Holyoke Medical Center Welcomes Dr. Simon Ahtaridis as Chief Medical Officer

HOLYOKE — Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems, announced Dr. Simon Ahtaridis as the new chief medical officer at Holyoke Medical Center.

“I want to partner with staff members and find ways to support them to provide better patient care,” Ahtaridis said. “Medicine has become more team-oriented. The best doctors and nurses require coordination of care.”

Before joining Holyoke Medical Center, Ahtaridis was the national clinical advisor and chief medical officer for Sound Advisory Services. In this role, he oversaw the overall clinical performance of Sound’s onsite and remote advisory services.

His prior experience also includes serving as the chief medical officer for Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, where he also served as the chief of Hospitalist Service and chief of Medicine. Additionally, he has been an instructor in medicine, first at Harvard Medical School and most recently at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine. His main focus has been improving utilization management in the inpatient setting and population-health programs, including improved documentation, reduced length of stay, readmissions, and appropriate utilization of resources.

Ahtaridis received his medical degree from the Temple University School of Medicine. Prior to graduation, he took two years off to serve as the Legislative Affairs director for the American Medical Student Assoc. in Washington, D.C., and also received his master’s degree in public health from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health with a focus on health systems. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance, where he received several teaching awards. He was also a chief resident and chief of the hospitalist service at Cambridge Health Alliance.

“We are very excited to have Dr. Ahtaridis join Valley Health Systems,” Hatiras said. “His extensive background and commitment to strengthen hospital performance will support the continued alignment between our medical staff and the important performance and quality-improvement initiatives we are working on to fulfill our vision of becoming the best place for care and the best place to work.”