California Health Care Personnel News Update for January 2010

American Society of Clinical Oncology

The American Society of Clinical Oncology has elected Michael Link of Lucile Packard Children's Hospital to serve a one-year term as president of the society, the San Francisco Business Times reports. Link will become ASCO's president-elect in June and serve as president from June 2011 through June 2012.

Link currently works as an oncologist at Lucile Packard's Bass Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Diseases. He also serves as a professor in pediatric oncology at the Stanford University School of Medicine (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 1/5).

Brown & Toland Medical Group, San Francisco

On Jan. 7, Brown & Toland Medical Group announced that its CEO Gloria Austin would retire by the end of 2010, the Business Times reports. The medical group's board has formed a committee to seek a successor for Austin.

The announcement comes amid protracted tensions between Brown & Toland and its formerly affiliated physicians at UC-San Francisco (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 1/7).

California Board of Behavioral Sciences

On Jan. 27, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) appointed Samara Ashley (D), Marie Ramona Foster (D), Patricia Lock-Dawson and Michael Webb (R) to the state Board of Behavioral Sciences.

The positions require Senate confirmation, and compensation is $100 per diem (Office of the Governor release, 1/27).

California Board of Pharmacy

Schwarzenegger has named Deborah Veale (R) and Tappan Zee (R) to the California Board of Pharmacy.

The positions do not require Senate confirmation, and compensation is $100 per diem (Office of the Governor release, 1/19). 

California Board of Podiatric Medicine

The governor named James Longobardi (D) and Neil Mansdorf (D) to California's Board of Podiatric Medicine.

The positions do not require Senate confirmation, and compensation is $100 per diem (Office of the Governor release, 1/27).

California Emergency Council

On Jan. 21, the governor appointed Matthew Bettenhausen (R) to the California Emergency Council. Bettenhausen has served as secretary for the California Emergency Management Agency since 2009.

The position has no salary and does not require Senate confirmation (Office of the Governor release, 1/21).

California Hospital Association

On Jan. 26, the California Hospital Association announced that it has elected Patrick Fry as the new chair of CHA's board of trustees, the Sacramento Bee reports (Calvan, Sacramento Bee, 1/27). Fry currently serves as president and CEO of Sutter Health.

Other individuals elected to CHA's board include:

• Steven Packer, president and CEO at Community Hospital of Monterey Peninsula;
• Arnold Schaffer, vice president and CEO of Providence Health's California region; and
• Ronald Weft, president and CEO of Santa Barbara's Cottage Health System (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 1/26).

California Medical Association

Alfred Gilchrist has announced plans to leave his new post as CEO of the California Medical Association and return to his former position as head of the Colorado Medical Society on Feb. 1, Capitol Weekly reports. Gilchrist started his position at CMA in September 2009.

Dustin Corcoran, CMA's senior vice president, will take over as the association's interim CEO following Gilchrist's departure.

CMA's board is in the process of developing a plan to find a successor for Gilchrist (Howard, Capitol Weekly, 1/20).

California Medical Facility, Vacaville

The governor has named Kathleen Dickinson (R) warden of the California Medical Facility.

Dickinson has served as chief deputy warden of CMF since 2007 and previously worked in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

The position does not require Senate confirmation, and compensation is $129,108 (Office of the Governor release, 1/21).

California Commission on Emergency Medical Services

Schwarzenegger has named Bruce Barton (R), Charles Baucom (R), Sheldon Gilbert (R), David Herfindahl (R), Colleen Kuhn, Matthew Powers (D), Eric Rudnick (D), Lewis Stone (D), Dave Teter (D) and Christopher Van Gorder (R) to California's Commission on Emergency Medical Services.

The positions have no salary and do not require Senate confirmation (Office of the Governor release, 1/27).

California Department of Public Health

Schwarzenegger appointed José Ortiz (D) chief deputy director of operations for the state Department of Public Health. Ortiz has served as DPH's acting chief deputy director since 2009 and as the department's deputy director of administration since 2008.

The position requires Senate confirmation, and compensation is $119,268 (Office of the Governor release, 1/21).

