A Special Conversation with
John Kastanis:

President and CEO, University Hospital

John N. Kastanist, MBA, FACHE, '72, is an accomplished health system executive and an experienced leader at teaching, acute/tertiary-care, and specialty hospitals. His core expertise is in strategic planning, governance, fund development, and academic medicine, while also managing large Medicaid and Medicare patient populations.

John has a proven record of success with financial turnarounds, mergers, corporate restructurings, integrated delivery network development, labor-management negotiations, and performance improvement. His demonstrated ability to deliver results, motivate staff, and drive new growth has benefited several health organizations.

As President and CEO of University Hospital Newark, NJ, Kastanis leads the state’s primary teaching hospital and clinical research site for Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and the state’s only Northern New Jersey Level 1 Trauma Center. A leader in healthcare delivery systems, Kastanis has also served as President and CEO of the Hospital for Joint Diseases Orthopedic Institute and Temple University Hospital, among several others.

He has served on numerous boards and commissions, including more recently with the Board of Managers of the Vizient University Health System Consortium, America’s Essential Hospitals, the New Jersey Hospital Association, the Greater Newark Healthcare Coalition, and the Greater New York Hospital Association.

Mr. Kastanis holds an MBA in Healthcare Management from Baruch College-Mount Sinai School of Medicine, a BA in Political Science from Queens College, and is board certified as a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE). He has also given recent lectures to medical societies and universities (Harvard and Arcadia) on health care reform and financial & operational turnarounds.