The AHA Board of Trustees has selected as it chair-elect designate Melinda Estes, M.D., president and CEO of Saint Luke’s Health System in Kansas City, MO. She will become AHA chair in 2020. A board-certified neurologist and neuropathologist, Estes has served as president and CEO of Saint Luke’s Health System since 2011. Prior to joining Saint Luke’s, Estes served as president and CEO of Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington, VT. Currently a member of the AHA Board of Trustees’ Executive Committee, Estes led an effort to strengthen physician engagement in the association and serves on an advisory group focused on how the association engages its members. She is a past member of the AHA Metropolitan Hospital Council, the AHA Committee on Health Professions and the AHA’s Advisory Committee on Health Care Reform. “As a physician leader, I look forward to working with hospitals and health systems across the country as they continue to drive the transformation of care that improves the lives of patients and advances health in America,” Estes said.

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