Keith Churchwell.
Keith Churchwell plans to step down from his role as the president of Yale New Haven Hospital next month after nearly three years in the top job, and will be replaced in the interim by the regional hospital system’s current chief operating officer, Pamela Sutton-Wallace.
Yale New Haven Health Systems President and CEO Chris O’Connor confirmed Churchwell’s coming departure in an email comment provided to the Independent on Wednesday morning.
He said that Churchwell — who has worked for YNHH for nine years, and who stepped into the role of president in October 2020 — will be leaving from his top hospital post on Aug. 11. In that role he has overseen YNHH’s New Haven hospital campuses, two of seven run by the regional health system in Connecticut and Rhode Island.
“Dr. Churchwell carefully guided the hospital through the COVID-19 pandemic and most recently has advanced several initiatives, including service line development across the Health System and improving access to our wide range of services for patients,” O’Connor said. “Dr. Churchwell has a longstanding commitment to address health inequities and racial disparities across the country and will continue this important work.”
Churchwell currently serves as the president-elect of the American Heart Association, and will become that organization’s president in 2024.
Churchwell is also currently the president of the board for the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, and on the board for the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.
O’Connor said that Sutton-Wallace will serve as YNHH’s interim executive leader in addition to staying on as the regional hospital system’s COO. “She is currently leading important transformational work across the Health System that will position YNHHS to meet the needs of all of the patients we serve in a very challenging, post-pandemic, healthcare environment.”
“We thank Keith for his leadership,” O’Connor concluded, “and numerous contributions during some of the most challenging times at YNHH.”