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| William Ferniany |
New UAB Health System (UABHS) Chief Executive Officer I. William Ferniany, PhD, returned to UAB on September 1. His goal is to partner with UAB leadership to make the organization one of the top academic medical centers in the nation.
Ferniany, 57, was a UAB administrator from 1988 to 1992 before moving on to key academic health care leadership positions in Pennsylvania and Mississippi. He says, "UAB offers referring physicians and their patients the preventive, diagnostic, and treatment resources of a major academic health center combined with welcoming southern kindness. UAB is here to support the citizens of Alabama and its health care providers by providing education of our future medical providers and tertiary care to support the physicians and hospitals throughout the state. UAB's strength has always been a far-reaching vision coupled with a can-do attitude and a willingness to collaborate."
During his earlier years at UAB, Ferniany oversaw psychiatric services in the Department of Psychiatry and the hospital before becoming the associate hospital administrator for strategic planning and market development.
He comes to UAB from the University of Mississippi Medical Center, where he was associate vice chancellor and chief executive officer, responsible for the overall operation of the system's adult and pediatric clinics, three hospitals (with a total of 777 beds), and a 430-member faculty practice plan, as well as the Jackson Medical Mall, which serves the underinsured in Hinds County.
Previously he spent 14 years at the University of Pennsylvania Health System, rising to the post of senior vice president and chief administrative officer from the position of senior executive for physician practices, which included more than 1188 physicians in the faculty practice plan and more than 250 in system-owned community practices. He also served as associate executive vice president for marketing and strategic support and was responsible for all marketing, strategic planning, and product line management.
The Mobile native earned his bachelor's degree in manpower and industrial relations from the University of Alabama and his master's degree in hospital and health administration and doctorate in administration-health services from UAB. He has a keen interest in education, enjoys working with students, and will continue to teach classes at UAB as he did at Mississippi and the Wharton School of Business in Pennsylvania.