Walgreens hired a new chief medical officer from athenahealth. Dr. Kevin Ban, who most recently served as athenahealth’s CMO, will head up Walgreens’ clinical programs, patient safety and healthcare information systems.
Ban is a practicing physician with 20 years of clinical experience. He graduated from Georgetown University School of Medicine, with previous experience as Beth Israel Deaconness Needham’s CMO and eight years as an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.
“I’m proud to be joining Walgreens, a company that I’ve visited throughout my life and have seen grow and evolve its healthcare offerings,” Ban said in a news release. “I’m excited and looking forward to working with the dynamic team at Walgreens to ensure together we are bringing our patients continuous enhancements to our healthcare and pharmacy offerings.”
Ban will replace Dr. Patrick Carroll, who had served as an executive with the company since 2014. In July, he left the pharmacy giant for direct-to-consumer heath startup Hims & Hers, where he will serve as the San Francisco-based company’s first CMO.
“I got into medicine to help people, but after more than 25 years of practicing it has become clear to me the healthcare system isn’t putting people first,” Carroll wrote in a blog post announcing his new role. “I also know that left unaddressed, this troublesome trend will only continue to worsen unless action is taken to address it.”
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Ban joined Walgreens shortly after it began retooling its clinical services. In October, the company announced it would shutter 157 of its wholly-owned retail clinics, but would still keep clinics managed by other health systems. Walgreens is also building out partnerships with Jenny Craig and LabCorp to offer meal-planning services and lab testing at its stores.
Ban will help Walgreens manage health providers and payers. He will also work with the company as it introduces new in-store and digital healthcare services. Ban will work out of Walgreens’ headquarters in Deerfield Illinois, and will report directly to Alex Gourlay, Walgreens president and co-chief operating officer of Walgreens Boots Alliance.
“Kevin’s demonstrated experience and passion make him a great fit for Walgreens business and strategy moving forward,” Gourlay said in a news release. “Dr. Ban shares Walgreens’ vision of creating improved health outcomes for the communities we serve through greater access to convenient healthcare services, products, technologies and medical expertise, and will play a critical role in helping us develop and execute strategy across these channels.”
Photo credit: Joe Raedle, Getty Images
