U. Va. Medical Center names CEO

A Duke University Hospital official has been tapped to lead the University of Virginia Medical Center.

Pamela Sutton-Wallace, senior vice president for hospital operations at Duke University Hospital in Durham, N.C., will start working at U. Va. in July. She will succeed R. Edward Howell, who is retiring as CEO in June but will continue teaching at the university.

At Duke University Hospital, Sutton-Wallace administered more than 950 inpatient beds along with the emergency department, medical/surgical/critical care, psychiatry, dialysis, lab services, radiology and surgical services.

“Effectively managing a comprehensive health care enterprise in today’s environment has to be among the most difficult of assignments,” U. Va. President Teresa  A. Sullivan said in a statement. “The University of Virginia is fortunate to have someone of Pamela Sutton-Wallace’s caliber join us.”

Sutton-Wallace has spent the last 17 years of her career at Duke University Health System. She started in 1997 as a fellow in health administration.  She served in several leadership roles at the health system until being appointed to her current post in 2011.

Sutton-Wallace, 44, is married to Maurice Wallace, an associate professor of English and African and African-American studies at Duke. They have two daughters: 15-year-old Sage and 13-year-old Amaya.