Memorialcare Health System’s Dr. David S. Kim to Become President & CEO
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Barry Arbuckle moves into Executive Chairman role
Fountain Valley-headquartered MemorialCare, an integrated health system serving Orange and Los Angeles counties, has announced that its current chief executive officer, Barry S. Arbuckle, Ph.D., will assume the new role of executive chairman of the health system effective July 1, 2026. He will be succeeded as chief executive officer by David S. Kim, M.D., who will also retain his current title of president of the health system.
These leadership changes announced by MemorialCare are the product of a succession planning process that Arbuckle initiated several years ago in collaboration with MemorialCare’s Board of Directors. Over this period, Arbuckle and the board developed and implemented a long-range plan to ensure a smooth transition in senior leadership and enable MemorialCare to continue fulfilling its charitable mission for years to come.
“MemorialCare is fortunate to have two extraordinary and proven leaders in Barry and David,” said Resa Evans, chair of MemorialCare’s Board of Directors. “Our board is extremely pleased that the organization will continue to benefit from their combined leadership as MemorialCare builds on its position as an industry leader and provides high-quality, accessible and affordable care to the communities that it serves.”
MemorialCare is the largest health system headquartered in Orange County. It functions as a massive economic driver and healthcare pillar, employing thousands of locals and generating hundreds of millions in revenue. Its vast local footprint is organized across several core operations, including major hospitals and campuses; physician networks, including extensive provider networks, like MemorialCare Medical Group and MemorialCare Independent Physicians; and outpatient facilities.
A long-established leader in health and the Orange County community, Arbuckle first joined MemorialCare in 1989 and has successfully led the organization as its chief executive officer for more than two decades. During his tenure, he has overseen the growth of MemorialCare from a hospital organization to an integrated healthcare system that presently consists of four licensed acute care hospitals, more than 200 ambulatory care sites and a network of more than 2,000 aligned primary care and specialist physicians, servicing both Orange County and Los Angeles County.
Arbuckle also positioned MemorialCare as an early champion of value-based care, supporting and advancing innovative models that incentivize the delivery of care focused on evidence-based outcomes instead of the amount or frequency of care. Under his leadership, MemorialCare launched groundbreaking programs, including direct-to-employer arrangements with companies like Boeing, Activision Blizzard, United Airlines and more, improving access and outcomes while helping employers reduce costs.
In his new role as executive chairman at MemorialCare, Arbuckle will continue his advocacy, with a focus on shaping policy and healthcare delivery and reimbursement models to advance accessible and affordable care. He will also co-chair MemorialCare’s governing board and continue to guide Dr. Kim in his new role as he leads the development and implementation of MemorialCare’s key strategies and operational initiatives.
“I’m excited and remain fully committed to leading MemorialCare as its executive chairman, including through continued advocacy to improve healthcare delivery and funding models in California and across the nation,” said Arbuckle. “I’m also extremely pleased to continue working alongside Dr. Kim in his added role of chief executive officer. David is an extraordinary and highly respected physician leader who is deeply committed to improving the health of our communities and transforming the healthcare industry. With his experience, his dedication to our health system and its staff and his alignment around our mission and vision, he is ideally suited to lead MemorialCare into its next chapter.”
Dr. Kim, a family medicine physician by training, demonstrated exceptional leadership qualities early in his career, quickly distinguishing himself as a high-performing medical director within the MemorialCare health system. Dr. Kim served in prominent clinical leadership roles at another health system between 2015 and 2023, at which time he returned to MemorialCare to become the chief executive officer of the MemorialCare Medical Foundation.
In this role, Dr. Kim led MemorialCare’s physician and ambulatory care division, consisting of more than 2,000 affiliated medical groups and independent physicians, as well as several ambulatory services joint ventures. He also served as chief executive of MemorialCare’s Heart & Vascular and Cancer Institutes. In early 2025, he was appointed to serve as president of the MemorialCare Health System, taking on direct leadership responsibility for the system’s clinical enterprise, including its four acute hospitals, the medical foundation and its clinical institutes.
As chief executive officer, Dr. Kim will have oversight responsibility for strategy and all day-to-day operations of the health system and most administrative functions. He will join the health system’s governing boards and will otherwise continue to report to Arbuckle in his role as executive chairman.
“It’s a great honor to step into this new role and lead such an innovative and mission-driven organization like MemorialCare,” Dr. Kim said. “When I returned to MemorialCare, I felt a profound and deeply personal calling to our mission, vision and values. This organization has always been more than a place of work for me; it has been a community, a purpose and a home.”
As he enters the new role, Dr. Kim’s specific priorities include:
- Leading with Culture over Margins: Dr. Kim plans to ensure the organization remains patient-centered and culturally focused first, believing that operational excellence and strong financial performance will naturally follow, rather than leading strictly with financial margins.
- Leveraging a Physician’s Perspective: As a former family medicine physician, Dr. Kim will use his clinical background to build immediate trust and partnerships with other doctors and healthcare providers.
- Integrating Enterprise Operations: Having successfully run MemorialCare’s ambulatory care, physician divisions and clinical institutes, Dr. Kim will oversee all day-to-day operations and strategic direction for the broader health system, which includes its four acute hospitals.
“I want to express my sincere gratitude to Barry for his continuing mentorship and to our board of directors for the trust they have placed in me,” added Dr. Kim. “I also want to express my appreciation for all of our dedicated physicians, nurses and other staff members who work tirelessly to take care of our patients or in support of those who do. I am truly honored and deeply humbled to continue this journey as MemorialCare’s next chief executive officer. I look forward to building on the progress we’ve made and continuing to push boundaries to deliver better care that meets the growing needs of our communities.”
