Walmart names Cheryl Pegus to lead health and wellness

Former Walgreens chief medical officer Dr. Cheryl Pegus is joining Walmart as executive vice president of health and wellness.

Plans call for Pegus, currently president of consumer health and chief medical officer at Cambia Health Solutions, to start at Walmart on Dec. 21. She will report to Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner.

In the new role, Pegus will lead development of Walmart’s health care strategy and oversee health and wellness across the enterprise, the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer said. She takes over from Sean Slovenski, senior vice president and president of Walmart U.S. health and wellness, who left in August to become CEO of diagnostic testing company BioIQ.

“I am thrilled to welcome Dr. Pegus to the Walmart family to advance our efforts to continue exploring health care solutions for customers and associates, and helping Americans live better and healthier,” Furner said in a statement. “She is an exceptional leader who will help us deliver care of the highest quality that people can receive at the right time, regardless of insurance coverage. This has never been more important as it is now, while the pandemic continues to put a strain on our health care system.”

The Walmart Health & Wellness unit encompasses more than 4,700 pharmacies, over 3,400 Vision Centers, Walmart Health centers, digital health capabilities and Walmart Insurance Services.

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“I am humbled to be joining the Walmart organization and for the opportunity to partner internally and externally to build upon existing initiatives for accessible and affordable care for associates and the communities we serve,” Pegus said.

Pegus (left) has spent more than two years at Cambia, joining the company in September 2018 as chief medical officer and senior VP of health care services before adding the president of consumer health solutions title in August 2019. There, she oversaw clinical and consumer strategy to increase access to affordable, equitable care, Walmart said. Before that, she held a variety of director roles at medical solutions companies and served as president of health care analytics firm Caluent for seven years. From 2010 to 2012, Pegus served as chief medical officer of Walgreens, becoming the first person to hold that post at the drug chain.

After working in private practice for several years as a cardiologist, Pegus started her corporate health care career in 1996 as a medical director at Pfizer, where she focused on the development of clinical protocols and disease management programs. Later, she joined Aetna as a national medical director, working wellness, women’s health, health equity initiatives and predictive analytics, and then became chief medical officer at Johnson & Johnson unit SymCare Personalized Health Solutions.

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