• Shawn McCoy became CEO and James Porter, M.D., became president of Deaconess Health System, Evansville, Ind., succeeding Linda E. White who retired June 30 after 15 years as president and CEO, and a total of 43 years with the health system. McCoy, who has been with Deaconess for 26 years, has held varied management roles throughout his career, moving to chief operating officer in 2005. Porter joined Deaconess 17 years ago as a pediatric and adult hospitalist and was named chief medical officer in 2006. White will be CEO emerita for one year following retirement. 

Appointments/retirements

• Kane Dawson was appointed CEO of Mission (Texas) Regional Medical Center in July. Dawson succeeds Javier Iruegas, who retired at the end of June after serving 12 yeaers. Dawson most recently worked for Quorum Healthcare Corp. and Quorum Health Resources, operators of acute care hospitals and outpatient centers in 16 states, including management consulting services.

• Dennis W. Pullin was named president and CEO of Virtua, the largest health care system in southern New Jersey, succeeding Richard P. Miller, who has held that position for 22 years. Pullin has had leadership roles in hospitals, academic medical centers, physician group practices and private industry. Previously, he was president of Medstar Harbor Hospital and a senior vice president of MedStar Health in Baltimore, a nonprofit, community-based health system with 10 hospitals and 25 integrated businesses. Pullin is expected to assume his new role in the fall.  

• Jonathan Curtright became both CEO and COO of University of Missouri Health Care, consolidating two executive positions. Curtright, who joined MU Health Care in 2016, was COO and interim CEO. Previously, he was COO of Indiana University Health; chief operations officer for ambulatory services at UK HealthCare in Lexington, Ky.; and an administrator of various departments at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

• Jill Klar in June became CEO of UNM Medical Group, the faculty practice of the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and UNM Health System, based in Albuquerque. Klar had been interim CEO of the physician group since June 2016. Previously, she was COO of ABQ Health Partners since 2011.

• Memorial Hermann Health System, Houston, appointed Charles D. Stokes president and CEO of Memorial Hermann. In addition to his role of executive vice president and COO, Stokes also had been serving as interim president and CEO following the departure of Benjamin K. Chu, M.D., who left the organization in June to pursue his interest in public and health policy.

• Sean T. Dardeau was promoted to market CEO of Mary Black Health System, based in Spartanburg, S.C., The system comprises Mary Black Health System–Spartanburg, Mary Black Health System–Gaffney and Mary Black Physicians Group. Dardeau was CEO of the Spartanburg organization. Previously, he was COO of Trinity Medical Center in Birmingham, Ala., and CEO of Southampton Memorial Hospital in Virginia and Lakeview Community Hospital in Alabama.

• Tom VanOsdol in July was appointed president and CEO of St. Vincent’s HealthCare in Jacksonville, Fla. He had been interim CEO since January. VanOsdol also became senior vice president of Ascension Healthcare, St. Vincent’s parent organization, and Jacksonville ministry market executive. He joined St. Vincent’s in 2015 as COO of clinically integrated systems of care.

• Roy Finch became CEO of Palestine (Texas) Regional Medical Center on Aug. 2. He had been CEO of Northern Louisiana Medical Center in Ruston.

• C. James Platt in July became CEO of Jackson Hospital, Marianna, Fla., where he had been interim CEO. Platt is a career health care administrator who started out as a health care regulator in South Dakota.

• Dominick Stanzione became president and CEO of Brookdale Hospital, New York City, in August. He has been executive vice president and COO of Maimonides Medical Center, New York City.

• Pete McCanna was appointed to the new office of president at Baylor Scott & White Health, the largest nonprofit health care system in Texas. The appointment will become effective by mid-September. Jim Hinton has been both president and CEO since he joined Baylor Scott & White in January. McCanna has been executive vice president and COO at Northwestern Memorial Healthcare in Chicago.

• Maggie Gill was appointed CEO of Novant Health UVA Health System, based in Manassas, Va. She previously served as president and CEO of Memorial Health in Savannah, Ga.

• Tuality Healthcare, Hillsboro, Ore., appointed Joe Hardman, M.D., as CMO. He had been interim CMO since February. Hardman is a general internist who has been practicing at Oregon Health & Science University for nearly 10 years. Tuality Healthcare is an OHSU partner.

