Career Pulse – February 2018

SPRINGFIELD — Baystate Health President and CEO Mark Keroack announced the appointments of Jean Ahn and Dr. Doug Salvador as senior vice presidents. Ahn, with Baystate Health since 2012, has been appointed to senior vice president and chief strategy officer, while Salvador, who joined Baystate in 2013, has been named senior vice president and chief quality officer, Baystate Health, and chief medical officer, Baystate Medical Center.

Ahn, who most recently served as vice president of Strategy, was instrumental in the development of Baystate 2020, the health system’s overarching strategic plan, the cascading entity plans, the system’s Telehealth program, and the Kyruus ‘single-source’ platform for physician data, among other accomplishments. She serves as executive sponsor for Baystate Health’s Women’s Organizational Resource Group and as the system’s Investment director for the Health Policy Commission’s joint CHART 2 grant.

In addition to serving on the Baycare board of directors, Ahn is a board and committee member for the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts (formerly Partners for a Healthier Community) and Martin Luther King Jr. Family Services, and serves as an elected parent representative of her local school council in Longmeadow. A 2015 fellow of the Massachusetts Health Leadership College, she holds a bachelor’s degree with honors from Wellesley College and a master of health administration degree with academic distinction from Cornell University.

Salvador, who joined Baystate as vice president, Medical Affairs, has contributed to Baystate’s success in many ways, including in bundled-payment demonstration projects and in helping the health system to advance its culture of safety. Drawing upon his training in medicine, engineering, and epidemiology, he has focused on the redesign of healthcare-delivery systems and undergraduate and postgraduate education of quality and safety.

A graduate of Johns Hopkins University with a degree in biomedical engineering and of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Salvador was trained in infectious diseases at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He practiced as a hospital epidemiologist after receiving a master’s degree in public health from the Harvard School of Public Health. His training includes patient safety officer training from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and service on the board of examiners for the Baldridge National Quality Program. He is an Institute for Healthcare Improvement faculty member and teaches in the Patient Safety Executive Development Course. 

 

SPRINGFIELD — Dr. Mark Dumais was appointed to the position of chief medical officer for Mercy Medical Center. In this position, he provides clinical leadership and administrative direction in developing and attaining strategic and operating objectives related to medical practice and patient care at Mercy Medical Center and its affiliates. He also serves as a liaison between administration and the medical staff and provides leadership in advancing quality initiatives, clinical care, patient satisfaction, and physician/employee satisfaction.

With almost 20 years of clinical leadership experience, Dumais most recently served as a medical hospitalist at Massachusetts General Hospital and as an instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Before coming to Boston, he served as chief medical officer and Senior Vice President of the University of Maryland Charles Regional Medical Center (UMCRMC) in LaPlata, Md., where he oversaw performance management, quality, safety, risk management, compliance, and privacy, and gained extensive experience in population health, physician network planning, and information technology. Prior to his role at UMCRMC, he served as vice president of Medical Affairs, clinical chief of Internal Medicine, and director of hospitalists at Southern Maryland Hospital Center in Clinton.

Board-certified in internal medicine, Dumais received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in Boston and completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C. In addition to his medical education, he holds a master’s degree in business administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. 

 

SPRINGFIELD — AdCare chose Mary Chiecko, Community Services representative for Western Mass., as its Employee of the Month for January.

“Mary Chiecko is always positive and a great listener, which is key to knowing what our referral sources need and want,” said Georganna Koppermann, vice president of Marketing and Development at AdCare. “As part of ‘Team Springfield,’ Mary has connected new patients with our expert clinical staff helping to make Springfield the second-largest outpatient office in our system.”

Chiecko’s diverse sales experience includes working as a toxicology representative, presenting services to addiction-treatment facilities, primary-care physicians, and pain-management practices regionally. She has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from American International College in Springfield.

 

PALMER — Baystate Wing Hospital announced that Dr. Othman Mohammad has joined its medical staff and will serve as a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Baystate Wing Hospital and the Griswold Behavioral Health Center.

Mohammad is board-certified in both child and adult psychiatry. He graduated from the Harvard Medical School system, first as a resident from Harvard South Shore Psychiatry Program, then as a fellow from Boston Children’s Hospital. He currently serves as a staff child and adolescent psychiatrist at Baystate Medical Center and UMass Medical School – Baystate. 

Mohammad has published and presented at several national conferences about various topic, including the treatment of bipolar disorder in youth and adults.

Baystate Wing Hospital offers inpatient and outpatient behavioral-health and addiction-treatment services through the Griswold Behavioral Health Center, the Parker North Adult Inpatient Psychiatry Unit, and the Center for Geriatric Psychiatry. Mohammad joins an outpatient practice that currently has five psychiatrists and three advanced practitioners. The team, which also includes licensed therapists, offers a broad range of services, including individual, couples, family, and group therapy; psychiatric assessment and treatment for children, teens, adults, and elders; substance-abuse and addiction counseling; medication-management services; and clinical groups, including an early recovery group and a women’s recovery group.

 

HOLYOKE — A seasoned chief information officer for some of the world’s largest healthcare payor organizations, Terry Ramey has joined Holyoke-based healthcare consultancy VertitechIT as an executive project officer (EPO). He will lead engagements with large healthcare systems as the company continues to expand operations throughout the East Coast and across the country.

