Penn State Health St. Joseph names Frank interim president

Joe Frank, Penn State Health’s senior vice president of community network development, has been named Penn State Health St. Joseph’s interim president following the retirement of John Morahan on Friday, May 1.

St. Joseph’s search for a new president was initially hindered by the coronavirus pandemic and has since been put on hold while resources are redirected during the crisis. Penn State Health will resume the search at a later date.

Frank has been working with Morahan since April 6 in anticipation of his departure, which Morahan delayed to guide the medical center through the vital early phases of its COVID-19 response.

While Frank serves as interim president, he will work at Berks County several days a week to lead the organization, as well as St. Joseph’s Incident Command team. Although the COVID response will be dominant, Frank will be involved in the final stages of the operations budgeting and capital budgeting process and will represent St. Joseph on various Penn State Health planning groups and committees. Supporting him will be the senior leadership team of Dr. Jeffrey Held, vice president of medical affairs, and Sharon Strohecker, vice president of clinical operations and chief nursing officer, together they will be responsible for managing daily clinical and medical staff operations.

As part of the transition, Frank will meet with all senior management, medical staff leadership and management council leaders, the hospital and foundation boards, independent medical staff members and leadership of the Penn State Health Medical Group. An important part of those discussions will focus on the Berks County health care market, the services offered at the Downtown Reading campus and working with other Penn State Health leaders who are guiding system efforts to move the organization—including St. Joseph—back online post-COVID.

Frank has served in multiple senior leadership roles that required him to oversee significant operational growth. Prior to joining Penn State Health, Frank has had leadership roles in entrepreneurial health care ventures and has served as senior vice president for Surgical Care Affiliates, where he oversaw growth from a single surgery center in Lancaster to 79 facilities in 39 states. He also was CEO of Valley Forge Dental and CEO of the Heart Group, a Lancaster cardiology practice acquired by Lancaster General Health.

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