Keynote Speaker

Robert J. Laskowski, M.D., MBA, became President and Chief Executive Officer of Christiana Care Health System in April 2003.

As president and CEO, Dr. Laskowski oversees administration and operation of the largest health care system in the mid-Atlantic region. Christiana Care includes two acute care hospitals; a National Cancer Institute-selected Community Cancer Center; our nationally recognized Center for Heart & Vascular Health and Center for Advanced JointReplacement; Delaware's only Level-I Trauma Program; a preventive medicine institute; Visiting Nurse Association; and many other hospital and community-based health-related services. He is a member of Christiana Care's Board of Directors.

A board-certified internist specializing in geriatric medicine, Dr. Laskowski is a professor of Medicine at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia; and a former associate professor of Medicine and associate professor of Health Evaluation Sciences and associate dean for Medical Education at Penn State University College of Medicine.

He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine and has a master's degree in business administration from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. He completed post-medical school residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics. He was a fellow in General Medicine and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania.

Before joining Christiana Care, Dr. Laskowski was chief medical officer for Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network in Allentown, Pa. Previously he was senior vice president, clinical services, Lehigh Valley Hospital; president and group medical director, Northeast Permanente Medical Group, PC, Hartford, Conn.; and director, satellite practice program, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia. He served as a member of the board of trustees of DeSales University and was the chair of the board's Educational Affairs Committee through May 2007. He served on the board of trustees of Lehigh Valley Hospital and Lehigh Valley Hospital — Muhlenberg; the board of directors of LaSalle College High School; and as a member of the Muhlenberg College Board of Associates.

Dr. Laskowski serves on the Council of Teaching Hospitals (COTH) and Health Systems Administrative Board and is a COTH representative to the Association of American Medical Colleges Assembly. He serves on the Health Management Academy Chief Executive Officers Forum and the American Medical Association Section on Medical Schools. He is a former member of the American Hospital Association Section for Health Care Systems Governing Council.

He is the past chair of the board of directors of the United Way of Delaware; past chair of the Delaware Healthcare Association board of directors; a member of the board of directors of the Wilmington HOPE Commission and serves on the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

He is the chair of the Delaware Public Policy Institute Board of Trustees and a member of the board of directors and executive committee of Wilmington Renaissance Corporation. He is a member of the First State Innovation board and the University of Delaware Lerner College of Business and Economics college advisory board. He is vice chair of the Delaware Business Roundtable executive committee.