Fernandez named chief executive of Mass. Eye and Ear

BOSTON --John Fernandez, an executive at Brigham and Women's Hospital, has been named the chief executive of Massachusetts Eye and Ear Institute.

Fernandez, 41, currently the vice president of clinical services at Brigham and Women's, will take over from F. Curtis Smith, who is stepping down at the end of the year.

Diane E. Kaneb, chairwoman of the hospital's board, said Fernandez's "collaborative working style and energetic personality" were key in his hiring.

Mass. Eye and Ear is a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital with 42 beds. The hospital reported a $1 million profit in the 2006 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30.

Fernandez, a native of Philadelphia, is a graduate of the College of Wooster in Ohio and received a master's in government administration from the University of Pennsylvania. Before joining Brigham and Women's, he was assistant administrator of the clinical AIDS program at Boston Medical Center, which was then known as Boston City Hospital.