U.S. News and World Report’s 2026-2027 Best Hospitals Honor Roll recognizes 20 hospitals, and each relies on a chief pharmacy officer overseeing medication safety, drug supply and formulary strategy at enormous scale.
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 pharmacy leaders of each hospital recognized on the honor roll (hospitals are listed in alphabetical order):
Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Boston): Melissa Ortega, PharmD, has served as chief pharmacy officer of Mass General Brigham, the system that includes Brigham and Women’s Hospital, since 2024.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles): Rita Shane, PharmD, is vice president and chief pharmacy officer at Cedars-Sinai and a professor of medicine.
Cleveland Clinic: Lindsey Amerine, PharmD, has served as chief pharmacy officer since February 2024.
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia): Nishaminy Kasbekar, PharmD, is vice president and chief pharmacy officer at Penn Medicine, where she has spent more than 30 years across several pharmacy leadership roles.
Houston Methodist Hospital: Rather than a single system-level chief pharmacy officer, Houston Methodist splits pharmacy leadership across its individual hospitals and specialized functions:
- Ghalib Abbasi oversees system pharmacy informatics and virtual pharmacy, and also directs Houston Methodist Specialty Pharmacy
- Linda Haines directs pharmacy services at Houston Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center
- Raj Desai directs pharmacy services at Houston Methodist Sugar Land
- Echefula Agbara directs pharmacy at Houston Methodist West Hospital
- Amanda Beck leads hospital operations and pharmacy at Houston Methodist Cypress Hospital
Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore): Todd Nesbit, PharmD, is chief pharmacy officer of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and vice president of pharmacy for Johns Hopkins Health System.
Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston): Melissa Ortega, PharmD, also oversees pharmacy at Mass General Hospital in her role as chief pharmacy officer for Mass General Brigham.
Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minn.): Lance Oyen, PharmD, serves as chief pharmacy officer for Mayo Clinic Midwest, based in Rochester.
Mount Sinai Hospital (New York City): Kenny Yu, PharmD, was recently named senior vice president and chief pharmacy officer of Mount Sinai Health System, moving into the role in 2026 after leading pharmacy services at NYU Langone Health.
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia and Cornell (New York City): Patrice Dupart, PharmD, is vice president of pharmacy and apothecary-in-chief, a role she’s held since 2018.
Northwestern Medicine-Northwestern Memorial Hospital (Chicago): Matthew Rim, PharmD, serves as chief pharmacy officer.
NYU Langone Hospitals (New York City): NYU Langone has not publicly named a successor to Kenny Yu, who moved to Mount Sinai in 2026.
Rush University Medical Center (Chicago): Kate Schaafsma, PharmD, is vice president and chief pharmacy officer for Rush University System for Health.
Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital (Palo Alto, Calif.): Elizabeth Oyekan, PharmD, served as chief pharmacy officer for Stanford Health Care and Stanford Health Care Tri-Valley from July 2022 until April 2026. A successor has not been named publicly.
UC San Diego Health-La Jolla, Hillcrest, and East Campus Medical Centers: Charles Daniels, PharmD, is chief pharmacy officer and has held the role since 2004.
UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center (Los Angeles): Deepak Sisodiya, PharmD, serves as chief pharmacy officer of UCLA Health.
UCSF Health-UCSF Medical Center (San Francisco): Noelle Chapman, PharmD, is vice president and chief pharmacy officer.
University of Michigan Health-Ann Arbor: Karen McConnell, PharmD, joined the health system as chief pharmacy officer in 2025 and also serves as associate dean for clinical affairs at the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy.
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