August 8, 2023 -- Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Names David Zaas as new PresidentAtrium Health Wake Forest Baptist has selected Dr. David Zaas as the next president of the health system. He will also hold a faculty appointment as professor of internal medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

Zaas succeeds Dr. Kevin High, who is transitioning to a new role as vice chief academic officer, academic learning health system, for Advocate Health, of which Wake Forest Baptist and Wake Forest University School of Medicine are the academic core.

As president, Zaas will have executive responsibility for Wake Forest Baptist’s clinical enterprise, including all patient care services, operations, strategy and growth. This includes inpatient hospitals, outpatient clinics, physician management, and oversight of co-management teams, nursing, administration and support services.

Zaas is an accomplished leader in academic medicine. He most recently served as the CEO for the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Health Charleston Division and the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital, as the chief clinical officer for MUSC Health, and as a faculty-appointed professor of medicine at the MUSC College of Medicine.

Prior to joining MUSC, he served as president of Duke Raleigh Hospital and vice chair of the Department of Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine, among other leadership roles.

“I am thrilled to welcome Dr. Zaas to Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist,” said Dr. Julie Freischlag, CEO of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, chief academic officer at Advocate Health and executive vice president of health affairs at Wake Forest University. “He is an accomplished leader in academic medicine as a physician, scientist and educator, and he will help guide us, as the academic core of Advocate Health, as we work together to improve the lives of those in our communities, our nation and the world.”

As a pulmonary and critical care medicine physician, Zaas has an interest in advanced lung diseases and lung transplantation. His research focused on improving outcomes from lung transplantation and he is actively engaged in the education of students and graduate trainees.

A graduate of Yale University, Zaas earned his medical degree from Northwestern University and his MBA from Duke University. He completed his residency in internal medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and his fellowship training in pulmonary and critical care medicine at Duke.

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