J. Michael Lazarus, MD, chief medical officer for Fresenius Medical Care North America since 1996, announced today at the company’s annual medical directors meeting in Chicago that he will be stepping down at the end of this year.

Raymond Hakim, MD, PhD, Senior Vice President of clinical and scientific affairs, will take over the CMO post. Lazarus will stay on at FMCNA to work on special projects, including a new electronic medical records system called eCube.

Lazarus received his MD and residency training from Tulane University in New Orleans. He did his fellowship in nephrology at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, where he served as Director of ESRD Patient Services for many years before joining Fresenius Medical Care as its CMO.