Anesthesiologist Bryan Bohman was elected to a two-year term as chief of staff, while faculty diagnostic radiologist Geoffrey Rubin won a runoff election as vice chief of staff to succeed Bohman in two years.

Bohman currently serves as Medical Staff president, a job that will phase out when he takes office May 1 as SHC's first elected COS, succeeding Lawrence M. Shuer, a neurosurgeon who has held the COS position for 12 years. Shuer will return to faculty practice, a variety of hospital leadership and oversight posts, and will continue to serve as the medical school’s associate dean for graduate medical affairs.

Bohman received 423 votes vs. 372 for William Maloney, chair of orthopedic surgery, in balloting which ended March 24. Meanwhile Rubin won a runoff election for vice chief/COS-elect with 65 percent of the votes cast. He beat Rosaline Vasquez, adjunct clinical professor in medicine, 417 to 225.

Rubin, professor and chief of the Section of Cardiovascular Imaging in the Department of Radiology and medical director of the 3D Laboratory, had placed first in the March balloting. However, the 379 votes he garnered fell short of the 50 percent majority needed per the bylaws to win. Rubin’s tally gave him 48.2 percent in a four-way race that put Vasquez second with 218 votes. First-round candidates also included Raymond Gaeta, associate professor of anesthesiology and chief of the Pain Clinic, and Camran Nezhat, adjunct clinical professor of surgery and OB/GYN.

Bohman’s election was officially announced by the Medical Executive Committee at its monthly meeting April 2. Results of the vice COS runoff were announced April 7.

The chief and the vice chief positions are designated as part-time and will be compensated. The bylaws call for the chief to be succeeded by the vice chief after two years, creating a two-year election cycle.

The election of a COS and vice-COS is a key result of a series of bylaw changes passed in recent months that are intended to give the Medical Staff greater autonomy and influence and to assure compliance with laws and standards mandating a self-governing medical staff. Previously, the chief of staff was appointed jointly by the CEO and the dean of the Medical School, making SHC a rarity because hospital medical staffs typically elect their chiefs of staff.

Bohman came to Stanford after graduating from the University of Chicago’s medical school in 1981, and has been affiliated with Stanford ever since. He completed residencies in both medicine and anesthesia, after which he joined the adjunct clinical faculty as an anesthesiologist at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. For the past 16 years he has practiced primarily at SHC as a member of the Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group of Palo Alto. Bohman served as an elected member-at-large of the MEC (until recently called the Medical Board) for two years before he was elected medical staff vice president in 2005, succeeding to the presidency several months ago. From 1994 to 1998, he was deputy chief of the anesthesia service.

Rubin has been practicing at Stanford for 20 years since beginning his residency. He currently serves as associate dean for clinical affairs. Recent hospital leadership posts have included the SHC Medical Executive Committee, as well as the Medical Staff Quality Improvement Patient Safety and Care Improvement committees.