George Rayburn Cheely Jr., MD, MBA

George Cheely Jr., M.D., M.B.A., is vice president of medical affairs and chief medical officer at Suburban Hospital. In this role, he provides leadership for decisions that affect the hospital's clinical programs, practices and medical teams. He is also responsible for the effective performance of medical staff organization functions as stated in the medical staff bylaws, and for the implementation of programs to advance high reliability, safety and quality.

Dr. Cheely's past experience spans health system and health plan roles supporting clinical colleagues to deliver high-quality care. He joined Suburban Hospital from AmeriHealth Caritas North Carolina where he was the market chief medical officer for 350,000 health plan members and led areas including quality, population health, practice transformation and key provider relations. He previously served as medical and program director for care redesign at Duke University Health System, collaborating with clinical leaders to improve quality, experience and efficiency of care. He was also a hospitalist physician and past recipient of the top hospitalist award and multiple patient service stars from Duke University Hospital.

Dr. Cheely completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Duke University Hospital and then served as chief resident for quality improvement. He earned his medical degree from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and his master of business administration degree in health care management from the Wharton School. He earned his bachelor of arts degrees in biology and English from Amherst College.