• Karen Murphy, R.N., secretary of health in Pennsylvania, will become executive vice president, chief innovation officer and founding director of the Steele Institute for Healthcare Innovation at Geisinger Health, Danville, Pa., in September. Prior to becoming secretary of health, Murphy was director of the State Innovation Models Initiative, a $900 million Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services investment designed to accelerate health care innovation across the U.S.

• Department of Health & Human Services Secretary Tom Price, M.D., named Brenda Fitzgerald, M.D., as the 17th director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Fitzgerald has been the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health and state health officer for the past six years. She replaces Anne Schuchat, M.D., who has been the acting CDC director and acting ATSDR administrator since Jan. 20. Schuchat returned to her role as the CDC’s principal deputy director.

• Henry Ford Health System President and CEO Wright Lassiter III announced three new senior leaders` who joined the Detroit-based health system in June. Seth Frazier was named to the newly created role of executive vice president and chief strategy officer. Michelle Johnson Tidjani became senior vice president and general counsel, also a newly created role. Nina Ramsey became senior vice president and chief human resources officer. Frazier was the chief transformation officer for Evolent Health in Arlington, Va. Tidjani was deputy chief legal officer at the Cleveland Clinic. Ramsey was the chief human resources officer and senior vice president for global human resources for Kelly Services Inc.

Major gift

• The family of late Quad/Graphics Inc. founder Harry Quadracci donated $1.2 million to support the $8 million challenge gift from the Herma family to Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. The $16 million campaign, announced in April, benefits the Herma Heart Center and will support ongoing research related to eradicating congenital heart defects and improving the quality of life for heart patients and their families. The gift is being made through the family’s Windhover Foundation, which was established by Quadracci and his wife Betty. The challenge pledge was made by the family of former Kohl’s Corp. executive and board member John Herma and his wife Susan, who lost their daughter Leigh to a complex heart disease in the 1980s. Through the end of the year, the family will match up to $8 million in gifts to Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin designated for heart care.

Acquisitions, mergers, affiliations

• NantWorks LLC acquired a majority stake in Integrity Healthcare LLC, the management company for Verity Health System, a nonprofit health system based in Redwood City, Calif. NantWorks and Blue Mountain, the former majority owner of Integrity Healthcare, pledged to continue investments to accelerate Verity’s revitalization efforts undertaken over the past 18 months. BlueMountain will maintain a minority interest in Integrity.

• The Pennsylvania attorney general approved the integration of Jersey Shore (Pa.) Hospital and Foundation into Geisinger Health, effective July 1.

• Christus Health and Ochsner Health System signed a letter of intent to pursue a joint venture of current Christus operations in the Lake Charles, La., area. At closing, Ochsner will assume management of the clinics and employed physicians in the Christus Physician Group and Lake Area Medical Group. A new joint board of directors will be formed to govern strategic decisions for the integrated system in the Lake Charles area, and seats will be held by both Christus Health and Ochsner. When the transaction is complete, Christus Health will be the majority owner of the nonprofit entity and will continue to manage all other portions of the joint venture, including Christus St. Patrick Hospital and soon-to-be-acquired Lake Area Medical Center. The joint venture is expected to be finalized by this fall.

• Stony Brook University Hospital and Southampton Hospital merged in August and will be known as Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. The New York hospitals have been formally affiliated since 2008. In a news release, the organizations say that “the affiliation will combine a financially sound, 125-bed community hospital with a high-quality, 603-bed tertiary academic medical center.” The completed transaction enables the two hospitals to improve health care quality and access, coordinate care and improve efficiency through shared resources.

• The board of commissioners of the Town of North Wilkesboro (N.C.) and Wake Forest (N.C.) Baptist Health leaders completed the due diligence period and agreed on a long-term lease of Wilkes Medical Center by Wake Forest Baptist. Under the terms of the initial 30-year lease agreement, Wake Forest Baptist will invest $238 million during that time in support of Wilkes Medical Center, the Town of North Wilkesboro, the Wilkes community and patients served in the region. Wilkes Regional Medical Center’s name will change to Wake Forest Baptist Health–Wilkes Medical Center.

Project

• Bayfront Health St. Petersburg (Fla.) was slated to break ground on a new emergency and trauma center in June. The $22 million project will take about 18 months to complete. The updated center will nearly double the size of the existing emergency department and increase the number of beds to 48 private rooms.