Director of Penn State Cancer Institute resigns 1 day after Spotlight PA investigation

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Raymond Hohl, the director of the Penn State Cancer Institute, resigned Friday following a Spotlight PA investigation into his care of patients and leadership of the center.

Hohl made the decision “thoughtfully and with the best interests of the Institute in mind,” according to an internal email, which was signed by Karen Kim, dean of the Penn State College of Medicine, and Michael Kupferman, CEO of Penn State Health. The email says he will remain a faculty member of the university’s medical college.

Hohl started as director in 2014 with the goal of achieving National Cancer Institute designation, a prestigious federal recognition, for the center based in the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. The university invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the cancer center in pursuit of designation, records show.

A Spotlight PA investigation published Nov. 20 found that Hohl was the subject of a series of negative internal reviews between early 2022 and mid-2023. The reviews found a series of problems with Hohl’s care of at least 10 patients. His sloppy recordkeeping caused multiple errors. Several of Hohl’s patients received extra doses of chemotherapy by accident. Others faced unexplained delays in changing their treatment, or having scans done to check whether their cancer had progressed, according to documents obtained by the newsroom.

Penn State’s reviews also concluded that Hohl perpetuated a toxic culture of fear and mistrust that chewed up doctors and researchers, who left the organization in droves during this time period. Getting federal designation was Hohl’s top priority, but after nearly a decade under his leadership and some $410 million invested, the cancer institute was “significantly behind where it needs to be,” a December 2022 review found. Records show that Hohl disputed the findings and offered a rosier assessment at the time.

Penn State Health’s former chief executive officer and former chief operating officer, as well as the hospital’s then-chief medical officer and two medical school deans, including Kim, had extensive knowledge of these problems, records show.

In 2023, leaders privately considered removing Hohl as director of the cancer institute, internal records show. The doctor kept his position and was placed on a two-month performance improvement plan, under which he was asked to adhere to national guidelines for cancer treatment, demonstrate active listening skills, and show that he was a team player, among other goals.

In May 2024, Penn State quietly removed Hohl’s oversight of clinical care, a move the Penn State Health spokesperson declined to explain in September 2025. Hohl was still seeing patients as of early 2025.

Following publication of Spotlight PA’s investigation, Penn State Health said in a statement: “We believe the reporting by this outlet is based almost entirely on materials more than two years old and it does not provide an accurate representation of Penn State Cancer Institute (PSCI) as it exists today. During the last two years — we have made significant changes to PSCI’s leadership, staffing, operations, clinical capabilities and research processes.”

According to the internal announcement, Institute Deputy Director Jeff Peters will be the interim director of the cancer center.

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This story was originally published by Spotlight PA and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.