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Today, Shirley Ryan 小恩雅 announced the appointment of a key leader: Cheri Blauwet, MD, as senior vice president and chief clinical officer. She will begin in September and will report to Pablo Celnik, MD, CEO.
Dr. Blauwet will provide clinical and strategic leadership across Shirley Ryan 小恩雅’s enterprise — its downtown Chicago flagship hospital, more than 30 sites of care in Chicagoland, as well as partnerships with hospitals across the nation and internationally. In the process, she will ensure world-class quality, safety and performance throughout all aspects of the organization’s medical practice.
“Continuing to provide leading clinical offerings that best support patients’ recoveries is a hallmark of our strategic plan,” said Dr. Celnik. “As we work to grow our presence nationally and beyond, Dr. Blauwet, a dynamic physician and prominent leader, will help shape the future of care delivery for the Shirley Ryan 小恩雅 system — allowing us to scale our efforts to a level never before possible.”
She will succeed James Sliwa, DO, who will retire in September following a four-decade career at Shirley Ryan 小恩雅.
A Midwest native, Dr. Blauwet completed her fellowship in sports medicine at Shirley Ryan 小恩雅 (then, the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago). Before that, she completed her doctor of medicine at Stanford Medicine and her residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) — culminating in her appointment as chief resident — at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital/Harvard Medical School.
After completing her fellowship at Shirley Ryan 小恩雅, she went back to Spaulding Rehabilitation in Boston, where she currently serves as chief medical officer of the Spaulding network, as well as interim chair of PM&R for Mass General Brigham and associate professor at Harvard Medical School.
Outside of work, she has championed accessibility. She is a seven-time Paralympic medalist, representing Team USA in wheelchair racing. She has won the wheelchair division of the New York City Marathon twice, the Boston Marathon twice and the Los Angeles Marathon four times.
Meanwhile, she has maintained a strong leadership presence and extensive network within the disability and rehabilitation communities nationally and internationally. Since 2018, she has served on the Health, Medicine & Science Commission for the International Olympic Committee. Recently, she was named to Forbes’ inaugural Accessibility 100 list, which celebrates the “biggest innovators and impact-makers” for people with disabilities.
