Chutes & Ladders—St. Jude seats new oncology chair, hires first-ever chief business innovation officer to roll out $12.9B strategic plan

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.


St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

St. Jude
(St. Jude)

Julie Park, M.D., has been named the new chair of the Department of Oncology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Park spent over two decades at the University of Washington School of Medicine and served as the chief medical officer of Seattle Children’s Therapeutics. She was also an attending physician at Seattle Children’s Hospital and an associate in the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. During her work in Washington, she helped develop cellular immunotherapy trials for pediatric cancer.

Park will also become the inaugural associate director for translational research on St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Center’s senior leadership team. The center coordinates programs of clinical, population and laboratory research along with community outreach to increase cure rates and decrease the side effects of cancer treatment.

Park follows Ching-Hon Pui, M.D., in the position. Pui was instrumental in improving survival rates for children diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He will bring his efforts to the Asia-Pacific region with St. Jude Global.

Catherine Corbin was also announced as the institution’s first chief business innovation officer.

St. Jude
(St. Jude)

Corbin will begin her work by directing the implementation of a $12.9 billion, six-year strategic plan. The investment is the largest in the organization’s 60-year history. She will help populate the Office of Strategic Innovation and Design with experts in organizational design, user experience and business strategy.

Corbin spent the last four years of her career at IDEO. While in her most recent position as a partner and managing director of the Chicago studio, she helped St. Jude establish strategic investments such as the St. Jude Global Alliance.

Corbin will report directly to St. Jude President and CEO James R. Downing, M.D.


SCAN Group

SCAN Group
(SCAN Group)

Karen Schulte has been promoted to president of SCAN Group’s Medicare Division.

Schulte will help lead the payer's Medicare efforts, which includes SCAN Health Plan, one of the country’s largest not-for-profit Medicare Advantage plans. She holds over 27 years of experience in value-based care including her most recent role as SCAN’s senior vice president of network management.

Schulte will work to expand SCAN’s Medicare business and manage performance in existing markets. While she worked with SCAN from 2006 to 2016, she served as chief operating officer of CareMore and Aspire Health from 2016 to 2021.

SCAN recently announced that it entered into a definitive agreement with Oregon-based CareOregon to form a not-for-profit healthcare organization under the name HealthRight Group.


PopHealthCare

LinkedIn
(LinkedIn)

Kevin Hiler joined GuideWell subsidiary and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida sister company PopHealthCare as its chief information officer.

Hiler will aid PopHealthCare and its value-based national medical group, Emcara Health, to improve digital health experiences while managing the cost of care.

His experience includes vice president of technology solutions for FirstLight Home Care, senior director of IT shared services at Kindred at Home and global director of business application management services for Halyard Health.

“Hiler’s perspective on excellence in customer service developed through his experience in the hospitality, finance and healthcare industries is well-aligned with PopHealthCare and Emcara Health’s philosophy and future vision of exceptional primary care accessible to all, regardless of physical limitations, social barriers or where a person lives,” said Eric Galvin, CEO of PopHealthCare and Emcara Health, in a press release.


> Akido, a care delivery platform, announced that Eric Chin has been appointed chief financial officer.

> Hinge Health, a digital musculoskeletal care provider, snagged Deborah Conrad as the company’s first chief marketing officer.

> Kaiser Permanente unveiled Angela Dowling as the new regional president for Kaiser Permanente in Washington.

> Ascension revealed that it will welcome Eduardo Conrado as president and current President and CEO Joseph Impicciche will remain in the CEO role.

> Johns Hopkins Medicine and Johns Hopkins University both welcomed Richard Mendola as vice president and chief information officer.

> UPS Healthcare announced that Hema Vaidya has been appointed as its new vice president of global quality assurance and regulatory affairs.

> Tomorrow Health tapped Toby Cosgrove as an advisory board member for the home-based care company.

> AristaMD, a digital healthcare company, promoted Eric Urquiza from vice president of client experience to senior vice president of operations and client experience.

> Intermountain Health named Nannette Berensen as chief operating officer.

> HealthPartners has promoted Kathy Johnson to senior vice president and chief financial officer of the company's health plan.

> CorroHealth has named Jerilyn Morrissey, M.D., as the group's chief medical officer.

> CCS launches a scientific advisory council with four appointments: Alexander Ding, M.D., Karmeen Kulkarni, Steven Wittlin, M.D., and Francine Kaufman, M.D.

> Bellin Health and Gundersen Health System have named LeAnne Andersen as chief people officer.

> Children’s Hospital Los Angeles scooped up Omkar Kulkarni as vice president and chief transformation and digital officer.

> Greenway Health, a health information technology service provider, named Mark Goodwin as senior vice president of Greenway Revenue Services.

> WellSpan Health has promoted Niki Hinckle to the role of WellSpan senior vice president for the west region of the health system.

> The National Association of Counties today announced that veteran insurance executive Tim Brown has joined as managing director of the newly created Public Promise Insurance Agency.

> Adrenomed AG, a biopharma company, announced the appointment of Stephan Witte as chief medical officer.

> Suki, a voice artificial intelligence health and technology company, announced that Stephen Kahane, M.D., has joined the company’s board of directors.

> Manatt welcomed Nick Bath Jr. as health partner at the law firm practicing in global health business.

> Illumina Ventures, a genomics and precision-health-focused venture firm, announced Abhijit “Ron” Mazumder as a partner and Lisa Alderson as entrepreneur in residence.