Welcome to this week's Chutes & Ladders, our roundup of hirings, firings and retirings throughout the industry. Please submit the good news—or the bad—from your shop, and we will feature it here at the end of each week.
MedArrive
Peter "Rocky" Samuel, M.D., was hired as the new chief clinical officer at mobile-integrated care management company MedArrive.
Samuel will oversee MedArrive’s home-based clinical program while helping establish protocols and quality standards to ensure strong performance and lead the development of new use cases and programs.
Most recently, Samuel held the position of national medical director at DispatchHealth after spending seven years in clinical leadership roles at U.S. Acute Care Solutions. He brings experience in value-based care and care system coordination. Samuel has also worked to improve hospital readmission rates and reduce healthcare costs through bringing high-acuity care into the home.
UPS Healthcare
John Bolla has been promoted to president of UPS Healthcare following the retirement of Wes Wheeler.
Bolla has spent the last 27 years as an executive in pharmaceuticals and life sciences beginning with work at GlaxoSmithKline (now GSK). He also worked for Lantheus Medical Imaging, rising to the position of chief operating officer, a role he also held at Adare Pharma Solutions. Most recently, he began at UPS Healthcare in the position of president of global healthcare logistics and distribution.
Wheeler held the position of president over the last three years after working as CEO of Marken before the company’s acquisition by UPS in 2016. Wheeler helped launch the healthcare vertical of UPS. Similar to Bolla, he also spent time at GSK. In 1989, he joined the company, then called Glaxo, and worked 12 years before leaving the company as senior vice president of global manufacturing and supply.
Virta Health
Adam Wolfberg, M.D., will be the new chief medical officer at Virta Health, a Denver-based company working to reverse Type 2 diabetes.
Wolfberg brings two decades of experience as a practicing physician and healthcare executive. Most recently, he held the same position at Current Health after being hired as head of implementation and customer success. He previously worked at Ovia Health as physician-in-chief and chief medical officer and held the position of director of clinical effectiveness at Athenahealth.
Wolfberg will help Virta forge ahead through its next phase of growth which will include reversing diabetes in 100 million people, the digital diabetes company said. The digital health platform is now available to Blue Shield of California members as of February, when it joined the payer’s statewide provider network.
UNOS
Maureen McBride, Ph.D., has been named as the chief executive officer of United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).
McBride is the first woman to lead the nation’s organ donation and transplant system, Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), under contract with the federal government. She has worked for UNOS since 1995 and began serving as interim CEO in October 2022. She also held the position of director of research from 2006 to 2014 where she contributed to over 50 research manuscripts and publications.
The UNOS Corporate Affairs Committee cited McBride’s leadership skills and ability to navigate organizational change including the upcoming request for proposal for the OPTN. The Department of Health and Human Services recently released a request for information regarding ways to strengthen and improve the OPTN through the upcoming fiscal year. UNOS has stated publicly that it is in support of reforms to the system.
> XSOLIS announced Rachel Vincion as the AI company’s chief financial officer.
> Scripta Insights, a prescription navigation platform, welcomed Ferrin Williams as chief pharmacy officer and Ashley Moyer as senior vice president of growth.
> Athenahealth’s leadership team is expanding, naming George Hamilton its new chief corporate strategy and development officer.
> Wilson Medical Center announced that Christopher Munton has been named permanent chief executive officer.
> CalOptima Health added Peter Bastone as chief strategy officer and Javier Sanchez as executive director of Medicare programs.
> Cone Health unveiled Keith Jones as associate chief information officer and Robert Patto as chief information security officer.
> Morgan Lewis tapped Amy Magnano for partner with associate Michael Maddera.
> SonALAsense appointed Ely Benaim, M.D., as chief medical officer and executive vice president of development.
> Edifecs, a health IT solutions company, announced that Chris Lance joined its senior leadership team as chief product officer.
> Equiva Health, a health relationship management solution provider, added Scott Jones as chief operating officer.
> CommonSpirit Health has named Sheri Shapiro as chief strategy officer.
> Arkansas Children’s Hospital appointed Heather Cherry, R.N., as its new vice president and chief nursing officer.
> HealthPartners has named Megan Schmidt as senior vice president of health solutions.
> Gold Kidney Health Plan, a payer offering Medicare Advantage special needs plans, has named Gregg Kunemund as chief operating officer.