West Penn Allegheny Health System Appoints New President and CEO

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."
SOURCE West Penn Allegheny Health System

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