WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – William B. Applegate, M.D., has been named president of Wake Forest University Health Sciences, and Donny C. Lambeth has been named president of North Carolina Baptist Hospital, John D. McConnell, M.D., chief executive officer of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, announced today. Douglas L. Edgeton has been named executive vice president for Medical Center administration.
The appointments were effective Dec. 1.
Both Applegate and Lambeth have served as interim presidents of their respective organizations since the retirement of Richard H. Dean, M.D., as president of Health Sciences and Len B. Preslar Jr. as president of Baptist Hospital in June of 2007.
In addition to serving as president of Health Sciences, Applegate will continue to serve as dean of Wake Forest University School of Medicine, a position he has held since 2002. His appointment was made jointly by McConnell and Wake Forest University President Nathan O. Hatch, to whom Applegate will also report on university-related issues.
For the time being, Lambeth will continue to serve as chief operating officer of Baptist Hospital, a position he has held since 1999. McConnell said the process has begun, which will include a national search, to name a successor to Lambeth as COO for the hospital.
Edgeton will continue to serve as executive vice president for administration of Health Sciences and as president of Piedmont Triad Research Park, but take on an expanded Medical-Center-wide role leading a number of administrative areas that will be consolidated between Health Sciences and Baptist Hospital.
“We are extremely fortunate here at Wake Forest Baptist to have the high caliber of leadership represented in Bill Applegate, Donny Lambeth and Doug Edgeton,” McConnell said. “It is very reassuring for me to come into an institution that has been so well managed, with a new organizational structure that is already well under way.”
Applegate came to Wake Forest in 1999 to become chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine. As dean of the School of Medicine, he is credited with making significant administrative improvements and curriculum refinements. Substantial growth in faculty size in key clinical and scientific areas has also taken place under his leadership. In 2007, Dr. Applegate successfully led the medical school in receiving full academic re-accreditation from the Liaison Committee for Medical Education.
“Dr. Applegate has provided superb leadership during a remarkable time of transition for Wake Forest University Health Sciences and North Carolina Baptist Hospital,” Hatch said. “As interim president of Health Sciences, his clarity of vision and ability to bring people together has brought new energy and renewed creativity to complex issues. I am delighted that he will continue to be part of the leadership team of Wake Forest and the Medical Center.”
Lambeth joined the hospital in 1972. He held several accounting positions at the hospital before being named chief financial officer in 1988. He was named chief operating officer in 1999. As interim president, Lambeth has overseen plans for building a new Davie County Hospital and an urgent and primary care center in Mocksville.
Edgeton came to Health Sciences as vice president for health affairs and chief operating officer in 2000, became senior vice president for administration and chief operating officer in 2001 and executive vice president and chief operating officer in 2007. He was appointed president of the research park in 2007. McConnell credits Edgeton with bringing substantial business expertise to the academic enterprise, including major business development, which has greatly benefited Health Sciences, the Medical Center and the research park.
Applegate, Lambeth, Edgeton and Raymond C. Roy, M.D., Ph.D., interim president of Wake Forest University Physicians (WFUP), were part of a leadership team during the Medical Center’s restructuring under a single CEO, a process that began almost two years ago. Roy has agreed to continue as the interim president of WFUP until a successor is identified in 2009. All four positions will report directly to the CEO.
Together the leadership team substantially improved the operational alignment between the medical school and hospital and launched several new key affiliations with hospitals and physicians in the Triad area. Within the past year, Wake Forest Baptist has formed the Healthcare Alliance with Moses Cone Health System and High Point Regional Healthcare System, and affiliated with Lexington Memorial Hospital.
Steve Robertson, chairman of the Medical Center board of directors, said, “The naming of Donny Lambeth and Bill Applegate as presidents, and Doug Edgeton as executive vice president, is another milestone in the Medical Center’s journey toward a successful, unified leadership structure. Each of these men has shown that he has the considerable skills necessary to lead his institution beyond this transition to the next level of excellence for the Medical Center.”
Applegate is the current chair of the Board of Regents of the American College of Physicians, the nation’s largest physician specialty professional society with more than 126,000 members. He previously served as president of the American Geriatrics Society and editor of the society’s journal. He has been repeatedly named as one of America’s Best Doctors and has had a substantial scientific career including numerous National Institute of Health grants and nearly 200 academic peer-reviewed publications. His medical degree is from the University of Louisville, and his residency in internal medicine was at Boston City Hospital and North Carolina Memorial Hospital. He earned a master’s degree in public health from Harvard University.
A native of Winston-Salem, Lambeth is a graduate of High Point University and earned his M.B.A. from Wake Forest. He is a leader in the community, serving as chairman of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education, a trustee of Hospice and Palliative Care Center and a member of the Board of Visitors of High Point University. He also serves on the Policy Development Committee of the N.C. Hospital Association and the board of the University HealthSystem Consortium.
An Alabama native, Edgeton earned his master’s degree in Public Health with an emphasis on health care organizations and policy and an M.B.A. from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He spent a total of 20 years with the UAB Health System before coming to Wake Forest in 2000. He serves as a board member on a number of local organizations, including the United Way of Forsyth County, Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership, Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce and the Alliance of Winston-Salem.
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Photos: McConnell, Applegate, Lambeth, Edgeton
Media Contacts: Mark Wright, (336) 716-3382, mwright@wfubmc.edu; Bonnie Davis, bdavis@wfubmc.edu or Shannon Koontz, shkoontz@wfubmc.edu, (336) 716-4587.