Meet Trish Lollo, New President of St. Louis Children's Hospital

Earlier this month, St. Louis Children's Hospital welcomed Trish Lollo, former president of Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital, as its new president. Listen as Trish gives a glimpse into the journey that led her to St Louis, and her vision for St. Louis Children's Hospital.
Meet Trish Lollo, New President of St. Louis Children's Hospital
Featured Speaker:
Trish Lollo
Trish Lollo is the President, St. Louis Children's Hospital.
Transcription:
Meet Trish Lollo, New President of St. Louis Children's Hospital

Host Cole (Host):  Welcome!  It’s my pleasure today to introduce you to Trish Lollo.  She’s the new President of St. Louis Children’s Hospital.  Trish, I’m so glad to have you join us today.  Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you came to St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

Trish Lollo, President, St. Louis Children’s Hospital (Guest):  I arrived at St. Louis Children’s Hospital by way of BJC Healthcare, and my background going way back in time is that I’m originally from New York and grew up and did all of my schooling there:  pursuing an undergraduate degree in biology and then decided to pursue a Master’s in Public Health with an emphasis in Healthcare Administration after shadowing a Chief Executive Officer at an academic hospital in Pennsylvania and fell in love with the broad impact that leadership and healthcare can have on patients and families.  I then did a training fellowship in New York City at NYU Langone Medical Center.  Took a role there as a manager of a children’s cancer center at NYU and then ultimately wound up in San Diego in oncology administration.  About eight years ago, I had a wonderful opportunity to move to the Midwest to St. Louis to serve as the Vice President of Siteman Cancer Center here at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in Washington University’s School of Medicine, and after about five years in that role, I had a great opportunity still within BJC to serve as the President of Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital, which is what then led me to St. Louis Children’s Hospital.  So, I’m very excited to be in this new role and still in the BJC family.

Host:  Wow, that’s a lot of experience that you’re brining to St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Trish.  Tell us a little bit—since you’re in the healthcare field—what’s your philosophy of care?  What do you want patients to know about how you approach disease, wellness, and care for the whole person?  Tell us some of your philosophy and your goals for St. Louis Children’s Hospital.  

Trish:  Well, I think the important thing to remember is my personal belief is that we all need to be passionate about making healthcare better for the patient and better for the consumers, the families, and so part of that is exceptional teamwork and with that comes tremendous communication skills, and so making sure that we are all exceptionally skilled in how we communicate both with one another and with our patients and families is the key to success.  The other philosophy is really around interdisciplinary care, or multidisciplinary care.  It takes everyone’s expertise around a patient to deliver the best possible outcome, and so making sure that not only do we have the specialists and the internists, but we also have the nursing perspective and the therapy perspective and the pharmacy perspective.  So, that teamwork and communication are real pillars of my philosophy.  

In terms of goals for St. Louis Children's Hospital, I think in my first six months here, my goal is to learn the organization and learn about the various programs that we offer and really work with the physicians and work with the leadership team here to develop the overarching strategies for the future.

Host:  And along those lines for providers, Trish, what would you like the providers and staff at St. Louis Children's to know about your ongoing support for them—for their research, listening to their issues.  Will you be accessible? 

Trish:  Absolutely.  The key to success at a children’s hospital, but frankly anywhere, is to be accessible and approachable and to understand how best to partner, to leverage the resources that we have at our disposal.  We are an incredibly fortunate organization to have such a robust foundation supporting St. Louis Children's Hospital and our Children’s Discovery Institute.  So, ensuring that we are making investments in research and clinical care and supportive care are all things that I will have as top priorities in this role.

Host:  And now a little bit of the fun stuff, Trish.  What do you do for fun?  Tell us a little bit about your family and life outside of work.

Trish:  I like to tell people that St. Louis was a wonderful move for me from San Diego both personally and professionally, and what I mean by that is I met my husband here in St. Louis about five years ago now.  My husband and I have two sons, and we really enjoy spending time outdoors.  So, a lot of time playing golf, a lot of time traveling, whether that be locally to explore new areas we haven’t been to yet around Missouri and Illinois, or nationally—and we really love going to new cities and learning about the cultures and the histories in the different cities that we visit.  

Host:  That’s so cool.  So, as we wrap up, tell listeners what you would like them to know about your new role as the President of St. Louis Children's Hospital and what you see in the future.

Trish:  I want everyone to remember what an extraordinary institution this is, not only for the patients and families that we care for day in and day out in our facilities, but also what a tremendous resource St. Louis Children's Hospital is for our community, and getting further out into the community and partnering with our community physicians, referring physicians, community health centers is really where we need to be headed as a children’s hospital.  Continuing to positively impact the health of the children and the families we serve—that’s what I’m excited about in both the near and long-term.

Host:  Well, hear hear and welcome to St. Louis Children’s Hospital, and I think that you’re going to do a great job.  I can hear the passion in your voice so thank you again for joining us, and that wraps up this episode of Radio Rounds with St. Louis Children's Hospital.  To consult with a specialist or to learn more about services or resources available at St. Louis Children's Hospital, you can call the Children's Direct Physician Access Line at 1-800-678-HELP, or you can head on over to the website at stlouishildrens.org for more information and to get connected with one of our providers.  If you found this podcast very informative—as I did—please share with other providers.  Share on your social media.  Share with friends and family and that way we can all meet Trish Lollo together and be sure to check out all the other interesting podcasts in the St. Louis Children's library.   Until next time, I’m Melanie Cole.