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Ava E. Lias-Booker

Partner, Healthcare Director at McGuireWoods LLP / Healthpeak Properties

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

AE
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Why they matter

Healthpeak Properties director since the $21B Physicians Realty Trust merger, giving her a landlord's-eye view of physician practice consolidation and medical real estate economics.

Background

Ava E. Lias-Booker is a Partner at McGuireWoods LLP, where she has led the firm's Baltimore litigation practice since 2004, trying complex commercial, financial-services, and appellate matters. She also serves as an independent director of Healthpeak Properties (NYSE: DOC), a major healthcare REIT, having joined its board via the March 2024 merger of equals with Physicians Realty Trust, where she was a trustee from 2022. Her healthcare governance footprint extends further through seats on the University of Maryland Medical System board and as Vice Chair of UM St. Joseph Medical Center's operating board.

Notable deals

  • 2013
    Led the McGuireWoods trial team that won reversal of $1.5B+ in MTBE contamination jury verdicts against ExxonMobil before Maryland's highest court, the largest damages reversal in Maryland court history
  • 2022
    Appointed to the Board of Trustees of Physicians Realty Trust (NYSE: DOC), a physician-focused medical office building REIT
  • 2024
    Joined Healthpeak Properties' board of directors as one of five former Physicians Realty Trust trustees added upon closing of Healthpeak's ~$21B merger of equals with Physicians Realty Trust

Call-prep brief

Background

  • Partner at McGuireWoods LLP since 2004; leads the firm's Baltimore litigation practice (30+ years in complex commercial, financial-services, and appellate litigation).
  • Independent director, Healthpeak Properties (NYSE: DOC), one of the largest healthcare REITs, following its March 2024 ~$21B merger of equals with Physicians Realty Trust, where she had been a trustee since 2022.
  • Also serves on the University of Maryland Medical System board and as Vice Chair of UM St. Joseph Medical Center's operating board — deep exposure to hospital/health-system governance in the Mid-Atlantic.

Current focus

  • Healthpeak board oversight of a combined portfolio heavy in outpatient medical office buildings (many leased to physician groups and health systems), lab/life-science space, and senior housing.
  • Continues an active trial docket at McGuireWoods (financial services, securities, construction, environmental litigation).

What she cares about

  • Board governance quality and DEI (she chaired McGuireWoods' Diversity & Inclusion Committee).
  • Healthcare-system financial stability, given her hospital and health-system board seats.

Recent moves

  • Joined the Healthpeak board in March 2024 as part of the Physicians Realty Trust integration.

Sensitivities

  • As a sitting REIT director, she is likely bound by fiduciary/confidentiality limits on discussing Healthpeak strategy, tenant concentration, or specific physician-group relationships — keep outreach at the level of general market perspective, not insider deal detail.
  • Her primary lens is litigator/governance director, not clinical operator or practice-management expert.

Questions to ask

  1. How is Healthpeak thinking about medical-office-building demand as more physician practices are acquired by PE-backed platforms and health systems?
  2. What did the Physicians Realty Trust integration reveal about which physician specialties make the most durable REIT tenants?
  3. From a board seat, what should a PE buyer watch for when a physician-practice landlord relationship changes hands mid-transaction?

Outreach draft

Subject
Physician Real Estate Perspective From a Healthpeak Director
Dear Ms. Lias-Booker, I'm [Placeholder Name] with a private equity team studying physician practice consolidation and the real estate relationships that come with it. Your seat on Healthpeak Properties' board, and your history with Physicians Realty Trust before the 2024 merger, gives you a rare landlord's perspective on how medical office demand shifts as practices get acquired and re-platformed. Would you have 20 minutes for a call in the next couple of weeks? We're happy to work around your schedule and keep the conversation high-level and non-confidential. Thank you for considering, and I look forward to hearing from you. Best, [Placeholder Name]

Linked companies

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