Lisa Cuddy is the medical school friend and colleague who becomes dean of medicine in House M.D.
Cuddy, played by Lisa Edelstein, is the dean of medicine and administrator of Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital for much of the series. She supervises House, manages hospital policy, and frequently has to balance his diagnostic successes against his rule-breaking, substance use, and treatment of patients and staff.
Her professional relationship with House is adversarial but not simple. Cuddy recognizes his unusual diagnostic ability and often protects his department, yet she also imposes limits when his conduct threatens the hospital. The series develops their relationship beyond administration, including a romantic storyline.
Cuddy’s title is sometimes described loosely as hospital dean or director, but the show specifically identifies her as dean of medicine. She leaves the series after the seventh season, and the hospital’s leadership changes during the final season.