Jefferson Health has named Dr. Baligh Yehia as president, the nonprofit health system announced Tuesday.

Yehia will join the Philadelphia-based company Jan. 17 from Ascension, where he is a senior vice president focused on population health, pharmacy, behavioral health, virtual care and medical education initiatives. He is also president of St. Louis-based Ascension Medical Group, where he oversaw almost 9,000 clinicians. Yehia previously held leadership roles at Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Medicine, the Veterans Affairs Department and the University of Pennsylvania, according to Jefferson Health.

Yehia will succeed Dr. Bruce Meyer, who announced his departure to Pittsburgh-based Highmark Health last month.

Recently installed CEO Dr. Joseph Cacchione also came to Jefferson Health from Ascension, where he was executive vice president of clinical and network services.

“Having had the opportunity to work with Dr. Yehia previously, I’ve witnessed firsthand his passion for improving community health, as well as his acumen for accelerating transformation and driving growth. His experience with clinical integration across complex organizations like ours will serve us well into the future,” Cacchione said in a news release.

Jefferson Health is the medical teaching arm of Thomas Jefferson University and has a network of 18 hospitals and more than 50 outpatient and urgent care locations.