Stephen Klasko

Stephen Klasko, MD, MBA, is an author, an entrepreneur and a believer in the creative and optimistic transformation of healthcare and higher education. He has been a CEO, a university president, and a dean of two medical colleges. Currently he is pursuing his passion to bridge academic health centers with the emerging world of digital medicine and innovation. As President of Thomas Jefferson University, he directed a merger between an almost two century old health science university and a nationally ranked university for design and architecture. That merger was heralded by the Chronicle of Higher Education as one of the “few successful mergers between academic entities.” As CEO of Jefferson Health, he presided over the growth of the system from $1.5 billion to $9 billion including the acquisition of Health Partners Plan, making Jefferson the first integrated delivery and financial system in Philadelphia history and a unique digital "healthcare at any address" partnership between Jefferson and leading health venture capital firms such as General Catalyst, a16z and Oak HC. Through his development of a unique partnership with Gemelli health system and Cattolica University in Italy, Jefferson became one of the few American universities able to participate in Horizon 2020 research and innovation funding.

His most recent book, Feelin’ Alright: How the Message in the Music Can Make Healthcare Healthier uses music and creativity to tackle the biggest issues in healthcare. His fifth book (with Hemant Taneja of general Catalyst) in 2021, UnHealthcare: A Manifesto for Health Assurance has become the manual for both founders and health system CEOs for merging the venture capital world with the traditional healthcare ecosystem.

Dr. Klasko serves as an Executive in Residence at General Catalyst, North American ambassador for Sheba Medical Center in Israel, and as CMO and Operating Partner of Abundant Partners. He is the lead independent director for Teleflex (TFX:NYSE), a multi-billion dollar medical device company. In 2022, President Biden appointed him to the National Board of Education Sciences. He serves as a member of the Founders Circle for BrightEdge, a unique impact investing arm of the American Cancer Society and MIT. Dr. Klasko is also the board chair of Opera Philadelphia and a trustee of Rosalind Franklin University and Chicago Medical School. Over the past five years he has been awarded by Fast Company as one of the “top 25 most creative people in business,” by Modern Healthcare as the “#2 most influential person in healthcare” and by Ernst and Young as the “entrepreneur of the year.”

He lives in Miami and New York with his wife Colleen Wyse, a fashion executive with senior positions in Vogue, W and Glamour.