PITTSBURGH (Jan. 28, 2022) – Allegheny Health Network (AHN) today announced an impending leadership transition at Allegheny General Hospital (AGH). David Parda, MD, is stepping down as AGH’s President to take a new role as AHN’s Publication and Research Collaboration Physician Executive. Imran Qadeer, MD, AGH’s Chief Medical Officer, will assume the role of hospital President on an interim basis while AHN commences a national search for a permanent successor.
Dr. Parda, who was appointed AGH President in 2019 and previously served as the founder and longtime Chair of AHN’s Cancer Institute, is an internationally recognized radiation oncologist and cancer researcher. He was a key architect of the new AHN Cancer Institute innovation hub that opened at AGH last year, as well as AHN’s unique cancer partnership with Johns Hopkins Medicine and its greatly expanded system of affiliated community cancer centers. Over almost his entire tenure as President of AGH, Dr. Parda has successfully guided one of the region’s busiest critical care hospitals and its thousands of caregivers through the unprecedented challenges of the COVID pandemic.
“One of the advantages of being part of a large health care enterprise is having a deep, diverse talent pool that allows us to continually reassess and align the right leaders with positions and projects that are critical to our strategic vision and success,” said Cynthia Hundorfean, AHN President and CEO. “We look forward to the vital work that Dr. Parda will continue to do for our organization in that regard, particularly the role he will play in leading the integration of our Institutional Review Board, electronic health record platforms, and Johns Hopkins research collaborations which will greatly enhance our ability to analyze patient data, advance clinical innovations with clinical, academic, and industry partners, and become a world leader in healthcare quality, outcomes and efficiency.”
Dr. Parda will oversee the review, optimization and approval of all patient clinical trials within the organization as well as work across teams at AHN and Highmark Health to lead scholarly activities, including publications and presentations, that support Highmark Health’s Living Health strategy, correlating improved health outcomes with lower healthcare utilization rates and costs.
Dr. Qadeer joined AHN’s academic hospitalist medicine staff in 2009 and has also served as Medical Director of AGH Observation Services, AHN Lead Chief Medical Officer, Lead Physician Advisor, and Chief Quality Officer for the AHN Medicine Institute. He has been a pivotal member of AHN and Highmark Health’s COVID-19 pandemic response team over the past two years.