CLEVELAND — Dr. Christine Alexander-Rager has been promoted to president and CEO by the MetroHealth System Board of Trustees, the health system announced.

Alexander-Rager has been the acting chief executive since July, the announcement reads.

The position had previously been held by Dr. Airica Steed, who was fired following a special board meeting earlier this year. Steed was hired after the hospital let former CEO Dr. Akram Boutros go in 2022 over nearly $2 million in unauthorized bonuses.

Alexander-Rager, who earned a medical degree from The Ohio State University College of Medicine & Public Health, has been a family medicine physician with MetroHealth for almost 30 years, the announcement states, and her contract goes through 2025.

“Dr. Alexander-Rager cares deeply about this institution, our employees and our community,” said Dr. E. Harry Walker, chair of the board of trustees, in the release. “In her 27 years at MetroHealth as a primary care physician, she has always put our patients’ well-being at the center of every decision, every initiative and every moment of care. Her vision for MetroHealth and her deep commitment to our mission make her the ideal leader to guide us forward.”

The release highlights Alexander-Rager’s other experiences and roles including that she was the chair of family medicine, created the School Health Program and was president of MetroHealth’s Medical Staff.

They also said she served as the system’s interim chief physician and clinical executive, “where she oversaw the health system’s entire clinical enterprise.”

“There is no group of caregivers more devoted, more caring and more committed to patients and to our community than MetroHealth’s 9,000 caregivers,” Alexander-Rager said in the release. “It is an honor to be leading them and to be guiding our health system into the future.”

Spectrum News 1 reporter Nora McKeown contributed to this report.