HALIFAX -- The Nova Scotia Health Authority has named an interim president and CEO until it finds a permanent replacement for Janet Knox, who is retiring at the end of the month.

Janet Davidson will begin the position on an interim basis Sept. 3.

Davidson is a senior level executive with more than 40 years of experience in health care including management, planning, and policy.

She has previously served as chair of the board of the Canadian Institute for Health Information and also worked as a health-care consultant.

Davidson also served as Alberta's deputy health minister from 2013 to 2015, as the official administrator with Alberta Health Services, and was president and CEO of Trillium Health Centre in Mississauga, Ont.

Knox is leaving after nearly five years as head of the provincial health authority.