Martha H. Marsh, director of hospital and clinics at UC Davis Medical Center and chief operating officer of UC Davis Health System since July 1999, will depart UC Davis in March to become president and chief executive officer of Stanford Hospital & Clinics.

Robert E. Chason, the medical center's chief operating officer, will assume Marsh's responsibilities, providing continuity of leadership and strong direction while permitting appropriate planning and consultation to occur regarding the medical center's longer-term future. A national search to fill the position will begin in 2003.

"Chancellor Vanderhoef and I are very sorry to lose Martha," said UC Davis Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Virginia S. Hinshaw, whose responsibilities include serving as the governing body of UC Davis Medical Center. "She is an extraordinarily talented and highly regarded health-care executive, whose expertise has enabled UC Davis to make significant advances despite the financial challenges faced by academic medical centers nationwide. We wish her the very best as she embraces this new opportunity at Stanford."

Said Marsh: "The decision to accept the Stanford position was an extremely difficult one. UC Davis Health System is an outstanding institution -- an institution with which I am privileged to have been associated -- with a solid record of excellence in patient care, research, medical education and community service. I will leave UC Davis Health System confident that, under Bob Chason's leadership, it is in very capable hands."

During her tenure at UC Davis, Marsh used a proactive management style to achieve financial strength and stability in a highly volatile and intensely competitive health-care marketplace. She developed bold strategies to reduce costs while enhancing quality of patient care and strengthening community support for the health system's teaching, research and public service missions.

"Martha's ability to bring together the community in support of the hospital and medical school has been absolutely superb," said Joseph Silva Jr., dean of the UC Davis School of Medicine. "She delivered a strong message about the value of this institution and its mission in serving the needs of this community, and she has been a real force in bringing people together to solve the problems facing health care across the state."

Under her leadership, demand for UC Davis' inpatient and outpatient services grew to an all-time high. With inpatient occupancy rates pushing 90 percent and most outpatient services experiencing long waiting lists, Marsh launched initiatives to improve patient access, reduce wait times, and strengthen key clinical programs and quality of care. For example, she launched initiatives to improve operational efficiency and patient care in the operating rooms and emergency department, to reduce hospital length of stay, and to achieve same-day appointment scheduling in primary-care physician practices.

Hinshaw expressed confidence in Chason's ability to provide effective leadership.

"Bob's extensive experience makes him the ideal person to step in now and assume leadership of the medical center," Hinshaw said. "He and Martha, along with medical school dean Joseph Silva, have built an effective team. Bob will continue to provide the strategic direction that has permitted the UC Davis Health System to provide innovative medical care and education while remaining financially sound."

Chason is well known for taking a regional approach to improving health care for Northern Californians and to solving the challenges facing hospitals and physicians. His efforts to strengthen relationships with other hospitals -- especially those in rural areas of the state -- resulted in a consortium of 17 community hospitals and collaborative agreements that bring much-needed specialty services to small and rural communities throughout Northern California.

He spearheaded efforts to establish jointly operated cancer centers with Mercy Hospital in Merced and Rideout Hospital in Marysville, and was instrumental in developing collaborative relationships with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, expanding UC Davis Cancer Center's basic science research program and speeding the development of cancer detection and treatment devices.

Chason oversaw an expansion of UC Davis' top-ranked telemedicine program and helped establish a unique Center for Health and Technology to explore new approaches to distance medicine and distance learning. He led a coalition of hospitals and other health care providers to establish an annual Healthy Aging Summit, and has been a strong proponent of establishing a Center for Healthy Aging at UC Davis.

Before joining the medical center in 1994 as chief operating officer, Chason served for 15 years in the UC Davis Office of Student Affairs, first as assistant and associate vice chancellor and then as acting vice chancellor.

"I'm very sorry that Martha is departing," Chason said. "We've had a very good working relationship and I hate to see her go. But I'm looking forward to the challenges of this next year. I have a great affection for this campus and for this medical center, and I will work hard to ensure our continued success."

Added medical school dean Silva: "I have great confidence in Bob's leadership. He has been absolutely critical to the day-to-day operations of the medical center, and he deserves much of the credit for bringing together the medical school and the hospital to form the UC Davis Health System."

UC Davis Medical Center encompasses a 528-bed, acute-care hospital and its affiliated outpatient centers, including a primary care network of physician practices in 15 northern California communities. UC Davis Health System is an integrated, academic health system encompassing the medical center, the UC Davis School of Medicine and the 500-member physician group known as UC Davis Medical Group.