UCSF Medical Center Selection Suresh Gunasekaran As its new president and CEO, Academic Health Systems Announce Wednesday.

As head of UCSF Health, Gunasekaran will oversee UCSF Medical Center, the two UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals, the Langley Port Psychiatric Hospital and Clinic, UCSF Benioff Children’s Physicians, and other affiliated entities. Gunasekaran is currently Chief Executive Officer of the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinic in Iowa City and Senior Vice President of University of Iowa Health Care.

Gunasekaran will succeed Mark Laret on March 1, who retired on December 31 after leading UCSF for more than two decades.

“We have a truly unique opportunity to transform care in the Bay Area and beyond by providing the latest advances and supporting our people in delivering high-quality care,” Gunasekaran said in the release. “The core of this system will be An unwavering commitment to overcoming systemic barriers to health equity.”

Gunasekaran oversaw the creation of the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinic Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiatives.

Before joining the Iowa Health System in 2018, Gunasekaran held leadership positions at the University of Texas Southwestern Health System in Dallas and Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. He has also worked as an analyst at Gartner and IBM.

UCSF President Sam Hawgood said in a news conference that Gunasekaran has an “impressive record.” “His long-standing commitment to health equity and compassion for the most vulnerable families in our community, as well as his expertise in transforming the business of healthcare, will guide UCSF Health well in its next phase of growth,” He said.

UCSF Health will pay Gunasekaran $1,850,000 annually, which is 90 percent of the salary of the CEO of the academic medical center.