Lucore has been a practicing physician with Prairie Cardiovascular since 1992. He will be among the 7 percent of Illinois hospital CEOs who are physicians.

Since 2012, Lucore has served as vice president and chief clinical integration officer for the HSHS Central Illinois Division, which includes in the Springfield diocese: St. John’s: St. John’s College of Nursing, Springfield: St. Mary’s Hospital, Decatur; St. Francis Hospital, Litchfield; St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital, Effingham; and St. Joseph’s Hospital, Highland. Three other hospitals in Illinois and four hospitals in Wisconsin are members of the system.

In that role he oversaw physician alignment initiatives, assumed administrative responsibility for St. John’s radiology services and operating rooms, led quality and safety initiatives that resulted in multiple “A” grades from The Leapfrog Group, and was instrumental in expanding Prairie Cardiovascular services to hospitals across the region.

“In this position I represent everyone,” Lucore said. As CEO, he said his first concern is “to provide quality care to a patient regardless of their ability to pay or where they come from.”

He will begin serving full-time as president and CEO of St. John’s in April and will work closely with E.J. Kuiper, division president of the Central Illinois division of HSHS.

Lucore began his career in 1989 as an assistant professor of medicine and interventional cardiologist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He joined Prairie Cardiovascular in 1992.

During his tenure with Prairie, he assumed various leadership roles, including secretary of Prairie’s board of directors, and executive director for Prairie Heart Institute at St. John’s.

Under his leadership, Prairie Heart Institute has been recognized as a national leader for cardiac care by such organizations as Healthgrades, Thomson, Reuters and Consumer Reports.

Lucore has served on national task forces that addressed care delivery and safety for the American Hospital Association and American College of Cardiology.

A native of Cheshire, Conn., he earned his bachelor’s degree in natural science from Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y.; his medical degree from Duke University in Durham, N.C., and his MBA from Washington University in St. Louis.

 Lucore is Catholic, and has lived in Springfield for more than two decades. He and his wife, Paula, have three children — Jordan, 19, Christopher, 15, and Alexander, Jordan’s twin brother, who died of pneumonia in 2008.

He has served as chairman of the Central Illinois Chapter of the American Heart Association, vice chair of Hospital Sisters Mission Outreach, and has been an active supporter of the local chapter of the Special Olympics.

 “We’re thrilled that Chuck will be leading St. John’s Hospital,” said John Slayton, chairman, St. John’s Board of Directors.