AHA Names New Trustee to the Board

WASHINGTON (June 23, 2022) — The American Hospital Association (AHA) has elected Kate Walsh to fill a vacancy on its Board of Trustees for a term effective immediately and ending December 31, 2024. The Board of Trustees is the highest policymaking body of the AHA and has ultimate authority for the governance and management of its direction and finances.

“I’m deeply honored to join the Board of Trustees of the American Hospital Association,” said Kate Walsh, President and CEO of Boston Medical Center Health System. “With the AHA’s leadership and support, hospitals have played a critical role in safeguarding our communities through COVID-19 and other public health emergencies. The AHA is also focused on two of the central challenges facing the entire health care community, reducing the health sector’s carbon footprint for a healthy climate, and achieving true health equity for all of our patients.”

Walsh is president and CEO of Boston Medical Center (BMC) Health System. The primary teaching affiliate of Boston University School of Medicine, Boston Medical Center has more than 6,000 employees and 880 physicians who are affiliated with Boston University Medical Group. BMC Health System also includes WellSense Health Plan, a Medicaid Managed Care Organization, and Boston HealthNet, a network affiliation of 12 community health centers throughout Greater Boston.

Prior to joining BMC in 2010, Walsh served as executive vice president and chief operating officer for Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Before her tenure at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Walsh was the chief operating officer for Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research and at Massachusetts General Hospital in positions including senior vice president of medical services and the MGH Cancer Center. Walsh also held several positions in a number of New York City hospitals including Montefiore, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, Saint Luke’s – Roosevelt Hospital Center and the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.

Walsh is currently on AHA’s Strategic Leadership Group on Urban Hospital Sustainability and was a member of AHA’s Strategic Leadership Group on Provider-led Health Plans from 2016-2019 while also joining the AHA Task Force on Ensuring Access in Vulnerable Communities from 2015-2016.

Walsh is an active member on the boards of the Boston Public Health Commission, the Massachusetts Hospital and Health Association, Yale University, the Association of American Medical Colleges and Pine Street Inn. In addition, Walsh served as a member of the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Walsh received a master’s degree in public health and bachelor of arts degree in urban studies from Yale University.

###

Contact:        Colin Milligan, cmilligan@aha.org
                      Sean Barry, sbarry@aha.org

About the American Hospital Association
The American Hospital Association (AHA) is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations and individuals that are committed to the health improvement of their communities. The AHA advocates on behalf of our nearly 5,000 member hospitals, health systems and other health care organizations, our clinician partners – including more than 270,000 affiliated physicians, 2 million nurses and other caregivers – and the 43,000 health care leaders who belong to our professional membership groups. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides insight and education for health care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues and trends. For more information, visit the AHA website at www.aha.org.