EHR Vendor Cerner Appoints Google Health Veteran as CEO

EHR vendor Cerner has announced that its board of directors has appointed a health IT industry veteran, David Feinberg, MD, MBA, as president and CEO, effective October 1. Feinberg previously served as Google Health VP.

Feinberg, an industry alum of 25 years, joins Cerner after serving as Google Health’s vice president since 2019. He led Google’s worldwide health efforts, bringing together stakeholders to leverage artificial intelligence (AI), product expertise, and hardware in order to tackle some of healthcare’s biggest challenges through health IT.

“Over the past few months, our Board conducted an extensive search for a CEO candidate with the expertise and ability to effectively capitalize on the opportunities in the market we serve,” Mitch Daniels, member of the Cerner board and chair of the Nominating, Governance and Public Policy Committee, said in a press release.

“With his exceptional track record of leading and innovating programs to improve patient care, technology experience, and industry expertise, we believe Dr. Feinberg is the ideal CEO to lead Cerner in its next chapter of growth and success,” Daniels continued.

Prior to Google, Feinberg served as president and CEO of Geisinger Health, a physician-led health system. At Geisinger, Feinberg pushed the use of new platforms and tools. This included the adoption of a health IT system called a Unified Data Architecture that allowed the organization to integrate big data into existing data analytics and management systems.

Feinberg also introduced programs and services to put a greater focus on precision medicine during his time at Geisinger.

Prior to his time at Geisinger, Feinberg worked at UCLA for over 20 years, serving in several leadership roles: President, CEO and Associate Vice Chancellor of UCLA Health Sciences, Vice Chancellor and CEO for the UCLA Hospital System, and CEO of UCLA’s Ronald Reagan Medical Center.

Throughout his career, Feinberg has been driven by a passion to leverage health IT to better-enable high quality care delivery.

“I am honored to join Cerner and look forward to working closely with Cerner’s talented associates as we continue to profitably grow the business by driving global healthcare transformation,” Dr. Feinberg said.

“Throughout my career, I’ve been guided by the goal of improving patient health and reducing the complexity of the healthcare system,” Feinberg continued. “I am thrilled to join a company that is so uniquely well-positioned to provide technology solutions that enable clinicians to take better care of patients while driving better clinical, operational, and financial outcomes for organizations of all sizes.”

Feinberg succeeds Brent Shafer, who previously announced his move to transition from chairman and CEO. Feinberg will serve as a member of the board of directors.

Cerner’s board of directors will separate the roles of chairman and CEO and has appointed William Zollars as independent chairman, also effective October 1.

The EHR vendor also announced that its current President, Donald Trigg, will leave Cerner.

Zollars, expressed his gratitude to Shafer for his dedication to Cerner.

“On behalf of the entire Cerner Board and organization, I want to thank Brent for his dedicated service and commitment to transforming Cerner over the last three-plus years and express our appreciation that he will ensure a smooth transition,” he said.

“We are fortunate to have someone with Dr. Feinberg’s skills, vision and operational expertise to lead Cerner at such a pivotal time in our evolution,” Zollars continued. “We are thrilled to welcome him to the Cerner family and look forward to benefiting from his insights and leadership as we continue evolving and executing our strategies.”

Shafer noted that Feinberg’s leadership will serve the EHR vendor’s goals.

“Dr. Feinberg has had an exceptional career in healthcare, and his industry expertise, patient-centric mindset, and organizational leadership experience make him ideally qualified to lead the company through its next chapter,” Shafer said. “I am delighted to work closely with Dr. Feinberg as we begin the transition.”