Geraldine "Polly" Bednash to retire as American Association of College of Nursing and other moves

Geraldine “Polly” Bednash announced she will retire in June next year as CEO and executive director of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

Bednash joined the Washington-based advocacy organization in 1986 as director of government affairs and assumed leadership in 1989.

Since Bednash took over as CEO, the association's membership has grown from 411 member schools to 742. A registered nurse, she taught nursing at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., before joining the AACN.

Bednash has appeared five times on Modern Healthcare's list of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare, most recently ranking No. 97 in 2010.

Dr. Reginald Eadie was named president of Detroit Medical Center's Harper University Hospital and Hutzel Women's Hospital.

Eadie, an emergency medicine physician, had been president of the system's Sinai-Grace Hospital since January 2012 and assumed his new role Oct. 28.

Eadie, 45, joined Detroit Medical Center (acquired two years ago by Vanguard Health Systems) in 2008 as VP of medical affairs at the Harper and Hutzel hospitals, and he became president of the system's Detroit Receiving Hospital in 2010.

He succeeds Lynn Torossian, who assumed leadership of the hospitals in July and as of Dec. 9 will be president and CEO of Henry Ford West Bloomfield (Mich.) Hospital. Torossian, whose age was not provided, previously spent five years as president of DMC's Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital.

At Henry Ford's hospital in West Bloomfield, Gerard van Grinsven stepped down this year to become CEO of Cancer Treatment Centers

of America.

Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Erlanger Health System named Robert Brooks executive VP and COO. Brooks, 38, is a registered nurse and EMT-paramedic. He comes to Erlanger from Naples, Fla.-based Health Management Associates' St. Cloud (Fla.) Regional Medical Center, where he had been CEO since June 2012.

WakeMed Health & Hospitals, Raleigh, N.C., installed Rear Adm. Donald Gintzig as interim president and CEO, effective Oct. 25, filling a void created when Bill Atkinson stepped down in September.

The system said Atkinson and its board of directors could not resolve “differences in the future direction of the organization.”

Gintzig retired from active duty in the U.S. Navy on Oct. 1. His positions included deputy commander and COO of Navy Medicine East and Navy Medicine West, vice commander for U.S. Navy Reserve Forces Command, and acting deputy surgeon general for the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.

The system intends to name a permanent president and CEO within the next 12 months.

Dr. Jeremy Levin, president and CEO of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries since May 2012, has stepped down. The Jerusalem-based drug manufacturer said Eyal Desheh, who serves as executive VP and CFO, will take over Levin's responsibilities on an interim basis. Teva plans to conduct a search for a permanent successor.

Teva, one of the largest generic drugmakers, announced plans last year for a restructuring that involves reducing its workforce by about 5,000 employees and divesting what it considers noncore assets. Teva Chairman Dr. Phillip Frost said the company and Levin had recently taken differing views about how to carry out the change in direction and “ultimately concluded together that it would be best to part ways.”