What is Dr. Lisa Cuddy’s senior hospital role in House M.D.?

Dr. Lisa Cuddy is the Dean of Medicine in House M.D.

Cuddy, played by Lisa Edelstein, is the senior administrator responsible for overseeing Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. She supervises House and often has to balance his extraordinary diagnostic ability against his disregard for rules, budgets, and professional boundaries.

The character is also a physician and an endocrinologist. Her medical background helps her understand House’s cases, while her administrative position gives her authority over his department and treatment decisions. Cuddy’s relationship with House becomes one of the show’s major long-running storylines.

Cuddy’s title can be confused with the roles of other hospital characters. James Wilson leads oncology, while House leads diagnostic medicine. Cuddy is not the hospital’s chief of surgery or head of neurology; her defining position is senior medical administrator.