Madeline Bell, President and CEO
Madeline Bell is the President and CEO of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), which is one of the top-ranked children’s hospitals in the United States and was ranked No. 1 on Forbes’ 2022 list of America’s Best Large Employers. A bold and visionary leader, Ms. Bell champions change with empathy and integrity, inspiring the more than 28,000 employees and other workforce members in the hospital’s $4.5-billion-a-year health system and research institute to create breakthroughs that have worldwide impact.
Ms. Bell began her career as a pediatric nurse at CHOP in 1983, later leaving the organization to move into hospital administration. She returned to CHOP in 1995, and has since held a number of leadership positions, advancing from Vice President to Senior Vice President to Executive Vice President to Chief Operating Officer. In 2015, she assumed the title of President and CEO.
Ms. Bell has made numerous contributions to CHOP, including the development of one of the largest pediatric ambulatory care networks in the country; the expansion of the 4-million-square-foot Philadelphia Campus; the creation of the 250,000-square-foot Middleman Family Pavilion, an inpatient hospital on CHOP’s King of Prussia Campus; and the development of the Center for Advanced Behavioral Healthcare and the Behavioral Health & Crisis Center in West Philadelphia. She has also led the development of many nationally recognized clinical care programs and has secured many philanthropic gifts to help further the organization’s mission.
Ms. Bell serves on the boards of Comcast-NBCUniversal and the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, as well as on the executive committee of the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia. She is the former Chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Board of Directors and is a fellow of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. She is also an adviser to numerous international hospitals and frequently lectures on the topics of children’s healthcare and women in leadership.
Ms. Bell has received many awards and accolades, including the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia’s William Penn Award, Press Ganey’s CEO of the Year Award, The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Industry Icon Award, and the Philadelphia Business Journal’s Most Admired CEO Award. She has been named one of Modern Healthcare’s “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare” and one of its “50 Most Influential Clinical Executives” and was included on Forbes’ “50 Over 50: Vision” list, Philadelphia Business Journal’s “Power 100 2024” list, Metro Philadelphia’s list of “Power Players in Health Care,” and Philadelphia Magazine’s list of “The 150 Most Influential Philadelphians.”
Ms. Bell is the host of Breaking Through with Madeline Bell, a podcast that features interviews with CHOP patients, doctors and scientists, as well as with philanthropists and innovators who support CHOP’s mission. She holds a bachelor of science in Nursing from Villanova University and a master of science in Organizational Dynamics from the University of Pennsylvania.