California Health Care Personnel News Update for August 2012
Alameda County Medical Center, Oakland
Varsha Chauhan has been hired as executive director of Alameda County Medical Center's System Transformation Center, the San Francisco Business Times reports (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 8/20).
She previously served as COO of Tri-City Health Center in Fremont (Robeznieks, Modern Physician, 8/22).
In the newly created position, Chauhan will oversee the medical center's efforts to implement a new federal incentive program (San Francisco Business Times, 8/20).
California Board of Optometry
On Aug. 10, Gov. Jerry Brown (D) appointed Glenn Kawaguchi to the California Board of Optometry, the Ventura County Star reports.
Kawaguchi is a managing optometrist at Eyexam of California.
The position does not require Senate confirmation, and compensation is $100 per diem when attending board meetings (Ventura County Star, 8/10).
California Board of Pharmacy
On Aug. 29, Brown appointed Victor Law (D) to the California Board of Pharmacy.
Since 1987, Law has served as chief pharmacist and president at Alpha Medical Pharmacy.
Law's new position does not require Senate confirmation, and compensation is $100 per diem (Office of the Governor release, 8/29).
California Institute for Nursing and Health Care
The California Institute for Nursing and Health Care has selected Judith Berg as its new executive director, effective Sept. 24, the San Francisco Business Times reports.
Berg is treasurer and a founding board member of the institute.
She also serves as vice president and nursing executive at Gannett Healthcare Group (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 8/16).
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
Anne-Marie Duliege -- chief medical officer at Affymax -- has been appointed to the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
She is filling a board position reserved for someone from the life sciences industry (CIRM release, 8/23).
California Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board
On Aug. 3, Brown appointed Judith Freyman (R) to the Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board.
Since 2001, Freyman has served as a principal and western operations director at Mercer/ORC Worldwide.
The position requires Senate confirmation, and annual compensation is $111,845 (Office of the Governor release, 8/3).
L.A. Care Health Plan
L.A. Care Health Plan has hired Jonathan Freedman as its chief of strategy, regulatory and external affairs.
Freedman will assume the role in early October.
He currently serves as chief deputy director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (L.A. Care Health Plan release, 8/22).
Medical Board of California
On Aug. 29, Brown made two appointments to the Medical Board of California:
- Denise Pines (D), who has served as the principal at Denise Pines Inc. since 2010 and was president of The Smiley Group from 1998 to 2010; and
- David Serrano-Sewell (D), who has served as a deputy city attorney at the Office of the City Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco since 2003.
Their positions require Senate confirmation, and compensation is $100 per diem (Office of the Governor release, 8/29).
State Council on Developmental Disabilities
On Aug. 29, Brown appointed Mark Polit (D) as deputy director of policy and planning at the State Council on Developmental Disabilities.
Since 2004, Polit has served as the senior political and community organizer for Service Employees International Union.
Polit's new position does not require Senate confirmation, and annual compensation is $95,808 (Office of the Governor release, 8/29).
Varian Medical Systems
Varian Medical Systems, a medical device and software company, has announced several personnel changes, the San Francisco Business Times reports.
The changes include:
- Timothy Guertin will retire as CEO on Sept. 28, at the end of the company's fiscal year, and will become vice chair of the company on Sept. 29;
- Dow Wilson -- who now serves as COO -- will become the new president and CEO and take a seat on the company's board on Sept. 29; and
- Erich Reinhardt, former CEO of Siemens Healthcare, became a board member on Aug. 10 (Brown, San Francisco Business Times, 8/13).
West Health Institute, La Jolla
The West Health Institute -- formerly the West Wireless Health Institute -- has hired Nicholas Valeriani as its new CEO, U-T San Diego reports.
Valeriani is a former Johnson & Johnson executive.
He replaces Don Casey, who stepped down last spring to take another position (Robbins, U-T San Diego, 8/15). This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.