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Joseph J. Frank, MS, MPH
Regional Hospital President, East Region, Penn State HealthJoseph Frank serves as regional hospital president for Penn State Health’s East Region, which includes Penn State Health Lancaster Medical Center and St. Joseph Medical Center, located in Reading, Berks County.
He provides executive-level leadership for the two hospitals, driving operations, growth and coordination across each region. He also focuses on developing and maintaining strong relationships with local referring physicians in private practice.
Prior to joining Penn State Health’s senior management team in 2018, Frank held a variety of very successful leadership roles in both publicly traded and private equity health care companies. He was CEO of The Heart Group, a Lancaster cardiology practice acquired by Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, and CEO of Valley Forge Dental, where he developed and operated multispecialty dental practices in nine states. As senior vice president for Surgical Care Affiliates, Frank oversaw the company’s growth from a single surgery center in Lancaster to 79 facilities in 39 states.
Frank earned a master’s degree in public health from the University of Pittsburgh. In addition, he holds a master’s degree from West Virginia University and a bachelor’s degree from Shippensburg University.
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Randy Morris
Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Penn State Health Community HospitalsRandy Morris is the vice president and chief financial officer for Penn State Health Hampden, Holy Spirit, Lancaster and St. Joseph medical centers. Previously, he served as vice president and chief financial officer for Penn State Health’s West Shore region, which includes Hampden and Holy Spirit medical centers.
Prior to joining Penn State Health in 2020, Morris served in a similar role for Geisinger Health and was responsible for the finance operations of Geisinger Holy Spirit Hospital, Geisinger Holy Spirit Medical Group, Geisinger Lewistown Hospital and Geisinger Achieving Excellence. He served as associate vice president of finance and system reimbursement at Geisinger Medical Center. During his tenure, Morris directed the establishment of the system reimbursement group, implemented a new financial reporting system and assisted in the creation of the productivity reporting system.
Prior to joining Geisinger Health, Morris was chief financial officer for many community hospitals, president of a multispecialty group practice, and chief financial officer for a large home health agency. His experience includes information technology, materials management, revenue management and reimbursement.
Morris earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and is a Healthcare Financial Management Association Fellow. He is pursuing a master’s degree in business administration at the University of Scranton.
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Daron A. Kahn, MD, FCCP
Interim Chief Medical Officer, Penn State Health Lancaster Medical CenterDr. Daron Kahn is the interim chief medical officer of Lancaster Medical Center. He is also its medical director of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine and serves as head of internal medicine. Additionally, he is active on the medical staff at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.
Kahn is board-certified in internal medicine, pulmonary medicine, critical care medicine and sleep medicine. He most recently completed additional training in obesity medicine through the Cornell/Columbia obesity medicine program at the Columbia University Institute of Human Nutrition and is board-eligible in this subspecialty. He is a member of the American Thoracic Society, the American College of Chest Physicians and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. He has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals and has presented several abstracts and posters at both national and international meetings.
Kahn worked at DuPont in Wilmington, Delaware, in the Biobased Materials Department before starting medical school at Sidney Kimmel Medical College in Philadelphia. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. He then completed his subspecialty training in pulmonary and critical care medicine, followed by an additional year in sleep medicine at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. During that time, he was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society in recognition of exemplary service, integrity, clinical excellence and compassion.
Kahn has special interests in the treatment of complex sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea, insomnia, excessive daytime sleepiness, narcolepsy and restless leg syndrome. He was in private practice for six years in Wyomissing after completing his medical training. He also served as the program director for the Sleep Medicine Fellowship at Tower Health Reading Hospital in West Reading.
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Valerie A. Ritter, MSN, RN, CEN
Interim Chief Nursing Officer, Penn State Health Lancaster Medical CenterValerie Ritter was named interim chief nursing officer for Lancaster Medical Center in February 2025. In this role, she oversees of all nursing activities and clinical operations to ensure exceptional patient care.
Ritter joined Lancaster Medical Center in 2022 as director of director of emergency services and centralized support services. In that role, she has provided leadership, administration skills and clinical expertise to ensure efficient, high-quality emergent patient care.
Previously, Ritter worked at Tower Health for more than 20 years, most recently as the nursing director for the Emergency Department at Pottstown Hospital, where she led initiatives to improve patient care and streamline department operations. Prior to that, she held various leadership roles in both the Emergency Department and inpatient nursing.
Ritter began her career in health care after completing the nursing program at Reading Hospital School of Health Sciences. She holds a master’s degree in nursing administration from Chamberlain University College of Nursing and Public Health in Chicago, where she also earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree at Millersville University.
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Angela Sonon, DNP, CRNP
Interim Chief Operating Officer and Senior Director of Quality and Medical Affairs, Penn State Health Lancaster Medical CenterAs interim chief operating officer of Lancaster Medical Center, Angela Sonon oversees the day-to-day operations of the hospital, working with departments and managers to ensure the hospital is operating efficiently and effectively. She first joined the hospital in 2022 as its senior director of quality and medical affairs.
Prior to joining Penn State Health, Sonon worked at Reading Hospital/Tower Health for 29 years in various capacities, most recently as its senior director of the McGlinn Cancer Center overseeing operations, practice and quality at Reading Hospital. During that time, she also was an assistant professor of nursing at Alvernia University in Reading.
Sonon earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice from the University of Michigan School of Nursing in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she also graduated from the Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner and Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner programs. She received her bachelor’s degree in nursing science from Alvernia University.
Biography