Lisa Piercey, MD, MBA, FAAP was honored to join Governor Bill Lee’s cabinet upon his inauguration in January 2019 as the 14^th commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Health. Preceding her public service, Piercey spent a decade in health systems operations, most recently as executive vice president of West Tennessee Healthcare, a public, not-for-profit health system with more than 7,000 employees servicing 22 counties. Her executive responsibilities included oversight of five rural acute care hospitals, two inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, a behavioral health hospital and eight community mental health centers and the system’s population health initiatives. Prior to this role, she served as vice president of physician services, managing the 17 clinics and approximately 90 providers of the West Tennessee Medical Group.  

Piercey is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics in both General Pediatrics and in the specialty field of Child Abuse Pediatrics. She has remained active in evaluating children for suspected abuse and neglect and serves in a volunteer capacity as medical director for the Madison County Child Advocacy Center and a faculty member at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Piercey is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, where she has been president of the Mid-South Healthcare Executives chapter as well as the national chairman of the Management Series Editorial Board.

In addition to volunteering on multiple community and non-profit boards, Piercey serves on the American Hospital Association’s Small and Rural Hospital Governance Council, the Joint Commission Critical Access Hospital Advisory Group and the Tennessee Center for Health Workforce Development Board, and was appointed by Governor Haslam in 2017 to the State of Tennessee Healthcare Facilities Licensing Board. Professional awards include Senior Healthcare Executive of the Year (2016), Rural Healthcare Executive of the Year (2017) and the WestStar Make-a-Difference Award (2018).  

She received her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Lipscomb University, her medical degree and pediatrics residency training from East Tennessee State University Quillen College of Medicine and her Master of Business Administration from Bethel University. Piercey and her husband, David, an industrial safety specialist, are west Tennessee natives and have four children.