COLUMBUS, Ohio — Heart of Ohio Family Health will begin 2027 under new leadership. The community health center’s chief executive officer, Dr. Buhari Mohammed, announced early Monday, November 9, that he will leave the organization after almost nine years to take a leadership role with an out-of-state healthcare organization, according to his announcement as published by The New Americans Magazine.
Mohammed will not leave immediately. In the announcement reported by The New Americans Magazine, he promised to “continue to serve Chief Executive Officer for Heart of Ohio Family Health through December 31, 2026, to support a smooth and successful transition” — giving the federally qualified health center roughly seven weeks of overlap to hand off its operations, partnerships and patient-care programs.
“After almost nine incredible years with Heart of Ohio Family Health, I have made the decision to pursue a new leadership opportunity with an out-of-state healthcare organization,” Mohammed wrote in the announcement published by The New Americans Magazine. “This was not an easy decision. Heart of Ohio Family Health has been much more than an organization to me. It has been a mission, a family, and a place where I have had the privilege of working alongside extraordinary people dedicated to transforming lives through accessible and affordable high-quality healthcare.”
Mohammed, a physician and healthcare administrator, has led Heart of Ohio Family Health since 2018, according to The New Americans Magazine. Under his leadership, the magazine reported, the health center expanded services, opened additional health centers, improved clinical quality measures and strengthened its role as a key healthcare provider in Central Ohio, providing comprehensive medical services to thousands of patients across the Columbus region.
One milestone Mohammed singled out in his announcement was the opening of the organization’s first school-based health program. “Together, we have expanded services, opened the first School-Based Health, strengthened access to care, navigated unprecedented challenges, and improved health outcomes for thousands of individuals and families across Central Ohio,” he wrote, in remarks published by The New Americans Magazine. School-based care remains a growing model in the region — Northwood’s first school clinic is set to open its doors to neighbors, not just students.
Federally qualified health centers like Heart of Ohio serve as a safety net for patients regardless of their ability to pay, and leadership changes at them ripple well beyond one office. Mohammed’s tenure spanned the pandemic years — the “unprecedented challenges” he referenced — and a period of growth in which the center widened its footprint while keeping its community-focused mission, according to The New Americans Magazine.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What we know: Mohammed announced his departure on Monday, November 9; he will remain CEO through December 31, 2026; and his next role is with a healthcare organization outside Ohio. What we’re still waiting on: the announcement, as published by The New Americans Magazine, did not name the out-of-state organization he is joining, and Heart of Ohio Family Health has not yet announced a successor or an interim leadership plan. Mohammed said in the announcement that he leaves “with tremendous confidence in the future of Heart of Ohio Family Health,” adding, in remarks published by The New Americans Magazine, that “the organization’s strongest asset has always been its people, and I know its best days remain ahead.”
Mohammed thanked the center’s board of directors, leadership team, staff, patients, community partners, elected officials, donors and supporters for their trust, according to the announcement published by The New Americans Magazine. He also framed his departure as the close of a much longer chapter in the region: “Serving Central Ohio for the past three decades has been one of the greatest honors of my life,” he wrote.
His career began in primary care before he moved into healthcare administration, accumulating more than two decades of clinical and leadership experience driven, according to The New Americans Magazine, by a focus on patient access, healthcare quality and community health outcomes. That access mission is being tested across Ohio’s health systems this fall — University Hospitals only recently restored its MyChart portal after 16 days offline in a cyber incident.
What happens next is a transition on a deadline. Mohammed remains in the CEO’s office through December 31, 2026, and the center’s board is expected to carry the leadership handoff into the new year. Patients should see no interruption in appointments during the transition, and the first public sign of the next era will be the announcement of who leads Heart of Ohio Family Health into 2027.