Raymond Hohl, MD, PhD, resigned as director of the Penn State Cancer Institute Nov. 21 — one day after Spotlight PA published a report detailing internal reviews that found issues related to the former leader’s care of patients and hostile leadership.
Leaders at Hersey, Pa.-based Penn State Health shared news of Dr. Hohl’s resignation in an internal email with staff Nov. 21, according to Spotlight PA. He made the decision “thoughtfully and with the best interests of the Institute in mind,” the email said, adding that he will remain as a faculty member at Penn State College of Medicine. The institute’s deputy director, Jeff Peters, PhD, was named interim director.
The news outlet published a Nov. 20 report detailing concerns from colleagues and administrators about Dr. Hohl’s leadership conduct and care of patients. The report was based on interviews with more than 30 current and former employees at the institute, as well as a review of hundreds of internal documents. According to the report, internal reviews showed at least three of Dr. Hohl’s patients inadvertently received extra doses of chemotherapy due to inadequate documentation in patients’ medical records.
Dr. Hohl’s care of patients was under internal review by physicians and administrators repeatedly from 2022 to mid-2023, according to the report, which detailed several instances of cancer patients experiencing delays in treatment changes or receiving scans to monitor disease spread. Under his leadership, internal human resources investigations in 2022 and 2023 found a “hostile workplace” and “a culture where bad behavior has been allowed without any repercussion.”
Records reportedly show Penn State Health leaders privately considered removing Dr. Hohl as a director or stopping him from treating patients. In August 2023, he was placed on a two-month performance improvement plan. A wave of departures among physicians and researchers accompanied the internal turmoil, with at least 20 doctors resigning or retiring and more than 110 clinic staff leaving the institute in the span of a few years, according to internal records cited by the news outlet.
In a statement published on its website, Penn State Health said the Spotlight PA story “misrepresents the history” of the cancer institute and its “longstanding commitment to patient safety.”
“Patient safety, research integrity and outstanding patient care are always at the forefront of our patient care and clinical research within our Cancer Institute,” the health system said.
“In the last two years the Penn State Cancer Institute has been restructured to enhance rigor and functional efficiency. We have been building a workplace that prioritizes excellence, collaboration, encouragement and support. Our talented providers and staff are deeply committed and dedicated to providing exemplary patient care. We have dramatically increased our staffing and streamlined workloads to enhance efficiencies, support accountability and ensure compliance as we build and support high-capacity teams.”
Dr. Hohl began serving as director in 2014, tasked with helping Penn State secure National Cancer Institute designation. After roughly $410 million invested in that pursuit over a decade, an internal review in 2022 found the institute “significantly behind where it needs to be.”
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