Highmark Health statement on the passing of David Blandino, MD

David A. Blandino, MD, long-time chair of the Allegheny Health Network (AHN) board of directors and a member of the Highmark Health and Highmark Inc. boards, died on Sept. 30, 2025.

The following is a statement from Highmark Health president and CEO David Holmberg:

All of us at Highmark Health and AHN are saddened to learn of the death of our dear friend and colleague, David Blandino. In 2007, when I joined the Highmark Health family, he was one of the first people to reach out to me, to help me understand the community that I had just joined - not just the Highmark community, but the larger Pittsburgh community and the deep sense of pride and commitment to health that lives here.

As the AHN board chair and in his roles as a physician, David didn't just lead - he lifted. Whether mentoring young physicians or guiding board strategy, he brought clarity, compassion, faith and conviction to every room he entered.

David's career was defined by a rare breadth of service, from clinical practice to governance. He was a family physician, educator, researcher and board leader who never lost sight of the human side of health care.

In addition to the AHN and Highmark governance boards, Dr. Blandino also served on the boards of the Jefferson Regional Medical Center (now AHN Jefferson Hospital), AHN Allegheny Valley Hospital, the former West Penn Allegheny Health System (now AHN), and Gateway Health Plan (now Highmark Wholecare).

In 2017, Dr. Blandino was selected as the recipient of the Nathaniel Bedford Primary Care Award. Presented by the Allegheny County Medical Society since 1975, the award annually recognizes one exemplary primary care physician from the Pittsburgh area.

Dr. Blandino graduated magna cum laude with a degree in mathematics in 1974 from the University of Pittsburgh, where he was also a standout offensive tackle from the Pittsburgh Panthers football team. He received his medical degree from Pitt's School of Medicine in 1978, and completed his residency in family practice at Williamsport Hospital in Williamsport, Pa. In 1981, he began his clinical career at a community health center in Pittsburgh's Hill District, and later joined Pitt's Department of Family Medicine, leading the UPMC Shadyside Family Practice Residency Program.

In 2008, Dr. Blandino joined the East Liberty Family Health Care Center (ELFHCC) as staff physician. ELFHCC is a Federally Qualified Health Center with a faith-based mission. A member and elder of Friendship Community Presbyterian Church, Dr. Blandino chaired or served on several of the church's committees over the years.

He also served on numerous regional non-profit boards and committees over his four-decade career in medicine, including the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative and the Allegheny County Medical Society Committee on Primary Care.

His professional affiliations included membership in the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine and American Academy of Family Physicians.

Dr. Blandino lived with his wife, Barbara, in West Oakland, where they raised their three children, Katharine Nienhuis, Jonathan Blandino and Elizabeth Blandino-Lopez.