Let's Give Them Something to Talk About!

Aug 06, 2019 at 03:06 pm by Staff

Dee Anna Smith

Dee Anna Smith, CEO of Sarah Cannon, the Cancer Institute of HCA Healthcare, was appointed chair of the Pepperdine University Board of Regents last month. Smith, Class of 1986, is the first Pepperdine graduate to chair the board, as well as the first woman to occupy the position.

Nashville-based Cumberland, a leading healthcare consulting and services firm, has been recognized as one of the top three consulting firms in the 2019 Payer IT Consulting report by KLAS, the prestigious peer-reviewed healthcare technology research organization.

On June 15, the newly expanded and renamed Pinson Hospital Hospitality House celebrated the unveiling of a new portrait of C. Wright Pinson, MD, MBA, FACS - deputy vice chancellor for Health Affairs, associate vice chancellor for Clinical Affairs, CEO of the Vanderbilt Health System, and liver and hepatobiliary surgeon - painted by world-renowned portrait master, Igor Babailov, Hon. RAA, KStA. Originally opened in 1974, the midtown facility has just completed a significant 25,000-square-foot addition to serve more patients and families seeking care in Nashville.

Marion Kainer, MD, MPH, FRACP, FSHEA has been named the 2019 recipient of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists' Pumphandle Award. Kainer serves as director of the Tennessee Department of Health's Healthcare Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance Program, leading a team working to make healthcare safer and to combat antimicrobial resistance. The CSTE Pumphandle Award is given each year to honor a state, local, territorial or federal epidemiologist who has made extraordinary contributions to and outstanding achievements in the field of applied epidemiology.

Last month, the American Academy of Nursing announced the selection of 231 highly distinguished nurse leaders as its 2019 Class of Academy fellows. The inductees will be honored at a ceremony during the Academy's annual policy conference, Transforming Health, Driving Policy, which will take place October 24-26, 2019 in Washington, DC. Three of Tennessee's four honorees are from Middle Tennessee: Pamela Jones, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, and Jennifer Wilbeck, DNP, ACNP-BC, FNP-BC, ENP-C, with Vanderbilt University School of Nursing and April Nicole Kapu, DNP, MSN, RN, APRN with Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

HCA Healthcare announced a record number of new residents and fellows with 1,453 entering the company's growing graduate medical education program. The incoming class is a record for both HCA and among U.S. programs. The company, which maintains 56 teaching hospitals in 14 states, now has more than 3,900 residents and fellows and looks to continue growing its GME program to accommodate as many as 7,000 residents by 2024.

In other milestones, Nashville-based CarePayment, a leading patient financing company that partners with healthcare organizations to offer 0.00 percent APR payment programs to patients, recently announced it had reached more than 4 million patients served, up from 2.2 million just two years ago, and achieved 37 percent year-over-year growth in 2018 alone.

Saint Thomas Midtown and Saint Thomas Medical Partners recently announced Kelly A. Carden, MD, has been named the 34th president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) board of directors. She will serve a one-year term leading the physicians, scientists, advanced practice providers and allied health professionals who make up the AASM's 10,000 members.
Each year, thousands of American Red Cross volunteers commit to helping those who need help most from providing disaster relief to transporting needed blood products to hospitals nationwide. In Nashville, one individual has delivered on that mission and then some. Bill Murray has logged more than 705 hours driving life-saving blood products to hospitals, earning him recognition for the "Award of Excellence" for Red Cross as a blood transportation specialist.

Sections: Grand Rounds