AHS appoints Dr. Verna Yiu as permanent president, CEO

Dr. Verna Yiu, who has been interim head of Alberta Health Services since January, will now take over the job on a permanent basis.

AHS announced the appointment of Yiu as the president and CEO on Tuesday morning. Yiu been serving on an interim basissince January2016, when former CEO Vicki Kaminski resigned.

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"Over the past five months, Dr. Yiu's experience, leadership and personal skills have helped AHS move ahead with critical work, while she has strengthened relationships with government, our external partners and our own workforce," board chair Linda Hughes said in a statement.

"Dr. Yiu has very quickly earned the respect and trust of the board, and is an outstanding leader and ambassador for the organization."

Yiu's appointment is for five years, with an annual salary of $573,841. She's the health agency's seventh CEO in just eight years.

Before her appointment as interim president and CEO, Yiu was the vice-president of quality and chief medical officer at AHS. She is a pediatricnephrologist, and maintains an active practice.

"I am honoured to lead this organization," Dr. Yiu said in a statement. "I am proud of the compassionate care provided to Albertans each and every day by members of the AHS team.

"My focus now is following through on the commitments we've made to Albertans to improve patient outcomes, patient safety and patient experiences, and the commitments we've made to our staff, physicians and volunteers to create a safe, healthy work environment where they can do their very best for the people we serve."

Alberta Health Services has a projected budget this year of $14.3 billion.