Regina Cunningham

Phil Okala

Lori Gustave

Regina Cunningham has been named chief executive officer of HUP effective this month after Garry Scheib stepped down from his roles as COO of the University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) and CEO of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) following more than 17 years at Penn Medicine. Mr. Scheib is credited with transformative, collaborative leadership which has led the health system’s hospitals to post industry-leading outcomes and record patient satisfaction scores. Mr. Scheib will remain in a part-time role at Penn Medicine, as well as teaching and mentoring.

“Regina’s ability to lead across many areas and her deep understanding of hospital operations, especially the role of nursing, were key factors in this appointment,” said UPHS CEO Ralph W. Muller. “As we embark on greater integration of service lines across the hospitals and physician practices, and continuously focus on quality, we are confident that Regina’s thoughtful leadership, collaborative style and expertise in administrative matters will serve the Health System well.” 

Dr. Cunningham began her tenure at Penn Medicine as associate chief nursing officer of cancer services at the Abramson Cancer Center in 2011, a role followed two years later as chief administrative officer of the cancer service line in the ACC, before she assumed her current position as chief nursing executive for Penn Medicine later in 2013. She has also served as an adjunct professor at Penn’s School of Nursing since 2012.

Prior to Penn, Dr. Cunningham held nursing leadership posts at Mount Sinai Medical Center where she served as both senior director of oncology and nursing research. She earned a BS in nursing from College of Mount Saint Vincent, master’s in nursing from NYU, and a doctorate in nursing from Penn. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Yale.

Following her numerous previous studies published in nursing and multidisciplinary peer-reviewed journals, Dr. Cunningham is currently principal investigator of an NIH-funded multi-site study aimed at developing knowledge and skills to support implementation of clinical trials.

Phil Okala will become COO for the Philadelphia Region of UPHS. He will be responsible for program integration across the system’s three Philadelphia hospitals. He has been senior vice president for business development since 2013. He came to Penn Medicine in 2007, following executive positions at Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pennsylvania, Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York, and MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Lori Gustave has been appointed senior vice president for business development for UPHS. She has been the chief administrative officer for Penn Medicine’s Musculoskeletal & Rheumatology Service Line and COO for orthopaedic surgery, where she oversaw design and implementation of the fully integrated Penn Musculoskeletal Center at University City and implemented a new disease team care model for the MSKR. She has also served Penn Medicine in previous roles as associate executive director and director of strategic planning at Penn Presbyterian, where she led a variety of strategic growth and operational improvement initiatives across multiple disciplines.