WINDSOR — Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center’s CEO is leaving his post in August to take over the leadership of Cheshire Medical Center, another Dartmouth Health member, in Keene, N.H., according to a DH news release.

Dr. Joseph Perras has held the CEO position at Mt. Ascutney for six years and also has held the role of chief medical officer at the Windsor critical access hospital since 2015. He first came to Mt. Ascutney in 2013, as director of hospital medicine.

Mt. Ascutney “has greatly benefited from Dr. Perras’ leadership during past several years and we wish him the very best as he as he moves on to this new role,” John Tansey, chairman of Mt. Ascutney’s board, wrote in an email. The board “will be working closely with leadership at DH in the coming days to determine the most appropriate path forward as MAHHC transitions to new leadership.”

Perras was slated to become the CEO of Valley Regional Hospital in Claremont as well as Mt. Ascutney should a plan to bring Valley Regional into the DH fold come to fruition. The transaction is currently pending regulatory approval, but DH has said it aims to complete it by the end of the year. What Perras’ departure means for who might lead the two nearby hospitals should they join together is unclear. Valley Regional is currently led, on an interim basis, by Dr. Jocelyn Caple.

“Valley Regional Hospital remains committed to pursuing affiliation with Dartmouth Health, and once we gain regulatory approval, we would anticipate working with both boards to identify a new CEO who will serve both Valley Regional Hospital and Mt Ascutney Hospital,” Caple said in a Tuesday email.

Caple said she plans to stay only until a new leader can be found.

DH and Mt. Ascutney’s board expect to embark on a national search to replace Perras in Windsor, Audra Burns, a DH spokesperson, said in a Tuesday email. But, she said, “It would be premature to comment on Valley Regional as we are still going through the regulatory approval process.”

Before coming to Mt. Ascutney, Perras practiced at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon for 12 years, serving in internal medicine and as a founding physician within the hospital medicine practice.

He completed his internship and internal medicine residency at Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and earned both his undergraduate and medical degrees at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Perras also has served as the vice chairman of the board of OneCare Vermont, an accountable care organization created by DH and the University of Vermont Health Network, and as a trustee of the Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire, another DH system member.

Outside of DHMC, Cheshire, which has more than 150 beds, is the largest satellite of the Dartmouth Health network. Perras, who starts in his new post on Aug. 7, is to succeed Dr. Don Caruso, who retired last month.

Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.