Alan Lee has been named president of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, RWJBarnabas Health (the parent company of the facility) announced Thursday.
Lee was working as the chief operating officer at the hospital since joining the organization nearly two years ago. With this change, all RWJUH clinical and operational leadership will report to him.
Lee came to RWJUH from New York-Presbyterian, where he served in multiple senior leadership roles since 2009. He was vice president of support services and patient experience at NYP/Weill Cornell, then vice president of operations at NYP/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, before assuming the role of chief operating officer at NYP/Brooklyn Methodist Hospital. During his time there, Lee led strategic initiatives focused on patient experience, operations and capital expansion, environmental services, patient throughput and length of stay management.
About RWJUH
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital is a 640-bed hospital and New Jersey’s largest academic medical center through its deep partnership with Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. In addition, the Bristol Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital at RWJUH is a 105-bed, dedicated children’s hospital that serves as the hub of the state’s only pediatric academic medical campus, which includes the Rutgers Child Health Institute and PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital.
RWJUH is a state-designated Level I Trauma Center and provides quaternary level care in cardiovascular services, neuroscience, gastroenterology and GI surgery, organ transplantation, robotic surgery, gynecology, emergency medicine and more. RWJUH is the flagship location of the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the state’s only NCI-designated cancer program, and the future home to the Jack and Sheryl Morris Cancer Center.
Lee will continue to report to RWJUH CEO Bill Arnold and will serve as interim chief operating officer while the organization conducts a national search for a successor in that role.
Arnold applauded the announcement.
“Since joining RWJUH in the fall of 2021, Alan has assembled a strong operations leadership team that has yielded results against our strategic plan to become a premier academic medical center at the core of the RWJBarnabas Health academic health system,” he said. “I expect this momentum to continue under his leadership at the hospital and through our partnership with Rutgers University. Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Dr. Dean Amy Murtha and I will continue to support Alan’s work and further our shared vision of providing nationally recognized medical care, education and research in the state, as well as destination care.”
Jack Morris, chair of the RWJUH board of directors, said Lee is a perfect fit for the role.
“During his time as COO, Alan demonstrated that he can attract top talent and build a high-functioning team,” he said. “He is a passionate advocate for culture, which is critical to the RWJUH team as we recover from the pandemic and build a world-class medical center where the top health care professionals want to work and where patients in New Jersey and beyond receive the highest levels of care.”
