Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1058375
28 POPULATION HEALTH 28 CEO/STRATEGY 25 hospitals, health systems with newly created executive roles in 2018 By Anuja Vaidya B ecker's Hospital Review reported the following hospitals and health systems created new executive positions in 2018 as of Oct. 30. ey are listed below in alphabetical order. 1. Cincinnati-based UC Health selected Jen- nifer Jasmine E. Arfaa, PhD, to serve as its first chief experience officer, effective Aug. 6. 2. Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health appoint- ed Beth P. Beckman, DNSc, its inaugural chief nursing executive. 3. Marriottsville, Md.-based Bon Secours Health System selected Amy Carrier to serve as COO of Richmond-based Bon Secours Virginia. 4. Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health select- ed Steven Choi, MD, to serve as its inaugural chief quality officer. 5. Cincinnati-based TriHealth appointed Kel- ley Ealy chief information security officer, ef- fective March 5. 6. Albany, N.Y.-based St. Peter's Health Part- ners selected Michael S. Finegan to serve as its inaugural president of acute care July 1. 7. Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based Adventist Health System selected Rena Freeman to serve as vice president of total rewards. 8. Morgantown, W.Va.-based Mon Health named Mark Gilliam CIO. 9. Pittsburgh-based Highmark Health appoint- ed Karen Hanlon COO, a newly created role. 10. Children's Hospital Los Angeles select- ed Omkar P. Kulkarni to serve as chief inno- vation officer. 11. Sumner Regional Medical Center in Gall- atin, Tenn., tapped Geoffrey Lifferth, MD, to serve as CMO. 12. St. Louis-based SSM Health tapped Steve Little to serve as its regional COO May 1. 13. Brentwood, Tenn.-based LifePoint Health named Mike Patterson market president in Western Arizona, effective April 1. 14. Baltimore-based University of Maryland Med- ical System named Keith Persinger its first-ever chief performance improvement officer. 15. Allentown, Pa.-based Lehigh Valley Health Network named Terrence Purcell vice president of market development, a newly created role. 16. UC San Francisco selected Aleksandar Rajkovic, MD, PhD, to serve as chief genom- ics officer of UCSF Health. 17. Waconia, Minn.-based Ridgeview Med- ical Center appointed Alvaro Sanchez, MD, its CMO. 18. Jacksonville, Fla.-based Nemours Chil- dren's Health System appointed Sarah C. Sanders senior vice president and chief mar- keting officer, a newly created role. 19. San Diego-based Scripps Health appoint- ed Ghazala Sharieff, MD, its corporate vice president and chief experience officer. 20. Morgantown, W.Va.-based Mon Health ap- pointed Lisa Simon chief transformation officer. 21. New Orleans-based Children's Hospital selected Raymond G. Watts, MD, to serve as pediatrician-in-chief. 22. Northwestern Medicine's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago selected Firas Wehbe, MD, PhD, to serve as chief research informat- ics officer. 23. Columbia, Md.-based MedStar Health se- lected Neil Weissman, MD, to serve as chief scientific officer. 24. Children's Health in Dallas selected Mi- chael Wiggins to serve as senior vice president of system operations. 25. Columbia Memorial Hospital in Asto- ria, Ore., selected Nicole Williams to serve as COO. n Akron Children's Hospital CEO steps down after nearly 40 years By Anuja Vaidya W illiam H. Considine, CEO of Akron (Ohio) Children's Hospital, announced his retirement. He became CEO emeritus, Oct. 31, and he will retire from the CEO emeritus position Jan. 1, 2020. Mr. Considine became president and CEO of the hospital in 1979. During his tenure, he grew the hospital from one with an annual operating budget of $35 million and 900 employees to one with a budget of $1.8 billion and 6,000-plus employees. The organiza- tion today has two hospital campuses and 60-plus locations. Cur- rently, there are three regional health centers under construction. As CEO emeritus, Mr. Considine will continue to work with the Children's Hospital Association and Ohio Children's Hos- pital Association on child advocacy. Grace Wakulchik, BSN, MSN, RN, succeeded Mr. Considine Oct. 31. She has served as president of Akron Children's since July 2017. She previously served as COO and helped oversee the implementation of a new EHR in 2012. In addition to her nursing degrees, Ms. Wakulchik earned an MBA from Kent (Ohio) State University. She has also completed the Johnson & Johnson Wharton Fellows Pro- gram in Management for Nurse Executives at the Wharton School and Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. n