American Cancer Society names new VP of cancer survivorship, and other news makers

The American Cancer Society has named Catherine Alfano VP of cancer survivorship. Her position is part of the ACS Patient and Caregiver Support Department and the society's cancer-control team. She previously worked as a program director at the National Cancer Institute's behavioral research program.

Alfano, 39, joined the NCI—part of HHS' National Institutes of Health—in 2008. She worked as deputy director of the office of cancer survivorship and as acting chief of the institute's health behaviors research branch.

Bill Leaver will retire as CEO of UnityPoint Health in January 2016, ending an eight-year run as the top executive of one of the largest health systems in the Midwest. Kevin Vermeer, UnityPoint's chief strategy officer and former CFO, will become the new CEO and will spend the rest of the year transitioning to the role.

Leaver, 63, joined UnityPoint in 2003 as CEO of Trinity Regional Health System, an affiliate based in Rock Island, Ill.

When he took the helm at UnityPoint in January 2008, then known as Iowa Health System, the organization had 12 hospitals and about $2 billion in annual revenue. The system has since changed its name and comprises 32 hospitals and $3.7 billion in projected revenue.

Vermeer, 50, will add the title of president to his role for the rest of 2015. He has worked for UnityPoint for more than 15 years, mostly in a CFO capacity.

Joseph Webb has been named CEO at Nashville General Hospital.

Webb, who has more than 25 years of executive experience, previously served as COO at Common Table Health Alliance, a regional health and healthcare improvement collaborative in Memphis, Tenn. He also served as COO at Northwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center in Clarksdale and held several executive positions at Methodist LeBonheur Healthcare, including CEO at Methodist South Hospital and VP of operations at Methodist University Hospital, both in Memphis.

John Raffoul has been named president and CEO at Los Angeles-based White Memorial Medical Center, a part of Adventist Health. He assumed the role March 1 after having managed daily operations as COO since 2014.

In his more than 20 years with the medical center, he has served in various financial capacities including accountant, senior budget and reimbursement analyst, director of finance, VP of finance and CFO.

Dr. Joseph Chow has been named president of the urgent-care service line at TeamHealth, a Knoxville, Tenn.-based physician staffing firm. In his new role, Chow is responsible for clinical leadership at the urgent-care unit, which includes physicians and advance-practice clinicians.

Chow, 43, who is board certified in family-practice medicine, joined TeamHealth in 2007 and has served as medical director for two full-service, high-volume urgent-care centers.