CLEVELAND – University Hospitals announced today the appointment of a new executive leader who will direct the vision, mission, and execution of evidence-informed Integrative Health and Lifestyle Management strategies that support and enhance the well-being of its patients, caregivers and the broader Northeast Ohio community. Whole Health focuses on what matters to the patient and goes beyond disease management to include prevention, well-being and chronic disease reversal.
Francoise Adan, MD, who serves as the Director of the UH Connor Integrative Health Network and is also the Christopher M. & Sara H. Connor Chair in Integrative Health for UH, will now guide this system-wide effort to foster an organizational culture that supports and empowers people to attain their optimal professional and personal potential in the context of true well-being.
“Dr. Adan has demonstrated tremendous ingenuity, collaboration, and agility in growing UH Connor Integrative Health, and in particular during the pandemic, she exhibited incredible resourcefulness and resilience in leading her team to reimagine the way we care for our healthcare workers and the community,” said Dan Simon, MD, UH Chief Clinical & Scientific Officer and President, UH Cleveland Medical Center. “As an anchor institution and the second largest employer in the region, it’s incumbent upon us to care for the well-being of our caregivers and the people in the communities we serve, as it is their support that helps our system serve as a beacon of hope for the sick and a catalyst of growth and progress for all. I am thrilled Dr. Adan has accepted this opportunity to make a significant difference in the way we advance the science of health and the art of compassion.”
In this position, Dr. Adan will be charged with collaborating across the system to create and implement programs and services that increase caregiver engagement satisfaction and retention, improve clinical outcomes, and promote health care value. Externally, she will focus on building and expanding whole health and well-being programs that empower patients to be actively engaged in improving their well-being. She will also partner with population health and clinical leaders to facilitate a paradigm shift whereby patient care will emphasize prevention, lifestyle change, and disease reversal rather than merely disease treatment, which will further promote the health care value equation.
“The pandemic has catapulted the importance of self-care to the top of the list for not only promoting our physical and emotional wellness, but for nurturing our resilience,” explained Dr. Adan. “Our goal is to build on the extremely successful evidence-based programs we’ve already deployed to ensure continuous improvement in delivery, caregiver and patient satisfaction, positive health outcomes, and patient engagement with the UH system. Specifically, we plan to develop education programs for caregivers that emphasize whole health, well-being and self-care. We will also seek Federal grants and funding for research on whole health and well-being interventions.”
Through her skilled leadership, Dr. Adan created and is successfully directing the UH Connor Integrative Health Network — a system-wide initiative where state-of-the-art medical care is integrated with innovative, evidence-based therapies and services, to bring optimal health and well-being to all patients and employees. Trained in psychiatry and board certified in holistic and integrative medicine, Dr. Adan specializes in three areas: stress management, work/life balance, and the mind/body/spirit connection. Dr. Adan is a frequent presenter on the importance of utilizing integrative medicine to maintain optimal health. Dr. Adan earned her medical degree from Université libre de Bruxelles in Belgium, followed by three years of working in the field of family medicine. She immigrated to the United States in 1987 and completed a residency in psychiatry at the Cleveland Clinic in 1996. She became board certified in psychiatry in 1997.
In addition to her work with University Hospitals, Dr. Adan serves as the Chair of the Board of the Directors of the Academic Consortium of Integrative Medicine and Health, Advisory Board Member of the Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, Assistant Professor at the CWRU School of Medicine, and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Telos Institute. Dr. Adan was named one of Crain’s Cleveland Business 2019 Women of Note, honoring her inspiration, dedication and achievements.
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About University Hospitals / Cleveland, Ohio Founded in 1866, University Hospitals serves the needs of patients through an integrated network of 20 hospitals (including 5 joint ventures), more than 50 health centers and outpatient facilities, and 200 physician offices in 16 counties throughout northern Ohio. The system’s flagship academic medical center, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, located in Cleveland’s University Circle, is affiliated with Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. The main campus also includes University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, ranked among the top children’s hospitals in the nation; University Hospitals MacDonald Women’s Hospital, Ohio’s only hospital for women; University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, a high-volume national referral center for complex cardiovascular procedures; and University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center, part of the NCI-designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. UH is home to some of the most prestigious clinical and research programs in the nation, including cancer, pediatrics, women’s health, orthopedics, radiology, neuroscience, cardiology and cardiovascular surgery, digestive health, transplantation and urology. UH Cleveland Medical Center is perennially among the highest performers in national ranking surveys, including “America’s Best Hospitals” from U.S. News & World Report. UH is also home to Harrington Discovery Institute, part of The Harrington Project for Discovery & Development. UH is one of the largest employers in Northeast Ohio with 28,000 physicians and employees. Advancing the Science of Health and the Art of Compassion is UH’s vision for benefitting its patients into the future, and the organization’s unwavering mission is To Heal. To Teach. To Discover. Follow UH on LinkedIn, Facebook @UniversityHospitals and Twitter @UHhospitals. For more information, visit UHhospitals.org.
