Zirkelbach joins Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers, and other news

Robert Zirkelbach has been named senior VP of communications for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, effective May 5.

Zirkelbach, 33, will oversee communications initiatives supporting PhRMA's advocacy activities and public-policy initiatives.

He comes to the organization from America's Health Insurance Plans where, as VP of strategic communications, he led media relations, policy communications and advocacy efforts, including serving as spokesman for the health insurance industry. Before joining AHIP, Zirkelbach worked as press secretary to former U.S. Rep Jim Nussle (R-Iowa).

Dr. Rob Schreiner, former executive medical director for Kaiser Permanente Georgia, is joining Huron Consulting Group as managing director of its Huron Healthcare practice.

Schreiner, 54, will work with Huron's hospital and health system clients in population health management, coordinated care and hospital-physician alignment, the Chicago-based firm announced.

Schreiner was with Kaiser Permanente Georgia for 20 years, holding offices that included COO, associate medical director for hospital, specialty and ancillary care, and chief of medical-hospitalist services and pulmonary critical-care services. He also has served as chairman of the Medical Association of Atlanta and secretary of the Medical Association of Georgia.

Bill Pence, WebMD executive vice president, chief technology officer and COO, is leaving the online medical advice site later this month, the New York-based company confirmed.

Pence has been with WebMD since November 2007 when he joined the company as executive vice president and chief technology officer. In May 2012, he added the COO title.

Before joining WebMD, he spent four years as chief technology officer and senior VP at Napster, the music-sharing site. Earlier in his career, he worked for more than a decade at IBM.

Thomas Steiner has been named CEO at Hancock Medical Center in Bay St. Louis, Miss. New Orleans-based Ochsner Health System recently signed a two-year agreement to manage the hospital.

Steiner, 52, has more than 20 years of healthcare leadership experience. Most recently, he was the administrative representative at Burke Medical Center in Waynesboro, Ga., where he worked as an independent contractor to assist turnaround efforts at the facility. Previously, he was executive VP and COO at Beebe Medical Center in Lewes, Del., and served as VP, administrator and director at Springhill Medical Center, Mobile, Ala.

Ikenna (Ike) Mmeje has been named COO at Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center, San Luis Obispo, Calif. He succeeds Joe DeSchryver who earlier was promoted to CEO.

In his new role, Mmeje, 30, will be responsible for oversight of the hospital's daily operations and ancillary departments such as pathology, radiology, pharmacy and plant operations.

He worked for seven years at Sutter Health-Alta Bates Medical Center in Oakland, Calif., the past two years as administrative director of clinical and research services. He also served four years as director of operations at REDI, the East Bay AIDS Center in Oakland.