California Health Policy and Data Advisory Commission

On Jan. 19, Schwarzenegger appointed Naishadh Dhairyashil Buch (R), Patricia Dando (R), Kenneth Graham (American Independent), Catherine Nichol and Mark Reynolds to California's Health Policy and Data Advisory Commission.

The positions do not require Senate confirmation, and compensation is $100 per diem (Office of the Governor release, 1/19).

California Health Professions Education Foundation Board of Trustees

The governor also named Larry Baum (D), Diana Bontá (D), Gary Gitnick and Alberto Manetta to the Health Professions Education Foundation Board of Trustees.

The positions have no salary and do not require Senate confirmation (Office of the Governor release, 1/19).

California Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission

Schwarzenegger has appointed Beth Gould (R), Curtis John Hill (R), Larry Poaster (D) and Andrew Poat (R) to the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission.

The positions have no salary and do not require Senate confirmation (Office of the Governor release, 1/27).

Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland

On Jan. 14, Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland named Carol Brosgart chief medical officer and senior vice president, the Business Times reports (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 1/14).

Previously, Brosgart held several positions with the biotechnology company Gilead Sciences. She also worked for 12 years as medical director of the East Bay AIDS Center at Berkeley's Alta Bates Medical Center (Maher, Oakland Tribune, 1/19).

First 5 Sacramento Commission

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors has appointed Toni Moore executive director of the First 5 Sacramento Commission, the Sacramento Business Journal reports. The group is the local affiliate of California's First 5 Commission, which helps fund early childhood health care and education programs in the state.

Moore previously served as deputy director of Sacramento County's Department of Human Assistance (Johnson, Sacramento Business Journal, 1/12).

Kaiser Permanente Folsom Medical Offices

The Folsom medical offices of Kaiser Permanente have named Anthony Retodo director of medical services, the Sacramento Bee reports.

Retodo has served as an adult medicine leader at the Folsom center for four years (Glover, Sacramento Bee, 1/28).

Redlands Community Hospital

On Jan. 13, Pat Schindler retired from Redlands Community Hospital, the San Bernardino County Sun reports. Schindler spent more than 25 years working as the hospital's director of volunteers.

During her time with the hospital, Schindler also served as the hospital's patient satisfaction analyst (Lovell, San Bernardino County Sun, 1/14).

San Francisco General Hospital Foundation

On Jan. 11, Stephanie Bray took over a new position as executive director of the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation, the Business Times reports. In her new role, Bray will lead fundraising efforts to support a large-scale rebuilding project for the hospital.

Bray previously served as assistant dean for health sciences and advancement at UC-Davis (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 1/4).

Simi Valley Hospital Foundation

On Jan. 4, Debi Schultze assumed a new role as director and chief development officer of the Simi Valley Hospital Foundation, the Ventura County Star reports.

Previously, Schultze served as president and CEO of United Chambers of Commerce of the San Fernando Valley and Region. She also served as founding chair of the Simi Valley Hospital Foundation's board of directors from 2002 to 2005 (Ventura County Star, 1/16).

St. John's Hospitals, Camarillo and Oxnard

On Jan. 18, T. Michael Murray announced that he would resign his position as CEO of St. John's hospitals in Camarillo and Oxnard, the Star reports. Murray said he is leaving to pursue other leadership opportunities.

He also said he would remain with the hospitals for a transition period until early March (Kisken, Ventura County Star, 1/19).

Ventura County Behavioral Health Department

The Ventura County Behavioral Health Department has tapped Allen Parks to serve as manager of adult mental health services, the Star reports.

Parks previously served as an assistant professor of integrated medicine at Ross University in the Bahamas. He also has worked as an executive at United Behavioral Health, a San Francisco-based managed care company (Wilson, Ventura County Star, 1/26).

Zenith National Insurance Corp.

On Jan. 11, Zenith National Insurance Corp. announced that Janet Frank will assume a role as president and COO of the firm's main subsidiary, the Business Times reports. Frank also will serve as an executive vice president of Zenith's parent company.