Business and Healthcare Achievements

Prior to joining the American Cancer Society, Dr. Knudsen served as the EVP of Oncology Services at Jefferson Health and Enterprise Director of the NCI-designated Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center (SKCC). She also served as Chair of the Department of Cancer Biology, and held the highly prestigious Hilary Koprowski Chair of Oncology Research. Under her leadership and concomitant with the expansion of Jefferson Health to a 14 hospital, ~6.5B academic health system across 2 states, SKCC expanded to deliver cancer care across this geography, largely clustered for high acuity care into the main academic site and 3 regional SKCC Advanced Care Hubs.  At the time of Dr. Knudsen’s recruitment to ACS, SKCC encompassed over 900 employees and ~200 physicians delivering cancer care, accounting for ~$400M in annual revenue based on medical and radiation oncology alone.

Dr. Knudsen was recruited to ACS with the charge to lead merger completion, through developing a singular vision and strategic plan for ACS as a unified enterprise. The American Cancer Society is the now the largest non-healthcare cancer organization in the country, comprised of a 501c3 parent organization (ACS) and a subsidiary 501c4 (ACS CAN).  The organization in current state resulted from the merger of 12 independent 501c3 organizations in 2012, and since the onset of transformation in 2021, is dedicated to the mission of improving the lives of cancer patients and their families.  The workforce now consists of ~3300 employees, with operations in all 50 states, Washington DC, Puerto Rico, and Guam, serving >5000 communities across the United States.

Dr. Knudsen has been honored for her achievements as a healthcare executive, including the Healthcare Heroes Award from Teva, the Atlas Award from the World Affairs Council, the Women of Influence Award from the Philadelphia Business Journal, a Leadership Award from the Temple University Fox School of Business, and recognized as a “Forbes 50 over 50 of Impact”. Dr. Knudsen currently serves as a member of the CNBC CEOs Council, the Wall Street Journal CEOs Council, and was named a CNBC “Changemaker”.