MaineHealth hires its first chief medical and transformation officer

MaineHealth has hired a Colorado physician as chief medical and transformation officer, a newly created role.

Chris Thomson most recently served as vice president and physician executive with Centura Health in Denver, Colo., where he's been since 2021. Before that, he spent 12 years at Centra Health in Lynchburg, Va.

Thomson replaces Doug Sawyer, MaineHealth's chief academic officer, who has been system chief medical officer on an interim basis since November 2021. Sawyer will assume responsibility for innovating care delivery.

"I want to take this opportunity to recognize Doug for his excellent work and steady hand as our interim CMO during a very dynamic and challenging time for our health system," said Andrew Mueller, chief executive officer of MaineHealth. "During his tenure, he has done much to move us toward our goals, including his work spearheading efforts to reduce clinical variation, his continued advocacy for education and research, and, of course, his leadership during the Omicron COVID-19 surge."

MaineHealth

Chris Thomson

Thomson will be responsible for the system's team of chief medical officers at hospitals across the service area and oversee research and academic affairs. In addition to those duties previously assigned to the system CMO, he will take on additional accountabilities supporting organizational transformation.

"This is a tremendous opportunity to be on the forefront of innovation in health care, all in service to the clear and meaningful vision of working together so our communities are the healthiest in America," said Thomson.

Thomson holds a bachelor's degree in biology and psychology from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. He received his doctorate from the Medical College of Virginia and an MBA from the University of Virginia, Darden School of Business in Charlottesville.

"As we've moved toward building a stronger health system in pursuit of our vision of working together so our communities are the healthiest in America, it has become clear that clinical integration and transformation of our care delivery models are essential for our organization to thrive in a rapidly changing health care landscape," said Mueller. "We must identify, create and oversee new structures of care, partnerships and collaborations that will further position MaineHealth as a nimble, contemporary health system."

MaineHealth, the state's largest healthcare system, owns and operates Maine Medical Center in Portland, has a service area with 1.1 million people in Maine and Carroll County, N.H., and employs more than 19,000 people.