Richard H. Hart, M.D., Dr.P.H., chancellor and chief executive officer of Loma Linda University, has been named president and chief executive officer of Loma Linda University Adventist Health Sciences Center. He will replace B. Lyn Behrens, MB.BS., who announced last December that she would be retiring in March.

Board chair Lowell C. Cooper, M.P.H., made the announcement Feb. 24. Hart will also assume the role of president of LLU and the Medical Center, and will continue to serve as chancellor and chief executive officer of LLU until a new one is appointed.

“The board and search committee believe that Dr. Hart’s distinguished career of service has ideally prepared him for this position,” says Cooper. “As both a physician and an academician, he is knowledgeable about the unique challenges and opportunities faced by an academic health sciences center. We believe he brings both the training and the experience to lead this organization at this important time in its history, and will be able to ensure that no momentum is lost as we move forward on major expansion, fundraising and research initiatives now in place.”

Hart, who has been in his current position since 2001, has served LLU in a variety of capacities since 1972—in various academic appointments in the Schools of Medicine and Public Health, as director of the Center for Health Promotion, and as dean of the School of Public Health.

Hart received his medical degree and master of public health degrees from LLU, and also completed his internal medicine residency at Loma Linda University Medical Center.

He received his doctor of public health degree from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., where he also completed a preventive medicine residency. Hart has authored three books on health and a variety of scientific articles.

“It’s both an honor and a sobering responsibility to provide leadership to Loma Linda at this time in its history,” says Hart. “I have great confidence in the people that work here, and look forward to collaborating with my colleagues.”

Hart’s appointment resulted from the work of a search committee that included representation from the institution and board. Hart assumed full responsibilities of the position on March 24.

Hart has a long history of working in an international setting. As a student at Walla Walla College, Hart became the first student missionary to serve outside North America.

While working on his doctorate at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Hart served as a population intern at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center in Tanzania.

In 1974, his work took him to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where he was chief of party for the United States Agency for International Development to the Tanzanian ministry of health.

Hart also serves as president of Adventist Health International, which is celebrating its 11th year of strengthening Adventist health systems in the developing world.

Today, 21 Adventist hospitals from 12 countries are members of Adventist Health International.

He is founder and president of Social Action Community Health System, which is a low-cost primary health care network serving Southern California’s Inland Empire.

In addition, Hart also oversees a USAID grant to LLU to help transform the 210-bed Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital, Kabul, Afghanistan, into a functioning regional hospital under the auspices of the Afghanistan Ministry of Health.

Hart and his wife, Judy, have three daughters — Chandra, Briana, and Kari, and seven grandchildren.