Atlantic Health System CEO Joseph Trunfio to retire, and other news makers

Atlantic Health System CEO Joseph Trunfio announced plans to retire but will stay on until the Morristown, N.J.-based organization finds his successor in the coming months.

Trunfio, 67, has led the system for 15 years. Under Trunfio's watch, Atlantic has expanded to include four acute-care hospitals. Most recently, Atlantic acquired Chilton Medical Center, Pompton Plains, N.J., and is adding Hackettstown (N.J.) Regional Medical Center.

He also helped create a regional alliance called AllSpire Health Partners, a loose coalition of seven health systems in New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania focused on population health management.

Eileen Whalen has been named president and COO of Fletcher Allen Health Care effective in January.

Whalen, 59, will join Burlington, Vt.-based Fletcher Allen from Harborview Medical Center, an academic healthcare facility in Seattle that is part of University of Washington Medicine. Whalen, a nurse by background, has more than 35 years of healthcare experience and most recently served as Harborview's executive director. Dr. John Brumsted has carried dual roles as president and CEO of Fletcher Allen Health Care, Vermont's only academic medical center, and Fletcher Allen Partners, the parent multihospital network. He now will serve exclusively as CEO of Fletcher Allen Partners. Whalen will run day-to-day operations of Fletcher Allen Health Care.

Vidant Health, Greenville, N.C., has promoted Brian Floyd to president of Vidant Medical Center.

Floyd, 41, previously served as Vidant Medical Center's executive VP, handling daily operations. He has been with the system for nine years. He replaces Steve Lawler, who will move to a corporate position within Vidant Health.

Not-for-profit Vidant was most recently in the news for its decision to shut down Vidant Pungo Hospital, a critical-access facility in the small town of Belhaven, N.C. Vidant cited the hospital's financial troubles and offered to build a multispecialty clinic in its place.

Dr. Bimal Shah has been named VP of Premier Research Services, a unit of Premier, Charlotte, N.C.

Shah, a practicing non-invasive cardiologist, will provide strategic, clinical, analytical and research support to the organization. Premier Research Services combines data, analytical expertise and relationships with 60% of U.S. hospitals, as well as biopharmaceutical and medical device companies, to improve patient care and reduce costs.

Most recently, Shah was quality improvement director for the Department of Medicine at the Duke Clinical Research Institute and the Duke Heart Center, Durham, N.C.

Quest Diagnostics, a laboratory services company based in Madison, N.J., has named Dr. Franklin Cockerill III chief laboratory officer.

Most recently, Cockerill, 62, was chairman of Mayo Clinic's department of laboratory medicine and pathology and CEO of Mayo Medical Laboratories, a global lab subsidiary of Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo.

In his new role, he will oversee all quality, medical and technological operations within Quest's lab network, which the company says serves about half of all U.S. hospitals and physicians.

He replaces Dr. Stephen Suffin, who is retiring at the end of the year but will hold a consulting position through 2015.