Albert Wright serves as president and CEO of Morgantown-based West Virginia University Health System.
He became CEO of the system in 2016, two years after joining the organization. Previously, he was president and CEO of West Virginia University Hospitals, the system's 690-bed flagship. He also served simultaneously as COO of the system and hospital CEO.
Here, Mr. Wright answers questions from Becker's regarding the primary initiative he will focus on next year and a meaningful interaction with a patient.
Question: What one strategic initiative will demand the most of your time and energy in 2019?
Albert Wright: My focus will be to continue building a robust, comprehensive and integrated network of care for the people of West Virginia, while further developing key clinical programs that we believe will draw patients from across the globe. Part of this will include transforming our care models, an effort that will unfold over several months or longer.
Over the past four years, we have worked diligently to expand access across the state and region by recruiting physicians in a variety of specialties and sub-specialties. We also significantly expanded our footprint by opening several new clinics across the region and welcomed several new hospitals into the West Virginia University Health System. In June of 2018, we broke ground for a new $160 million children's hospital and have further made significant investments in programs such as heart and vascular, cancer, and neuroscience.
Q: Tell us about the last meaningful interaction you had with a patient.
AW: In October, the West Virginia University Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute performed the first procedure in the world of a phase II trial using focused ultrasound to treat a patient with early stage Alzheimer's disease. The first patient, Judi, was one of our neonatal nurse practitioners. She had to stop working because of disease-induced short-term memory loss.
Judi is a pioneer. Volunteering to have your blood-brain barrier opened for a clinical trial is incredibly brave. But Judi says she isn't participating in the trial for herself. Instead, she's doing it for all of the people who will be diagnosed with this horrible disease in the future. As a former clinician who participated in research studies herself, she knows the importance of trials like this one and felt a sense of obligation to enroll. That is both heroic and awe-inspiring.
In healthcare, we are here to serve others in what can be the most difficult times in their lives. I hope that when we receive the call to do something that will advance the practice of medicine and benefit those who will come after us that we will be as courageous as Judi.
Q: Can you share some praise with us about people you work with? What does greatness look like to you when it comes to your team?
AW: One of the things I've learned in the four years that I've been here is that West Virginians are both very proud and very humble. They're proud of their state and are fiercely loyal to it. But, at the same time, they often sell themselves short. West Virginia is a great place full of great people, and I wish more of them took credit for that. Our organization is full of native and adopted West Virginians, like me, and it is my honor and privilege to lead them. I have never met so many people who would drop everything to do whatever they could to help their fellow man.
In "Country Roads," John Denver sang that West Virginia is "the place I belong." I know I am in "the place I belong" because I am surrounded by people who lift me up and inspire me to be a better person. They are the reason I look forward to coming to work every day. They are the definition of greatness, and they are what makes our health system great.