Roland Cruickshank, a dynamic and talented leader with more than 20 years of experience in health care administration, has been named the new president for Methodist University Hospital (MUH).
He is currently president of Vintage Hospital Northwest Houston, which is part of the CHI St. Luke’s Health System. Cruickshank served five years as vice president of Operations at Houston Methodist Hospital, Texas Medical Center, a 1,119-bed academic medical center that consistently ranked #1 in Texas. In addition, he had operational oversight for pharmacy and laboratory across eight hospitals in the Houston Methodist system.
In announcing the appointment, Michael Ugwueke, MPH, DHA, FACHE, president and CEO of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, said Cruickshank believes leadership in a faith-based health care system is a calling, and he has a passion for ensuring access to high-quality health care for all. “His background makes him uniquely well qualified to lead Methodist University Hospital,” Dr. Ugwueke said.
“I am delighted that he’ll be able to apply his transformational leadership skills in pursuit of continued improvement in clinical quality, patient experience, and associate engagement,” Dr. Ugwueke continued. “He is especially excited about joining our organization at this unique point in our history, our Centennial year. He’s eager to lead our academic medical center at a time when we are stretching our organization to reach top decile performance in quality and patient experience, while sustaining our top decile performance in associate engagement, setting the stage for outstanding results as we embark on another incredible 100 years ahead.”
Cruickshank earned a Master of Health Administration from the Medical University of South Carolina, a Master of Public Affairs from the University of South Carolina, and a Bachelor of Arts from the College of Charleston. He and his wife, Nelia, have three daughters, ages 12, 2 and 6 weeks.
“I want to personally thank Dr. Jimmie Mancell for his exceptional leadership as interim president, as we completed this national search,” Dr. Ugwueke said. “When I asked Dr. Mancell to take on the interim role last August, I was impressed with how quickly he was able to step in and connect with associates throughout the hospital, offering a sense of stability and motivating the team to continue improvement efforts across a number of measures. His strong relationships with UT Health Science Center leadership and medical staff members has been, and will continue to be invaluable, as he returns to his roles as Chief of Medicine for UT Methodist Physicians (UTMP) and associate dean for Clinical Affairs at UT Health Science Center.”
Dr. Ugwueke also thanked those who helped with the interview process, including hospital associates and medical staff from MUH, as well as UTHSC and Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare leadership.
“Methodist University Hospital is our core University Specialty Hospital, and we are excited to have Mr. Cruickshank join us in Memphis,” said UTHSC’s Chancellor Steve Schwab, MD. “Dr. Mancell, our Clinical Dean at Methodist, has been crucial to the success of UTMP, and we are pleased he is back with us in this role.”
The tentative start date for Cruickshank to begin his new role in at MUH is March 26.