CAREER PULSE – Nov 17

Garcia Named CMO at Cooley Dickinson

NORTHAMPTON — Cooley Dickinson Health Care recently welcomed Dr. Estevan Garcia to its senior leadership team as chief medical officer (CMO). He started his new role in early September.

“It’s my pleasure to announce Dr. Garcia’s arrival to our organization and to our community,” said Cooley Dickinson Health Care President and CEO Joanne Marqusee. “We are fortunate to have someone of Dr. Garcia’s caliber, with his years of experience as a healthcare leader, take on the important position of chief medical officer. In addition to directly overseeing a number of important departments, Dr. Garcia will play a key role in advancing our engagement with our medical staff, supporting our work to continuously improving quality and safety, and further developing our clinical programs to meet the needs of our communities. He will also focus on strengthening our connections with Mass General.”

Originally from Texas, Garcia earned his medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and completed his residency and fellowship at Childrens’ Medical Center of Dallas, as a pediatric emergency medicine physician.

After a few years in Washington State, he relocated to New York City, where he held a number of progressively senior administrative positions, including leading emergency departments and serving as the associate CMO for Quality and Safety at Maimonides Hospital. He held the CMO post at Brookdale Hospital as part of a team of senior leaders charged with turning around a safety-net hospital that was on the verge of closure. He put in place hospital-wide peer review processes, developed physician quality champions, and launched executive walk rounds as well as patient safety huddles on each unit. As a result of his leadership, Brookdale Hospital made significant improvements, and the hospital was stabilized.

Most recently, Garcia was vice president and medical director of Hospitals Insurance Company, a risk-management organization. In this position, he led safety activities including enhancing documentation and communication across multiple hospital systems, as well as developing and supervising simulation initiatives.

Throughout his career, Garcia has continued to practice clinically. He also pursued additional educational advancement over the years, having earned a master’s degree in public administration from NYU’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and becoming a certified physician executive. At Cooley Dickinson and in addition to his CMO duties, he will practice within the departments of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics.

Garcia said he is “excited to be part of a successful community hospital and health system with a clear mission to serve their patients and community.”

Qasba Joins Baystate Women’s Health Services

LUDLOW — Dr. Neena Qasba of Baystate Health’s Division of General Obstetrics & Gynecology has joined the medical staff of Women’s Health Services in Baystate Health’s Eastern Region, where she will provide women’s health services in the community of Ludlow.

Qasba attended UConn School of Medicine and completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Indiana University School of Medicine. She also completed a family-planning fellowship and obtained her master’s degree in public health at Yale University.

“Along with her expertise in family planning, Dr. Qasba has extensive experience in national and international healthcare advocacy and cultural sensitivity,” said Dr. Oscar Martinez, medical director for Women’s Health in Baystate Health’s Eastern Region. “Our team is bringing more than just expanded access to care throughout the region to area women, but also the latest women’s health services for all ages.”

Services offered by the team include well-woman examinations, symptom control and disease prevention during perimenopause and menopause, pediatric and adolescent gynecological services, prenatal care, midwifery care during pregnancy and labor, contraception counseling and management, evaluation and management of stress and urinary incontinence, in-office ultrasound, and more.

Qasba, who is bilingual in Spanish, joins Martinez, Dr. Diana Robillard, Dr. Ronald Burkman, and certified nurse practitioners Barbara Graves and Allison Hornstein in providing women’s health services at four Baystate Women’s Health practice locations: Baystate Mary Lane OB/Gyn, 83 South St., Suite 111, Ware; Baystate Medical Practice, 95 Sargent St., Belchertown; Palmer Medical Center, 40 Wright St., Palmer; and Baystate Medical Practice – Ludlow, 34 Hubbard St., Ludlow. For more information or to schedule an appointment at any of these locations, call (413) 967- 2655.

Williamstown Medical of BMC Welcomes Turner

WILLIAMSTOWN — Berkshire Health Systems announced the appointment of Dr. Sarah Turner to the medical staff of Berkshire Medical Center and the physician staff of Williamstown Medical of BMC. She is accepting new patients in need of a primary-care physician in Northern Berkshire County and Southern Vermont.

