WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Health said Thursday that Dr. Kyu Rhee has joined the company as senior vice president and chief medical officer of Aetna. He will report to Dr. Troyen Brennan, executive vice president and chief medical officer of CVS Health.

Dr. Kyu Rhe

 

Dr. Rhee will oversee all clinical capabilities at Aetna with a focus on enhancing the quality of services provided for members and plan sponsors. In this role, he and his team will lead the innovative design and implementation of new integrated health care management strategies and population health solutions. He will also focus on better integrating evidence-based medicine into key medical and personalized management strategies.

Dr. Rhee joins CVS Health from IBM, where he served for a decade as vice president and chief health officer, and was the lead physician, public health and clinical executive leader for IBM’s global workforce of over 350,000 in 170 countries. He had global responsibilities for IBM’s efforts to transform health through the use of data, analytics, artificial intelligence, and services for hospitals, health systems, providers, health plans, employers, governments, and life science companies. Most recently, he and his team led many of IBM’s global COVID-19 and Culture of Health initiatives.

Before joining IBM, Dr. Rhee served in the federal government as chief public health officer at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and director of Innovation at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). While at HRSA and NIH, he led numerous national initiatives related to prevention, health care quality, research, health equity and public health.

Dr. Rhee earned his dual medical residency training in internal medicine and pediatrics from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his medical degree from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, a master’s degree in Healthcare Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and a BS in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University. Earlier in his career, Dr. Rhee worked as a National Health Services Corps primary care physician and Chief Medical Officer in diverse community health settings in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. He also taught and mentored clinical and public health students at George Washington University’s Schools of Public Health and Medicine.