Ascension taps Maryland for COO post

Ascension Health, St. Louis, has promoted Patricia Maryland to president of healthcare operations and COO.

Maryland, 59, is the Michigan ministry market leader for Ascension Health and president and CEO of St. John Providence Health System in Detroit. She will continue in those roles through June. Maryland joined St. John Providence in 2008. Ascension is conducting a national search to fill her position in Michigan. The subsystem includes Genesys Health System in Grand Blanc, Mich.; Borgess Health, Kalamazoo, Mich.; St. Mary's of (Saginaw) Michigan; and St. Joseph Health System, Tawas City, Mich.

“Pat's farsighted and thoughtful approach has been instrumental to advancing Ascension Health's Mission in Michigan and reaffirming our dedication to the region,” Ascension Health President and CEO Robert Henkel said in the news release. “She has motivated her health ministry and other health ministries in Michigan to aggressively look ahead to determine how to best serve a radically changed Michigan going forward. I look forward to Pat bringing her gifts and experience to her new, broader role in service to our national ministry.”

Maryland's new role is the same position Henkel held until he moved last year to his current job leading Ascension Health. Maryland replaces Charles Barnett. He's moving onto a new post as executive chairman of the board of the Seton Healthcare Family in Austin, Texas, where Barnett served as president and CEO until January 2012. Barnett will also work with the parent company, Ascension Health Alliance, to support expansion efforts and the Roman Catholic ministry's mission.