Dr. Rasu Shrestha is joining Atrium Health (formerly Carolinas Healthcare) as its chief strategy officer.

A well-known healthcare innovator and thought leader, Shrestha served as UPMC's chief innovation officer and executive vice president of UPMC Enterprises.

He is also a member of the HIMSS Board of Directors, chairman of the HIMSS Innovation Committee, a regular social media ambassador at the HIMSS Global Conference and at the upcoming HIMSS19 he will be among its inaugural class of Champions of Health.

Shrestha spent more than 11 years at UPMC and described his time there as one that gave him the privilege to build an appetite for innovation and the capacity to deliver.

"It's been an absolute honor working at UPMC," he said. "And at the same time I'm superbly excited about the organization I'm joining."

Shrestha will work directly with Atrium CEO Gene Woods to define the strategy for a progressive large health system.

His priorities at Atrium will include creating strategies, partnerships and opportunities in the Carolinas region to "reimagine a brighter, bolder, more hopeful future for health and care," he explained.

Shrestha will relocate from Pittsburgh to Charlotte, North Carolina, and begin his new role in February.

"There are a lot of great things to be done in terms of inventions, discovery, ideas to benefit patients and communities that Atrium Health serves," Shrestha said. "I'm really excited to define the strategy, pull the right teams together and do things in ways we have not really done before in healthcare."

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Email the writer: tom.sullivan@himssmedia.com

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