Patrick Christiansen has been named CEO of Inova Fairfax (Va.) Medical Campus after serving as the facility's COO since 2010, the Northern Virginia health system announced.

Christiansen, 59, succeeds Dr. L. Reuven Pasternak, who left the CEO spot in August to become CEO and VP for health systems of Stony Brook (N.Y.) University Hospital on Sept. 1. A spokeswoman for Inova said Pasternak took that role so he could be closer to family in New York and New England.

As CEO of Inova Fairfax Medical Campus, Christiansen will lead Inova Fairfax Hospital, Inova Women's Hospital, Inova Children's Hospital and Inova Heart and Vascular Institute. He was also named executive VP at Inova. Christiansen oversaw a campus expansion project that includes an 11-story south patient tower scheduled to open next month and a 650,000-square foot building will be the new space for Inova Women's Hospital and Inova Children's Hospital that is expected to open in January 2016. The system broke ground on the building in September.

Previously, Christiansen worked as the vice president of operations at St. John's Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur, Mo. Christiansen earned a doctorate in philosophy and a master's degree in psychology from the University of Arkansas.