In recent weeks, New Hanover Regional Medical Center has made several high-profile hires and appointments.

Brown

Philip Brown, currently chief of the New Hanover Regional Medical Center medical staff, will become NHRMC’s chief physician effective Jan. 1, according to a news release. In this role, he will oversee care quality, care transformation and physician leadership within the organization. His appointment is part of NHRMC’s efforts to integrate physicians in key leadership positions, the release stated.

Practicing in Wilmington since 2004, Brown finished undergraduate work at University of North Carolina Wilmington in 1988, then earned his medical degree at the Brody School of Medicine in 1995 at East Carolina University. He completed a residency at Pitt Memorial Hospital in Greenville, then a fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 2001-02. The next two years he served on the academic faculty at ECU.

Brown, who began practicing in Wilmington in 2004, is former president of the New Hanover-Pender Medical Society and will continue as co-director of the Kanof Institute for Physician Leadership, a leadership college provided by the N.C. Medical Society Foundation, the release stated.

Brown’s hiring coincides with the retirement of Sam Spicer, the current vice president of medical affairs, the release stated, adding that Spicer will assume a part-time position leading Physicians Quality Partners, NHRMC’s accountable care organization that is working toward a population health approach to improving patient quality while controlling costs. He will serve in this role until his retirement next year.

Akers

NHRMC has announced that Amy Akers (at left) is the center’s new assistant vice president of nursing. She will work with chief nurse executive Mary Ellen Bonczek on strategic planning for nursing.

Akers, who steps into her new position Oct. 12, will be responsible for implementing performance improvement initiatives, improving patients’ experience,  supporting staff development and engagement initiatives, and enhancing NHRMC’s shared governance model that gives nurses and staff a larger role in decision making, according to a news release.

Most recently, Akers was the director of orthopedics, neurology, pediatrics and rehabilitation at LewisGale Regional Health System in Salem, Virginia, where she has worked since 1997. She received her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Radford University and a master’s degree in business administration from Capella University.

Datta

Amit K. Datta (at right) is the newest addition to New Hanover Regional's hospitalists team. He is now caring for patients at NHRMC and NHRMC Orthopedic Hospital, according to a news release.  

“Hospitalists are specialized physicians who focus on providing care for hospitalized patients. Hospitalists specialize in internal medicine and family medicine, and they focus on the patient's overall health, not just one aspect of their treatment,” the release stated.  “It is a hospitalist's mission to ensure each patient receives the highest level of care throughout their hospitalization and is efficiently transitioned back to the care of their primary care physician.”

Datta earned his bachelor's degree in biochemistry from Case Western Reserve University and his medical degree from Ross University School of Medicine. He completed his residency at New Hanover Regional  and has additional experience as a research scientist.

Boles and Grear

NHRMC Physician Group-Neurology announced recently that William H. Boles and Karrie E. Grear have joined the practice and began seeing patients Sept. 21.

Boles (at left) recently completed a clinical neurophysiology fellowship at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, with a concentration in epilepsy and long-term video EEG monitoring, according to a news release. At Wake Forest he also completed a four-year neurology residency and his doctoral degree. In addition to medical studies, Boles received a master’s degree in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Prior to medical school, Boles worked in the biochemistry department at Wake Forest University, performing molecular biology research, and was a research associate with Pharmacore Inc. He spent seven years as an analytical services chemist at Kao Specialties Americas LLC in High Point.

Grear (at right) recently completed a neuromuscular fellowship at Wake Forest Baptist Health. She was the chief resident of the neurology department at Wake Forest Baptist and completed her residency in the same department. Grear received a doctoral degree from the University of Kentucky and completed a bachelor’s degree from Transylvania University. She is a member of the American Academy of Neurology, the release stated.
  
Lomax

Family nurse practitioner Katie Lomax (at left) has joined the staff of Wrightsville Beach Family Medicine, part of NHRMC Physician Group. She has experience in a number of clinical fields, including family medicine; care for infants through geriatrics; chronic disease management; hospice and palliative care; and surgical/trauma intensive care, according to a news release.

