UF Health names new president

The University of Florida announced Tuesday that Dr. Stephen J. Motew will become president and CEO of the UF Health clinical enterprise, effective April 1.

According to a press release, Motew joins UF Health from the Inova Health System in Falls Church, Virginia, where he has served as the chief of clinical enterprise and executive vice president. He is a practicing vascular surgeon with more than three decades of experience.

Motew will replace Dr. David Nelson, who has served as the UF Health president and the senior vice president for health affairs since 2019.

Motew will head the Gainesville-based UF Health’s integrated patient care system that includes programs at UF Health St. Johns, UF Health Central Florida and UF Health Jacksonville, along with alliances with numerous other health care systems throughout Florida.

“Steve is simply stellar, an advocate for patient-focused quality clinical care and innovation,” said UF President Ben Sasse in the press release. “This step is part of our long-term plan for the deliberate and thoughtful growth of UF Health as we reach new heights in health care.”

Motew will oversee UF Health’s clinical mission, “as the university’s academic health center pursues an integrated model that harmonizes operating and financial oversight, increases transparency, and sets systemwide strategic goals through the creation of a new UF Health clinical system corporate structure,” according to the release.

UF Health did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

In December, the UF Board of Trustees approved the UF Health corporation as a new legal entity. It will serve as the parent corporation that will guide the strategic, organizational and financial goals for UF Health’s clinical enterprise that includes the UF Health hospitals and physician practice plans in Gainesville, Jacksonville, and across its other regional sites.

“This is important work, and I am excited to embark on this journey with my new colleagues at UF Health, one of the nation’s most successful and well-respected health care organizations,” Motew said in the press release. “Together we will continue to develop common goals focused on serving our patients and our communities. Our shared professional expertise and personal commitment to improving lives will propel us to the next level as we work collectively to cultivate a culture of excellence.”

According to the release, a transition committee has been convened to develop additional recommendations, including those related to governance, organizational structure across UF Health’s regional health sites, development of bylaws, and other related matters.

“Here at UF Health, we are forever changing — advancing science, discovering new therapies, enhancing our educational curriculum for tomorrow’s health care providers, and improving patient outcomes,” Nelson, the outgoing president, said in a statement. “Now is a time to celebrate all we have accomplished together, and to bring renewed energy to our future goals. This is the next natural step in UF Health’s journey, not only as we reflect on our own transformation, but how we transform the lives of our patients and their families.”

Nelson will transition into a new role at UF following an upcoming sabbatical. When he returns from his sabbatical, Nelson will rejoin UF’s senior team as an advisor to the president for biomedical research evangelism. Nelson will defer his sabbatical while he advises the senior vice president search.UF retained the executive search firm Spencer Stuart to conduct the search.

“I’m tremendously grateful for Dave’s work and wisdom,” Sasse said in the release. “Under his leadership over the past five-plus years, UF Health has made tremendous strides and grown in unbelievable ways.”

Motew’s background includes earning his undergraduate degree in anthropology from Emory University. He received his medical degree cum laude in 1992 from the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Medicine, where he also completed his residency in general surgery after a two-year National Institutes of Health research training fellowship. He then completed a vascular surgery fellowship at Wake Forest Baptist Health Medical Center.

Motew served as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve as a medical officer from 1997 to 2005, and he earned a master’s in healthcare administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2012.

Before joining Inova in May 2019, Motew was the senior vice president for Novant Health in the Winston-Salem, North Carolina, market from October 2012 through May 2019.