The leaders of the 20 hospitals recognized on U.S. News and World Report’s 2026-2027 Best Hospitals Honor Roll include those who stepped into their roles in 2026 as well as longtime leaders.
More than half of the leaders also have medical backgrounds, serving as physician CEOs, a growing cohort of hospital and health system CEOs.
U.S. News evaluated nearly 4,500 hospitals across 14 adult specialties and 23 procedures and conditions, and only 16% of evaluated hospitals earned a Best Hospitals designation.
Here are the leaders of each hospital recognized on the honor roll (hospitals are listed in alphabetical order):
Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Boston): Giles Boland, MD, has served as president since March 2024.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles): Peter Slavin, MD, became president and CEO of both Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Cedars-Sinai Health System in October 2025.
Cleveland Clinic: Tomislav Mihaljevic, MD, has served as president and CEO since January 2018.
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia): Regina Cunningham, PhD, RN, has served as hospital CEO since 2017.
Houston Methodist Hospital: Marc Boom, MD, was named president and CEO of Houston Methodist, an eight-hospital system, in 2012. Roberta Schwartz, PhD, is executive vice president of Houston Methodist Hospital and oversees hospital operations.
Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore): Redonda Miller, MD, has served as hospital president since 2016.
Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston): Marcela del Carmen, MD, has served as hospital president since spring 2024.
Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minn.): Gianrico Farrugia, MD, became president and CEO in January 2019 and plans to step down at the end of 2026.
Mayo Clinic-Arizona (Phoenix): Richard Gray, MD, has served as CEO since 2019.
Mayo Clinic-Florida (Jacksonville): Kent Thielen, MD, became CEO in 2019.
Mount Sinai Hospital (New York City): David Reich, MD, was named hospital president in 2013.
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia and Cornell (New York City): Brian Donley, MD, became president and CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian in January.
Northwestern Medicine-Northwestern Memorial Hospital (Chicago): Thomas McAfee has served as hospital president since April 2022.
NYU Langone Hospitals (New York City): Alec Kimmelman, MD, PhD, was appointed dean of NYU Grossman School of Medicine and CEO of NYU Langone Health in September.
Rush University Medical Center (Chicago): Omar Lateef, DO, has served as president and CEO of the medical center since 2019 and plans to retire in June 2027.
Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital (Palo Alto, Calif.): David Entwistle was appointed president and CEO of Stanford Health Care in 2016.
UC San Diego Health-La Jolla, Hillcrest, and East Campus Medical Centers: Patty Maysent has served as CEO of UC San Diego Health since 2016.
UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center (Los Angeles): Johnese Spisso became president of UCLA Health and CEO of UCLA Hospital System in 2016.
UCSF Health-UCSF Medical Center (San Francisco): Suresh Gunasekaran has served as president and CEO of UCSF Health since March 2022.
University of Michigan Health-Ann Arbor: David Miller, MD, has served as CEO of Michigan Medicine since July 2025 and will step down Dec. 1.
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