WVU Medicine is tabbing the longtime president of WVU Medicine Barnesville and Harrison Community hospitals to move to WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital as its new chief operating officer.

David Phillips will become the hospital’s new COO effective July 8. He will serve under Douglass Harrison, president and CEO of both WVU Medicine Wheeling and Reynolds Memorial hospitals.

Phillips has served as president and CEO of WVU Medicine Barnesville Hospital for 12 years and WVU Medicine Harrison Community Hospital for three years. Those 12 years were part of a 24-year tenure Phillips has spent at Barnesville Hospital in a variety of leadership positions.

“Barnesville Hospital has been a part of me for over two decades, and I have embraced Harrison Community in the same manner,” Phillips said. “While that passion is still strong, I have been presented with an opportunity to pursue a career goal. That is the goal of expanding my career to serve in the large community hospital space.”

Phillips earned his undergraduate degree in health administration from Ohio University and his Master of Business Administration with an emphasis in health administration from Waynesburg University.

Stacey Armstrong, who serves as the president of the WVU Innovation Corporation, will serve as the interim president and CEO of both WVU Medicine Barnesville and Harrison Community hospitals. She will continue to be the president of the WVU Innovation Corporation.

“I feel privileged to have the opportunity to support the great work David Phillips and his team have done in the community,” Armstrong said. “I look forward to getting to know the Barnesville and Harrison teams and communities over the upcoming months.”

Armstrong is no stranger to hospital operations. Prior to joining the WVU Innovation Corporation, she was the chief operating officer of Riverside Methodist Hospital, a part of OhioHealth, in Columbus. She was also chief operating officer and president of Grant Medical Center in Columbus and vice president of specialty services for OhioHealth Physicians Group.

Prior to that, Armstrong spent more than five years at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where she served as vice president of operations for UPMC Passavant, vice president of ambulatory care for UPMC Presbyterian-Shadyside, and executive director of laboratories at UPMC Presbyterian-Shadyside. She received her undergraduate degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine and her Master of Business Administration degree from Franklin University in Columbus.

The WVU Health System will begin an intensive search for a permanent president and CEO of Barnesville and Harrison Community Hospitals, a process that will unfold over the next several months.