Geisinger names new president, and its next CEO | MED MOVES

Terry Gilliland, MD, has been named the new president of Geisinger Health, and he’s going to get another title in the near future.

Terry Gilliland

Geisinger also announced that Gilliland will serve as the next chief executive officer of the Pennsylvania health system. He will succeed Jaewon Ryu as CEO when Ryu moves into the role of CEO of Risant Health. Kaiser Permanente announced its planned acquisition of Geisinger last year, along with plans to create a new organization, Risant Health, that will also look to acquire other community health systems.

Gilliand stands to become the eighth chief executive of Geisinger in the system’s 109-year history.

“It is an honor to be leading Geisinger,” Gilliland said in a statement. “Leading an organization with this type of history, mission and reputation is the opportunity of a lifetime. I became a surgeon to improve the lives of my patients. Leading the 25,000 dedicated professionals at Geisinger gives me the opportunity to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in communities throughout Pennsylvania.”

Before joining Geisinger, Gilliland served as chief medical officer and chief science officer at Cogitativo, a healthcare-focused artificial intelligence firm. He served as executive vice president of healthcare quality and affordability at Blue Shield of California and senior vice president and chief medical officer of Sentara Healthcare.

Earlier in his career, Gilliland worked as a general surgeon for Kaiser Permanente, and held leadership roles at the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group and the Colorado Permanente Medical Group.

Gilliland resides in Steamboat Springs, Colorado and will soon move to Pennsylvania.

Ryu called Gilliland “an excellent physician and leader.”

“I am confident that Dr. Gilliland’s leadership will position Geisinger for another 100 years of success," Ryu said in a statement.

Vera Hall and Dr. James Horn

St. Elizabeth Healthcare installs two new leaders

Two leaders are serving new roles in St. Elizabeth Healthcare, which serves patients in Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio.

Vera Hall has been named the system’s new chief operations officer, and Dr. James Horn has been appointed chief clinical officer.

Hall becomes the first COO in the system’s history, and she possesses more than 30 years of experience, including 15 years at St. Elizabeth. She has held a number of leadership positions, most recently serving as senior vice president, chief nursing executive, and chief patient services officer.

Horn has served at St. Elizabeth Healthcare for a decade, and most recently served as senior vice president, chief patient service officer and chief quality officer. Horn will lead medical staff, clinical integration, quality and patient engagement efforts.

Garren Colvin, president and CEO at St. Elizabeth Healthcare, praised both Hall and Horn for their “distinctive perspective and commitment to advancing patient care within the leadership team.”

“Their unwavering dedication to high quality outcomes and to our associates aligns with our mission to enhance patient care while leading the communities we serve to be among the healthiest in the nation,” Colvin said in a statement.

Lalit Bajaj

Children’s Hospital Colorado names chief quality officer

Lalit Bajaj is expanding his role to serve as chief quality officer for Children’s Hospital Colorado.

Dr. Bajaj will oversee the hospital’s department of patient safety, while continuing his oversight of the department of clinical effectiveness and department of diversity, health equity & inclusion. He will now oversee all of those areas in a newly reconfigured division of quality.

He joined Children’s Colorado in 1996 and brings over two decades of clinical and leadership experience.

Bajaj will work with Chief Medical Officer David Brumbaugh, MD, and Chief Nursing Executive Pat Givens to improve care throughout Children’s Hospital Colorado.

Donna Antenucci

ChristianaCare appoints population health leader

Donna Antenucci has been appointed vice president of population health operations for ChristianaCare in Delaware.

Antenucci oversees the operations functions of the population health analytics and informatics teams on population health-focused activity. She serves as the executive director of ChristianaCare Clinical Alliance and eBrightHealth ACO.

She previously worked as senior vice president of clinically integrated network operations and president of the Virtua Integrated Network, part of Virtua Health in New Jersey. She led the integration of 257 primary care physicians and more than 1,000 specialists when Virtua acquired Lourdes Health System in 2019.

A healthcare leader and nurse for over 30 years, Antenucci has worked in neurological and orthopedic surgery, clinical research, and clinical program management.