Vanguard Health Systems has hired Joel Lee, former associate vice chancellor for communications at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, as vice president for marketing and communications.

Lee, whose first day at Vanguard was March 1, stepped down from his Vanderbilt post in July following the June departure of long-time Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs Harry Jacobson. Lee had spent 13 years at the academic medical center following a VP role at the University of Maryland Medical System.

In his newly created role at Vanguard, Lee will work to make Vanguard's internal and external communications and government advocacy a core competency of the business, said Brad Perkins, executive vice president for strategy and innovation.

Perkins said Lee's work at Vanderbilt, including the successful "Hearts and Minds" campaign and creation of a prolific media relations team, illustrate the types of skills Vanguard was looking for to help the company through anticipated changes in its business and the overall health care sector in the coming years. Among those changes are a move away from a fee-for-service payment model and the creation of "more robust" physician networks.

"We're delighted to have him," Perkins said of Lee. "He's going to be working to take us to the next level on internal communications across our regions, and working with the regions on external B-to-B and B-to-C marketing communication."