Harold Paz, MD, MS

Harold Paz, MD, MS is executive vice president and chief medical officer of Aetna. Before joining Aetna, Dr. Paz served as chief executive officer of Penn State Hershey Medical Center and Health System, senior vice president for Health Affairs for Penn State University, dean of its College of Medicine and professor of medicine and public health sciences for eight years. Prior to his appointment to Penn State, he served as dean of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and chief executive officer of Robert Wood Johnson University Medical Group, the largest multispecialty group practice in New Jersey, and professor of medicine. During his tenure at Penn State, Dr. Paz initiated the formation of the Penn State Hershey Health System, which includes four hospitals, 64 ambulatory care practices, and 18 affiliated hospitals.

Dr. Paz received a master of science in life science engineering from Tufts University and his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. He completed his internship and residency at Northwestern University, where he served as chief medical resident and instructor in clinical medicine. He was a Eudowood Fellow in pulmonary and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins Medical School. In addition, he was a post-doctoral fellow in environmental health science at Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.

Dr. Paz has focused his medical practice on pulmonary medicine with a special interest in patients with sarcoidosis. His research looks at critical care clinical outcomes, health system organization, and health care effectiveness. A pioneer in the field of quality management, he was among the first to study clinical outcomes in the intensive care unit. From this early work, he recognized the need to formally train physicians in quality, and in 1993 he started the first fellowship of its kind in quality management.