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As hospitals and health systems further embed AI into healthcare delivery, they are increasingly appointing chief AI officers or equivalent senior executives with dedicated responsibility for AI governance, implementation and oversight, reflecting a broader trend of health systems chief AI officers taking on formalized C-suite roles.
Why Health Systems Chief AI Officers Roles Are Growing
The growing presence of these roles reflects the industry’s recognition that AI may pose risks to patient safety, professional liability and regulatory compliance, and thus warrants cross-functional leadership at the highest levels. Below is a look at healthcare organizations with dedicated AI leadership.
Academic Medical Centers Leading With Health Systems Chief AI Officers
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago named Rajiv Kolagani as its chief data and AI officer. BJC Health System and WashU Medicine in St. Louis appointed two leaders: Philip R.O. Payne, PhD, as the inaugural chief health AI officer of WashU Medicine and BJC, and Deborah O’Dell as chief data & analytics officer at BJC.
Major Health Systems With Chief AI Officers on the West Coast
Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles appointed Mouneer Odeh as its inaugural chief artificial intelligence officer at the end of 2024. City of Hope in Duarte, Calif., named Nasim Eftekhari system vice president and chief AI and analytics officer. UCLA Health named Paul J. Lukac, MD, as its chief AI officer, while UCSF Health named Sara Murray, MD, as chief health AI officer. UC San Diego Health named Karandeep Singh, MD, as its inaugural chief health artificial intelligence officer, and UCI Health in Orange, Calif., named Deepti Pandita, MD, as its chief medical informatics and AI officer.
Kaiser Permanente’s Approach to AI Leadership
Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif., has Daniel Yang, MD, serving as vice president of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies, a title distinct from the “chief AI officer” designation used at many peer organizations.
Midwest and Southern Health Systems Chief AI Officers
Cleveland Clinic appointed Ben Shahshahani, PhD, as its first vice president and chief artificial intelligence officer in August 2024. Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., appointed Micky Tripathi, PhD, as its chief AI implementation officer, while Mayo Clinic Arizona in Phoenix separately named Bhavik Patel, MD, as chief AI officer. Mercy in St. Louis named Byron Yount, PhD, as chief data and artificial intelligence officer and vice president of transformation operations.
Additional Regional Health Systems Naming AI Chiefs
Baptist Health System in Louisville, Ky., named Brett Oliver, MD, as its chief medical information and AI officer. Bon Secours Mercy Health in Cincinnati named Dylan Clark as its chief analytics and artificial intelligence officer. University of Utah Health in Salt Lake City appointed Kensaku Kawamoto, MD, PhD, as its first chief health AI transformation officer. UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas named Warren D’Souza, PhD, as its inaugural chief artificial intelligence officer, and VCU Health in Richmond, Va., named Alok Chaudhary as vice president and chief data and artificial intelligence officer.
Children’s Hospitals and Denver Health’s AI Leadership
Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., named Alda Mizaku as vice president and chief data and AI officer. Denver Health named Daniel Kortsch, MD, as its associate chief of AI and digital health. Hackensack Meridian Health in Edison, N.J., named David Arnold as its senior vice president and chief AI and data officer.
Variation in Title and Scope Across These Health Systems Chief AI Officers
Across this list, titles vary meaningfully, from “chief AI officer” to “chief health AI officer” to “vice president of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies,” reflecting differing organizational structures and how each health system chooses to position AI leadership relative to existing informatics, data, and analytics functions.
What This Wave of Health Systems Chief AI Officers Means Going Forward
With more than 20 major health systems now represented on this list, spanning academic medical centers, children’s hospitals, and regional systems across the country, the appointment of dedicated AI leadership appears to have become a standard organizational response to AI’s growing role in clinical and administrative operations. Given the cross-functional nature of these roles, spanning patient safety, professional liability, and regulatory compliance, other health systems without a formally designated AI chief may increasingly feel competitive pressure to establish similar positions.
What to Watch Going Forward
As this list continues to grow, with Becker’s actively soliciting additional health systems for inclusion, industry observers will likely watch which organizational models, dedicated chief AI officer roles versus AI responsibilities folded into existing chief medical information officer or chief data officer positions, prove most effective at balancing innovation with the governance and compliance demands these executives are tasked with managing. Given how recently many of these appointments occurred, with several dating to only the past one to two years, this health systems chief AI officers trend appears to still be in its early, rapidly evolving phase across the healthcare industry.
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