Skip to content
Headshot of Patrick J Brennan
MD

Patrick J. Brennan

Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of the University of Pennsylvania Health System

About

Dr. Patrick J. Brennan is the Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Professor of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. As Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Brennan leads implementation of Penn’s Blueprint for Quality, a strategic effort to improve clinical accountability and the outcomes of care including the elimination of preventable readmissions and preventable deaths.  

Dr. Brennan oversees the departments of Healthcare Quality, Patient Safety, Regulatory Affairs, and Medical Affairs. He has developed a Center for Evidence Based Practice to apply scientific evidence to clinical operations. Dr. Brennan is an infectious diseases physician and previously served as Director of Infection Control for 11 years at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and for periods of time held the same post at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and the Philadelphia VA Medical Center. He also served as Director of Tuberculosis Control for the City of Philadelphia for seven years.

Dr. Brennan is a fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) and in 2008 served as SHEA’s president. From 2004 to 2010  Dr. Brennan chaired the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC), which advises the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on a broad range of issues related to control of infectious diseases.

Dr. Brennan is a member of the Patient Safety Advisory Group of The Joint Commission, an organization that accredits and certifies health care programs in the United States.  He is a member and past chair of the Board of Directors of the Health Care Improvement Foundation (HCIF), an independent, nonprofit organization that leads health care initiatives aimed at improving the safety, outcomes and care experiences of patients in Southeastern Pennsylvania.