VCU Health System CEO departing for Ohio State

The CEO of Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health System is leaving for a job at Ohio State University.

Dr. Sheldon Retchin has been tapped to lead Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center starting next spring. His base salary will be $1.1 million.

 Retchin, 64, succeeds Steven Gabbe, who announced in February that he is stepping down as CEO. Retchin will become Wexner Medical Center’s CEO and executive vice president of health sciences starting March 2. However, the appointment must be approved by Ohio State’s board of trustees, which is meeting Jan. 30.

According to an Ohio State news release, the Wexner Medical Center has almost doubled in size in the past 12 years. Last year it had operating revenues of $2 billion.

Since 2003, Retchin has served as senior vice president for health sciences at VCU and CEO of the VCU Health System. He is a practicing internist with added qualifications in geriatric medicine and holds the Ruth and Seymour Perlin Professorship of Medicine and Health Administration, the release says.
Retchin has been with VCU Health System since 1986, serving as the chief operating officer before becoming as CEO. He also is on numerous national and international panels related to managed care, costs of care and assessments of the Medicare program. He has testified before Congress as a recognized authority on the role of the safety net in health services delivery, and published more than 90 articles, chapters and books on the costs, quality and outcomes of care.

“With a broad understanding of national health policy and future challenges to academic health sciences, he is exactly the right leader to lead a transformational agenda to drive meaningful financial and operational efficiencies while steering us through a time of great change both on campus and within the national health care environment,” Leslie Wexner, chairman of the Wexner Medical Center Board, said in a statement.

Retchin earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in public health and medical degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.