (CHS) in Camden, New Jersey. During his tenure, CHS witnessed significant financial growth, with revenues more than doubling and discharges increasing by over 60 percent. He also led The Cooper University Hospital to the number one ranking in market share for hospitals in South Jersey.

His leadership was also instrumental in restoring CHS to an investment grade financial rating for the first time in eight years. Under his stewardship, the system increased its NIH/Federal grants 16-fold with total research funding that now exceeds $25 million.

Dr. Olivia's organization has also earned accolades for quality care and employee relations. Cooper has been identified by the National Patient Safety Foundation as a national leader in patient safety and has earned the National Research Corporation's Consumer Choice Award for the Delaware Valley the last three years. In both 2005 and 2006, CHS was named to the Top 25 Employee Choice List in New Jersey and was cited as one of the top two employers in the state of New Jersey by New Jersey Business and Industry.

Dedicated to the importance of academic medicine, Dr. Olivia grew Cooper University Hospital's number of residents from 180 to over 250 and increased the number of residency training programs from 22 to 32. Cooper University Hospital maintains a full time faculty of 400 and is one of three principle teaching hospitals in New Jersey. The south campus of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School is located at the institution where Dr. Olivia is also a member of the Medical School's faculty.

One of the more important qualities Dr. Olivia brings to West Penn Allegheny is his capacity to foster and cultivate effective integration of staff and services within an organization.

"Dr. Olivia has a strong penchant for relationship building at all levels of the organization," said Smith. "He has shown the ability to bring people and programs together in a most cohesive and productive fashion."

"This is an exciting opportunity to work with West Penn Allegheny's Board to lead the System into the future. There is a clear and strong commitment by our physicians, nurses and allied health professionals to the highest standards of quality medical care, education and research for the benefit of the people of Western Pennsylvania. We will make a similar commitment to the development of an organizational culture that emphasizes clinical leadership and unity in our endeavors," said Dr. Olivia.

Dr. Olivia earned his undergraduate degree at the Pennsylvania State University and his medical degree with honors and academic distinction from Hahnemann Medical School. He served his internship at Colombia University*s Morristown Memorial Hospital Program where he was Intern of the Year. Dr. Olivia also earned an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

After completing his residency in ophthalmology at The University at Buffalo, State University of New York, he joined a private practice and later served as a physician manager in a group practice at Healthcare Plan in Buffalo, New York.

In 1996, Dr. Olivia was recruited to Mercy Health Partners in Springfield, Ohio, where he served in a variety of positions including Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer. Within a year, he was promoted to President and CEO of the organization's health insurance corporation, Covenant Health.

Dr. Olivia was recruited in 2000 to be the President and Chief Executive Officer of University Physicians, a multi-specialty integrated physician structure of over 400 clinicians affiliated with Cooper and the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. It was in this capacity that Dr. Olivia merged the University Physicians into The Cooper Health System.

Within two years he was named President and CEO for the Cooper Health System. He has continued to practice medicine throughout his career both in private practice and presently as a member of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School faculty where he engages in ophthalmology research and the training of medical students and residents.

"With the appointment of Dr. Olivia, we have taken another critical step in realizing the full potential of our system and its hospitals," said David McClenahan, Board Chair for West Penn Allegheny Health System. "Our organization is poised to do extraordinary things for the health care of our region. Under Dr. Olivia's leadership, we will do just that."

West Penn Allegheny Health System

CONTACT: Tom Chakurda, of West Penn Allegheny Health System,+1-412-359-6896

Source: PRNewswire

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