President, Jefferson Health &
EVP, Chief Transformation Officer, Jefferson
Baligh R. Yehia is a nationally recognized physician leader who is passionate about community health and reducing health inequities. Dr. Yehia currently leads operations for Jefferson Health’s 18 hospitals and more than 50 outpatient and urgent care locations throughout Pennsylvania and South Jersey. Additionally, he works collaboratively with enterprise leaders to enhance patient care, promote clinician engagement, and drive growth across the health system.
In January 2023, Dr. Yehia joined Jefferson from Ascension, one of the nation’s largest nonprofit health systems, where he served as Senior Vice President and President of Ascension Medical Group (AMG). In these roles, he led system-wide health operations and high-priority initiatives, including population health, pharmacy services, behavioral health, virtual care and graduate medical education. He was also responsible for building and growing clinical programs and advancing quality, safety, patient experience and clinical engagement for AMG, whose nearly 9,000 clinicians serve more than 3.5 million individuals annually.
Previously, Dr. Yehia served in leadership roles at Johns Hopkins Medicine, the University of Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). During his tenure at the VA, he served on the senior leadership team and was the first VA Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Community Care. In this capacity, he oversaw VA’s Community Care Network which included more than 550,000 partners that deliver outpatient, inpatient, telehealth and extended care services to more than 2 million veterans annually.
Dr. Yehia is trained in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases. He earned his Bachelor of Science and medical degrees from the University of Florida. He completed his Internal Medicine residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and his Infectious Diseases fellowship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Additionally, Dr. Yehia earned his Master of Public Policy from Princeton University and Master of Science in Health Policy Research from the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Yehia has published over 150 articles, abstracts and chapters in top healthcare journals, providing insight on patient engagement in healthcare and factors that influence access to care. He has served on numerous boards and councils, and is a former member of the American Medical Association Council on Medical Education, Primary Care Collaborative Board of Directors, and the Maryland State Medical Society Board of Trustees. Over the years, he has been recognized by Modern Healthcare, Becker's Healthcare, the American Medical Association, and the American College of Physicians as a top leader in healthcare.
Updated: 01.17.2023