CHICAGO, Feb. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- UHC, an alliance of 119 academic medical centers and 283 of their affiliated hospital organizations, announces the appointment of five new members to its Governing Board.

"We are pleased to welcome these distinguished new board members to join an exceptional group of leaders on our Governing Board," said Irene M. Thompson, UHC's president and chief executive officer. "It is through the strong leadership and support of UHC's member boards that we remain an innovative leader for our hospital members. We look forward to the contributions of these driven leaders with their diverse expertise to continuing that commitment."

The newly appointed Governing Board members include:

• Timothy Babineau, MD, a board-certified general surgeon and currently serves as the president and chief executive officer of Lifespan and Rhode Island Hospital. Lifespan, a not-for-profit organization, is Rhode Island's largest health care system and includes Rhode Island Hospital and its Hasbro Children's Hospital; The Miriam Hospital; Bradley Hospital and Newport Hospital. Lifespan is affiliated with The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
• Lynn Frederick, MS, hospital administrator for Mayo Clinic and has accountability for Mayo Clinic's—Saint Marys Hospital and Methodist Hospital in Rochester, Minn.
• Kenneth P. Kates, MBA, Chief Executive Officer of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) and Associate Vice President of UI Health Care.  As the executive leader of UIHC and the University of Iowa Children's Hospital, Kates oversees the operational, strategic and financial performance for the 729‑bed regional referral center. 
• Jeffrey Rivest, FACHE, MS, president and chief executive officer of the University of Maryland Medical Center, the flagship institution of the 12-hospital University of Maryland Medical System, an 800-bed teaching hospital in Baltimore affiliated with the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
• Amir Dan Rubin, MBA, president and chief executive officer of Stanford Hospital & Clinics. He was previously the chief operating officer at the UCLA Health System (Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center) in Los Angeles.

UHC's Governing Board oversees the management of UHC's business and comprises a subset of UHC's Member Board of Directors. The new Governing Board members will serve a four-year term.

About UHC

UHC, formed in 1984 and located in Chicago, Ill, is an alliance of the nation's leading nonprofit academic medical centers, which are focused on delivering world-class patient care. UHC fosters collaboration with and among its 118 academic medical center and 283 affiliated hospital members through its renowned programs and services in the areas of comparative data and analytics, performance improvement, supply chain management, strategic research, and public policy. UHC helps its members achieve excellence in quality, safety, and cost-effectiveness. For more information, visit uhc.edu.

SOURCE UHC