by Kathy Rivers
Lee Ann Liska, a 30-year veteran of the health care industry, has been named chief operating officer of Vanderbilt University Adult Hospital (VUAH). She will join Vanderbilt University Medical Center on Oct. 19.
In this role, Liska will report to Shon Dwyer, MBA, RN, president of VUAH, and will be responsible for operational, people, financial, quality, safety and patient experience goals for the hospital in alignment with enterprise-wide goals.
She will work in partnership with clinical department chairs, operational leaders across the enterprise and the VUAH senior leadership team to achieve patient-centered, results-oriented operations throughout the hospital.
“We are delighted to have Lee Ann serve in this mission-critical role. Relationship building, problem-solving and capacity management are all hallmarks of her distinguished career. She has a proven track record of transforming complex challenges into concrete successes. She is the ideal person to join our VUAH senior leadership team and help optimize our many organizational strengths,” said Dwyer.
Liska’s experience spans hospital operations, physician practice management and ambulatory services in several academic and community health systems throughout the Midwest and South.
Most recently, Liska has been in Atlanta working with a large health system providing operational and strategic leadership in coaching and mentoring senior leaders, executing operational assessments and deliverables, creating a metric-driven dashboard, reducing expenses and consolidating clinical services.
“Lee Ann brings considerable experience to this role and I look forward to her contributions as we continue to expand the scope of services in VUAH and our Adult Enterprise,” said C. Wright Pinson, MBA, MD, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Health System Officer for VUMC.
A native of Ohio, Liska earned her Executive Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Cleveland State University.
“I have long admired Vanderbilt as one of the premier academic medical centers in the country, affiliated with a top-tier university and medical school,” Liska says.
“I look forward to becoming part of this dedicated team focused on VUMC’s tripartite mission of excellence in patient care, research and education.”
Liska is married to Joe Ed, a realtor, and has a daughter, Catherine, who is a junior at The University of Florida.
