Dr. Judy Salerno steps down as CEO of Susan G. Komen and other newsmakers

Dr. Judy Salerno is stepping down as president and CEO of Susan G. Komen effective Dec. 15. Komen's general counsel, Ellen Wilmott, will step into the role on an interim basis. Salerno will hold the role of senior adviser during the transition period. She is leaving to pursue new opportunities, the Dallas-based breast cancer research organization said in a news release.

Salerno, a Harvard-educated physician with a graduate degree in public health, took over Komen's leadership in 2013 about a year after the organization faced criticism when some of its regional affiliates stopped donating to Planned Parenthood.

Pamela Davis will retire as CEO of Edward-Elmhurst Health in June 2017 after 28 years leading the Naperville, Ill.-based system.

Davis, 67, joined Naperville's Edward Hospital in 1988 and was a driving force behind its 2013 merger with Elmhurst (Ill.) Memorial Healthcare that created the

$1.3 billion system. She's also known for wearing a wire starting in 2003 during an FBI investigation of state government corruption that led to the arrest of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in 2008.

Mary Lou Mastro, 62, president and CEO of the Elmhurst Hospital, will take over as system CEO in July following a transition period as co-CEO beginning Jan. 1. Pamela Dunley, 60, who has served as chief nursing officer and COO at Elmhurst hospital for 10 years, will replace Mastro.

Joel Yuhas has been named president and CEO of UCHealth's Memorial Hospital Central and Memorial Hospital North in Colorado Springs, Colo., effective Jan. 9. He replaces George Hayes, who stepped down in early November.

Most recently, Yuhas, 46, was president and CEO of Dignity Health's St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach, Calif. He has also served in leadership positions at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia and UPMC in Pittsburgh.

Samuel Hazen has been named president of 170-hospital HCA Holdings. He retains the COO title, which he has held since January 2015.

HCA CEO R. Milton Johnson was the last person to hold the title of president at the system, but the role has been unfilled since he became chairman and CEO in 2014.

Hazen, 56, has spent 33 years with HCA and is a key architect of a market hub strategy that has positioned the Nashville-based system as the nation's healthiest investor-owned hospital chain.

Mark Billings has been named COO at Halifax Health in Daytona Beach, Fla. He replaces Ann Martorano, who is retiring after 32 years with Halifax.

Billings was most recently with Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente, where he served for more than two years as the senior VP for hospital and health plan operations, overseeing 21 hospitals in Northern California. Previously, he was president of Novant Health Shared Services in Charlotte, N.C., and also served as president and CEO at Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center, Charlotte.