Which health systems have chief AI officers. Table of contents. As hospitals and health systems further embed AI into healthcare delivery, they are increasingly appointing chief AI officers or equivalent senior executives with dedicated responsibility for AI governance, implementation and oversight, reflecting a broader trend of health systems chief AI officers taking on formalized C-suite roles. Why health systems chief AI officers roles are growing. The growing presence of these roles reflects the industry's recognition that AI may pose risks to patient safety, professional liability and regulatory compliance, and thus warrants cross-functional leadership at the highest levels. Below is a look at healthcare organizations with dedicated AI leadership. Academic medical centers leading with health systems chief AI officers. Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago named Rajiv Kolagani as its chief data and AI officer. BJC Health System and WashU Medicine in St. Louis appointed two leaders: Philip R.O. Payne, PhD, as the inaugural chief health AI officer of WashU Medicine and BJC, and Deborah O'Dell as chief data & analytics officer at BJC. Major health systems with chief AI officers on the west coast. Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles appointed Mouneer Odeh as its inaugural chief artificial intelligence officer at the end of 2024. City of Hope in Duarte, Calif., named Nasim Eftekhari system vice president and chief AI and analytics officer. UCLA Health named Paul J. Lukac, MD, as its chief AI officer, while UCSF Health named Sara Murray, MD, as chief health AI officer. UC San Diego Health named Karandeep Singh, MD, as its inaugural chief health artificial intelligence officer, and UCI Health in Orange, Calif., named Deepti Pandita, MD, as its chief medical informatics and AI officer. Kaiser Permanente's approach to AI leadership. Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif., has Daniel Yang, MD, serving as vice president of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies, a title distinct from the "chief AI officer" designation used at many peer organizations. Midwest and southern health systems chief AI officers. Cleveland Clinic appointed Ben Shahshahani, PhD, as its first vice president and chief artificial intelligence officer in August 2024. Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., appointed Micky Tripathi, PhD, as its chief AI implementation officer, while Mayo Clinic Arizona in Phoenix separately named Bhavik Patel, MD, as chief AI officer. Mercy in St. Louis named Byron Yount, PhD, as chief data and artificial intelligence officer and vice president of transformation operations. Additional regional health systems naming AI chiefs. Baptist Health System in Louisville, Ky., named Brett Oliver, MD, as its chief medical information and AI officer. Bon Secours Mercy Health in Cincinnati named Dylan Clark as its chief analytics and artificial intelligence officer. University of Utah Health in Salt Lake City appointed Kensaku Kawamoto, MD, PhD, as its first chief health AI transformation officer. UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas named Warren D'Souza, PhD, as its inaugural chief artificial intelligence officer, and VCU Health in Richmond, Va., named Alok Chaudhary as vice president and chief data and artificial intelligence officer. Children's Hospitals and Denver Health's AI Leadership. Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C., named Alda Mizaku as vice president and chief data and AI officer. Denver Health named Daniel Kortsch, MD, as its associate chief of AI and digital health. Hackensack Meridian Health in Edison, N.J., named David Arnold as its senior vice president and chief AI and data officer. Variation in title and scope across these health systems chief AI officers. Across this list, titles vary meaningfully, from "chief AI officer" to "chief health AI officer" to "vice president of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies," reflecting differing organizational structures and how each health system chooses to position AI leadership relative to existing informatics, data, and analytics functions. What this wave of health systems chief AI officers means going forward. With more than 20 major health systems now represented on this list, spanning academic medical centers, children's hospitals, and regional systems across the country, the appointment of dedicated AI leadership appears to have become a standard organizational response to AI's growing role in clinical and administrative operations. Given the cross-functional nature of these roles, spanning patient safety, professional liability, and regulatory compliance, other health systems without a formally designated AI chief may increasingly feel competitive pressure to establish similar positions. What to watch going forward. As this list continues to grow, with Becker's actively soliciting additional health systems for inclusion, industry observers will likely watch which organizational models, dedicated chief AI officer roles versus AI responsibilities folded into existing chief medical information officer or chief data officer positions, prove most effective at balancing innovation with the governance and compliance demands these executives are tasked with managing. Given how recently many of these appointments occurred, with several dating to only the past one to two years, this health systems chief AI officers trend appears to still be in its early, rapidly evolving phase across the healthcare industry.

