Hirslanden Group appoints new Chief Clinical Officer

Dominique Kuhlen (45) holds a doctorate in medicine, is a specialist in neurosurgery FMH, a clinical lecturer at the Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI) and has broad professional experience in the clinical environment. She began her career in 2004 as an assistant physician at the Limmattal Hospital in Schlieren and after a year, moved to the Neurosurgery Clinic at the Inselspital in Bern, where she worked until 2008, most recently as deputy senior physician. After a short spell at the Neurosurgery Clinic of the University Hospital Basel, she moved to the Department of Neurosurgery at the University Hospital rechts der Isar (TUM) in Munich, where she worked as a senior physician until 2013. In the same year, she took up her new position as head doctor for neurosurgery at the EOC (Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale) in Lugano, where she has held the position of deputy chief physician since 2017 and has held the interim responsibility for the neurosurgical hospital since July 2020. In February 2021, she was awarded the title of Clinical Lecturer at the Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI).

In addition to her extensive clinical expertise in the field of neurosurgery, Dominique Kuhlen holds an Executive Master in Business Administration (EMBA) and a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Systemic Management in Healthcare from the University of St. Gallen (HSG). She has also attended the CAS MedLaw at the University of Zurich and has been studying law at the Distance Learning University of Switzerland (Bachelor of Law) since 2019. She is on the board of the Swiss Society for Neurosurgery (SGNC) and a member of the European Society for Neurosurgery (EANS). Furthermore, she is a member of the Federal Commission for General Services and Fundamental Questions (ELGK) elected by the Federal Council. As a board member of Swiss Neurosurgery International, she regularly travels to Myanmar to train neurosurgeons.

Dr. Christian Westerhoff (54) has successfully shaped the development of the Hirslanden Group over the past 16 years. The doctor of medicine and specialist in surgery started his career at Hirslanden in 2005 as Head of Corporate Development at Klinik Hirslanden in Zurich, and then took over as Head of Clinical Services there. After two years as Deputy Hospital Manager of Klinik Hirslanden, he moved to the headquarters and became Head of Clinical Services of the Hirslanden Group. Christian Westerhoff has been Chief Clinical Officer and member of the Executive Committee since 2015, where his responsibilities include quality and process management, medicine and nursing, radiation protection and the Clinical Trial Unit as well as the Group's coding centres. Under his leadership, medicine and nursing were anchored at the Group level. Essential elements included the introduction of the patient safety concept and the introduction of the surgery checklist. In addition, the medical data analysis and the central coding were set up. Hirslanden published its first quality report under his leadership.

«We are very pleased that, with Dominique Kuhlen, we have been able to gain an experienced manager with a proven clinical background for Hirslanden,» says Daniel Liedtke, CEO of the Hirslanden Group. «We are convinced that Ms. Kuhlen, as Chief Clinical Officer, will drive the further development of the clinical area of the Hirslanden Group with great enthusiasm. At the same time, I am very pleased that Christian Westerhoff will drive the development of the Hirslanden Foundation «Quality of Life» as the future managing director.»

The Executive Committee of the Hirslanden Group would like to take this opportunity to thank Christian Westerhoff from the bottom of their hearts for his many years of service and for the great progress that has been made in the area of Chief Clinical Officer under his leadership. Christian Westerhoff took up his new position as Managing Director of the Hirslanden Foundation «Quality of Life» on 1 May 2021 and has worked in a dual role since then. He will support Dominique Kuhlen during the transition phase after her move to Hirslanden until she takes over the position in full in the second quarter of 2022.

About Hirslanden

The Hirslanden Group operates 17 hospitals in 10 cantons, many of which have an emergency department. It also operates 4 outpatient surgical units, 17 radiology institutes and 5 radiotherapy institutes. Together with public and private cooperation partners, Hirslanden focuses on the continuum of care and promoting high-quality, responsible, personalised and efficiently integrated healthcare – this explicitly includes, especially in the current situation, prevention in addition to acute treatment in hospitals.

The Hirslanden Group has 2 314 partner doctors and 10 711 employees, 479 of whom are permanently employed doctors. Hirslanden is the largest medical network in Switzerland. In the 2020/21 financial year, the Group generated turnover of CHF 1 796 million (incl. CHF 12.6 Mio. cantonal COVID-19 compensations). As at 31.3.2021, the Group had treated 107 401 patients, amounting to a total of  461 004 inpatient days. In insurance terms, the patient mix consists of 51% basic, 28.8% semi-private, and 20.2% private insured patients.

Hirslanden is synonymous with first-class medical care provided by highly qualified medical specialists with many years of experience. As a system provider, the Group stands out from the rest of the market: interdisciplinary medical centres of expertise and specialised institutes enable it to offer the best possible individualised treatment, even in highly complex cases. The Hirslanden Group was formed in 1990 through the merger of several hospitals. Since 2007, it has been part of the international hospital group Mediclinic International plc, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange.