• Jeff Sperring, M.D., will become CEO of Seattle Children’s in early May. He is president and CEO of Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health, Indianapolis. Sperring succeeds Thomas N. Hansen, M.D., who will retire after 10 years as CEO. During his tenure, Hansen fostered the work and scope of Seattle Children’s Research Institute, opened a major outpatient and ambulatory surgery center in Bellevue, Wash., and oversaw the completion of the Building Hope expansion of the hospital.

• Imran Andrabi, M.D., was promoted to a newly created position of president and CEO/chief network integration officer of Mercy Health–Toledo. He also will be chairman of the board of Mercy Health Physicians LLC. Andrabi was chief operating officer and president/chief network integration officer for Mercy since October 2013. Mercy Health was formerly called Catholic Health Partners.

• Anthony J. Tedeschi, M.D., CEO of Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago, was promoted to CEO of Tenet Healthcare’s Chicago market. Tenet owns and operates Weiss Memorial Hospital and three other hospitals in the Chicago area. Tedeschi was chief medical officer and lead market executive for the four hospitals.

• Brian A. Gragnolati will become president and CEO of Atlantic Health System on May 4. He was senior vice president, community division, at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore.

• John Raffoul was named president and CEO of Adventist Health’s White Memorial Medical Center in Los Angeles in March. Raffoul had been COO of WMMC since March 2014.

• Halee S. Fischer-Wright, M.D., became president and CEO of the Medical Group Management Association, Englewood, Colo., in March. Fischer-Wright was CMO of St. Anthony North Health Campus, Westminster, Colo., which is part of the Centura Health System.

• Scott Evans was named senior vice president and CEO of Sharp Grossmont Hospital, La Mesa, Calif. He was CEO at Keck Hospital of USC and USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, both in Los Angeles.

• John J. Baniewicz, M.D., was appointed senior vice president and CMO of Lake Health, Concord Township, Ohio, in March. The administrative and clinical leadership of Lake Health Physician Group will continue to be part of his role, and he will be heavily involved with physician recruitment. Baniewicz joined Lake Health in June 1992.

• Kindred Healthcare Inc. named Jon B. Rousseau executive vice president and president of RehabCare upon the April 1 retirement of Patricia M. Henry. He was president of Kindred’s care management division. Kindred also announced that William M. Altman, executive vice president for strategy, policy and integrated care, will be responsible for the company’s care management operations. Christopher Day was appointed senior vice president, strategy and care management. He had been chief business development officer of Aetna Inc. since 2010.

• Nancy Lewis was named vice president of marketing and public relations for Truman Medical Centers, Kansas City, Mo. She was director of public relations and communication for the Independence (Mo.) School District.

• Jodi L. Hein was appointed vice president/chief nursing officer at Dignity Health St. Mary Medical Center, Long Beach, Calif. She was CNO and chief clinical officer at Promise Hospital of East Los Angeles.

• The National Center for Healthcare Leadership, Chicago, named R. Timothy Rice, CEO emeritus of Cone Health, to the new position of president and board chair. Rice retired as Cone Health CEO in October 2014.

Retirements

• Bill Leaver, president and CEO of UnityPoint Health in Des Moines, Iowa, since January 2008, will retire in January 2016. Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer Kevin Vermeer will succeed him. Leaver joined the organization, formerly known as Iowa Health System, in 2003 as president and CEO of the network’s Trinity Regional Health System, based in Rock Island, Ill. During his tenure, UnityPoint Health evolved from a hospital-centric organization to a patient-centered and physician-driven model. He was instrumental in the system’s growth beyond Iowa into western Illinois and southern Wisconsin, and championed the UnityPoint Health branch transformation to connect all sites of care. For the remainder of 2015, Vermeer will assume the title of president and chief strategy officer.

• Deborah Proctor, president and CEO of St. Joseph Health for 10 years, will retire Dec. 31. The organization has 16 urban and rural hospitals in California, Texas and New Mexico, as well as medical groups, physician networks, home health agencies, hospice care, outpatient services, skilled nursing facilities, community clinics and wellness centers. During her tenure, Proctor advocated for including a range of stakeholders when establishing the organization’s strategies. She also advocated for health care reform to extend services to the unemployed, underemployed and disenfranchised. She is St. Joseph Health’s first woman lay chief executive.

Stepping Down

• David P. McQuaid stepped down as president and CEO of Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals in Philadelphia. He joined the organization eight years ago as executive vice president and COO. During his tenure, the organization won national recognition, including earning Magnet designation and the U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll of the top 17 hospitals in the nation. In January, Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals and Abington (Pa.) Health signed a definitive agreement to merge.

Major Gifts

• Northwestern University’s Feinberg Medical School in Chicago received a $92 million gift to support biomedical research, particularly regenerative medicine. The gift was made by Northwestern alumnus Louis Simpson and his wife Kimberly Querrey, for whom the university’s new biomedical research center will be named. Construction is to begin this year on the center. The $400 million project will provide space for scientists working in cancer, heart disease, neurodegenerative disorders and genetics. The couple previously donated $25 million to endow the university’s Institute for BioNanotechnology in Medicine.

• Thomas Jefferson University and Hospitals received a $14 million grant from the Marcus Foundation Inc. to establish Marcus Integrative Health at the Myrna Brind Center–Villanova. The 14,000-square-foot facility in Villanova, Pa., is expected to open in the fall and will be the first satellite location of the Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine at Jefferson, which is located in Philadelphia. Services will include holistic primary care, executive health, nutrient infusion programs, novel testing procedures, acupuncture and other complementary therapies. The grant also provides funding for the center to purchase a PET-MR.

Affiliations

• Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, N.Y. and North Shore-LIJ Health System will explore a partnership. If a final agreement is reached, Maimonides will continue to operate as a full-service, tertiary hospital. 

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