Lomax graduated from ECU with a bachelor's degree in nursing, after which she worked for New Hanover Regional Medical Center on the medical floor and in the Surgical Trauma Intensive Care Unit, the release stated. She returned to school to earn her master's degree in nursing as well as certification as a family nurse practitioner.  

Wrightsville Beach Family Medicine offers routine care of infants and children – including pediatric vaccinations – as well as management of adult diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure and arthritis. Lomax joins Peter G. Kramer, an osteopathic physician who focuses on preventive medicine, the release stated. 

Fru

Karenne N. Fru (at right) has joined NHRMC Physician Group’s Coastal Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility practice. The practice is a new one within the group and offers “a variety of treatment options for endocrine and infertility conditions including polycystic ovary syndrome, irregular menses, hirsutism, infertility, fibroids, blocked tubes, diminished ovarian reserve and endometriosis,” the news release stated, adding that the practice will expand services in the future to include in vitro fertilization.

Fru is fellowship trained in reproductive endocrinology and infertility.

“We are excited to have Dr. Fru as the area's only fellowship-trained reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialist. With the opening of her practice, patients can get the help they need right here in Wilmington,” Daniel Goodwin, vice president of the NHRMC Physician Group, said in a release.

Fru graduated from Wesleyan College and attended the Medical College of Georgia. She completed her residency at Greenville Hospital Systems in Greenville, South Carolina, and undertook her fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Fiocco

NHRMC Physician Group has welcomed its first rheumatologist, according to a recent news release. Guy P. Fiocco (at left), who is board certified in internal medicine and rheumatology, brings “more than 30 years’ experience in specialized care of rheumatic diseases and conditions such as osteoarthritis, autoimmune illness and musculoskeletal disorders,” the release stated.
 
“Having Dr. Fiocco’s expertise at the NHRMC Physician Group means more patients with physical limitations caused by rheumatic illness have a new member of our multi-disciplinary team to care for their needs and improve their quality of life,” Daniel Goodwin, executive director of the NHRMC Physician Group, said in the release. “Adding this specialty is another way the NHRMC Physician Group is working to provide comprehensive health care to all patients.”

Fiocco earned a bachelor's degree in biology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He received his medical degree from Albert Einstein College and served as a medical intern at Hahneman University Hospital in Philadelphia, according to the release. He also did a two-year residency at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York. He was a fellow in rheumatology, clinical immunology and allergy at the University of Virginia Hospital.

Most recently, Fiocco served as division director of rheumatology at Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Medical Center in Temple, Texas. He has also held academic appointments at Columbia University, Eastern Virginia Medical School and Texas A&M College of Medicine.

Pender Memorial Hospital

Pender Memorial Hospital in Burgaw, affiliated with NHRMC,  announced in a news release the hiring of two employees to leadership positions.
 
Angela Black (at right)has been named manager of quality and outcomes at Pender Memorial. She previously spent 23 years with CaroMont Health in Gastonia as a transitional care nurse for chronic obstructive lung disease patients and worked in sepsis quality outcomes, the release stated.

Black has three years of experience in quality and outcomes. Prior to that she was a critical care nurse for 14 years, dedicated to open heart recovery, and, according to the release, she has a strong background in perioperative nursing.

Black received a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and is working toward a master’s degree in nursing leadership and management from the University of Southern Indiana.  

Cynthia Faulkner (at left) has been named the hospital’s chief nurse executive and brings 28 years of experience to her position, the release continued. She began her health care career in labor and delivery and case management and most recently served as chief nursing officer at Maria Parham Medical Center in Henderson.

Faulkner received an associate’s degree in nursing from Vance-Granville Community College, a bachelor’s degree from N.C. Central University, and a master’s degree in health care administration from UNC.

Hospital award

New Hanover Regional officials also recently announced that NHRMC received the American College of Cardiology’s ACTION Registry–GWTG Platinum Performance Achievement Award for 2015.

NHRMC is one of only 319 hospitals nationwide to receive the honor, according to a news release.

"The award recognizes NHRMC’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients and signifies that NHRMC has reached an aggressive goal of treating these patients as outlined by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association clinical guidelines and recommendations," the release stated.