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.
Unite Us
David Rudow has been named chief financial officer of social determinants of health software platform Unite Us.
Rudow will head Unite Us’ accounting and controllerships, taxes, investor relations and internal audits. He joins the company after it spent a year focusing on community impact and health. In 2021, Unite Us purchased Carrot Health to strengthen the analytics of its social determinants of health platform and NowPow to scale integrated health and social care networks.
Rudow served as an air traffic controller in the U.S. Air Force before diving into a career in finance, including time as a senior analyst at J.P. Morgan, senior vice president of finance at CentralSquare Technologies and CFO at nCino.
“As a military veteran, I am thrilled to be joining a company with a mission of service that aligns so closely with my own values and to use my experience of growing and leading a finance organization in the public markets to help the company continue on its growth trajectory as a category leader,” said Rudow in a press release.
The Sequoia Project
Four new members have been added to the Sequoia Project's board of directors to help direct the nationwide nonprofit working to advance implementation of interoperable health information.
Jennifer Blumenthal is product director at Milliman IntelliScript and co-founder and CEO of OneRecord. She sits as the chair-elect of the privacy and security committee at CommonWell Health Alliance and on the CommonWell Operating Committee. CommonWell is a member of the inaugural class of Qualified Health Information Networks within the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT’s Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA). The Sequoia Project serves as the Recognized Coordinating Entity for TEFCA, which is expected to go live within the next year.
Col. Thomas Cantilina serves as the chief health informatics officer at the Department of Defense. He is also the deputy Military Health System’s Electronic Health Records Functional Champion at the Defense Health Agency.
Matthew Eisenberg, M.D., is the medical informatics director of analytics and innovation at Stanford Healthcare. Previously, he held the role of associate chief medical information officer at the health system. He is board certified in pediatrics and clinical informatics.
Wylecia Wiggs Harris is the CEO of the American Health Information Management Association. At the League of Women Voters, Wiggs Harris filled the same role of CEO while at the American Nurses Association she worked as chief operating officer.
America’s Blood Centers
Jed Gorlin, M.D., has been named the new chief medical officer of America’s Blood Centers, the provider of nearly 60% of the nation’s blood supply serving 150 million patients and providing blood products to 3,500 healthcare facilities across North America.
Gorlin is board-certified in pediatrics and blood banking and transfusion medicine. He currently holds the positions of medical director of the community blood center of greater Kansas City and medical director of transfusion services at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota.
He has served on the boards of the Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies and the National Blood Profession. Gorlin will continue the work of positioning America’s Blood Centers as a national health leader in blood banking, transfusion medicine and cellular therapies. Member organizations operate 600 blood collection sites throughout the U.S.
Transcarent
Ken Frazier, former Merck president and CEO, will join the board of Transcarent, an employee healthcare navigation company.
Frazier recently served as the executive chairman of the board of directors at Merck. Currently, he is chairman of General Catalyst’s Health Assurance Initiatives, focusing on forming a more equitable healthcare system. He co-founded and serves as co-chair of OneTen, which works to upskill, hire and promote 1 million Black Americans lacking four-year college degrees into sustainable and secure jobs.
“I’m not sure there is a problem more pressing than the accessibility and affordability of health and care to the average American worker,” Frazier said in a press release.“Having run one of the largest companies in the country, I can tell you that the continued rapid escalation of healthcare costs will squeeze out other critical investments we need to make in this country, from infrastructure and innovation for businesses to education and national security for the U.S. government. I’m excited to join the Transcarent Board and to be part of an organization that is uniquely positioned to not only improve health and care delivery but will do so in a way that makes it more equitable for the individual as well as their employer.”
In January, Transcarent partnered with The Clinic by Cleveland Clinic to expand access to medical specialists for its members. Toward the end of 2022, the company also partnered with the Hospital for Special Surgery to give members access to HSS’ orthopedic and musculoskeletal specialists and Prescryptive Health to improve pharmacy benefits for members.
Transcarent reached “unicorn” status last year through a reported $1.6 billion valuation.
> Sutter Health announced that Jennifer Bollinger joined the not-for-profit Northern California healthcare system as senior vice president and chief consumer and brand officer.
> CVS Health will be barred from employing former Cigna executive Amy Bricker while a lawsuit over her noncompete agreement moves forward.
> Accra, a Minnesota-based nonprofit organization homecare provider, named Christianna Finnern and Mike Holz as new board members.
> Jefferson Health welcomed John Mordach as executive vice president and chief financial officer of the 18-hospital, Philadelphia-based system.
> SelectHealth, the nonprofit insurance arm of Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Health, has named Rob Hitchcock as president and chief executive officer.
> IOmx Therapeutics appointed Christine Rothe as new chief development officer for the biopharma company.
> Asante Health president and CEO Scott Kelly has retired after a four-month leave of absence for health reasons.
> Michigan Medicine appointed Eric Strucko as its new chief financial officer. He will replace Paul Castillo.
> The Temple University Health System and Temple University Hospital named Chaudron Carter Short, Ph.D., as the system's new chief nursing executive.
> Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield promoted George Burks to vice president of its group market segment.
> St. Jude Children's Research Hospital tapped Octavio Ramilo, M.D., as chair of the department of infectious diseases.