Woods named AHA chair-elect for 2016

The AHA Board of Trustees has selected as its chairman-elect for 2016 Eugene Woods, president and chief operating officer of Christus Health in Irving, Texas. He will serve as AHA chairman in 2017.

Woods next year will succeed James Skogsbergh as the association’s chairman-elect. Skogsbergh is president and CEO of Advocate Health Care in Downers Grove, Ill., and will become the AHA’s chairman in 2016.  

Woods joined the AHA board last year and is chairman of the association’s Equity of Care Committee, which helps guide the board’s efforts to eliminate disparities in health care.

He joined Christus Health in 2011, and is responsible for overseeing its acute care, post-acute care and international operations in the U.S., Mexico and Chile. The health system has more than 40 hospitals and long-term care facilities in seven states – Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico and Texas. 

With more than 25 years of experience in hospital and health system administration, Woods previously served as CEO of Saint Joseph Health System in Lexington, Ky., and as chief operating officer of the Washington (D.C.) Hospital Center.

Before joining the AHA board, Woods served on the AHA’s Regional Policy Board 3 and the AHA’s Health Care Systems Governing Council. He also served as a regent for the American College of Healthcare Executives, and as past president of the Washington, D.C., chapter of the National Association of Health Services Executives (NAHSE). In 2013, he was named NAHSE Senior Executive of the Year.

“As hospitals continue to transform themselves to improve care for their patients and communities, I look forward to leading the AHA in spurring those efforts and working with members in support of the AHA’s mission to advance the health of individuals and communities,” Woods said.