ThinkFest Preview: Madeline Bell on the Role of CHOP

Bell began her career as a night-shift nurse. Now she's the CEO of CHOP. She'll talk about the hospital's crucial and expanding role in Philadelphia, as well as what it's like to be the woman in charge of it all.

ThinkFest is in just one week, people, and if you needed just one more reason to buy your ticket today, here she is:

Madeline Bell, the president and CEO of the Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania, will hold a ThinkFest Q&A – and it’s an event we’re eagerly awaiting.

Bell, who began her career as a night-shift nurse, has worked at CHOP in various positions since 1995. Since 2007, Bell has overseen a roughly $2.5 billion budget and more than 11,000 employees at CHOP, when she became the hospital’s chief operating officer. She stepped into the CEO role in 2015.

She’ll address the nationally top-ranked children’s hospital’s crucial role in Philadelphia, touching on its economic impact on the community as well as its exciting advances.

Bell is Philly-bred: she obtained a Bachelor of Science in nursing and an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Villanova as well as a Master of Science and Organization Dynamics from Penn. Plus, she’s a Fellow of the Philadelphia College of Physicians. She serves on an impressive number of boards, like the University City District, the Schuylkill River Development Corporation, the Health Alliance and the Delaware Valley Healthcare Council.

Oh, and she’s the second-ever woman to join the corporate board of Comcast, after Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation and former president of the University of Pennsylvania.

On top of all that, Bell runs a blog called “Heels of Success” (which you should definitely check out), and frequently lectures on women in leadership. She’ll address what it’s like to be a woman CEO during her Q&A next week.

It’s one you don’t want to miss – in addition to dozens of other programs led by Philly’s greatest innovators. So what are you waiting for?

Get those tickets.