CEO of University of Virginia Medical Center to retire in July

R. Edward Howell announced that he will retire in July 2014 as VP and CEO of the University of Virginia Medical Center, Charlottesville.

Howell, 64, has been the top executive at the center since 2002, and the organization credits him with expanding service lines, adding beds, installing an electronic health-record system and building ancillary facilities including the Emily Couric Clinical Cancer Center and a transitional care hospital.

A new outpatient facility for its children's hospital is scheduled to open next year, and Howell said in a news release that he wanted to see the project finished before retiring.

The university said it would launch a national search for a successor.

“During an era of significant change in healthcare, Ed and his team have worked well to prepare the medical center and the health system for the future, in particular through the development of an ambitious clinical strategic direction,” Teresa Sullivan, University of Virginia president, said in the release.

Howell plans to continue teaching in the university's department of public health sciences.