Career Pulse

NORTHAMPTON — Following nationwide searches, Cooley Dickinson President and CEO Joanne Marqusee announced that two healthcare executives, Katherine Bechtold and Anthony Scibelli, have joined the organization’s senior leadership team.

Bechtold has been selected as Cooley Dickinson Health Care’s vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer.

“I am very excited to have someone with Kate’s depth of experience, clear commitment to quality care and service excellence, collaborative style, and ability to inspire staff at all levels join the senior leadership team,” Marqusee said.

Added Bechtold, “I am excited about this wonderful opportunity to lead nursing and patient-care services at Cooley Dickinson. I was impressed with the commitment to patient care that I heard from staff and medical staff alike and look forward to being part of the new leadership team that Joanne Marqusee is building.”

Most recently, Bechtold served as the senior vice president and chief nurse executive for MultiCare Health System in Tacoma, Wash., where she oversaw system-wide nursing and clinical policies, case management, social work, and quality care for the five-hospital system and its primary-care, urgent-care, and specialty clinics.

She also served for eight years as chief nursing officer and vice president of patient care at Centura Health Systems in Englewood, Colo., and Saint Anthony Hospital System. She counts among her accomplishments leading Saint Anthony Central Hospital to one of the highest scores in the nation for nursing quality indicators and significantly reducing nursing-management turnover rates.

Scibelli has joined Cooley Dickinson Health Care as vice president, operations and chief administrative officer. He will supervise a number of departments, including Facilities, Housekeeping, Transport, Security, Nutrition, Lab, Imaging, and Human Resources.

“I am very excited that a leader with Tony’s range of experience, dedication to service excellence, and ability to lead teams and promote teamwork has accepted this important position. He will add much to the new senior leader team we are building,” Marqusee said.

Scibelli has most recently served as senior vice president, Human Resources, Support Services, and Post Acute Operations at Mohawk Valley Health System in Utica, N.Y., which resulted from the affiliation of Faxton-St. Luke’s Healthcare and St. Elizabeth Medical Center. He oversaw a range of functions, including Human Resources, Facilities Management, Support Services, Home Care, and Long-term Care. Scibelli joined Faxton-St. Luke’s Healthcare in 2004 as vice president, Human Resources and was promoted several times there.

Before joining Faxton-St. Luke’s, Scibelli worked in the food industry, where he got his start at Big Y Foods in Springfield. He earned a bachelor’s degree at Worcester State College and master’s degrees from Lesley College in Cambridge and SUNY Albany.

SPRINGFIELD — Dr. Charlotte Boney, a nationally recognized pediatric endocrinologist and physician educator, has been named to the position of Tufts University School of Medicine chair of Pediatrics at Baystate Health and vice president of the Pediatric Service Line at Baystate Children’s Hospital.

Before coming to Baystate Children’s Hospital, Boney was director of the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology in the Department of Pediatrics at Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, and professor of Pediatrics at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

“I am thrilled to be joining Baystate. Baystate Children’s Hospital has a proven track record in delivering state-of-the-art clinical care, but it is the department’s commitment to serving the community’s children and their families, and to training future pediatricians, which really attracted me to this position,” she said.

Boney attended the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn. and the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Memphis, where she was a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. She completed her internship and residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and a fellowship in pediatric endocrinology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She joined the faculty at Brown University in 1994 and became program director of the fellowship in Pediatric Endocrinology in 2003 and director of the Division of Endocrinology in 2005.

She received numerous teaching awards at Brown, including the Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award every year from 2004 to 2011 and again in 2013. Boney also has a distinguished research career, supported by National Institutes of Health funding, during which she focused on the biology of adipocyte (fat-cell) development. She has also conducted clinical research in pediatric obesity and diabetes. Additionally, she has served on numerous hospital, university, regional, and national committees.

Boney’s professional memberships include the Endocrine Society, the Pediatric Endocrine Society (for which she served on the board of directors), the Society for Pediatric Research, the Obesity Society, and the American Pediatric Society. She recently joined the sub-board in pediatric endocrinology at the American Board of Pediatrics.

She has also authored some 40 scholarly publications, including peer-reviewed journals and abstracts, and is the author of several textbook chapters. She also serves as a member of the editorial board of the American Journal of Physiology, Endocrinology and Metabolism.

“It is my hope in my new role at Baystate Children’s Hospital to expand clinical programs, strengthen education programs, and generate new knowledge in pediatric medicine,” she said.

NORTHAMPTON — Podiatrist Khanhmei Wong and the Cooley Dickinson Medical Group Foot Center have moved to Atwood Health Center, 22 Atwood Dr., Northampton. By sharing space with other specialties, including the diabetes center and the wound care program, the employees and physicians look forward to offering patients coordinated care in a more convenient location.

Wong has been practicing podiatric medicine and surgery for the past four years. In addition, she works with the MetroWest Foot and Ankle residency training program and the VA Medical Center.

Currently board-eligible, Wong is in the process of becoming certified by the American Board of Podiatric Surgery. She is a member of the American Professional Wound Care Assoc., the American Podiatric Medical Assoc., and the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons.

For more information or to make an appointment with the Foot Center, call (413) 584-2171.

SOUTH HADLEY — Patrick McCarthy, Sodexo Dining Services general manager for the Loomis Communities, has been selected for the Sodexo National Emerging Leaders program, joining 29 of his peers who have been identified as leaders in their field.

The Sodexo Emerging Leaders program consists of an intensive, nine-month leadership-development course focusing on leadership at a strategic level. The course study includes trainings at the Sodexo North American headquarters in Gaithersburg, Md., as well as peer project assignments and online interactive trainings.

“This is a dynamic and challenging opportunity to develop strategic leadership skills and work in partnership with senior leaders on high-visibility business situations,” McCarthy said.

Prior to working for Sodexo and the Loomis Communities, McCarthy attended classes at the Culinary Institute of America and owned restaurants in the Pioneer Valley.

With a mission of enriching the lives of older adults, the Loomis Communities offers independent-living apartments and cottages, assisted living, and skilled nursing care on four campuses in the Pioneer Valley: Applewood in Amherst, Loomis House in Holyoke, Loomis Lakeside at Reeds Landing in Springfield, and Loomis Village in South Hadley.

SPRINGFIELD — The Valley District Dental Society held annual elections during its recent general meeting at the newly reopened Fort restaurant in Springfield.

The newly elected officers of the Executive Core Committee include Dr. Benjamin Falk, president; Dr. Stephen Root, president-elect, Dr. Aaron DeMaio, secretary; Dr. Paul Nardi Jr., treasurer; Dr. Martin Wohl, vice president; and Dr. James Maslowski, trustee.

The dental society represents dentists from Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin counties. Falk noted that two major objectives of the dental society during his two-year term will be to increase fluoridation in the community water supply and provide additional dental homes for the underserved and uninsured segments of the population.

He plans to continue the traditions established by his predecessors but also to introduce new programs to increase membership within the society, as well as reach out more broadly to citizens of the Commonwealth.

The official terms begin in June after the Massachusetts Dental Society annual session.