Ramey previously held senior technology titles at PerformRX (a subsidiary of AmeriHealth Caritas), Penn Mutual Life Insurance, CIGNA Health Services, and Dendrite International.

As a nationally recognized healthcare technology executive, he says he was looking to make an impact on the provider side of the industry.

“At CIGNA, Penn Mutual, and other major payor organizations, my responsibilities were to leverage technology to positively affect the bottom line,” he noted. “At VertitechIT, I have the opportunity to help transform hospital IT departments with a direct impact on patient care. It’s not often that an IT executive gets to do that.”

VertitechIT CEO Michael Feld agrees. “Our work at work at major health systems goes far beyond designing and implementing cloud strategies, overhauling infrastructure, and streamlining operations. As an EPO, Terry will counsel clients on the IT initiatives that can literally change the way doctors do their jobs.”

Working at the executive level within a healthcare organization, EPOs oversee a collaborative office of the CTO (oCTO), implementing VertitechIT’s proprietary LeverageIT process. Working side by side with senior internal managers, the oCTO refines strategic directives and implements tactical solutions that make organizations more profitable and efficient.

 

AMHERST — The Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation, which serves communities in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire through programs, grants, and service, announced the appointment of Nancy Garrabrants to its board of directors.

Garrabrants is the former associate dean of the Center for Agriculture at UMass Amherst, where she was responsible for the Nutrition Education and 4-H Youth Development programs. She was previously director and assistant dean of the Stockbridge School of Agriculture at UMass. She is an award-winning education professional with 32 years of in-depth expertise in agriculture from the business, academic, and youth-development sectors.

Garrabrants holds an associate degree in floriculture from the State University of New York at Cobleskill, and a bachelor’s degree in vocational education and master’s degree in plant and soil sciences, both from UMass.

 

WORCESTER — Susan Hillis has been promoted from treatment director to vice president of Clinical Services at AdCare Hospital.

A licensed independent clinical social worker, Hillis has served as treatment director since 2006. Prior positions include director of Rehabilitation Services at AdCare Hospital and director of AdCare Outpatient Services offices in Worcester and Boston. She received the 2015 Massachusetts Assoc. of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselors’ Robert Logue President’s Award for her long-standing support of membership and her dedication to substance-use treatment, recovery, and professional credentialing in Massachusetts. A former board member and chair of the Massachusetts Professional Recovery System, she currently oversees clinical practicums for students in the Addiction Counselor Education program at AdCare, and provides clinical supervision for students in MSW programs at a number of schools.

Hillis presents frequently on substance-use related topics such as “Addiction 101,” “Co-occurring Disorders,” “Motivational Interviewing,” and “Designer Drugs” to community, school, and professional organizations locally, regionally, and nationally. She holds a master’s degree in social work from Boston College and an undergraduate degree in music therapy from Anna Maria College in Paxton.

 

WEST SPRINGFIELD — Heather Roy recently completed the Precision Nutrition Level 1 Pro Coach certification at Conca Sport and Fitness (CSF).

Members have been losing more than 20 pounds thanks to the innovative nutrition and fitness plan offered by Precision Nutrition and Conca Sport and Fitness, CSF owner Steve Conca said. He added that being able to deliver comprehensive fitness and nutrition programming that gets results and is easily adaptable for busy lifestyles was paramount in the company’s decision to move forward with the certification program.

The CSF online coaching program is an ideal solution for busy people throughout the Pioneer Valley who want to be held accountable and learn skills and techniques to improve their relationship with fitness and nutrition, but are short on time to attend in-house coaching, Conca added. “Keeping clients engaged and accountable to help them achieve the results they are demanding, while providing world-class customer service, is our priority.”

CSF, which opened in 2009, provides fitness coaching both online and in the studio, either in a one-on-one or small-group environment.

 

SPRINGFIELD — Springfield College announced that Brooke Hallowell has been named dean of the School of Health Sciences and Rehabilitation Studies.

As dean, Hallowell will collaborate with leadership of other divisions and units of Springfield College to participate in strategic planning and implementation activities that further the overall mission of the institution. She will oversee academic areas within her school, including physical and occupational therapy, physician assistant, health science, emergency medical services management, communication disorders, and rehabilitation counseling and disability studies. She will be responsible for assurance of quality of programming in line with student needs, institutional mission, and the requirements of applicable accreditation bodies.

According to Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Martha Potvin, “Dr. Hallowell will play a pivotal role in working with faculty to advance education across a broad array of health sciences and professions and to extend the college’s impact on global healthcare issues.”

Hallowell has held several academic leadership positions and has a global reputation in advancing research and scholarship and fostering successful interdisciplinary initiatives. Most recently, she served as the founding executive director of the Collaborative on Aging and the coordinator of graduate and undergraduate gerontology certificate programs at Ohio University. She also held several other positions at Ohio University, including associate dean for research and sponsored programs in the College of Health and Human Services; director of the School of Hearing, Speech and Language Sciences; and coordinator of Ph.D. programs for the School of Rehabilitation and Communication Sciences. She also served as director of the School of Languages and Linguistics at the University of Northern California.

Hallowell received a Ph.D in neuropathologies of language and speech from the University of Iowa, a master’s degree in speech language pathology and audiology from Lamar University, and a bachelor’s degree in cognitive science/psycholinguistics from Brown University. She also studied at the Conservatoire National de France in Paris and Rouen.