The MetroHealth System's Board of Trustees selected a new person to manage operations while CEO Airica Steed is on medical leave.
The board unanimously voted at a special meeting Friday to appoint Dr. Christine Alexander-Rager to act as president and CEO of the health system.
Dr. Rager previously served as the interim executive vice president and has been with the system for nearly three decades. She also founded the School Health Program, where Cleveland high school students take classes and get clinical training at MetroHealth Medical Center to explore careers in health care.
Steed announced this week she is stepping away for a few weeks on medical leave.
Steed had initially selected Derrick Hollings, the system's chief financial officer, for the role.
The board decided to appoint Rager as acting CEO because it feels it is in the system’s best interests for Hollings and his team to be focused on financial enterprise, given pressures facing the system and hospitals nationwide, said Will Dube, a spokesperson for MetroHealth.
He added that Hollings was never acting CEO, because that is a title only the board can bestow, as noted under board bylaws.
