Lakewood Ranch Medical Center (LWRMC) has appointed Diego Perilla its chief operating officer (COO). Perilla recently served as associate administrator at Wellington Regional Medical Center, where he had administrative responsibility for the biomedical engineering, cardio/pulmonary, contracts/negotiations, environmental services, food and nutrition, diagnostic imaging, interventional radiology, cath lab, laboratory, outpatient wound care, and plant Operations and construction departments, as well as handling physician and community relations. He also managed the planning and opening of the new 11,000-square-foot freestanding emergency department and the renovation of a 10-bed inpatient hospital specialty unit.

Prior to his time at Wellington, Perilla served as an institute administrator at the Cleveland Clinic in Weston, Florida. Earlier in his career, he was the director of strategic practice initiatives at the University of Miami Health System’s Department of Pediatrics and held multiple roles at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his MBA in health sector management and policy, dual master’s degrees in public administration and public health, and a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience with a minor in Business Management from the University of Miami in Coral Gables.