Health of the City: Meet the New CEO of Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, John J. Herman

John J. Herman, the Chief Executive Officer of Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, strives to be a servant leader—someone who sees leadership as an opportunity to give rather than gain. Herman gives his time to serving the community and supporting his team. “At the end of the day, that’s what I feel my job is. To put the organization in the position where we can achieve our ultimate goal, which is to serve the patients and the community.”

 

Herman’s first impression of Lancaster is that it feels at once new and very familiar. The miles of cornfields in Pennsylvania Amish country remind him of growing up in rural Western New York, where one of his first jobs was working on a farm. Lancaster City and the surrounding suburbs make him think of working in Buffalo and raising his family with his wife, Lisa. This familiarity and appreciation for the diversity in Lancaster inform his approach to serving and leading the healthcare system.

Community outreach has always been a part of Herman’s career. He served in various leadership roles in The Catholic Health System in Buffalo for 18 years. For the last six years, Herman was at Ochsner Health, three years serving as the Chief Operating Officer at a 767-bed facility in New Orleans, and three years as the CEO, Northshore Region. With over 24 years in healthcare, Herman has seen a move toward a patient-centric approach to medicine.

As part of the world-renowned Penn Medicine system, Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health is providing state-of-the-art technology and innovation to the local community. “We are bringing proton therapy and CART therapy for cancer patients to Lancaster County, technology that is mostly available at national cancer centers.” Herman is proud to lead a team that provides medical advances in neurology, cardiology, pediatrics, and more to the community of Lancaster. Many patients will no longer need to travel to see a specialist but can be treated locally by providers who are innovative leaders in their field.

 

The new CEO is continuing the legacy of collaboration that has been present in Lancaster and surrounding counties in the fight against COVID-19. The partnership with state officials, local community leaders, and other healthcare organization to educate the community about the vaccine and other public health initiatives will continue. “If we each make commitments to do what we can for the health of the community, I am confident we are going to be better—a week from now, a month from now, a year from now—than where we are today.”