Ninfa Saunders, president and chief operating officer of Virtua Health, has stepped down in order to help her son recover from injuries he suffered in a car accident, the system said in an e-mailed statement.

The system, which operates four New Jersey hospitals and is based in Marlton, credited Saunders with opening a $463 million replacement hospital in Voorhees, N.J., a partnership with Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, installation of an information technology system and maintaining healthy operating margins. “We wish Ninfa the best as she attends to her son's recovery and as she moves forward in her career,” the statement read.

Virtua did not identify an interim replacement for Saunders, who assumed the role in 2010, according to her biography on the system's website.