MU Health Care names chief medical officer

COLUMBIA - University of Missouri Health Care announced the appointment of Les Hall as the system's chief medical officer and senior associate dean for clinical affairs at MU's School of Medicine. Hall will also continue to direct the Office of Clinical Effectiveness and serve as an associate professor of clinical internal medicine at MU, a news release stated.

In the new position, Hall will provide leadership in developing new clinical programs, and oversee and assure quality of care in university clinical programs, according to the news release. He will focus on developing programs that provide "patient-centered and evidence-based care," the release said.

The new position was created in 2005 and took several years to fill.

In search of the most qualified and experienced applicant, executives delayed filling the position until Hall became a candidate, said Matt Splett, media coordinator for University of Missouri Health Care.

"Dr. Hall was selected because of his strong professional, interpersonal and communication skills, his intense interest in improving quality of care in an academic medical center and his experience at the University of Missouri," said Jim Ross, chief executive officer of University of Missouri Health Care, in the release.

Hall joined MU's medical school in 1999 and has directed the Office of Clinical Effectiveness for University Hospitals and Clinics since 2002. He received his medical degree from Washington University in St. Louis and completed an internal medicine residency at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Md., the release said. Hall also actively participates in medical education and serves on numerous committees of medical staffs, medical schools and hospitals.