Lisa Cuddy served as dean of medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro in early seasons of House M.D.
Cuddy is the hospital administrator responsible for overseeing House and managing the institution’s medical and operational demands. She values House’s diagnostic abilities but regularly confronts him over his rule-breaking, treatment decisions, and disregard for hospital policy.
The character was played by Lisa Edelstein. Cuddy and House have a complicated professional relationship that develops into a romantic relationship during the series. She also becomes a major part of the hospital’s leadership structure, alongside figures such as James Wilson and later administrators.
Cuddy is sometimes confused with Stacy Warner, House’s former partner and a hospital attorney, or with Allison Cameron, one of his fellows. Unlike those characters, Cuddy’s defining institutional role is dean of medicine and hospital administrator.