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.
Oregon Health Plan
Emma Sandoe, Ph.D., has been appointed as the permanent director of Oregon’s Medicaid program, effective July 24, 2024, according to a news release by the state health insurer.
Since 2019, Sandoe has served in North Carolina Medicaid as deputy director of Medicaid policy, been the state’s primary liaison to the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, overseen the state’s Medicaid Plan and its Medicaid waivers and taken a lead role in developing and implementing new policies to improve health equity in North Carolina’s Medicaid-funded healthcare system.
Sandoe also serves as Medicaid liaison to t03+ribal nations in North Carolina.
Novartis US
Pharmaceutical company Novartis has tapped Eden Wells as chief insights and decision science officer of its newly formed Insights and Decision Science division, which will leverage generative AI and advanced analytics to examine how human behavior impacts care decisions, outcomes and delivery.
Wells formerly served as chief patient experience officer at Novartis US and VP of patient and specialty services.
“At Novartis, we are leaders in reimagining medicine and bringing breakthrough therapies and advanced technologies to life for patients, their families and communities. To accelerate our impact, we are charting a bold course to reimagine and harness the possibilities and power of advanced data strategies, emerging technology, genAI, and human insights in service of patients.I am excited to step into a new role to lead these efforts for Novartis US, to democratize insights and elevate the impact of our people and teams,” Wells wrote in a LinkedIn post.
Dina
Care coordination company Dina has named Sherman Sanchez as president.
The company provides a digital network to coordinate in-home care, long-term care services and supplemental benefits. Dina raised $7 million in series B funding earlier this year, led by First Analysis.
Sanchez has held a multitude of leadership positions at healthcare technology companies including Pager, Cotiviti, HMS, BioIQ, NextHealth Technologies and MedeAnalytics. He also founded D2Hawkeye Inc., which was acquired by Verisk Health.
“Dina is a forward-thinking company that is addressing the challenges of coordinating and accessing care with an elegant solution that is both scalable and interoperable," Sanchez said in a statement. “I’m excited to be part of an organization that is solving a ‘big rock’ problem in a new, creative way.”
> Rona Anhalt has joined Certara as chief human resources officer along with Daniel Corcoran, new general counsel.
> Blue Shield of California has named Kassie Maroney as senior vice president and chief actuary.
> Sarah Dorsett has been appointed as president of the consumer division at nutrition testing company Viome. Formerly CEO of Nanit, Dorsett will lead Viome on new products, distribution channels, customer segments, partnerships and marketing programs.
> Ardent Health announced the appointments of Ethan Chernin as president of its health services unit and Jason Ehrlinspiel as chief compliance officer.
> Richard Dal Col, M.D., was tapped to be president of not-for-profit health plan MVP Health Care.
> PathAI, a precision pathology AI company, hired Mary Padilla, M.D., as senior vice president of pathology.
> Talkspace announced the appointment of Ian Harris as its new chief financial officer.
> Perosphere Technologies appointed Michael Grosso, M.D., to its scientific advisory board.
> Steve Griffin will become Anika Therapeutics' executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer, effective June 3, 2024. He succeeds Michael Levitz, who has decided to step down as CFO after almost four years with the company.
> Apprio has hired health IT veteran Srinivasan Krishnan as chief technology officer to address customers' revenue cycle management and IT needs.
> Debra Morris joins AccessHope as its chief operations officer and chief financial officer after a decade at Apria Healthcare.
> CodaMetrix, an AI-powered autonomous multi-specialty medical coding company, announced Chris Gervais as its new chief technology officer. With more than 25 years of experience, he will lead and oversee an integrated team dedicated to advancing the company’s innovative solutions and data to inform research, patient and provider experience, and population health.
> MacroHealth hired Tony Perrotta as its new chief financial officer.