WVUHS names Martich as chief medical officer

G. Daniel Martich, M.D., has been named chief medical officer of the West Virginia United Health System, the state’s largest hospital and healthcare organization. His role will be to coordinate efforts across the system to improve healthcare quality – both in hospitals and in physician offices.

“Dr. Martich will lead the efforts of physicians and other health professionals across all of our locations to ensure that patients get the highest level of care, no matter where they enter our system,” said Christopher C. Colenda, M.D., who appointed Martich to the post. “He will coordinate services and service lines so that patients have easier access to the care they need and that their experiences are always positive. We welcome him back to West Virginia, to the WVUHS family, and to West Virginia University.”

In addition to his duties as a member of the WVUHS leadership team, he will hold a faculty appointment in the WVU School of Medicine's Department of Medicine. He will begin work in June.

Martich currently serves as vice president for physician services and chief medical information officer at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). He coordinates a call center that facilitates 30,000 patient transfers into UPMC hospitals annually.

He is a 1985 graduate of the WVU School of Medicine and completed postgraduate training at The Ohio State University and the National Institutes of Health. He holds board certifications in internal medicine, critical care medicine and medical informatics and has held an increasingly responsible series of teaching and administrative posts since joining the UPMC medical faculty in 1992.

Martich earned his undergraduate degree at Bethany College in West Virginia and has served on the college’s Board of Trustees since 2011.

The West Virginia United Health System is the largest healthcare system in West Virginia, and the state’s second-largest private employer. Established by the West Virginia Legislature and the voluntary affiliation of several not-for-profit hospitals in 1996, it now encompasses six acute-care hospitals – including the flagship Ruby Memorial Hospital – dozens of medical offices, and a diverse network of affiliated organizations.

WVUHS member hospitals provide about 25 percent of the inpatient hospital care in the state of West Virginia.