Name: David Zaas
Previous title: President and CEO, Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist; EVP of health affairs, Wake Forest University
New title: CEO, Duke University Health System
Zaas will re-join Duke Health as chief executive on May 1.
The executive spent almost two decades at Duke Health between 2001 and 2020, where he held various leadership roles before departing to lead fellow North Carolina-based academic medical center Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, according to Zaas’ LinkedIn profile.
At AHWFB, Zaas oversaw the medical center’s eight hospitals and 27,000 employees.
He’ll be returning to Duke during an “accelerated growth phase” for the health system, the company said in a press release last week. Duke is expanding services across North Carolina, including by acquiring Mooresville-based Lake Norman Regional Medical Center from Community Health Systems last year. Duke is also building a 500-bed children’s hospital in Apex, the company said.
Duke has posted steady financials. During its 2025 fiscal year, the company reported $647 million in excess revenue over expenses, compared to $656 million in the prior-year period.
Zaas has also held leadership roles at Medical University of South Carolina Health, including chief executive of its Charlestown division and chief clinical officer for the system.
