Global Partnership Boosts Saudi Health Care

Date: March 1, 2014

The Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare Board of Directors. Standing, left to right, Emad Al-Dugaither, director of the Office of the CEO at Saudi Aramco; Motassim Al-Ma’ashouq, vice president of new business development at Saudi Aramco; Steven Thompson, senior vice president of Johns Hopkins Medicine and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine International; Ronald R. Peterson, president of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System and executive vice president of Johns Hopkins Medicine; Huda Al-Ghoson, executive director of employee relations and training at Saudi Aramco; Christopher Kersey, chair of the board of Johns Hopkins Medicine International; Mohan Chellappa, president of global ventures at Johns Hopkins Medicine International; and Yasser Mufti, head of the strategic transformation office at Saudi Aramco. Front row seated, Paul B. Rothman, dean of the medical faculty and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine; and Abdulaziz Al-Khayyal, senior vice president of industrial relations at Saudi Aramco.

In late January, more than a dozen Johns Hopkins Medicine employees shared the spotlight with officials from Saudi Aramco in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, to unveil a sweeping new health care organization. The joint venture with the world leader in energy—called Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare—aims to improve the well-being of the Saudi Aramco community by providing advanced, integrated and patient-centered care to its 350,000 employees, beneficiaries and retirees.

Leading operations from Johns Hopkins Medicine are Keith Vander Kolk, chief executive officer; Linda Gilligan, chief operating officer; Zeina Khouri-Stevens, chief nursing officer; and Sharon Myers, chief quality and safety officer. They’ll oversee consulting and knowledge transfer from 14 clinical areas, with an additional focus on education and training programs related to nursing, quality and safety, research, and leadership development.

“This partnership takes JHM’s international expansion to a new level,” says Paul B. Rothman, dean of the medical faculty and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine. “By combining Saudi Aramco’s existing health system with the transformative science, patient care and education for which Johns Hopkins is known, Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare will become an incubator for clinical and scientific progress. It will address some of the region’s most pressing health challenges, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other chronic conditions.”

The venture builds on Saudi Aramco’s 80-year commitment to the country’s health care. The global petroleum enterprise took a lead role in building Saudi Arabia’s first hospitals. And its health care system has contributed to eradicating smallpox and to virtually eliminating cases of malaria and trachoma in the kingdom. Now combined expertise will bolster such efforts. At the same time, adds Steven Thompson, CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine International, the agreement creates opportunities for professional growth for Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare’s clinicians.

It also marks a first-of-its-kind global contract for JHM. Under the terms of the initial 10-year agreement, both organizations will hold an indirect ownership stake in the new Saudi registered company.