The University of Michigan Board of Regents approved Ganesh Palapattu as interim Michigan Medicine CEO and Julie Ishak as president of the Academic Medical Center on Thursday, Sept. 17.

Both appointments took effect Friday, Sept. 18, filling the leadership gap left by departing CEO David Miller. The university will launch a national search for a permanent replacement in the coming weeks, U-M President Domenico Grasso said in a statement from Michigan Medicine.

Palapattu's full title is interim executive vice president for medical affairs and CEO of Michigan Medicine. He chairs the Department of Urology, holds the George F. and Sandy G. Valassis Professorship and has more than a decade of leadership experience at Michigan Medicine. He previously served as chief of urologic oncology. He has said he will not seek the permanent CEO position.

Grasso called Palapattu "an established leader at Michigan Medicine with a strong commitment to clinical excellence, academic leadership and collaboration across our missions."

Ishak, who has served as chief nurse and operations executive for U-M Health's Academic Medical Center (AMC), brings more than two decades of experience as a board-certified nurse practitioner and health care administration leader. She held executive leadership roles in both academic and community health systems before joining Michigan Medicine in 2019. Her new title re-establishes the AMC president position to oversee the center's strategy and operations.

Miller, who spent 18 years at Michigan Medicine, is leaving to become president and CEO of Vanderbilt Health and dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, according to Regents meeting records. He will remain with Michigan Medicine through Oct. 2 to help with the transition.

The permanent CEO search will fall to incoming U-M President C. Cybele Raver, who takes office Dec. 1. Regent Sarah Hubbard said in an Aug. 19 MLive article that finding the right person would take time and that Raver would approach the search thoughtfully. Regent Paul Brown said in the same article that an interim CEO would be put in place before the national search began.

The Regents' vote came at the same Sept. 17 meeting where dozens of community members rallied over gender-affirming care, as we reported Friday.

No timeline has been announced for forming a search committee or naming finalists for the permanent CEO role.