Dr. Richard Lofgren was named CEO of OU Health, the integrated academic health system announced Friday.

Lofgren, the longtime chief executive at UC Health in Cincinnati, will lead the newly formed OU Health, which was created last year after OU Medicine hospitals and its affiliated physicians merged. Prior to UC Health, Lofgren was an executive at University HealthSystem Consortium, which has since been acquired by the group purchasing organization Vizient.

“Because of Dr. Lofgren’s leadership ability and his deep commitment to academic healthcare, we are well positioned to optimize all three components of our mission—patient care, research and education—to improve the health of all Oklahomans,” Joseph Harroz, Jr. , OU president and OU Health board member, said in a news release.

Oklahoma University Medicine bought out HCA Healthcare’s management agreement and ownership stake of its hospital facilities for $750 million in 2018.

Oklahoma City-based OU Health recorded a $27 million operating loss on $1.4 billion of revenue in 2021, down from a $40.2 million operating income on $1.3 billion of revenue in 2020. The health system received $109.9 million of COVID-19 relief grants as of June of last year.