UCLA Health once again earns top honors for excellence in patient care. The latest U.S. News & World Report rankings reflect the commitment of UCLA's health care professionals to innovation and exceptional care UCLA Health August 6, 2026 For the 37th consecutive year, UCLA Health has earned a spot on U.S. News & World Report's annual Best Hospitals Honor Roll for its excellence in hospital-based patient care. The national honor roll distinction was awarded this year to only 20 hospitals or health systems from among the nearly 4,500 evaluated across 14 medical specialties and 23 procedures and conditions. UCLA Health also received the publication's No. 1 ranking in both California and Los Angeles.* In the evaluation, 12 UCLA Health specialties were nationally ranked, including 5 in the top 10. In addition, UCLA received the highest rating for 18 common procedures and conditions, among them various cancers, heart conditions, stroke and hip fracture. "UCLA Health's long-standing excellence reflects the extraordinary skill and teamwork of our physicians, nurses and the entire team of healthcare professionals," said Johnese Spisso, president of UCLA Health and CEO of the UCLA Hospital System. "We remain steadfast in our dedication to delivering the highest-quality, compassionate care across a wide range of specialties, using the latest treatments and innovations to serve our patients every day." The U.S. News & World Report analysis considers objective measures such as clinical outcomes, preventable complications and level of nursing care. Detailed methodologies for the medical specialties rankings and the procedures and conditions ratings are available on the publication's website. UCLA Health consistently excels in a variety of other assessments of quality and safety conducted by independent publications, accreditation bodies, advocacy groups and disease-specific organizations using a wide range of methodologies. Newsweek has consistently placed UCLA Health among the World's Best Hospitals. UCLA Health offers an integrated network of primary and specialty care services at more than 290 clinics across Southern California and the Central Coast and at five medical centers and hospitals: Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital, UCLA Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital, UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center and UCLA West Valley Medical Center. * Tied for No. 1 ranking

Dreamforce 2026 highlights Agentforce Slack and telecom AI. Dreamforce 2026 arrives as enterprise AI moves beyond experiments. The annual Salesforce event runs September 15-17 in San Francisco. A free Salesforce+ virtual program continues until September 18. This year's theme is the "Agentic Enterprise." That means connecting people, data, and AI agents across daily work. For telecom and UC teams, the event deserves close attention. Salesforce plans more than 1,600 breakout sessions and 50 keynotes. It also promises 150 hands-on trainings and 240 community roundtables. Marc Benioff will lead the opening keynote with special guests. The biggest story is Agentforce, Salesforce's AI agent platform. These agents can handle routine tasks, update records, and trigger workflows. They aim to reduce manual work across sales, service, IT, and operations. However, buyers need more than polished demonstrations. They need proof from live deployments. Salesforce says Agentforce annual recurring revenue has passed $1 billion. That figure signals momentum, but value depends on execution. Customer examples will matter. PenFed has discussed a 76-agent deployment across several business functions. It expects nearly $1.6 million in savings this year. UCLA Health also launched an Agentforce use case after eight months of preparation. For collaboration leaders, Slack may become a central discussion point. Salesforce wants to move CRM actions into everyday conversations. Teams could review accounts, find data, and approve next steps without switching tools. This could help sales and service teams move faster. It could also improve context during customer conversations. Yet it raises important questions about permissions, audit trails, and data accuracy. Salesforce is also using Model Context Protocol servers, known as MCP. In simple terms, MCP helps AI tools connect to business systems. That may let Slackbot access CRM data, Tableau, Data 360, and other applications. The approach sounds powerful for unified communications environments. Customer context could follow employees across channels and workflows. Still, enterprises must ask how this works with Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and contact centers. Data quality will remain a central concern. AI agents can only act safely with reliable information. Companies must define ownership, access rules, retention policies, and approval paths before deployment. Cost control also needs scrutiny. AI activity can scale quickly across large organizations. Leaders should ask how Salesforce measures agent work, errors, escalation, and business outcomes. Dreamforce 2026 will not just showcase new products. It will test whether agentic AI can support governed enterprise work. For IT, telecom, and collaboration teams, the event offers a timely checkpoint. The strongest sessions will show real outcomes, not just future plans. Attendees should leave with evidence on integration effort, adoption, security, and measurable value. That evidence will shape the next wave of AI-enabled workplace communications.