Who: Dr. Verdi DiSesa, 65
New role: DiSesa will become president and CEO of Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, effective March 1. He replaces John Kastanis, who will become president and CEO of University Hospital in Newark, N.J.
Background: He serves as COO of Temple University Health System and senior vice dean for clinical affairs in the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple, where he oversees the strategic direction of clinical services and supports medical student training. He will maintain those duties. Before joining Temple, DiSesa worked in collaboration with Harvard Medical School as chairman of its department of surgery.
Next challenges: DiSesa said Temple must do everything it can to be clinically and financially efficient. As the healthcare industry moves to value-based purchasing, a population-health focus becomes increasingly important. “Exactly how that fits together, no one knows yet,” he said, adding that Temple must adapt to industrywide changes while teaching the next generation of physicians.
Teamwork: Medicine is a team endeavor, DiSesa said. As a cardiac surgeon, “where each procedure can be do-or-die, there's the temptation to do it all yourself,” he said. As an executive, “You have to be able to select a good team and guide it, but let it do its work.”