100 Most Influential People in Healthcare - 2021

A year after the merger of CHI Franciscan and Virginia Mason, Dr. Gary Kaplan announced he would step down as CEO, leaving Ketul Patel as sole CEO in January 2022. Before joining Virginia Mason Franciscan, Patel served as executive vice president, chief of strategy and chief operating officer of Hackensack University Health Network and Hackensack University Medical Center. He also served as vice president of operations for the UPMC’s Magee-Womens Hospital, senior vice president of Franciscan Health Alliance St. James Health, and vice president for strategic planning and business development at Sharp HealthCare.

Patel speaks: “I leave energized every single time I go there because of the amount of passion they have for this organization. I have always felt that faith-based organizations have an extra touch of focus and mission than others. I couldn’t have asked for a better set of sisters to work with.”