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.
Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, M.D., made history this week as the first openly gay person to be voted president-elect of the American Medical Association (AMA).
Ehrenfeld is a combat veteran and a practicing anesthesiologist as well as senior associate dean and tenured professor of anesthesiology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He leads Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment, a health philanthropy organization, and holds adjunct professor roles at Vanderbilt University and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
Ehrenfeld’s an active researcher of digital technology’s role in improving surgical safety, patient outcomes and health equity. He has over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts to his name, is a co-author on 18 clinical textbooks and serves as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Medical Systems. He also served as a special adviser to the U.S. Surgeon General and consults with the World Health Organization Digital Health Technical Advisory Group.
Ehrenfeld joined AMA’s board of trustees in 2014 and served as chair from 2019 to 2020. He will be installed as AMA president in June 2023 after Jack Resneck Jr., M.D., who began his one-year run this week during AMA’s annual meeting, steps down.
Philip Okala is joining cancer research and treatment giant City of Hope as its new system president beginning in September, the organization announced Tuesday.
He comes fresh from a half-decade as chief operating officer at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. That position gave him executive oversight of the $9 billion revenue system’s six hospitals, clinical service line operations, corporate emergency management and overall system integration.
Preceding that position was five years as senior vice president for business development at Penn Medicine and other leadership roles at Geisinger Health System, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center.
Okala joins City of Hope shortly after its acquisition of Cancer Treatment Centers of America, a deal that yielded a combined organization of 11,000 employees and nearly 600 physicians across four states. Okala will be responsible for its portfolio of clinical care and research entities—which includes Cancer Treatment Centers of America—as well as City of Hope’s medical foundation and clinical and research operations.
Violetta Ostafin will jump over to CVS Health on July 11 to serve as its executive vice president and chief strategy officer, according to a Wednesday announcement.
Ostafin comes in after three and a half years with Aon’s health team, first as CEO of its Latin America Health Solutions business and then as global chief operating officer.
She preceded that with more than 14 years as a managing director and a partner at Boston Consulting Group, where she advised U.S. and global companies on large-scale change, strategic growth and expansion.
CVS Health’s announcement touted Ostafin’s experience evolving healthcare business models through consumer-driven solutions and operational effectiveness. The new role will see her leading strategy development across the organization’s core businesses as well as accelerating growth by identifying new market opportunities and product innovations.
David M. Wrigley has been promoted to executive vice president and chief financial officer of Cedars-Sinai Health System.
Effective July 1, the new titles will give Wrigley oversight of financial planning and reporting, revenue cycle, financial operations, capital structure/planning, risk management, corporate compliance and new financial ventures. The position will also have him serving as the system’s treasurer and secretary of the board’s finance and investment committees.
Wrigley has been at Cedars-Sinai since joining as vice president of finance in 2014. He’s currently the system’s senior vice president of finance and the chief financial officer for its Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, a position that saw him work alongside affiliate leadership to build unified financial reporting systems.
Prior to joining the organization, he held senior financial management positions at Presence Health and was manager of healthcare practice at accounting firm KPMG.
Wrigley steps into the new role July 1. He will be taking over for current Chief Financial Officer Edward Prunchunas, who is retiring after 41 years at the organization.
> Premier announced Soumi Saha as senior vice president of government affairs, effective July 1.
> Mantra Health, a digital mental health clinic, added five new vice presidents to its leadership team: Yiwen Looi as vice president of marketing, Kelly Carleton as vice president of program success, Hunter Davis as vice president of engineering, Alex Xu as vice president of virtual care operations and Allie Schwartz as vice president of people.
> Sema4, a genetic data startup, will lose Chief Financial Officer Isaac Ro this August. Deputy Chief Financial Officer Richard Miao will pick up his responsibilities as the company searches for a replacement.
> WellSpan Health brought on Faraaz Yousuf as the health system’s executive vice president and chief operating officer.
> Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Virginia President Jeff Ricketts announced plans to retire in September after almost 40 years with the payer.
> UnitedHealthcare reportedly promoted Gloria Sarget to CEO of its commercial operations in Missouri and central/southern Illinois.
> RWJBarnabas Health announced Michael Loftus, M.D., as senior vice president and chief medical and quality officer for its Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center.
> Carium, a virtual care platform, picked up Rich Steinle as its new CEO.
> Cone Health announced Jeetu Nanda as chief medical information officer.
> Epocrates, a digital clinical decision support company under athenahealth, brought on Andrew Johnson as executive director of commercial strategy and Bridget Seay as executive director of customer experience and commercial consulting.
> Lyniate, a healthcare data interoperability company, announced Scott Galbari as president, chief operating officer and chief information security officer. It also added Mikael Andén as executive vice president of sales.
> Vivalink, a virtual patient care and decentralized clinical trial technology company, added Aaron Timm as executive vice president and chief commercial officer.
> Unity Health, in Arkansas, reportedly saw its president and CEO Steven Webb resign in May, with former President and CEO Raymond Montgomery having filled in as interim leader during the system’s search.
> Amino Health, a digital healthcare guidance platform, announced Greg Born as chief growth officer.
> eClinical Solutions, a digital clinical software and services company, appointed Venu Mallarapu as vice president of global strategy and operations.
> The National Kidney Registry named Michael Lollo as chief operating officer.
> Opala, a healthcare interoperability company, will see Ken Chandler step in as CEO on July 1.
> Tower Health, in Pennsylvania, appointed Thomas Bartiromo as vice president and chief technology officer.
> Highmark named Joseph Haddock president of its eastern Pennsylvania market.
> Doctivity Health, a maker of cloud-based healthcare operating performance software, tapped Krista Hawk as vice president of sales and business development as well as Olivia Gaito as client engagement specialist.
> Chapter, a Medicare adviser, added Ilya Karger as head of Medicare revenue and Daniel Mori as head of marketing.
> Penstock, a healthcare payment integrity and reimbursement consulting company, announced Robert Haskey, M.D., as chief medical officer.