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NATCHEZ — Lance Boyd is leaving Merit Health Natchez effective April 20 after three years as the hospital’s CEO.

Kay Ketchings, who is the director of marketing at Merit Health, said Boyd is leaving for “a new professional opportunity in the Washington D.C./Virginia area,” in an email Wednesday.

“We support Lance in his decision but we are sad to lose him and the leadership he has provided Merit Health Natchez over the past three years,” Ketchings said.

“A search to identify a new permanent CEO will begin immediately.  Members of the board of trustees, medical staff and administration will be engaged in this process.”

Boyd replaced former CEO Eric Robinson in June 2018. He came to Natchez after serving as chief operations officer of Tennova Healthcare Turkey Creek Medical Center in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Dr. Geoffrey Flattmann, who is the chief of staff and surgeon at Merit, said during Boyd’s tenure at Merit Health Boyd orchestrated the renovation of the entire operating suite of the hospital and more than $1.7 million worth of upgrades to the hospital’s surgical equipment with new Da Vinci Xi surgical systems.

“This renovation was done promptly and professionally obviously because of his leadership. It has been a huge improvement,” Flattmann said. “(New surgical equipment) has allowed us to increase the complexity of the robotic surgical procedures that we do and has brought our technology up to date with any major city in the United States. … That is something that we had not been able to orchestrate until Lance got here and cooperated with us.”

Additionally, Flattmann said Boyd’s leadership helped guide the hospital through the COVID-19 crises throughout the past year.

“Obviously there are a lot of positions and staff that were instrumental in getting us through that crisis but without leadership on the administrative level we would have been in big trouble,” Flattmann said. “We’re sad to see him go and wish him all the luck in the world.”