In One Year, Jefferson Has Undergone Tremendous Change

Stephen K. Klasko, MD, MBA

Stephen K. Klasko, MD, MBA

A lot can happen in a year, and Stephen Klasko knows that. Since becoming president & CEO of Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health System just last year, Dr. Klasko has been transforming Jefferson into a forward-thinking academic medical center dedicated to providing excellent patient care.

Over the past year, Dr. Klasko has been pretty busy. Jefferson received the fifth largest gift to a U.S. accredited medical college from the Sidney Kimmel Foundation and renamed SEPTA’s Market East Station Jefferson Station.

Dr. Klasko plans to revamp Jefferson’s medical school acceptance process, focusing on accepting not only applicants with excellent academic skills, but those with outstanding social skills, so that Jefferson is training more empathetic physicians.

And it doesn’t seem like Dr. Klasko will be slowing down anytime soon. He plans to incorporate cutting-edge technology at Jefferson, particularly telemedicine, to improve communication between physicians and patients. He stresses the importance of transparency, human interaction and collaboration.

“We need to get away from the model that each of us is a little island. That’s what can really differentiate Philadelphia. My biggest competitor is other cities,” said Dr. Klasko.

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