The University of California, Irvine Medical Center in Orange has a new chief executive.
Maureen Zehntner, who had been serving as the teaching hospital’s interim chief executive, was named to the permanent job Wednesday by the UC Board of Regents.
Zehntner, a registered nurse by training, had served as the UCI Medical Center’s interim chief executive since January 2006, after the resignation of Ralph Cygan. Cygan stepped down in the wake of a scandal involving UCI Medical Center’s liver transplant program.
In addition, UCI said that Zehntner, who joined the hospital as its chief operating officer in 1996, is also taking on the title of associate vice chancellor for medical center affairs.
After a national search, the university concluded “that the best candidate was already in our midst,” said David Bailey, UCI’s vice chancellor for health affairs, in a release.
Zehntner’s career also includes serving as St. Joseph Hospital-Orange’s chief operating officer and as an operations consultant to Children’s Hospital of Orange County.
