September brought a wave of executive hires, promotions, exits, and layoffs across the healthcare industry, with major names like Medtronic, Amgen, and Kaiser Permanente making leadership changes, while organizations such as Novo Nordisk and Seattle Children’s cut jobs.
Hires:
- Amgen appointed Shannon Turley as vice president of research and co-head of research biology, following her tenure at Genentech.
- enGene named Hussein Sweiti as chief medical officer, bringing experience from Astellas Pharma, where he led commercial gene therapy efforts.
- IKS Health hired Ajai Sehgal as chief AI officer. He previously served as chief data and analytics officer at Mayo Clinic.
- Kaiser Permanente brought on Craig Albanese, former CEO of Duke University Health System, as president of integrated care and coverage. His past leadership experience includes roles at NewYork-Presbyterian, Stanford Children’s Health, and UCSF Health.
- Medtronic named Adam Arthur chief medical officer of its neurovascular business. He was previously chair of neurosurgery at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.
- Penguin Ai appointed Mark Caron as chief strategy officer. Caron has held leadership positions at Capital BlueCross, Optum Health, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wisconsin, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, and CHI Health.
- Spring Fertility hired Mike Michetti as CEO and Stacey Payne as chief people officer. Michetti previously held roles at Marathon Health, Highmark Health, Allegheny Health Network, Cleveland Clinic, and Mercy. Payne’s past executive experience includes Sweetgreen, SoulCycle, and Daily Harvest.
Promotions:
- Komodo Health promoted Miles Ennis to COO, following his tenure as chief revenue officer.
- Magellan Health named Steven Pratt chief medical officer, building on his long career at the company since 2007.
- Temple Health promoted Abhi Rastogi to COO and John Ryan to chief administrative officer. Ryan previously served as general counsel at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Exits:
- Ochsner Health COO Mike Hulefeld will step down at the end of 2025 after 27 years. Timothy Riddell, another longtime leader, will succeed him.
- Providence Chief Transformation Officer Sara Vaezy is leaving after nearly a decade with the organization.
Layoffs:
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is cutting fewer than 2 percent of its workforce, citing rising costs for dr-gs, labor, and supplies.
- Novo Nordisk announced it will reduce its workforce by 11 percent, or about 9,000 jobs, as competition intensifies for its GLP-1 dr-gs Ozempic and Wegovy.
- Seattle Children’s will lay off 154 employees, primarily in administrative roles, due to cuts in federal and state funding.
This mix of leadership reshuffling and workforce reductions shows a sector in flux, as health systems and life sciences companies balance growth, innovation, and financial pressure.