Eight Mid-Atlantic Chief Innovation Officers Recognized in Becker Healthcare’s “Chief Innovation Officers to Know”

These CIOs were picked for their transformational impact on hospitals and health systems.

By Cat Thoreson | October 17, 2023

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In the dynamic landscape of healthcare, staying at the forefront of innovation is paramount to ensuring the delivery of cutting-edge care.

That is why Becker Healthcare, a trusted source for the healthcare industry, annually recognizes the pivotal role played by Chief Innovation Officers (CIOs). These CIOs are visionaries and catalysts of change within hospitals and health systems, driving progress through creative thinking, fostering cultures of innovation, and forging impactful partnerships.

Becker released its 2023 list last week, shining a spotlight on 35 exceptional innovators who are leading the charge in reshaping healthcare delivery, driving the development of novel technologies, optimizing patient care models, and guiding their organizations toward a future of healthcare excellence.

More importantly, inclusion on this list is a testament to their contributions and leadership, free from any endorsement or paid influence and nominated by their peers, much like our Annual Awards.

“I am thrilled to be placed on the Becker’s Honor list of 35 Hospital and Health System Chief Innovation Officers,” said Kolaleh Eskandanian, Ph.D., Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer, Children’s National Hospital. “I am grateful to my peers and Becker’s Hospital Review for their nomination. At Children’s National Hospital, we are laser-focused on advancing the development of medical products that address a dire unmet need in the pediatric population. This is a road less traveled in the healthcare innovation field, and I am proud to be a part of this journey.”

Of the 35 named, eight represented the Mid-Atlantic, three of which are from the BioHealth Capital Region (Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C.) while another three are from Greater Philadelphia.

BioHealth Capital Region

Bill Sheahan, Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer, MedStar Health; Executive Director, MedStar Institute for Innovation (Columbia, MD)

Sheahan serves as vice president and chief innovation officer of MedStar Health in addition to his role as executive director for the over 175-member Institute for Innovation team at the health system. The Institute for Innovation team is currently working on many projects under his leadership, including inpatient care delivery innovation to address national staffing shortages, virtual primary care expansion and acute services delivery in care at home. With over 20 years of experience in healthcare, research and public safety, Sheahan has led advancements in intelligent automation, remote patient monitoring, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, and more for the health system.

Cole Zanetti, DO, Senior Advisor, Veteran Health Administrations Innovation Ecosystem and Chief Health Informatics Officer at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Health Care System (Charleston, SC)

Dr. Zanetti fosters connections across the Veteran Affairs system and creates private and public partnerships for veterans. He tackles complex issues within the VA by aligning multiple siloed departments to create innovative change, which then improves veteran care and healthcare effectiveness. Dr. Zanetti has helped further enhance the VHA’s eScreening platform, created a partnership with Care Centra to provide personalized AI health coach care to thousands of veterans, co-designed a national VET Text platform and much more.

Kolaleh Eskandanian, Ph.D. Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer, Children’s National Hospital (Washington, DC)

Since 2008, Dr. Eskandanian has served as the vice president and chief innovation officer at Children’s National Hospital. There, she oversees the Office of Innovation Ventures, the Sheikh Zayed Institute’s research and development operations, and leads in the development of the Children’s National Research and Innovation Campus. With her focus on addressing the unmet medical needs of children, her expertise includes product development, notably as the lead inventor of the first-ever adverse event reporting system.

Greater Philadelphia

Mark Kandrysawtz, Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer, Wellspan Health (York, PA)

Kandrysawtz leads innovation efforts in products, services and experiences, as well as clinical business solutions, digital diagnostics and novel therapeutics at Wellspan Health. In his role as vice president and chief innovation officer, he leads Wellspan’s research and development, digital health and innovation ventures. Under Kandrysawtz’s leadership, the system became the first Epic EHR-enabled organization to earn “Five Diamond” recognition for its patient portal application. He has been instrumental in the organization’s efforts to digitally engage patients and innovate virtual care delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Kandrysawtz is also founder and president of Benjamin & Bond, A WellSpan Portfolio Company. 

Roy Rosin, Chief Innovation Officer, Penn Medicine (Philadelphia, PA)

Since 2012, Rosin has served as the chief innovation officer at Penn Medicine to identify, shape and implement improvements in patient health outcomes and patient experience while testing for potential new revenue streams. Before Penn Medicine, Rosin was the vice president of innovation at Intuit. He managed Intuit Brainstorm to turn ideas into actions and outcomes for small teams to pursue new opportunities to get into the market and experiment rapidly.

Sangeeta Bardhan Cook, PhD, Chief Innovation Officer, Fox Chase Cancer Center; Senior Vice President, Commercialization Strategy and Business Development of Temple University Health System (Philadelphia, PA)

Dr. Bardhan Cook joined Fox Chase Cancer Center and Temple University Health System in August 2022, and has since shifted focus in the organization towards de-risking and early-stage technologies. Her work includes both digital transformation projects and therapeutic and diagnostic development, allowing for acceleration of new technology movement into clinical practice. In her short time at Fox Chase and Temple University Health, Dr. Bardhan Cook has begun a number of strategic partnerships, led development of a data-driven care insight model, and led clinical developments for a novel therapeutic set for clinical trials.

Greater MidAtlantic Region

Derek Angus, MD. Chief Healthcare Innovation Officer, University Pittsburgh Medical Center (Pittsburgh, PA)

Dr. Angus was appointed chief healthcare innovation officer at UPMC earlier this year. He leads UPMC’s efforts to make care decisions wisely and learn fast to accelerate changes in patient care. He is also responsible for efforts to blend clinical care delivery with medical research, artificial intelligence and computer, social and behavioral sciences. He has a background in machine learning, behavioral economics and clinical analytics.

Sandra Powell-Elliott, Vice President, Chief Innovation and Commercialization Officer at Hackensack Meridian Health (Edison, NJ)

Powell-Elliott serves as vice president, chief innovation and commercialization officer at Hackensack Meridian Health, where she brings transformative solutions from outside of the organization to the forefront of its strategic planning efforts. This encompasses precision medicine, new device development, new product and solution development, new business model development and more. Powell-Elliott has been instrumental to the successful implementation of systemwide innovation challenges that help to reimagine patient and team member safety and reduction of patient length of stay.