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Walmart names Dr. John Wigneswaran as new chief medical officer

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BENTONVILLE, Ark. —Walmart recently named  Dr. John Wigneswaran, a veteran of the pharmaceutical industry, as its new chief medical officer.  Dr. Wigneswaran previously served as chief medical officer of pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts and before that was vice president of medical affairs at DaVita. Prior to that, he worked at Fresenius Medical Care and Johnson & Johnson.

Dr. Wigneswaran replaces Tom Van Gilder, Walmart’s first chief medical officer, who left the role earlier this year.

Dr. Cheryl Pegus

Dr. Cheryl Pegus, executive vice president, Health and Wellness at Walmart, welcomed Dr. Wigneswaran to the company on her LinkedIn page last week. “I am excited to welcome Dr. John Wigneswaran to Walmart as our chief medical officer, leading all our clinical initiatives – quality, training, program development and medical affairs areas. He brings a wealth of experience and expertise to Walmart, including over a decade of experience as a healthcare business leader in many domains and as a practicing nephrologist. We are looking forward to having him on board to advance our health and wellness strategy and to help our customers and associates live better and healthier,” she wrote.

The move comes as Walmart is moving deeper into health care and health policy, seeking opportunity in a sector that accounts for roughly 20% of the U.S. economy.

The company this month reinstated a policy of asking shoppers to don face-coverings before entering their stores, a position Walmart first took last summer but which was abandoned last spring as vaccines became widely available. Walmart recently said it is requiring all of its regional staffers and those at its corporate headquarters to be inoculated by Oct. 4.

Beyond the current public health crisis, Walmart is committing resources to health-related initiatives that company executives believe can help restrain spiraling health care costs and bring health services to under-served populations.


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