CLEVELAND, Ohio - After four months, the Cleveland Clinic has named Dr. Tomislav Mihaljevic its new president and chief executive. Mihaljevic will succeed Dr. Toby Cosgrove Jan. 1, 2018.

Mihaljevic, 53, currently serves as CEO of the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi and has been working in the United Arab Emirates for the past six years to get the site off the ground.

"I certainly hope I will be able to maintain and further our institutional trajectory," Mihaljevic said Friday during an interview with The Plain Dealer. "I've gained a very broad experience in every segment of healthcare management, and I believe that experience is going to serve me well in my future role of CEO of the Cleveland Clinic."

In January, Cosgrove will move to an advisory role, the specifics of which still are being determined by the board of directors and Mihaljevic, according to a news release. Mihaljevic and Cosgrove will complete a transition process through the end of the year.

"I will help with whatever he would like to have me do," Cosgrove said. "I am delighted at this point to have a successor named who is so capable. I'm looking forward to a very smooth transition."

The Clinic's board of governors and board of directors unanimously chose Mihaljevic for the position based on a recommendation by the nomination committee. He was selected from a pool of 15 candidates from both within and outside the organization, Cosgrove said.

"I think Tommy won it, not with promises," said Cleveland Clinic Board of Directors Chairman Bob Rich. "I think he won it on the strength of so many accomplishments."

Mihaljevic first joined the Clinic in 2004 as a cardiothoracic surgeon specializing in minimally invasive and robotically assisted cardiac surgeries.

He has led the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi since September 2015, where he oversees more than 5,000 employees.

The incoming CEO was born in Croatia and is a naturalized American citizen. He earned his medical degree from the University of Zagreb's medical school in Croatia and completed his residency in cardiovascular surgery at the Clinic for Cardiovascular Surgery of the University of Zurich in Switzerland before coming to the United States.