Name: Dr. Cristy Page
Previous title: Interim CEO, UNC Health
New title: CEO, UNC Health
Page will take her post effective Monday, according to a Thursday news release. She will also serve as dean of the UNC School of Medicine and vice chancellor for medical affairs at UNC-Chapel Hill.
She has held all titles on an interim basis since July, following the departure of former CEO Dr. Wesley Burks.
Page previously served as president of UNC Health Enterprises, the health system’s innovation arm, and as chief academic officer, according to the news release. She has particular expertise in primary and rural health, the system said.
Page steps into the role as 16-hospital UNC Health seeks to expand. Earlier this year the health system announced a $2 billion partnership with neighbor Duke Health to build the state’s first children’s hospital, which is scheduled to break ground in 2027.
The health system has also asked the state for permission to build hospitals outside of the Triangle region of North Carolina. For example, UNC Health bid to build in Asheville, offering to invest $700 million to build a facility, according to a report from the Triangle Business Journal.
However, the hospital market in the state is crowded, and UNC Health has plenty of competition from regional heavyweights Novant Health and Atrium Health, which are both headquartered in the state and operate 19 hospitals and nearly 40 hospitals, respectively.
Duke is also looking to catch up with expansion projects of its own — including a $280 million hospital acquisition from Community Health Systems that closed this spring.
Meanwhile, Page will also have to shepherd the health system through challenges including looming Medicaid cuts, increased eyes on medical education curricula from the HHS and uncertainty about federal funding for medical research.
One recent analysis found that if President Donald Trump’s proposed cuts to National Institutes of Health are upheld, UNC-Chapel Hill could lose approximately $606 million in research grants.
