LifePoint Hospitals names Jennifer Peters VP and chief operations counsel, and other moves

LifePoint Hospitals, a for-profit hospital chain based in Brentwood, Tenn., has named Jennifer Peters VP and chief operations counsel. In the new role, Peters, an attorney, will lead the legal department's interactions with the company's hospitals and physician practices.

Peters, 42, joins LifePoint from Simplex Healthcare, Nashville, where she served as general counsel, secretary and chief compliance officer. Previously, she was VP and associate general counsel at Community Health Systems, Franklin, Tenn.

Madera (Calif.) Community Hospital has named Mark Foote CEO, effective March 1.

Foote, 56, succeeds John Frye Jr., 61, who announced his retirement in December after serving the organization since September 2005. Foote has been with the hospital for 11 years as VP of finance and CFO.

The National Institutes of Health named Dr.Hannah Valantine its first chief officer for scientific workforce diversity.

In her new role, expected to begin this spring, Valantine will lead the medical research agency's strategy to expand recruitment and retention while promoting equity and inclusiveness. The position was created based on a recommendation from the Biomedical Research Workforce Diversity Working Group, part of the advisory committee reporting to the NIH director.

Valantine, a cardiologist, joins the NIH from Stanford University, where was senior associate dean for diversity and leadership at the medical school and professor of cardiovascular medicine at Stanford University Medical Center.

Physician informaticist and mobile health technology maven Dr. Eric Topol has been named chief medical adviser to AT&T, where he will contribute to the design, development and delivery of the telecom giant's health information technology products and services.

A practicing cardiologist at Scripps Health in San Diego, Topol, 59, also serves as director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute, which focuses on digital medicine, such as genomic research, and on the use of wireless mobile health technology. He will continue in those roles at Scripps.

Tisa Hughes will begin serving as chief legal officer for Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, effective March 31.

Hughes will be in charge of corporate legal strategy for the not-for-profit health plan based in Wellesley, Mass. She will also work, on behalf of the plan, with state and federal public officials and regulators throughout New England.

Hughes, an attorney with experience in healthcare law, is currently general counsel for Beacon Health Strategies, Boston.

Kindred Healthcare, a Louisville, Ky.-based post-acute care provider, named Stephen Farber executive VP and CFO.

Farber, 44, joins Kindred with more than two decades of healthcare experience. Though he has served as CFO for Tenet Healthcare Corp. and as founder and CEO of Connance, a predictive analytics company, Farber most recently led the financial restructuring of ambulance and fire service operator Rural Metro.