Leadership

Albert L. Wright, Jr. is president and CEO of the West Virginia University (WVU) Health System, West Virginia’s largest private employer. Before joining the Health System in 2014, he held senior leadership positions at several of the nation’s leading healthcare systems and academic medical centers, including OhioHealth and UPMC.

Under Albert’s leadership, the WVU Health System has grown into a fully integrated network of 30 hospitals and clinics spanning West Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. He has overseen a significant expansion of the Health System’s specialty and subspecialty services, established its solid organ transplant program, built the 150-bed WVU Medicine Golisano Children’s Hospital, and directed nearly $4 billion in capital investments to construct new hospitals and outpatient centers, renovate existing facilities, and modernize the Health System’s infrastructure and electronic medical record.

Today, the WVU Health System has more than 47,000 employees, including 7,200 providers, and $10 billion in total operating revenues. The system is anchored by an 890-bed academic medical center and the 150-bed WVU Medicine Golisano Children’s Hospital, which together serve as major referral centers for patients from across the region.

Albert earned a Master of Health Administration from The Ohio State University, a Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Florida, and a Doctor of Public Health from the University of North Carolina. He is a past chair of the West Virginia Hospital Association Board of Directors and serves as chair-elect of both the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and America’s Essential Hospitals Board of Directors. He is also active in several charitable and civic organizations and serves as board chair of Peak Health, the Health System’s provider-sponsored health plan.

Clay Marsh, MD, leads the academic health sciences center of West Virginia University, including five schools – dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and public health – and numerous allied health programs and clinical operations around the state.

A national leader in academic and personalized medicine and in pulmonary and critical care medicine, Dr. Marsh has concentrated his efforts in determining how to help individuals stay healthy and how to create ecosystems to make this easier.

As West Virginia University’s chief health officer, Dr. Marsh is focused on finding statewide solutions for health and well-being, while addressing the most vexing health challenges in West Virginia and throughout the world.

He serves as the state’s lead representative and spokesperson, both nationally and internationally, in the areas of health, health education, and academic medicine. In response to West Virginia’s health challenges, Gov. Jim Justice appointed Dr. Marsh as COVID-19 czar in March 2020 and as an advisor to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources in December 2022.

Dr. Marsh is a two-time graduate of West Virginia University, earning an undergraduate degree in biology in 1981 and a medical degree in 1985. Following medical school, Dr. Marsh completed residency training in internal medicine; a research fellowship in pulmonary and critical care; a chief resident appointment in internal medicine; a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine; and an extension research fellowship in pulmonary and critical care – all at Ohio State University.

He served as a faculty member and administrator at Ohio State University from 1993 until his appointment at West Virginia University in 2015. During that time, he held a wide range of teaching, clinical, research, and administrative roles at the Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine, served as director of the Critical Care Institute, and led its nationally recognized program in personalized medicine.

Michael B. Edmond, MD, MPH, MPA, MBA, who was named Chief Medical Officer in 2020, is WVU Medicine’s primary physician executive and is responsible for the organization’s clinical services. He also serves as vice dean for clinical affairs in the WVU School of Medicine and chief executive of University Health Associates, the physician practice plan.

Dr. Edmond earned his medical degree from the WVU School of Medicine in 1986. He subsequently earned advanced degrees in public health, public administration, and business administration from the University of Pittsburgh, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), and the University of Iowa. His postdoctoral training includes fellowships in hospital and clinical epidemiology, as well as infectious diseases, at the University of Iowa and the University of Pittsburgh. Both his internship and residency in internal medicine were at WVU.

Dr. Edmond has held numerous academic and clinical leadership posts. Prior to joining WVU Medicine, he served as the chief quality officer, associate chief medical officer, and clinical professor of internal medicine–infectious diseases at the University of Iowa Health Care. Earlier in his career, he served as chair of infectious diseases at VCU.