David Feinberg, who led Google’s ambitious and sometimes controversial push into healthcare, is leaving the search giant to become Cerner Corp.’s chief executive officer.
Dr. Feinberg joined Alphabet Inc.’s Google two years ago in a newly created role as vice president for health. He helped strike partnerships with some of the country’s largest hospital systems to collect and analyze their data. He has also led the company’s initiatives around Covid-19.
A Google spokesman said that the company’s health projects would continue but declined to comment on the future leadership of the team.
Cerner designs and develops software and other technology for hospitals and doctors. With Dr. Feinberg’s appointment, the company said it would separate the roles of chairman and CEO, with lead independent director William Zollars slated to become chairman. Both role changes take effect Oct. 1.
At Google, Dr. Feinberg worked to expand the company’s reach into healthcare by accelerating hospitals’ embrace of digital records. He oversaw a program to develop healthcare algorithms to search patient records and made deals with several hospital chains, including St. Louis-based Ascension and HCA Healthcare Inc.
