Carilion Clinic Announces Leadership Changes

Carilion Clinic President and CEO, Edward Murphy, MD, announced Wednesday that on June 30 he will leave the health system he has led for 10 years. Carilion Clinic COO Nancy Howell Agee was named Murphy's replacement by the board of the Roanoke, VA-based not-for-profit health system, effective July 1.

Murphy has taken a job with TowerBrook Capital Partners L.P., a New York- and London-based investment firm, where he will help develop and acquire businesses that deal with physician management and alignment, care coordination, and the development of accountable care organizations.

Murphy will also chair the board of Sound Physicians, a Tacoma, WA-based hospitalist staffing company. He will continue to serve on the board at Carilion and remain on the faculty of the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, which he helped create.

Since becoming president and CEO of Carilion in 2001, Murphy led Carilion through its transition from a hospital-based system to a multi-specialty clinic, which now includes more than 600 physicians, hospitals, and outpatient centers serving one million people in Virginia. He joined Carilion in 1998 as COO.

Murphy's work on the reorganization is credited with laying the foundation for Carilion's collaboration with Aetna -- announced March 10 -- to build an accountable care organization in southwest Virginia that will feature co-branded insurance plans for individuals and businesses.

"The decision to leave Carilion was difficult, but the time is right," Murphy said. "At Carilion, the building blocks for successful transformation are in place, especially in light of our new relationship with Aetna. The organization is in good position to move forward with excellent, stable leadership. This opportunity with TowerBrook and Sound Physicians will allow me to work on hospital/physician integration and ACO development, nationally."

Agee began her career in nursing at Carilion, serving in various management roles over the past 20 years. In 1996 she was appointed vice president medical education. In 2000 she became senior vice president of the organization, advancing to executive vice president/COO in 2001. At the beginning of 2011, Agee was appointed president/CEO of Carilion Medical Center.

"This is a unique organization, with truly remarkable people, and I am honored to have this opportunity," Agee said. "I still remember the faces of my patients back in 1973 and as I see our patients today I know that even with new technology, new facilities and a new medical school our core mission remains the same – providing high-quality, coordinated, compassionate care tailored to meet the individual needs of our patients every day."

Agee's successor as COO of Carilion Clinic has yet to be named.