I write to personally share that Lisa Brandenburg has decided to retire from her role as President, UW Medicine Hospitals & Clinics and vice president for medical affairs at the University of Washington, effective October 1, 2022. Lisa will be relocating to California to be closer to family. I am very sorry to see Lisa go and will miss her incredible leadership as she has made many important contributions in her time at UW Medicine.
Lisa has served in a variety of leadership roles over 22 years at UW Medicine (and 32 years in the Seattle healthcare market), currently as President, UW Medicine Hospitals & Clinics since December 2017. She previously spent 17 years at UW Medical Center (1990-2007), initially as a department manager and a department administrator for radiation oncology with subsequent leadership positions including chief operating officer (2004-2006) and interim executive director (2006-2007). She also played a major role in the formation of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and more recently, the launching of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center as UW Medicine’s cancer program.
As President, UW Medicine Hospitals & Clinics, Lisa led the creation of a system-wide clinical strategic plan, launched our access initiative and financial stability work, and helped lead our UW Medicine COVID-19 response focused on the safety of our employees and maintaining our ability to serve our patients. Through her unwavering commitment to the mission of UW Medicine, Lisa has advanced our critical role in meeting the healthcare needs in our region, while also developing an outstanding leadership team committed to serving our community as we strive to improve the health of all people.
Please join me in thanking Lisa for her many years of service to UW Medicine and wishing her well as she enters this next phase of her life.
Cynthia Dold, Associate Vice President Clinical Operations for UW Medicine, has agreed to serve as the interim President, UW Medicine Hospitals & Clinics, and interim vice president for medical affairs at the University of Washington, effective October 2. Cynthia has worked at UW Medicine in the office of the President of Hospitals & Clinics for the past nine years and has been actively involved in our service line development, expansion of telemedicine and digital health, value-based care efforts, and coordination of our incident command response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, she has been closely involved in much of the work related to our clinical strategic plan, and previously served as Director, Strategic Planning and Clinical Integration for UW Medicine. Prior to working at UW Medicine, Cynthia worked for Public Health, Seattle and King County and at Kaiser Permanente. She has a Masters in Public Policy/Masters in Public Health from the University of California at Berkeley.
I am very pleased that Cynthia is willing to serve as interim President, UW Medicine Hospitals & Clinics, and look forward to working with her and our leadership teams during this transition.
While UW Medicine and our healthcare environment continue to face significant challenges, I have great confidence in our leadership teams and our faculty, staff, trainees and students. Together, we will address these challenges as we continue to build upon the excellence of our integrated clinical, research, and education programs.
Sincerely,
Timothy H. Dellit, M.D.
Interim CEO, UW Medicine
Interim Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs and
Interim Dean of the School of Medicine,
University of Washington
