CEO of Duke Health announces retirement plans

The CEO of the Duke University Health System will step down next year from leading the private medical organization, Duke University President Vincent Price said Wednesday.

Dr. Gene Washington, 71, will leave his position on June 30, 2023, eight years after he joined Duke Health as President and CEO and Chancellor for Health Affairs, according to a statement from the university.

Washington has led Duke’s medical school, nursing school, clinics and research since 2015.

“Gene has been a visionary leader for Duke Health during one the most consequential periods in its history, and I am very grateful,” Price said in a statement.

The Duke President’s announcement said Washington will retire to spend time with his wife, Marie, and their family.

Washington was previously the chief executive of the University of California, Los Angeles Health System, where he was vice chancellor for health sciences and dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine.

As CEO at Duke Health, Washington is credited for his “steady leadership” in mobilizing COVID-19 research, education, patient care and other efforts to treat thousands of COVID-19 patients in the pandemic.

Washington is also credited with creating Moments to Movement, a Duke Health initiative that deals with systemic racism within healthcare and doing “the work of learning from and reconciling moments of inequity across Duke Health,” according to its website.

“As part of his commitment to community care, Gene oversaw an era of growth and community impact in the midst of unprecedented challenges — including opening new facilities that have greatly expanded our ability to respond to emergency, inpatient and outpatient behavioral health needs,” Price said.

The Duke School of Medicine and the School of Nursing reached the top five nationally in National Institutes for Health research funding under Washington’s tenure as CEO.

There will be a national search for a new CEO, the university said.