ON THE MOVE ...

Edward Mirzabegian, 59, has been named CEO of Antelope Valley Hospital, a not-for-profit facility in Lancaster, Calif. Mirzabegian replaces Les Wong, 62, who in agreement with the board of directors tendered his resignation on June 15, according to an Antelope Valley news release. Mirzabegian had been the hospital’s COO since coming onboard in July 2005. As CEO, Mirzabegian will focus on improving hospital operations and patient services, increasing patient and employee satisfaction ratings and guiding the growth and development of Antelope Valley Hospital. … Cook Children’s Health Care System, Fort Worth, Texas, said it has named Rick Merrill to succeed Russell Tolman as president and CEO on Aug. 15, when Tolman retires after 25 years of service. Since October 1999, Merrill, 47, has served as president and CEO at Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi, which serves 33 counties in south Texas. … SSM Health Care, St. Louis, said that Gray Cox will become president of St. Francis Hospital and Health Services, Maryville, Mo., effective Sept. 1. Cox, 59, replaces Mike Baumgartner, age not available at deadline, who left the Roman Catholic system to become president of St. Francis Regional Medical Center in Shakopee, Minn. Cox has worked for SSM since 1989. He spent a decade working at the system’s St. Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City, eventually rising to vice president of hospital services. In 1999, he took over as president and CEO of Mission Hill Memorial Hospital, Shawnee, Okla., which SSM managed. That hospital merged in 2001 with Shawnee Regional Hospital to form Unity Health Center, where Cox served as senior vice president and COO, his most recent position. … Carondelet Health, Kansas City, Mo., said that it has hired Thomas Pagano as vice president and CIO of the two-hospital system, which is part of Ascension Health, St. Louis. He replaced Stewart Grant as CIO. Pagano leaves a job as CIO of Truman Medical Centers, Kansas City. Their ages were not available at deadline. … A former Tenet Healthcare Corp. accounting executive, Raymond Mathiasen, age not available at deadline, settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission on charges related to the Dallas-based company’s accounting of its Medicare outlier payments, the SEC said. As a result of the settlement, Mathiasen is suspended from appearing or practicing before the commission as an accountant. Mathiasen had already agreed in a settlement of a federal lawsuit against him to pay a $240,000 fine and agree not to be an executive officer of a company with publicly registered stock, the SEC said. Mathiasen joined National Medical Enterprises, a Tenet forerunner, in 1985 as vice president in its accounting department. He became chief accounting officer of Tenet in March 1996 and remained in that position until August 2003. … Meanwhile, Tenet Healthcare said that Jennifer Daley, 57, its chief medical officer, was named one of five recipients of the inaugural Leadership Excellence Award, sponsored by Harvard Business Review and the Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership at the U.S. Naval Academy. Also, Edward Kangas, 63,Tenet’s nonexecutive chairman, was recognized as one of 10 outstanding directors for 2007 by the Outstanding Directors Exchange.

WellPoint has hired Stephen Northrup, 39, as its vice president of federal affairs in Washington. In his new role, Northrup will be responsible for leading WellPoint’s advocacy efforts before Congress and various federal government agencies, a WellPoint spokeswoman said. Northrup, who is scheduled to start his new position the week of June 25, previously worked as senior government relations director in the Washington office of Arent Fox, a law firm specializing in healthcare and other issues. Northrup has also served as health policy director for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

The University of Michigan Medical School has selected James Woolliscroft as dean. The five-year appointment would be effective July 1 if approved this month by the school’s board of regents. Woolliscroft, 56, has been interim dean for the past 10 months, since Allen Lichter, 61, left to become CEO of the American Society of Clinical Oncologists. Woolliscroft joined the faculty in 1980 and was named executive associate dean in 1999.

John Iglehart, founding editor of the journal Health Affairs, will step down from the publication’s top spot on Sept. 4. James Robinson, 53, the Kaiser Permanente Distinguished Professor of Health Economics at the University of California at Berkeley and a Health Affairs contributing editor, will become the journal’s next editor-in-chief. Iglehart, 67, will remain with the journal in an emeritus capacity. Before founding Health Affairs, Iglehart was a vice president of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and editor-in-chief at the National Journal. Since 1981, he has served as a national correspondent for the New England Journal of Medicine.