The surname of House M.D.’s dean of medicine, Lisa, is Cuddy.
Lisa Cuddy is played by Lisa Edelstein and serves as dean of medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. She supervises House, often challenges his rule-breaking, and tries to balance hospital policy with the value of his diagnostic abilities.
Cuddy’s relationship with House is both professional and personal. Their long-running conflicts involve patient safety, hospital costs, disciplinary action, and House’s refusal to follow conventional procedures. The character also has storylines involving fertility, adoption, and motherhood.
Lisa Cuddy is not the hospital’s chief diagnostician; that position belongs to House within the series’ fictional structure. The character’s administrative role is why she frequently appears in disputes over House’s cases and behavior.