Martin gives new meaning to 'care'

He works long days, runs many meetings during the evenings and drinks Starbucks' French Roast or House Blend to keep him awake. And despite the pressures demanded of him, University of Pennsylvania Health System Interim CEO Robert Martin always pays attention to detail. Despite his lofty title, Martin is even concerned with his hospital's cleanliness. On his way to eat lunch at the Physicians Dining Room of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania two weeks ago, he noticed a cigarette butt on the floor. Instead of leaving it for the custodial staff, Martin, the head of one of the largest health systems in the country, picked it up himself. Four months have passed since Martin replaced Peter Traber as head of the expansive UPHS, and only a few small things seem to be out of place under Martin's guidance. It has been a difficult year for the Penn Health System as it tried to right its financial ship. Longtime CEO and Dean of the Medical School William Kelley was fired last February after wracking up a nearly $300 million deficit in two years. Traber replaced him, first on an interim basis, and then as permanent CEO in March. It was widely assumed that he would become the permanent dean as well. But in July, he abruptly departed for a lucrative research position in a pharmaceutical company. University President Judith Rodin named Medical School Deputy Dean Arthur Asbury as the interim dean and Martin -- who does not have an M.D. -- as the interim CEO. If Rodin goes ahead with her stated plan to name one person to head both enterprises, Martin would be ineligible since he is not a medical doctor. Martin's thick southern accent is a remnant of his origins in Texas and is a rarity in Pennsylvania. While he is not a native-born resident of this state, Martin is no foreigner to the ins and outs of the Health System. Before taking on his current position, Martin was its chief operating officer, and he earned plaudits from employees for temporarily resigning when Rodin brought in a controversial outside group of consultants to recommend budget cuts. "I really am focused on what we have been doing for the past year and a half," Martin said of his promotion. "What I have been doing is pretty much the same." The transition between positions was so smooth that Martin did not even move offices. He remained in his old office on the 21st floor of the Penn Tower Hotel -- foregoing the office used by Kelley and Traber, which has a beautiful view looking out onto Franklin Field, considered by many to be the best office on campus. And although Martin's doctorate is not in medicine -- his expertise is in finance and economics -- he understands the complexities of each of the four Penn-owned hospitals he oversees. "Like any good administrator, [Martin] knows that he is not a clinician and relies on the medical staff to supply [the clinical knowledge]," said Kevin Mahoney, the executive director of Penn's Phoenixville Hospital and the Clinical Care Associates program, Penn's network of primary care physician practices. Across from Martin in the Health System administration offices is William Ferniany. Since his own beginning at Penn, Ferniany has worked alongside Martin, and he said Martin is doing an excellent job. "I was thrilled at his being CEO," said Ferniany, the senior vice president for Administrative and Network Services. "I loved Peter [Traber], but Robert just stepped right in.... He didn't miss a beat." University President Judith Rodin also lauds Martin's work. "[He] performs at a very high level, as evidenced by the continuing turnaround," she said, noting that Penn's deficit declined to about $30 million in the most recent academic year, and that it may even turn a small profit in the current one. But Martin does not want to take all of the credit for the improvements. "The greatness of this institution does not lie in any one person, not in me, not in any chair," Martin said. Despite his busy schedule, Martin keeps the maintenance of patient satisfaction as a priority alongside budgetary pressures. Over lunch, Martin discussed what he thought was an urgent situation at the Penn Tower Hotel, which also holds hospital departments on a few floors, with a few of his colleagues. Martin insisted that the hotel's slow elevators -- which are a nuisance to cancer patients travelling between the hospital and the hotel for chemotherapy and other treatments -- had to be fixed. Martin suggested that he would mention the problem to Rodin when he meets with her. A father of two, Martin runs with his wife, Teresa, and his two terrier dogs on the weekends for release. And when the search committee for a new combined CEO and dean of the School of Medicine is successful and it is time for Martin to do something else, Martin maintained that "this institution will still be a great institution. We are here because this is Penn."

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