Kaplan joins VUMC team
Health care executive Jeff Kaplan has been named associate vice chancellor for Health Affairs effective April 7.
Kaplan will oversee strategic development, construction/space and facilities management, parking, health care contracting, regional health care network development and the Center for Health Services. He will also be the VUMC liaison to the Vanderbilt University department of Human Resources and will work on a variety of projects for Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs Dr. Harry R. Jacobson.
Kaplan, whose career includes more than 13 years experience in university administration, was most recently executive vice president with St. Thomas Health Services, which runs Nashville’s St. Thomas and Baptist hospitals.
“Jeff’s experience and talents placed him immediately at the top of the list of candidates,” Jacobson said. “I’m very pleased that he has accepted this critical role within our leadership team,” Kaplan will report to Jacobson and will also work closely with Norman B. Urmy, executive vice president for Clinical Affairs and CEO of VUH.
Asked what attracted him to the position, Kaplan said, “I have been extremely impressed by the leadership of both Vanderbilt University and the medical center. The creativity and strength is reflected in a vision that will continue to make Vanderbilt a powerful influence nationally and internationally. I’m also drawn by what I see as an unusual level of commitment by a university to actual patient care.”
Kaplan was educated at Yale University and holds a juris doctorate from Ohio State. Kaplan’s wife, Darcy, is a critical care nurse; they have four children: J.J., 15, Michael, 9, Karen, 8, and Halle, 7.