Mercy Health System Wins Baldrige Award

Class Notes

Patricia Adams (M.P.H. '85) was appointed assistant
commissioner of health for the Minnesota Department of
Health, where she is responsible for overseeing the department's
Community and Family Health Promotion Bureau.

Mark Dixon (M.H.A. '84) was named president and CEO
of Community Health Network, a nonprofit health system
based in Indianapolis, Ind.

David Fine (M.H.A. '74) received an honorary degree from
the University of Southern Mississippi. Since 2004, Fine
has served as president and chief executive officer of
St. Luke's Episcopal Health System in Houston, Tex.

Christopher Karam (M.H.A. '92), president and chief
executive officer of Christus St. Michael Health System in
Texarkana, Tex., has been elected to a three-year term on
the board of trustees for the Texas Hospital Association.

Nurudeen Olaniran (M.S. '78, Ph.D. '79) is a senior lecturer
in public health at the University of Calabar in Nigeria.

Nancy Omondi (M.S. '07) has been accepted into the Emerging
Leaders Network, a yearlong training program designed to
strengthen public health leadership in Minnesota.

Gaynell Schandel (M.P.H. '79) was appointed chief
financial officer of the Minneapolis Police Department.
Schandel has been with the City of Minneapolis since
1986, holding positions in the health department, city
coordinator's office, and police department.

Karla Weng (M.P.H. '02), a program manager at Twin Citiesbased
Stratis Health, was named a Rural Health Fellow by
the National Rural Health Association, a national nonprofit
organization that provides leadership on rural health issues.

Javon Bea Mercy Health System has received the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award for 2007. The award, given by the U.S. Department of Commerce, is the nation's Presidential honor for quality.

This is the third organization led by an SPH alumnus to win the Baldrige award.

"It is a great honor to receive this prestigious award," says Javon Bea (M.H.A. '78), president and CEO of Mercy Health System. "It celebrates our strength as a system and recognizes our unwavering commitment to organizational excellence."

Headquartered in Janesville, Wis., Mercy is a nonprofit, multi-specialty health system that serves more than one million individuals through 63 facilities in 24 southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois communities. The system includes three hospitals, 285 physicians, a homeless center, and an insurance company.

"Javon is a wonderful supporter of the Master in Healthcare Administration (M.H.A.) program, especially through his recruitment of young talent from our program through his organization's fellowships," says SPH associate professor Sandy Pothoff, major chair for the M.H.A. program.

Several SPH alumni work for Mercy Health System, and two current M.H.A. students have accepted fellowships with the organization beginning this summer. Two other SPH alumni have won the Baldrige award.

The 2006 award went to the Premier Inc. health care alliance, led by Richard Norling (M.H.A. '75). The 2003 award went to Saint Luke's Hospital of Kansas City, led by Richard Hastings (M.H.A. '77).

Winter 2008

Feature

From the Dean

Departments

Mercy Health System Wins Baldrige Award

Class Notes