Tony G. Farah, MD

Tony G. Farah, MD, FACC, FSCAI, is the executive vice president, chief medical and clinical transformation officer of Highmark Health, a $26 billion blended health organization that includes one of America's largest Blue Cross Blue Shield insurers and a growing regional hospital and physician network. Based in Pittsburgh, PA, Highmark Health's 42,000 employees serve millions of customers nationwide through the nonprofit organization's affiliated businesses, including Highmark Inc., Allegheny Health Network, HM Insurance Group, United Concordia Dental, and enGen.

Dr. Farah is Highmark Health’s senior-most medical officer responsible for the continued transformation of clinical care within the organization to achieve the best value for patients and members in overall experience, access, quality, safety and affordability. Appointed to this newly created position in 2017, he leads the fundamental redesign of care delivery in every setting, advancing innovative new models that optimize health as well as health care delivery.

A nationally recognized and highly respected physician-leader who is passionate about putting patients first, Dr. Farah played a key role in the formation of Highmark Health’s provider company Allegheny Health Network (AHN), a fourteen-hospital integrated health care system anchored by a quaternary academic medical center that serves the greater western Pennsylvania region and includes more than 2,500 employed and affiliated physicians.

Dr. Farah’s roles within AHN have included chief medical officer and president of AHN’s employed physician organization Allegheny Clinic, chief medical officer of Allegheny General Hospital, and medical director of Allegheny General Hospital’s cardiac catheterization laboratories. He has played a prominent role in many innovations that have improved the treatment of patients with coronary artery disease—from new, disease-fighting medications to interventional coronary plaque clearing technologies.

Dr. Farah’s profound commitment to expanding and improving access to advanced heart care in western Pennsylvania has included both cardiac program development and oversight of cardiac catheterization laboratories at numerous community hospitals. He has been the principal investigator or co-investigator of well over 100 clinical trials, and his work has been featured in many of the industry’s premier, peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Dr. Farah previously served as a Trustee of one of the medical field’s most prestigious scientific organizations, the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions. He has also been instrumental in the cultivation of the next generation of cardiovascular specialists, mentoring several hundred residents, fellows and medical students over the last two decades.

Dr. Farah has been recognized since 1998 as one of the nation’s “Best Doctors in America” in the field of cardiology by Pittsburgh Magazine. He has also been recognized with the Healthcare Hero Award in the healthcare executive category by the Pittsburgh Business Times. In 2016, he was selected as one of the nation’s top 100 CMOs to Know by Becker’s Hospital Review, and in 2019, Dr. Farah was named by Modern Healthcare magazine as one of the nation’s 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives.

Dr. Farah earned his Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry and his MD from the American University of Beirut, after which he served his internship, residency and fellowship at Allegheny General Hospital.