Cedars-Sinai Health System
President and CEO
CLASS OF 1973
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles , California , is the largest hospital in the western United States . In one year, it conducts more than $60 million in research, frequently making research breakthroughs in the treatment of cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, cardiology, and transplantation. At the head of this health system, as president and chief executive officer, is Thomas Priselac.
“It was the academic reputation and the opportunity to play football that attracted me to W&J,” says Priselac. “I remember the year that W&J won the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Championship in football,” he explains. “The camaraderie and friendship that developed among all members of the team was remarkable.”
Priselac describes his time at W&J as stimulating. “The education that I received at W&J opened me up to the world,” he says. “There was a lot of exposure to things that were extremely difficult to understand because they were opposite to the things that I believed.” But this exposure gave Priselac the ability to adapt to a wide range of situations and taught him the enjoyment of working to make an impact in the community.
After earning his master’s degree in public health, health services administration and planning, from the University of Pittsburgh, Priselac began working on strategic planning for hospitals in Pittsburgh and then Los Angeles, where he worked with bright people all trying to help the community. He found that his W&J education served him well—and he excelled in his chosen field.
“W&J was rewarding in ways that I never imagined,” says Priselac. “My W&J education gave me the proper preparation for entering the field of health management and health policy.”
