California Health Care Personnel News Update for February 2013
Blue Shield of California
On Feb. 20, Blue Shield of California CEO Paul Markovich named eight individuals to executive positions:
- Cathy Campbell -- former employee of WellPoint -- was named vice president of senior markets;
- Brent Hitchings was promoted to vice president and general manager of small business;
- Edward Lui was promoted to vice president of commercial underwriting for the markets division;
- Jessica McCarthy was promoted to vice president of integrated marketing and client experience;
- Bill McQueen was promoted to vice president and general manager of premier accounts;
- Dan Prettyman was promoted to vice president of finance for the markets division;
- Jeff Smith was promoted to vice president for individual and family plans; and
- Darrin Wells was promoted to vice president of network and trend analytics (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 2/20).
California Department of Health Care Services
On Feb. 25, Gov. Jerry Brown (D) appointed Mari Cantwell as chief deputy director of health care programs at the state Department of Health Care Services, where she has served since 2011.
The position requires Senate confirmation, and annual compensation is $138,528 (Office of the Governor release, 2/25).
California Physician Assistant Board
On Feb. 5, Gov. Brown made four appointments to the California Physician Assistant Board:
- Charles Alexander (D), who has served as associate vice provost for student diversity and director of the academic advancement program at UCLA since 2006;
- Sonya Earley, who has been a certified insulin pump trainer and consultant at Animas since 2008;
- Jed Grant (R), who has served as an emergency medicine physician assistant at CEP America since 2011; and
- Rosalee Shorter, who has served as a physician assistant at Mercy Medical Group's Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery since 2007.
The positions do not require Senate confirmation, and compensation is $100 per diem (Office of the Governor release, 2/5).
City of Hope, Duarte
Robert Stone has been named CEO of City of Hope, a comprehensive cancer center in Duarte.
Stone has served as president and an executive of the center.
He will replace Michael Friedman, who plans to retire at the end of the year (Terhune, "Money & Co.," Los Angeles Times, 2/21).
Dental Board of California
On Feb. 25, Gov. Brown appointed Ross Lai to the Dental Board of California.
Lai is the owner of a private dental practice, director of Lai Enterprises and founder of LAI Dental Group.
The position does not require Senate confirmation, and compensation is $100 per diem (Office of the Governor release, 2/25).
Riverside County Medical Association
On Feb. 1, the Riverside County Medical Association installed three officers, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.
The officers are:
- Gerardo Hizon -- medical director of Summit Family Medicine in Murrieta and assistant clinical professor in the Department of Community Medicine at UC-San Diego's Sports Medicine Fellowship Program -- who was named president of the group;
- Tarek Mahdi -- founder and chair of the Inland Empire Palliative Care Coalition -- who was named president-elect; and
- Timothy Watson -- medical director of Mission Pediatrics -- who was named secretary-treasurer (Riverside Press-Enterprise, 2/4).