Lisa Cuddy is the House M.D. character nicknamed “Cuddy” who serves as the hospital administrator.
Cuddy is played by Lisa Edelstein and is the Dean of Medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. She supervises House, protects the hospital’s interests, and frequently challenges his rule-breaking approach to patients and staff.
Her position makes her both House’s professional superior and one of the people most willing to recognize his medical value. Their arguments often concern hospital policy, budgets, clinical judgment, and House’s use of pain medication. The relationship also develops beyond workplace conflict over the course of the series.
Cuddy is not a member of House’s diagnostic team. That distinction matters because the series includes several women named Lisa or with changing administrative roles. Lisa Cuddy remains the canonical name of House’s hospital boss for most of the show.