Turner joins Drs. Steven Cherry, Karen Dobe-Costa, Kristin Lamontagne, Marian Madden, Douglas O’Neill, and Richard Wiseman; Nurse Practitioners Carrie Murphy and Jennifer Mygatt, and physician assistants Lamia Sekkal, Jacob Shelsy, Katie Thurber, and LaTasha Turner in providing care at Williamstown Medical of BMC.

Turner received her medical degree from Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in Greensburg, Pa., and completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Berkshire Medical Center.

Williamstown Medical of BMC has two locations in Northern Berkshire, on Adams Road in Williamstown and at the North Adams campus of BMC. For an appointment with Turner, call (413) 458-8182.

Holyoke Medical Center Taps Koziol as CFO

HOLYOKE — Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems, announced the appointment of Michael Koziol as chief financial officer at Holyoke Medical Center (HMC).

“Mike has over 30 years of experience in nonprofit organizations, including several hospitals throughout New England,” said Hatiras. “His knowledge and successful contributions to organizational financial stability and improved operating efficiencies have already proved to be an asset to the leadership team of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems.”

Koziol has served as interim CFO at HMC since April 2017. His prior experience includes executive-level finance positions with Southcoast Physicians Group in Fairhaven, Mass.; MaineGeneral Health in Augusta, Maine; South County Hospital Healthcare Systems in Wakefield, R.I.; Massachusetts Eye & Ear Associates in Boston; Rhode Island Hospital in Providence; and Memorial Hospital of South Bend in South Bend, Ind. He received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Illinois State University and completed his MBA at the University of Illinois.

“I have spent the past six months as interim CFO with Holyoke Medical Center, and I am very happy to be a part of this organization,” said Koziol. “The people who work here are wonderful, and enable a bright future in continuing to provide high-quality, cost-effective care to the community.”

Mercy Names Harmon to Lead Mission Integration

SPRINGFIELD — Bradley Harmon has joined the staff at Mercy Medical Center as executive director of Mission Integration. In this role, he will focus on ensuring mission integration in all organization processes, including strategic planning, policy making, and leadership development. As a member of Mercy’s senior leadership team, Harmon will also serve as a resource, providing education and raising value-based questions and concerns pertinent to organizational decision making and direction setting.

Harmon most recently served as a director for Anselm Academic, a Winona, Minn.-based textbook publishing company. While there, he directed editorial, acquisitions, content development, and sales and marketing teams; served as ethical consultant for the president of Saint Mary’s Press and members of the executive management team; and collaborated with writing teams to create Catholic social teaching and healthcare ethics resources.

He previously served as pastoral administrator for the Diocese of Jefferson City in Bourbon/Steelville, Mo., where he coordinated and led Catholic pastoral services at a local hospital and regional nursing homes, and served as a chaplain for Memorial Hospital in South Bend, Ind. He also served as director of Ministry Formation for the Diocese of Winona, where, as a member of the Diocesan Curia, he provided strategic direction for diocesan formation that informed program development and policy adoption.

Harmon holds a master of divinity degree from the University of Notre Dame, where he was granted a Merrill Fellowship. He also holds bachelor’s degree in business from Missouri State University, and a certificate in user-centered design from Texas Tech University. He previously served as a board member for Winona Volunteer Services and the Winona Youth Soccer Assoc.

Quiusky Joins Team at BHS Renal Services

PITTSFIELD — Berkshire Health Systems announced the appointment of Dr. Kevin Quiusky, a board-certified and fellowship-trained nephrologist, to the medical staff of Berkshire Medical Center and to the physician staff of the BHS Kidney Disease and Hypertension Center.

Quiusky is accepting new patients in need of renal care and is partnered with Drs. David Albert, Hani Erian, David Henner, Steven Lamontagne, and Henry Rose, and nurse practitioners Sheila Silsby and Susan Downey Luhrmann.

Quiusky is board-certified in internal medicine and was fellowship-trained in nephrology at UMass Medical School. He received his medical degree from Universidad De El Salvador Medical School and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center, New York University School of Medicine, in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Quiusky provides care at the Renal Dialysis Centers operated by Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield and the North Adams campus of BMC. For an appointment, call the BHS Kidney Disease & Hypertension Center at (413) 447-2764.